There aren’t many Marvel movies more deserving of legendary status than X2. Not only is it the quintessential, and arguably still the best, of Fox’s X-Men films, it also continues to influence the MCU even 21 years on. I mean, who’s coming back alongside Hugh Jackman’s Logan in Deadpool & Wolverine this summer? X2 characters Pyro and Lady Deathstrike.
And yet this Pride Month is seeing X-Men 2 celebrated for a whole other, and typically underrated, reason. The amazing Nightcrawler himself Alan Cumming recently described the movie as “the gayest film I’ve ever done,” noting how unusual it was back then — and even now — to have a major superhero tentpole blockbuster made by and starring various LGBTQ+ creatives and featuring queer themes.
So what does screenwriter David Hayter think about this assessment? It turns out he couldn’t be prouder. Hayter revealed to Variety that he’s “thrilled” by Cumming’s comments, as this element of the film was always an important one to him.
“I was thrilled Alan Cumming called X2 the gayest film he’d ever worked on. It made me really happy,” Hayter said. “I’m so glad we did right by him. He’s such an icon for gay rights. Ian McKellen also really recognized the allegory of it from a gay perspective.”
Hayter went on to stress how pleased he is that Cumming picked up on what he and the rest of the film’s creative team were putting down:
“It’s really for anyone who feels exclusion,” Hayter continued. “But we had a number of key creatives behind the camera and on camera who were gay, so obviously that element was on our minds. The fact that came through and felt fulfilling for Alan meant a lot to me personally.”
Cumming made his glowing comments about X2 while speaking to Entertainment Weekly. “I think the ‘X-Men’ film I’m in is the gayest film that I’ve ever done, and that’s me saying that,” The Traitors host told EW. “It’s got a queer director, lots of queer actors in it. I love the fact that something so mainstream and so in the comic book world is so queer.”
Gay themes in the X-Men universe?! Everyone, pretend to be shocked. Nobody tell those people who are continually offended that Wolverine is canonically queer in the comics that the people who made their favorite X-Men movie wanted it to be as gay as can be.
