The Biggest Avengers: Doomsday Rumor Has Been Confirmed Thanks To An X-Men Actor - SlashFilm (2025)

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Kevin Feige's Marvel security lockdown has sprung a leak ... and the culprit isn't who you'd think it is. Normally, usual suspects like Mark Ruffalo and Tom Holland would be at the center of the latest spoiler controversy. And when it comes to what's likely to be the biggest blockbuster in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, well, one would think that the entire ensemble cast of "Avengers:Doomsday" would've signedNDAs and sworn oaths of secrecy and maybe even undergone a blood pact or two. Unfortunately, nobody informed returning"X-Men" actor and current "The Traitors" host Alan Cumming that this is all very, very serious business.

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Cumming famously portrayed the mutant Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler in 2003's "X2: X-MenUnited," stealing the show in that White House invasion sequence as he teleported from one part of the building to another, and that endless "Doomsday" casting video confirmed his return (along with several other members of 20thCenturyStudios'original "X-Men" movies). So, fans were already aware that this event film would pit our usual MCU heroes and certain holdovers from the previous "X-Men" franchise in a giant mashup against the likes of Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom ... but any other specifics about the plot have been kept under lock and key. Well, if only those Marvel snipers knew to keep someone as affable and charming as Cumming in their target sights.

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The celebrated actor sat down for a recent interview and inadvertently revealed some pretty intriguing plot specifics about the upcoming film — such as the fact that the story will involve the Avengers (and theFantastic Four) fighting the X-Men. Granted, it's more like confirmation of what everyone probably assumed already. Still, outside of a stray instance of leaked concept art, directors Joe and Anthony Russo and the rest of the movie's creative team have kept a pretty tight lid on things. We'll take whatever insights we can get at this point, though.

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In the secretive espionage world of movie spoilers, plot leaks can come from the unlikeliest of sources — including, apparently,Scottish sweetheartAlanCumming. In a sit-down interview with BuzzFeedUK, Cumming answered an innocuous question about his most surprising roles over the course of his career. With his typically dry wit, he revealed that he's been undergoing stunt training for "Avengers: Doomsday" as he reprises the character of Nightcrawler ... but he went one step further than Feige probably would've liked. I'll let him spill the beans for himself:

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"I was learning stunts yesterday for some fight scene and I'm thinking, 'I'm 60 years old. 23 years ago, I played that superhero [Nightcrawler]. I was kind of old for a superhero even then [laughs], but now I'm back doing it. That, to me, is hilarious. I'm sort of learning these fights and I'm like, 'What? Who am I fighting with?' And they said, 'You're hitting Pedro Pascal against the head,' or something."

Ah, yes, we probably should've known that the age-old headaches of performing an entirely VFX-driven fight scene would end up coming back to bite Marvel where the sun don't shine. Like countless actors before him, Cumming seems to have struggled with the idea of a man of his age punching imaginary targets and tennis balls suspended from boom mics. But, obviously, his allusion to Pascal gives away the game that the old guard of X-Men characters may very well be teaming up against both our Avengers teams (which now includes multiple factions after "Thunderbolts*") and the Fantastic Four. Of course, that's not to say the entire movie will be a recreation of the famous "Avengers vs X-Men" arc from Marvel Comics, since they'll inevitably have to put their differences aside to deal with the Doctor Doom of it all.

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Nevertheless, it's nice to get some confirmation, even in the form of a wry joke by Cumming, that this next "Avengers" film will be quite the extravaganza. "Avengers: Doomsday" will hit theatersMay 1, 2026.