Alan Cumming stole the show as Nightcrawler in X2: X-Men United. The opening sequence saw him teleport through the White House, and it's still ranked among the best scenes ever featured in a superhero movie.
Despite a largely negative experience working with filmmaker Bryan Singer, Cumming will return as Kurt Wagner in Avengers: Doomsday. The actor has said a lot about his experience on set—perhaps a little too much, after spoiling a clash with Pedro Pascal's Mister Fantastic—and now confirms that he's wrapped on the blockbuster.
"Well, I’ve already done it. I finished it," Cumming told press after winning a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program for The Traitors.
"I did a lot of stunt work and training. That was amazing," he said of his preparation for this long-awaited return. "The stunt people couldn’t believe that I could get up, let alone jump around and do this boxing and training."
Unsurprisingly, Cumming also revealed that he decided against revisiting the X-Men sequel as preparation. "I think that was what really helped, because this is super intense, and is loads of stuff at once," he teased.
We don't know how significant a role the X-Men will play in Avengers: Doomsday, but Earth 10005 is expected to factor heavily into this story as Doctor Doom wages war across the Multiverse. That looks set to lead to a clash between Earth 616's Avengers and the X-Men, making many a dream come true for comic book fans.
The Avengers sharing the screen with the X-Men was little more than a fantasy even a few years ago, but the fact that they'll meet the 20th Century Fox versions of these characters is pretty mind-blowing.
"I did the entire film in isolation. Lots of green screen, face replacement," Cumming recently shared. "They even gave characters fake names. I don’t know who I was acting with half the time."
Walking back on his Mister Fantastic remarks, he added, "I broke the internet by mentioning something once, but honestly, I might have got it wrong."
You can hear more from Cumming on Avengers: Doomsday in the player below.
Avengers: Doomsday stars Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Winston Duke, Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, and Robert Downey Jr. Wyatt Russell, Simu Liu, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Florence Pugh, Danny Ramirez, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, and Lewis Pullman all make their Avengers franchise debuts in the movie.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn join them, as do X-Men franchise stars Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, and Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum.
Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell, and Ryan Reynolds are also set to appear, according to recent reports from the trades.
The Russo Brothers direct the movie from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the Avengers and Captain America franchises. Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness's Michael Waldron is also working on the script.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.