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Bringing the stars of Fox’s X-Men films into the MCU has always seemed like a pipe dream for many fans, even after the iconic comic book team became fair game for Marvel Studios to play with. As much work (and money) as it has taken to make the team-up happen in Avengers: Doomsday, it hasn’t been hard work for the X-Men cast to reconnect; turns out, many of them have kept in touch on their own over the years.

That’s the story that Alan Cumming is telling as he begins promoting his return as Nightcrawler in Avengers: Doomsday alongside several of his X-Men co-stars. When asked what it was like to reconnect with his fellow X-Men, Cumming says he has been in friendly contact with several of them in the years since they last appeared on screen.

“The ones that I did reunite with, I’ve seen them since,” he explained. “I also didn’t reunite with that many because we did it all sort of separately; it was a bit of a modern way of doing things.” 

Cumming talked about the co-stars he’s remained in touch with over the years. “I’m very chummy with Ian [McKellan], I’ve seen Rebecca [Romijn] over the years. Patrick [Stewart], I’ve seen quite a lot. Jimmy [Marsden], I’ve seen a lot of them actually.” The reason for the tightness of the X-Men cast is a combination of nostalgia and shared trauma – just like a real family. “It’s one of those films where I think we were all so traumatized we were bonded in trauma, so we stayed in touch.”

Cumming doesn’t mention exactly what that trauma was, but his difficulty with the Nightcrawler make-up has been well documented, as have the issues that some members of the cast had with director Bryan Singer. Hopefully, the X-Men cast has a better experience working with the Russo Brothers in their first collective entry into the MCU. If not, I'm sure they'll bond through the experience all over again.

Avengers: Doomsday releases December 18.

Consider this a meta post-credits scene for Marvel fans - the four key articles you need to read next to continue the thrills:

• How to watch the Marvel Cinematic Universe in release or chronological order
• The best Marvel Comics stories of all time
• All the MCU movies ranked from best to worst
• Our weekly Marvel insider's column, Marvel Matters