Alan Cumming Calls X2 "Terrible," Praises Doomsday Healing

Alan Cumming has shared how different his experience was reprising the role of Nightcrawler for Marvel’s upcoming Avengers: Doomsday compared to the "miserable" time he had filming the classic X-Men movie X2.

Cumming is among the many X-Men actors returning for Avengers: Doomsday, joining Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, and Ian McKellen as Magneto.

While the other X-Men actors continued in later films, Avengers: Doomsday will be Cumming’s first time playing Nightcrawler on the big screen since 2003’s X2—a production he now calls "miserable" and "awful for various reasons I've often discussed."

In his 2021 memoir, Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life, Cumming detailed the chaotic production of X2 under now-disgraced director Bryan Singer. He alleged Singer abused painkillers and showed erratic behavior on set, upsetting many cast members and ultimately leading to a tense confrontation between the actors and the director.

"I just returned," Cumming recently told People. "It was amazing. In a really emotional way, it felt healing and rewarding to revisit something that had been such a terrible experience the first time. It’s a great film—I truly love it."

"Going back was actually wonderful," Cumming continued. "At 60, I never imagined I'd be performing stunts and playing a superhero again. The cast and crew were all so kind. And because of The Traitors, I had to film my scenes quickly before most of the main shooting began."

Although Cumming has already completed his work on Avengers: Doomsday, production continues with more stars reportedly preparing to join. Ryan Reynolds, star of Deadpool, is expected to film soon, and Xochitl Gomez, from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, is also rumored to appear.