If you are someone who is easily demotivated by setbacks, Channing Tatum is a person you can look up to as an idol to learn how not to. We all saw the insane performance delivered by Tatum as Gambit in Deadpool and Wolverine, and courtesy to him, the fandom of Gambit has multiplied by millions overnight. However, getting this character on the screen was not exactly a cakewalk for Tatum. Recently, Ryan Reynolds revealed a hidden scene from Deadpool and Wolverine confirming that Gambit survived the battle and was sent back to his original timeline. Now that he has been saved, I feel Channing Tatum deserves to play the character in a solo feature movie from the MCU.
When Was the First Time a Gambit Movie Became a Thing?
For those of you who don’t know, this is not the first time Channing Tatum has been cast to play Gambit. Tatum has always been the first choice to play Gambit for years now. Initially, Channing Tatum’s Gambit was supposed to make his first appearance in a role in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, however, due to scheduling conflicts, Taylor Kitsch was cast to play the character in this movie. Reportedly, he was signed on for multiple projects but the production of further Origins movies was canceled due to backlash from fans.
However, courtesy of Matthew Vaughn, the X-Men franchise was revived with X-Men: First Class in 2011, and with that, Fox Studios was all in to bring back Gambit with Channing Tatum bringing his dream to life. The movie was announced in 2014, and after that, Fox Studios started working on a war footing to make The Gambit happen. According to Fox’s slate, Gambit would make his first appearance in X-Men: Age of Apocalypse and would then appear in his full-length solo movie set to release on October 7, 2016, just six months after Apocalypse.
But Alas, Gambit Was Not Dealt a Good Hand
Soon after the script writing commenced, Gambit ran into a major problem. Fox could not find a director to work on this movie. Eventually, Rupert Wyatt was brought in to direct Gambit, but Fox being Fox, gave no creative liberty to a director known for his creative style. As a result, Wyatt left the Gambit movie just 2 months before it was supposed to begin production.
The script and costumes were ready for the movie, but losing the director was indeed a massive setback. However, Fox decided to move on and find themselves a new director. This time, Doug Liman was brought on board but he demanded rewrites in the script and would not do the movie without them. So, the script had to be rewritten which surpassed the original release date and Gambit was delayed indefinitely with Fox removing it from their release slate. However, once again, Doug Liman, the director, parted ways with Fox leaving Channing Tatum’s dream hanging in the middle.
Even after so much happening, Tatum was pretty enthusiastic about this movie happening and was continuously keeping fans updated regarding The Gambit Movie. He would appear at conventions and even made an appearance at the 2015 San Diego Comic Con to hype up the fans for Gambit. In 2018, Gore Verbinski was hired to direct Gambit, and things looked fine with Fox giving Gambit a release date of February 14, 2019. However, just like before, Gore also parted ways with Fox just 2 months before Gambit was supposed to start filming.
The Third Time Wasn’t a Charm For Gambit
After this, in 2019, Disney went ahead and bought 20th Century Fox. By this time, the only person who was hopeful for Gambit was Channing Tatum. Being from New Orleans, the same place Remy or Gambit was from, and also being an expert trickster with playing cards even in real life, this project was everything for Tatum.
Even though the producers said that Disney would not cancel the X-Men franchise and his Gambit movie, the first thing Disney did was axe projects that have been in production hell, and the first name on that list was The Gambit Movie. After three directors, three script rewrites, and continuous efforts by Channing, Gambit met an unfortunate end as a canceled project.
Ryan to the Rescue
Five years after this, Channing Tatum had lost all hope regarding his adaptation of Gambit. However, when everything failed, Ryan Reynolds appeared as the Ace of Spades for Tatum’s dream of playing Gambit. Ryan contacted Tatum to play Gambit in Deadpool and Wolverine, and even though he appeared in the movie for not that long, “Wuuuhemadeanmeforhimselfftheree”. After watching Tatum as Gambit, the fandom around Gambit skyrocketed, and watching Tatum do the lore-accurate Cajun accent and charge up playing cards and make them go boom one could only wonder how epic a solo Gambit movie would have been.
Is Gambit Coming Back to the MCU?
By the end of Deadpool and Wolverine, it was unclear if Gambit survived the final battle sequence or if he returned to his actual timeline. However, Ryan Reynolds posted a video telling us that Gambit did survive the battle and was sent back to his timeline. Most of us while watching the post-credit scene of Deadpool 3 thought that it was just a gag but as it turns out, this clip was hidden in one of the screens when Deadpool visited the TVA.
So yes, Gambit is up and alive and he is back in his world reinforcing the possibility of Gambit coming back in future Marvel projects.
So, Where Does Gambit Fit in the MCU?
After watching Channing Tatum’s magnifique performance as Gambit, people want to see him in future Marvel projects or even his solo movie. However, the real question is, where will Gambit fit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Recently, in an interview, Kevin Feige stated that from this point on, the Mutant era of Marvel is about to begin. We also know that Marvel is planning to reboot the X-Men and come up with their adaptation of the movie and Gambit would fit right in.
We already know that Doctor Doom will be the big bad guy in upcoming Avengers movies. The interesting thing here is Doctor Doom not only has a story with the Fantastic Four but also shares an enmity with the X-Men. This gives Marvel a lot of opportunities to bring in characters from the X-Men universes in the showdown between our heroes and Doctor Doom. Marvel can bring in Wolverine, X-23, and Gambit in Avengers Doomsday or even in Secret Wars. Well, as of now, it’s too early to say anything but yes, since the MCU is being reshaped, there is a lot of room for Marvel to fit Gambit and I hope they do.
