Actor Alan Cumming describes reprising his role as Nightcrawler in Marvel's "Avengers: Doomsday" as "really healing," offering him a restorative do-over after a difficult first experience on 2003's "X2."

The 60-year-old Emmy winner recently said that returning to play the teleporting mutant felt "amazing" and "in a sort of ooey, gooey way... really nice" after what he called a "terrible experience" filming under director Bryan Singer two decades earlier.

Cumming recalled that shooting "X2" with Singer was "miserable" and "awful for a variety of reasons that I have talked about at length." He has previously detailed the grueling four-and-a-half-hour makeup sessions that left him fatigued and in pain, compounded by what he described as an unsafe atmosphere on set.

In contrast, the "Doomsday" shoot proved entirely positive, with advanced prosthetic and digital effects reducing transformation time to just 90 minutes and a supportive crew fostering a collaborative environment.

He emphasized that everyone on the set of "Avengers: Doomsday" treated him kindly, noting that he completed his scenes quickly because his hosting duties on "The Traitors" limited his availability when most Nightcrawler sequences were shot.

Beyond Cumming's own turnaround, "Avengers: Doomsday" reunites an array of original X-Men stars. Patrick Stewart returns as Professor X, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, and Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, marking one of the most expansive Fox-to-Marvel casts assembled on screen.

They join a roster of MCU favorites, including Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Sebastian Stan, Paul Rudd, Tom Hiddleston, Letitia Wright, and Winston Duke.

Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, "Avengers: Doomsday" serves as the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's multiverse saga. Set to debut in theaters on December 18, 2026, the film pits the heroes' united front against Victor von Doom, whose reality-warping powers threaten to unravel existence itself. Its sequel, "Avengers: Secret Wars," is slated for December 17, 2027.

For Cumming, the experience went far beyond career milestones, as it offered personal catharsis. "I never imagined I'd be performing stunts and playing a superhero in my 60s," he said. "So that was great," an affirmation that painful memories can be transformed into joyous ones when given a second chance.

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Avengers, Marvel, MCU, Movie, Film, X-Men