Where did Nightcrawler go after X2? Mystery solved!

Folks, I have a confession. While those who know me best might tell you that I’m something of an X-Men apologist who will give every film involving these characters more than a fair shake- The truth is that 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand is one of the most disappointing movies of my entire fanboy lifetime. I mean, there’s just too many questions I have every time I watch this film. Why did they rush the production and sacrifice the inclusion of some of their most popular characters? When is this distant future that looks awesome and then turns out to be a danger simulator? Which plot line should we be paying attention to most? Who is this movie for? And, of course, the biggest question I’m left with after watching X-Men: The Last Stand is… Where the hell is Nightcrawler?

See, after the release of X2: X-Men United in 2003, audiences were left feeling like the X-Men had unlocked the potential for big- super-team films. We had multiple characters (each with their own story and arcs) and the film simultaneously builds off of the established storyline of the original movie, while introducing new characters, conflicts, and possibilities for what’s next. By far, the most memorable thing to come from X2 was Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler.

In the opening scene of X2 (which we’ve talked about at length right here), audiences were tickled by the visual marvels of teleportation and a blue demon bouncing around the White House in a puff of blue smoke. Throughout the movie, we learn a lot about this fan favorite character and how Kurt differs from the other Mutants at the X-Mansion and how it might set up an interesting personal conflict for the character. By the end of the film, Nightcrawler has joined the X-Men and seemingly found his place among his kind- in a job where he can really do some good. But then, three years later his introduction, when cameras started rolling on X-Men: The Last Stand, our pointy-eared catholic carny was nowhere to be found.

Despite the many problems with the production of this film, getting some of the cast to return for the third installment was among the most prominent. Notably, James Marsden who played Cyclops was killed off in a rather unceremoniously in the first half of the movie and just kind of dies offscreen. Not to mention the odd (almost) death of Charles Xavier which felt way too early in the movie- and of course, the lack of Nightcrawler. Now, in REAL life- actor Alan Cumming opted not to return because he had such an uncomfortable experience sitting in the makeup chair for 6-8 hours a day. The contacts affected his vision, the time in the chair with 3-5 artists all up in his personal space, and the difficulty staying cool while the heat from the makeup cooked him- he just didn’t want to commit to another year of this. Especially considering that Nightcrawler was originally planned to have a bigger role in the third film. In regards to not returning- Alan Cumming said, “I mean, it was just awful.” Now, if that’s all there was to it then this video would be over already. But just as making movies requires the ability to adapt to these kinds of things, the story does as well.

So, how did they explain Nightcrawler’s absence from this movie? Or I guess first we should ask… DID they explain it at all? Well actually, yes. But not in the way you might think.

A big trend in the early 2000s was for video game developers to create tie-in video games to big franchise films to help maximize profits. X-Men had many video games based on their characters and comics so it only made sense to do the same for the movies. And folks, the tie-in game for X2: X-Men United is… so important to explaining why Nightcrawler wasn’t in the third movie. If you’re looking for a full review of the game itself, I’m sure they’re around online. I personally HAVE played this game and do think it can be fun but only if you’re into the PS2 console games that very much FEEL like PS2 console games. In the game, you can play as many of your favorite X-Men in a scramble to defeat the Brotherhood of Mutants, the military, and find little collectibles that (admittedly) are easy to find but extremely unsatisfying to get. But, I do think it’s cool that you can play as Bobby Drake and surf around on ice trails.

Back to Nightcrawler- In X2 (the movie) Kurt is revealed to be a hardcore catholic with a strong aversion to violence. He’s a pacifist. The X-Men are obviously fighting to protect earth, but fighting nonetheless. And after Nightcrawler joins the team and subsequently fails to save Jason (the sort of main villain) from his death- his future became unclear. Now, the movie has him with the X-Men in the final scene so we all assumed we would be seeing him again. But when we didn’t, those who lined up to get another round of Nightcrawler hopping around and throwing hard kicks at bad guys and then all we got was some weird rubbery de-aging, pre-mature and underwhelming deaths, and a rushed adaption of the Phoenix saga- we suddenly started to miss our blue homie a whole lot more.

So, in the game- there is a scene that shows Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler (who you can play as in the game and it’s very fun) and he explains that he plans to leave the X-Men and move out of the mansion to return to his home in Germany. His reasoning? Well, according to him, the guilt of not being able to save Jason from the events of the second film, and the constant string of fist fights as an X-Men member, Kurt just wanted to leave the life of violence behind him and go home to the circus.

So, the sour taste in my mouth from thinking that Fox had the balls to delete my favorite X2 character from the third movie will never fully go away. But, a big part of that was me thinking that nobody was ever going to acknowledge that he was still out there in universe- and just leave us wondering. With this small tie-in video game that nobody seems to remember or care about- I feel a little bit better knowing that there is at least SOME trace of what happened to Nightcrawler and why he wasn’t there to make X-Men: The Last Stand a little bit less shitty.

Of course, earlier this year it was officially announced that Cumming would be COMING BACK to play Nightcrawler again and might even have a cool fight with Mr Fantastic in Avengers: Doomsday and even explained that he agreed to come back at the ripe old age of sixty because they were able to get his time in the makeup chair down to about 90 minutes from the original 4-6 hours. Let’s hope it looks as good as it does in X2, but if I had just one request- put him in the classic Munich Circus costume. I liked his practical outfit, but I want those big sharp shoulder pads. I mean, if they had the guts to do it in the First Class series, we can get away with it now.

I also think we can expect that there will be some callback to why he left the X-Men in the first place, so we’ll see if they just lift the explanation directly from this video game. I think they need to so that this video doesn’t become outdated and inaccurate after Doomsday comes out.