Nightcrawler, the teleporting mutant with a soft heart, has graced silver screens in the past X-Men films and also the animated show X-Men ’97. Kurt Wagner, Nightcrawler’s real name, is often portrayed by two-time Emmy-winning actor Alan Cumming, who is set to reprise his role as the indigo mutant in Avengers: Doomsday.
Alan Cumming is known for his acting in theatrical productions, along with roles in the hit franchise Spy Kids and CBS’s The Good Wife. In an exclusive with People on August 17, 2025, Cumming recalls a disastrous filming experience working with director Bryan Singer on X2 as Nightcrawler. He is more than glad to suit up once again as the X-Men make their way into the MCU. Regarding his experience with filming Avengers: Doomsday, he added:
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.
Kurt Wagner was saved by Charles Xavier, who took him into his special school for mutants under the name Nightcrawler. Boasting a wide range of abilities and superpowers, Nightcrawler remains a charming and loving individual who wishes for nothing but the best for his fellow mutants.
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Here are some of Nightcrawler’s powers that Alan Cumming can flex in the battle against the mega baddie Doctor Doom.
1 Immortality
Nightcrawler’s first death occurred in 2010’s X-Force #26, when he gave his life to save Hope Summers. In Heaven, Nightcrawler summoned his fellow X-Men members in a battle against his father, Azael, using mystical imps called Bamfs. He later used these imps to cast himself out of heaven and, therefore, resurrect himself.
Wagner also sacrifices himself in X-Men: Gold (Vol. 2) #8 and cannot return to the afterlife. This implies that Nightcrawler cannot die by any natural means.
2 Superhuman Movement
Nightcrawler has an enhanced body that can move faster than your average mutant. His agility, balance, and coordination allow him to leap onto or off the most precarious positions with style. Given his agility, his reflexes are on point, allowing him to dodge or attack with extreme accuracy.
3 Beacon Teleportation
Nightcrawler has found a way of expanding his teleportation range to an “Anywhere they go, I go” level. Wagner makes a deal with the aforementioned imps to lock onto their trans-spatial displacement signature. This means that Wagner can warp to any location, whether he can see it or not, implying teleportation over large distances or through dimensions as long as his connection with the imps isn’t severed.
4 Subconscious Spatial Awareness
Anybody with teleportation powers would not want to materialise even partly into solid space. Nightcrawler’s limited subconscious extrasensory ability serves him well in this regard, preventing him from accidentally killing himself by materialising into a wall or ground.
5 Rapid Teleportation Grapple
Nightcrawler can grapple an opponent and teleport them to multiple locations rapidly, causing villains to exhaust themselves. Without the endurance of a superhuman, this can drain the energy of foes and also disorient them during battle. Another use case of this power is to separate foes that are honing in on one target.
6 Camouflage (Invisibility)
In X-Men #103, Nightcrawler’s shadow-blending ability is first explored, with him discovering he can become nearly invisible by blending into shadows. This is a form of light bending/distortion caused by opening a portal to the dimension he teleports from. His indigo skin also gives him the appearance of being one with the night.
Nightcrawler was exposed to cosmic rays in X-Men / Fantastic Four Vol 1 #2. Wagner, along with the X-Men, was aboard the space station Simulacra when they were caught in a cosmic ray storm. This causes them to go berserk and mutate further, with Nightcrawler developing stronger Invisibility powers similar to Invisible Woman.
All these powers are going to come in handy for Wagner against the nefarious Doom in Avengers: Doomsday. Here are some key points about the film.
| KEY POINT | INFORMATION |
| Directed by | Anthony Russo Joe Russo |
| Written by | Michael Waldron Stephen McFeely |
| Starring | 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 Pedro Pascal Robert Downey Jr. |
| Release Date | December 18, 2026 |
| Production Companies | Marvel Studios AGBO |
Alan Cumming is joined by past X-Men actors – Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Kelsey Grammer, James Marsden, and Rebecca Romijn. We are more than excited to see what more Marvel and Disney have to offer us as the Russo Brothers return to direct this Avengers film.
What is Nightcrawler’s most powerful ability? Let us know in the comments.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to release on December 18, 2026, in the U.S.
