Posted in: Marvel Studios, Movies | Tagged: Alan Cumming, avengers: doomsday

Alan Cumming Says Avengers: Doomsday Was A "Really Healing" Experience

Alan Cumming on reprising his role as Nightcrawler in Avengers: Doomsday: "In a sort of ooey, gooey way, it was really healing and really nice."

We all knew the cast of Avengers: Doomsday was going to be massive, we have only added more characters than we have lost since Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, but when the chair stream from hell started to reveal more and more people connected to the original run of X-Men films, it became apparent that "massive" was an understatement. Several of the usual suspects were returning, but one name that really got people excited was Alan Cumming returning as Nightcrawler. Cumming was only in the second film, but he absolutely stole the entire show, and the cold opening with his character in the white house is one of the best opening scenes in comic book movies (don't @ me).

However, Cumming has been upfront for years that the practical effects makeup really soured the experience, so he was a one-and-done. So, seeing his name turn up during our long trek through Avengers: Doomsday stair hell was fun. Cumming spoke to People about being on set for Avengers: Doomsday, and he had nothing but good things to say. "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," he said. "A great film, great film. I love the film."

We've heard from a couple of actors who have already wrapped that they weren't there for a very long time. With a cast this big, there are going to be characters who only have brief scenes and nothing else. Cumming explained how they fit Avengers: Doomsday into his busy schedule with The Traitors and what it was like becoming a superhero again twenty years after the fact.

"It was actually really great to go back. 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," Cumming said. "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. .. I would've liked to have been there for weeks and weeks. I wasn't there for very long at all, so that was also good."

Cumming was a bright spot in what was already a pretty damn good movie back in the day and one that holds up now, so it's not surprising that Marvel would recognize that and bring Nightcrawler back for Avengers: Doomsday.

Is Avengers: Doomsday Taking Steps Back Instead Of Forward?

Over the summer of 2024, word came that Marvel and Disney were courting Anthony and Joe Russo to return and direct the next two Avengers films. It made sense in a way; they were coming off a year that didn't exactly go to plan, and no doubt they wanted to go with what they thought would be the safest option. It turned out that the reports were spot on, and in July 2024, they were announced as the directors at San Diego Comic-Con. That was also where we learned that Robert Downey Jr. would be coming back as Doctor Doom, and it became very clear that Marvel was playing it safe by returning to what worked the first time.

At the end of March, over the course of five and a half hours, Marvel announced a large portion of the Avengers: Doomsday cast, which includes, along with already confirmed Robert Downey Jr.,  Chris Hemsworth, Vanessa Kirby, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, Wyatt Russell, Tenoch Huerta Mejía, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Simu Liu, Florence Pugh, Kelsey Grammer, Lewis Pullman, Danny Ramirez, Joseph Quinn, David Harbour, Winston Duke, Hannah John-Kamen, Tom Hiddleston, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, James Marsden, Channing Tatum, and Pedro Pascal. The inclusion of previous X-Men characters is more proof that Marvel is taking steps back instead of forward. The stream was also an announcement that the film had entered production. Avengers: Doomsday will be released in theaters on December 18, 2026. Avengers: Secret Wars is set to be released on December 17, 2027.

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