By 
This post contains spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine.
He might arrive spinning his cards, accompanied by triumphant music and a slow-mo stride, but make no mistake: Gambit is introduced as a joke in Deadpool & Wolverine. Gambit’s a joke on a plot level, as he alone represents one-quarter of the resistance army that the titular heroes hoped would be much larger; he’s also a deep cut in-joke, even by Deadpool standards, because he’s played by Channing Tatum, who tried for years to get a Gambit solo film out of development hell; and he’s a comic book nerd joke, decked out with all the absurdities that made him seem cool in the ’90s and dated immediately afterward, with his duster and head sock, and his superfluous French catchphrases.
But by the end of the movie, Gambit is a full-on superhero in his own right. And Deadpool & Wolverine is just one of the stories that reestablished the Ragin’ Cajun’s status as one of Marvel’s most reliable characters. It’s a Gambit renaissance occurring across comics, cartoons, and cinema.
Remember It… Again
“Mr. Stubble King – 1994” read a caption under Gambit’s appearance in “The No-Sin Situation,” a hilarious back-up story written and drawn by Chip Zdarsky. A spoof of the otherwise dire Original Sins crossover, “The No-Sin Situation” was published in 2014 (so well after Gambit’s heyday) and largely consisted of single-panel talking head shots of Marvel heroes making embarrassing confessions. “Sometimes I kill people who I suspect are vampires but really I know they aren’t vampires,” says Blade, in a typical example. “I just really like killing.”
The comic begins with Gambit’s admission, and it’s among the most ridiculous. “I’m… not actually French,” admits a character the comic already told readers is 20 years dated. “It’s why I always just pepper easy French words like “oui” and “chere” with English. I just wanted to sound cool…”
Published decades after the height of Gambit mania, “The No-Sin Situation” highlighted what a punching bag Remy LeBeau had become. One of the last great characters that legendary X-Men writer Chris Claremont introduced during his 14-year run, Gambit had everything that people loved about Wolverine, including a dubious moral compass and a shadowy backstory, but in a ’90s-centric package. By the time Original Sin hit comic shops, Gambit had been muscled out of the X-Men and into a lesser incarnation of X-Factor, where even the great Peter David failed to find something compelling to do with him.
Contrast that to the current Uncanny X-Men ongoing by Gail Simone and David Marquez. Speaking with Den of Geek before the first issue’s release, Simone praised the romance between Gambit and Rogue as the driving force of her story. “I love that Rogue and Gambit are central to it because their romance is super hot,” Simone said.
While the writer doesn’t shy away from lambasting other popular characters (see: her Cyclops comments on social media), she’s 100 percent serious about Gambit in Uncanny. The passionate relationship between him and Rogue drives Simone’s story, which finds a group of mutants hiding out in Gambit’s old bayou stomping grounds.
Yet the most impressive example of Gambit’s unlikely 2024 renaissance might be the way he’s used in the surprisingly excellent cartoon series, X-Men ’97. For the first couple of episodes, Gambit appears exactly as one would expect in a revival of a Saturday morning cartoon show from the 1990s: he’s charming, but in a goofy dad sort of way. As the series progresses, however, to embrace richer themes about fascism and oppression, Gambit goes from hot goofball to genuine hero. In his greatest moment, Gambit stands down the massive Sentinel attacking the mutant-ruled island of Genosha. Gambit’s swagger pauses when the Sentinel pierces him with a metallic tentacle, but only for a moment.
The camera cuts to a close-up of his blood-stained mouth, which slides into a characteristic smirk. “The name’s Gambit,” he tells the genocidal robot. “Remember it.” And with that delivery, Gambit charges the entire machine, sacrificing himself in his last breath while blowing up the massive threat to all mutankind.
At that moment, Gambit becomes an awesome hero without sacrificing any of the elements that made him a punchline for so many years.
Timeless Cool
Initially, Gambit’s Deadpool & Wolverine appearance seems ready to set back the Cool-O-Meter. The movie gets a lot of mileage out of Tatum’s garbled Cajun accent and his stylish, if impractical, tendency to throw charged playing cards at enemies.”Your power’s close-up magic. That’s good,” Deadpool observes, with typical snark. Even in that scene, however, Tatum begins to bring a bit of charm to the joke.
As the heroes rouse themselves out of a defeated stupor by admitting their place in the world, both fictional and real, Jennifer Garner’s Elektra, a character we haven’t seen in 19 years, laments, “Our worlds forgot about us.” Yet it is Tatum’s Gambit who earns the laugh by adding, “Or never learned about us.” Yet as the heroes continue to commiserate, there is no irony to Gambit’s observation about the lives they saved… “or wanted to save.” There is a genuine sadness to Gambit’s line deliveries that cuts through all of the self-aware winking, a sadness that can’t even be undercut by the extended description of conception that Gambit is about to offer.
That richness marks Tatum’s take on Gambit throughout the movie. As demonstrated in Logan Lucky and the Magic Mike films, Tatum excels at grafting affable charm onto a movie star body. He doesn’t have the aggressive charisma of, say, a Tom Cruise or even Dwayne Johnson. Rather his charisma is derived from a laid back personality that draws people closer toward him. And crucially, as demonstrated by his surprise cameos in This is the End, The Lego Movie, and The Hateful Eight, he’s happy to be the butt of the joke.
Tatum’s effortless charm allows Gambit to be both laughable and cool, especially as the movie progresses. After spending several minutes laughing at Gambit, we viewers feel compelled to cut him some slack when he gets to charge a whole deck in slow-motion. It’s unnecessarily flashy, especially in the middle of a battle that director Shawn Levy mostly shoots with chaotic handheld cameras and lots of cuts. In an action sequence that is tediously directed, we’ve got to admit this moment looks cool.
So cool, in fact, that star Ryan Reynolds released a deleted scene to grateful and excited fans. The scene finds Gambit’s body in the wreckage of the battle on Cassandra Nova’s hordes. His eyes begin to glow, suggesting that he has not died, teasing more Gambit adventures in one universe or another.
From the Big Easy to the Big Time
Will a Gambit solo movie finally happen? Yes, Deadpool & Wolverine made a ton of money and Tatum’s Gambit was a highlight, but it’s hard to imagine the beleaguered MCU putting too much money in a revival of a movie series that never actually happened.
Even if Tatum doesn’t get to strap on the headsock again, he succeeded in making Gambit a viable character in a year that has turned out to be about reclaiming the Ragin’ Cajun. Between Tatum’s take in Deadpool & Wolverine, Simone and Marquez’s story in Uncanny X-Men, and the thrilling first season of X-Men ’97, Gambit’s ready to hit the big time once again… even if he has to endure a few giggles along the way.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now streaming on Disney+.
The post Deadpool & Wolverine Caps the Best Year Gambit Ever Had appeared first on Den of Geek.
