Alan Cumming Reveals ‘Avengers’ Restored Hope After “Painful” ‘X2’ Experience

After experiencing a “miserable” time on the set of X2, Alan Cumming, 60, found it “really healing” to reprise his role as Nightcrawler in Avengers: Doomsday. More than two decades after making his first and only appearance as the mutant in the 2003 X-Men sequel, X2, the host of The Traitors U.S. recently finished filming his sequences as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler.

“Isn’t that nuts?” When host Jenna Bush Hager questioned Cumming about going back for Doomsday, which is scheduled to hit theaters in May 2026, he responded, “It’s been 23 years since I was a superhero.” Cumming will appear in the upcoming Avengers film with several X-Men series veterans, such as Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Rebecca Romijn, Kelsey Grammer, and James Marsden, according to a March 26 announcement from Marvel Studios.

Cumming stated in an interview with People that he had just arrived back in Los Angeles following the completion of the new superhero team-up film earlier this month. Thinking back on the event, he added, “It was incredible. It was actually extremely lovely to return to something that had been a horrible experience the first time, and it was healing in a kind of ooey, gooey way. It’s a fantastic flick. I adore the movie.”

Kodi Smit-McPhee played a younger Nightcrawler in 2016’s X-Men: Apocalypse, 2018’s Deadpool 2, and 2019’s Dark Phoenix. Cumming only played the character in 2003’s X2. Although the plot of Avengers: Doomsday has not yet been revealed, Marvel Studios has been reintroducing the X-Men characters into its films in recent years. Grammer, 70, had a brief appearance as his character Beast at the end of 2023’s The Marvels, while Stewart, 84, played a version of his famous character Professor X in 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Making X2 was “miserable,” the Scottish actor continued, adding that it was “awful for a variety of reasons that I have talked about at length.” The now-disgraced filmmaker Bryan Singer allegedly oversaw a “dangerous” and “abusive” set, according to Cumming.

Bryan Singer, the director of “X2,” has faced numerous allegations of sexual assault and difficult working conditions, leading to his high-profile firing from “Bohemian Rhapsody” and removal from “Red Sonja.” Despite these issues, studios often dismissed them, resulting in nightmare experiences for actors like Alan Cumming. Among the many issues were extensive drug use and filming stunts without a stunt coordinator, which left Wolverine Actor Hugh Jackman bleeding.

“I would be in that awful blue makeup,” he recalled to Kate Thornton on the White Wine Question Time podcast. “I put on loads of weight during that because I would just eat, I was exhausted. My boyfriend at the time would make all these crazy big meals. I would go home, eat a ton, have a couple glasses of wine, burst into tears and go to sleep. And then go and be a miserable blue mutant [the next day].” It’s sad that the actor’s experience was so traumatizing, but this one is much better with directors like the Russo Brothers. But that’s not the only improvement.

Cumming says the process of applying makeup for the Nightcrawler character, which was previously done by hand and took almost 5 hours. It has significantly improved thanks to 90 minutes using “these little things you stick on,” and he calls it a “game-changer.”

The Spy Kids actor had such a positive experience with Doomsday that he wished he could have been there longer. Due to his commitment to The Traitors, he quickly completed scenes, using a green screen and other stealthy techniques.

Alan Cumming said his career trajectory changed after filming “X2”. He lost his interest in blockbusters due to the corporate nature and formula of these films. The actor remains busy between work in the theater and on television.

Getting over a tough experience means admitting it hurt, letting yourself feel those emotions, and then finding healthy ways to deal with them. That could be being kind to yourself, leaning on others for support, doing things that make you feel good, and eventually looking at the whole thing as something that helped you grow. It sounds like Avengers: Doomsday helped Cumming find a place to heal.