Nicholas Hoult is “excited” to see what Marvel does with Kelsey Grammer’s Beast in Avengers: Doomsday.
The 70-year-old actor portrayed the mutant superhero in 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men: Days of Future Past in 2014, and with Grammer set to reprise his role for Marvel’s upcoming team-up blockbuster, Hoult - who played a younger Beast from 2011’s X-Men: First Class to Dark Phoenix in 2019 - has now opened up on getting the chance to see Grammer back in action as the character for Avengers: Doomsday.
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the 35-year-old actor said: “Kelsey was a great Beast. He was the Beast I saw when I was a kid.”
The Superman star added he was also glad to see Grammer’s fellow X-Men stars Sir Patrick Stewart (Professor X), Sir Ian McKellen (Magneto) and James Marsden (Cyclops) get the chance to suit up once again for the 2026 Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film.
Hoult said: “Those were the characters that I got to watch in X-Men movies. I'm excited to see what they do with it.
“It'll be fun to see how they incorporate those characters into that world.”
Even so, the Nosferatu actor insisted he would not appear in Avengers: Doomsday as a younger Beast, and bluntly replied, “no” when asked if he had been approached by Marvel to reprise his role.
As well as Grammer, Stewart, McKellen and Marsden, other X-Men alums set to reprise their respective roles for Avengers: Doomsday include Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler), Rebecca Romijn (Mystique) and Channing Tatum - who portrayed Gambit in last year’s Deadpool and Wolverine.
Cumming recently teased he could be fighting Pedro Pascal’s Mr. Fantastic in the upcoming movie.
During a video interview with Buzzfeed UK, Cumming said: “I was learning stunts yesterday for some fight scene and I just think, I’m 60 years old. 23 years ago, I played that superhero.
“I was kind of old for a superhero even then. And now I’m back doing it. And 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.”
The actor - who played Nightcrawler in 2003’s X2: X-Men United - added he was “amazed and excited” to be returning as the mutant for Avengers: Doomsday.
Speaking with fellow X-Men alum Olivia Munn for Collider, Cumming said: “Isn't it nuts? I'm excited and amazed. It's been 23 years since I was a superhero.”
Cumming also revealed the makeup process for Nightcrawler had been drastically cut down since his last appearance in X2: X-Men United.
He continued: “I’ve had some makeup tests already for the role, but what's great about it was that before it was about four and a half hours to apply it, but now it's only 90 minutes.
“Before, all of the tattoos were done by hand. They hadn't decided on them before we started filming. Now, they just stick onto my face. It's a game changer.
“I'm going back to being a 60-year-old superhero, and everyone seems really lovely.”
Avengers: Doomsday will likely see the X-Men, the New Avengers and the Fantastic Four join forces to try to stop the dreaded Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.), who has cataclysmic plans for the Multiverse.
