Until The Dark Knight, X-Men 2 was the gold standard for comic book movies. It remains my favorite of the series, and though there are tons of great moments, I love it when a film opens with something jaw-dropping. X-Men 2 opened with a mind-controlled Nightcrawler (Alan Cumming) storming The White House, teleporting, BAMFING, and fulfilling every X-fan’s dream to see the fuzzy elf realized in the comics.
Nightcrawler is one of my favorite X-Men, so it was great to see him, but it wasn’t just his appearance. No one had choreographed a fight for a teleporter before. His fighting style utilizing his teleportation and his tail is so unique that you were sucked into the movie in the little over two minutes it took Kurt to breach The Oval Office. Unfortunately, Alan Cumming had a miserable experience working on X2 and never returned, clashing with Brian Singer and chafing at the elaborate make-up necessary for the character. A younger Kurt Wagner will make his debut in X-Men: Apocalypse played by Kodi Smit-McPhee. He’s got some large, oddly shaped shoes to fill. For more of Alan Cumming, check out The Good Wife on CBS (just finishing its seven-year run). His character is reason enough to binge watch the drama.