By the time Chris Claremont took over as writer of Marvel's X-Men comic with issue No. 94, there had been an amalgam of various speculative storylines regarding Nightcrawler's (Kurt Wagner) origin, backstory, and mutant lineage. Claremont initially added an image-inducer as part of Kurt’s storyline to hide his indigo-colored skin and demonic-like features that manifested in yellow eyes, a prehensile forked tail, pointed ears, and two-toed feet and three-fingered hands.
The character made his debut on the big screen in 2002's X2: X-Men United, in which he was portrayed by Alan Cumming. Fans instantly fell in love with him and spent much of the subsequent movies wondering why he didn't return. That is, until now.
Alan Cumming's return as Nightcrawler
Marvel Studios recently confirmed the initial cast of Avengers: Doomsday and, in doing so, revealed that the vast majority of cast members from the original X-Men movie series will be reprising their roles, meaning that they will essentially become canon to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That includes Alan Cumming, who will indeed be bringing Nightcrawler back to screens - something that has fans excited for the return of the teleporting mutant with a heart of gold.
In Marvel comics lore, Nightcrawler’s appearance has plagued him with self-doubt and insecurities. This dichotomy of Nightcrawler’s infernal-like mutant abilities in contrast to his Christian faith has been a foundation for a great actor such as Cumming to explore. But first, a character actor must get into the skin of a role; however, in this case, Alan will be doing so - literally!
It's been 23 years since The Good Wife actor has portrayed the wallcrawling acrobat with a whip-like weapon of a prehensile tail. As reported by Variety, in a recent interview on Today With Jenna and Friends, Cumming expressed his excitement to be joining the MCU with his X2 co-stars, Patrick Stewart (Professor Charles Xavier), Ian McKellen (Magneto), James Marsden (Cyclops), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique) and is fellow blue-hued comrade Kelsey Grammer (Beast).
He also revealed that the makeup process for Avengers: Doomsday has advanced a great deal since his X-Men days.
Doomsday's advancements in makeup and filmmaking
With the advancements in makeup and filmmaking, the BAFTA award winner was thrilled to begin doing makeup tests for his return as Nightcrawler, stating:
“I’ve had some makeup testing already for the role… before [in X2] it was about four and half hours to apply it, but now It’s only 90 minutes.”
In X2, Nightcrawler expounded on how each of his religious tattoos represented a sin that he committed. For continuity and an expression of his commitment to his Christian faith, Nightcrawler will be donning his tattoos in Doomsday. However, now the 2024 Emmy Award Winner says it's a much simpler process… "Before, all of the tattoos were done by hand… Now they just stick onto my face. It's a game changer."
The X-Men joining the MCU is certainly a game changer for Disney and Marvel Studios and for fans as well. And with Cumming springing out of the Nightcrawler makeup chair in the blink of an eye and a puff of brimstone ash should give him plenty of time to create and flex those Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama thespian muscles of his!
In terms of filmmaking, getting actors to the set in 90 minutes versus 4 hours not only significantly changes the filming timeline, but it also likely allows for more time for creative filmmaking as well. Giving actors more screen-time to create, improvise, and develop their characters is what makes a tremendous difference in memorable films and iconic performances that skilled actors such as Alan Cumming can and do aspire to.