There are going to be a lot of familiar faces returning for Avengers: Doomsday, and while some of them have barely been away from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, others haven’t been seen in decades. With the multiverse throwing open the doors to characters from Marvel’s past, audiences are getting the chance to reunite with some old favorites who might otherwise have remained confined to superhero history. For one returning star, the experience has been something of a pleasant surprise, even if he hasn’t got the faintest idea what’s going on around him.
Speaking exclusively with Collider’s Taylor Gates for a profile interview, Alan Cumming revealed that returning as Nightcrawler in Avengers: Doomsday reminded him just how much he enjoyed playing the character, even if he describes the upcoming Marvel blockbuster as “superhero soup.” Cumming originally portrayed Kurt Wagner, the teleporting mutant, in 2003’s X2: X-Men United, but he quite famously hated the experience of shooting it, thanks to the nature of the makeup application back then. However, he found himself enjoying the process a lot more this time around, even if it’s clear he was truly not there because of his love of Marvel movies.
Despite that, it was clear Cumming holds great affection for the character, and he was pleasantly surprised to be asked back to reprise the role after more than 20 years. When asked what surprised him most about returning to the role, Cumming told Collider:
“I suppose how much I liked him. I forgot. The whole thing last time was, when I look back on it, I don’t really think much about the playing of him and the character. It’s all sort of mired in the whole awful nature of the fact that making it was so difficult. It was completely out of the blue. I didn’t think it was gonna happen, so when they asked me, I was like, ‘Oh!’ It was really nice. He doesn’t really do that much in the film. He’s got nice bits, but there’s a lot of superheroes in that film. It’s so nuts. It’s like superhero soup. But I just enjoyed playing him again. He’s got a sensitive side, and he’s quite funny. It was nice to go back to something and remember how much you actually enjoyed it.”
“I suppose how much I liked him. I forgot. The whole thing last time was, when I look back on it, I don’t really think much about the playing of him and the character. It’s all sort of mired in the whole awful nature of the fact that making it was so difficult. It was completely out of the blue. I didn’t think it was gonna happen, so when they asked me, I was like, ‘Oh!’ It was really nice. He doesn’t really do that much in the film. He’s got nice bits, but there’s a lot of superheroes in that film. It’s so nuts. It’s like superhero soup. But I just enjoyed playing him again. He’s got a sensitive side, and he’s quite funny. It was nice to go back to something and remember how much you actually enjoyed it.”
Four people, four completely different ideas of what it means to have
somebody in your corner. Here is who picked up, what they would ask of you, and what you would get
back.
You want the friend who does not leave. Steve is the one who
turns up at the door without being asked, who remembers what you said you were worried
about, and who has never once made you audition for his attention.
- His entire character is built on a single sentence, which is that he will not abandon
somebody just because it has become expensive to keep them. - He is far funnier than people give him credit for, and the joke is almost always at his
own expense rather than yours. - The friendship comes with a cost, since being close to Steve means being dragged into
fights that were never yours and being glad about it later. - You would get a friend who tells you the hard thing to your face and then defends you to
everybody else in the room.
You want the friend who is genuinely exhausting and completely
worth it. Tony will forget your birthday, then build you something at four in the morning
that you did not know you needed, and hand it over as though it were nothing.
- He is bad at saying the warm thing out loud, so he says it in hardware instead, which is
why everybody around him ends up with upgraded everything. - Being his friend means putting up with the disappearing, the deflecting and the jokes
that arrive about ninety seconds too early. - What you get in return is somebody who will spend an unreasonable amount of money and
effort on a problem the moment it becomes yours. - He is the loudest person in the room and the one most likely to be quietly panicking
about all of you.
You want the friend who replies in four seconds and apologises
for it. Peter is earnest in a way that is almost unfashionable, and he will take on far more
than he can carry rather than admit that he is struggling.
- He is the only one on this list who needs looking after as much as he looks after you,
and that balance is exactly what makes it a real friendship. - Nobody in the MCU is better at the small stuff, from remembering the thing you were
nervous about to showing up with food you did not ask for. - Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrived in July 2026 and put him back where he works best,
which is broke, local and carrying the weight on his own. - You would get a friend who is sincerely, embarrassingly happy for you when something
goes right, with no edge to it at all.
You want the friend who insults your shoes, fixes your phone and
then quietly rearranges your entire life for the better. Shuri does not do soft reassurance,
and that is the reason you would believe her when she says you are fine.
- She is the smartest person in almost any room she walks into and treats that as a reason
to tease you rather than a reason to lecture you. - The teasing is the affection. When Shuri stops making fun of you, something has gone
seriously wrong and you should probably ask her about it. - Her story is the one on this list that goes somewhere genuinely dark, which is what
turned her from a scene stealer into the emotional centre of the films. - You would get a friend who never pities you, never softens the truth, and never once
lets you take yourself too seriously.
Alan Cumming Admits He Can’t Keep Up With the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Of course, returning to Marvel after more than 20 years means stepping into a franchise that’s grown considerably since Cumming last appeared as Nightcrawler. When X2 arrived in theaters in 2003, the MCU didn’t even exist, and the idea of dozens of interconnected movies and television series building toward enormous crossover events was still years away. It’s fair to say Marvel movies look and feel a lot different than they did back in 2003, when X2 arrived. But catching up on over 30 movies and even more TV shows? Think again. Cumming told Collider:
“I don’t know how people have the time! I really don’t. I watched the one with the different sitcoms, and I loved that, but now, I feel like there are so many. It’s impossible. I’m never going to have the time to catch up, so it feels daunting. I just try to understand my bits and play the voice. Also, some people have different names — that’s the other thing. They have different names, and they become superheroes, and all that sort of stuff. It was very confusing to me. It’s not designed for me.”
</blockquote>“I don’t know how people have the time! I really don’t. I watched the one with the different sitcoms, and I loved that, but now, I feel like there are so many. It’s impossible. I’m never going to have the time to catch up, so it feels daunting. I just try to understand my bits and play the voice. Also, some people have different names — that’s the other thing. They have different names, and they become superheroes, and all that sort of stuff. It was very confusing to me. It’s not designed for me.”
The series Cumming is referring to is almost certainly WandaVision, which famously explored different eras of television sitcoms while telling the story of Wanda Maximoff and Vision, but given the sheer amount of Marvel content released since the franchise began, it’s perhaps understandable that someone who last played a mutant in 2003 might find the whole thing slightly overwhelming. However, if he was going to watch one of them? Great choice. Still, despite his confusion about the wider MCU, Cumming’s enthusiasm for Nightcrawler is clearly undiminished.
Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday is scheduled to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026. Stay tuned at Collider for more and don’t miss Gates’ full profile interview with Cumming.
Avengers: Doomsday
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Robert Downey Jr.
Victor von Doom
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Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic
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Thor
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Sue Storm / Invisible Woman
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