Nightcrawler actor says it was "really healing" to return as his X-Men character after "terrible experience" the first time he played the role

Alan Cumming recently finished filming his scenes for the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, and he has described the experience as "amazing" and "healing." The actor is reprising the role of the blue-skinned mutant Kurt Wagner (aka Nightcrawler) more than two decades after his debut in 2003's X-Men sequel, X2.

"I just came back. It was amazing. It was actually really – in a sort of ooey, gooey way, it was really healing and really nice to go back to something that it was a terrible experience when I did it the first time," Cumming told People, saying Doomsday is "a great film."

The Traitors host said he was "miserable" during the "awful" filming of X2 due to "a variety of reasons that I have talked about at length." In 2021, Cumming opened up about his experience on the Marvel set, which he described as "dangerous" and "abusive." His comments followed the allegations of X-Men director Bryan Singer's inappropriate behavior during the making of the film.

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Now, the actor has decided to come back to the superhero world, and his experience seems to have improved considerably. "It was actually really great to go back," he admitted.

"And especially, I'm 60 years old. I did not think I would be doing stunts, playing a superhero in my 60s. So that was great. And everyone was really nice. And I got it done really quickly because I couldn't go, because of The Traitors, when most of my scenes were being shot. So I squashed them all together, and got a green screen and various things and little scenes of people here and there. But it was pretty stealthy," he added.

Cumming's return as Nightcrawler was announced in March this year, along with many of his former X-Men co-stars, including Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, and James Marsden as Cyclops. They are not coming to the MCU to stay, however, as Marvel is already looking for younger replacements for their characters.

Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18, 2026, as part of Marvel Phase 6. For more, check out our guides to upcoming Marvel movies and shows and how to watch the Marvel movies in order.