Is 2024 the year of Gambit? The Ragin’ Cajun has been popping up a lot this year, from a show-stopping role in the animated X-Men ‘97 to a cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine. It’s the latter that feels like the biggest surprise, as Gambit is played by none other than Channing Tatum.
Among all the winks, nods, and cameos in Deadpool & Wolverine, Tatum’s role in the multiversal film is by far the most niche. It’s the kind of fan service that connects with a studious sect of fans, if only because of the years of history behind the casting choice. Gambit has been trying to make his way into live-action since X-Men’s Fox films were in their early stages, and Tatum himself has been circling the role for 15 years. Unlike the other cameos in Deadpool & Wolverine, which gave established pre-MCU heroes the opportunity to close their stories, Tatum makes his first appearance as Gambit. But will this be the last we see of the actor?
Why Channing Tatum’s Gambit matters
Not unlike Ryan Reynolds’ own quest to get Deadpool made, Tatum worked for almost a decade to bring Gambit to the big screen. The actor was always a top contender to portray the character in an X-Men film, and was considered for the role as early as 2003. For one reason or another, though, Tatum never got the chance to bring Gambit to life.
Gambit has only appeared in one live-action X-Men film, 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the same film that marked Reynolds’ first appearance as Deadpool. Tatum couldn’t star in the film due to scheduling conflicts, so the role went to Taylor Kitsch, but Tatum never gave up on playing the mutant in a film of his own. He spent most of the 2010s trying to develop a solo Gambit film with 20th Century Fox, but as directors came and went and the story faltered, Gambit eventually ran out of road. Things finally ground to a halt when Disney merged with Fox in 2019, but Tatum’s role in Deadpool & Wolverine is clearly a consolation prize for a decade of work behind the scenes.
Shawn Levy almost directed Gambit
Tatum’s Gambit cameo was also the result of his rapport with Shawn Levy. The Deadpool & Wolverine director has witnessed Tatum’s passion firsthand, and in another timeline, he might have been the man to helm Fox’s Gambit film. “Back in those years, I was one of 25 different directors who met with Channing about directing the Fox Gambit movie,” Levy recently told Variety. The filmmaker clearly remembered Tatum when he and Reynolds began to brainstorm for Deadpool & Wolverine. “When we decided to have Gambit in this movie, we knew it would be deeply gratifying for Channing.”
Gambit initially seems to perish after Deadpool & Wolverine’s big battle in the Void, but a blink-and-miss-it moment in the film’s post-credits scene leaves his fate open-ended. That means Tatum’s Gambit is technically hanging out somewhere in the multiverse.
Could Channing Tatum and Shawn Levy bring Gambit to the MCU?
Levy doesn’t yet have plans for a Deadpool & Wolverine follow-up, but he is interested in helming another Marvel movie. “I don’t know what form my Marvel future will take, but I’m very confident Marvel and I aren’t done with each other,” he told Variety. So we could see Levy return in a future film, including one that centers another character from Deadpool & Wolverine.
Notably, Deadpool & Wolverine is meant to be a standalone story that gives forgotten Fox characters a satisfying end. Even if Gambit is still alive and kicking, no one knows if he’ll pop up in another film. At this point, it’s up to Marvel Studios, but there’s a chance that Deadpool & Wolverine’s success could justify a return for these characters, maybe in a multiverse event like Avengers: Secret Wars.
There are also rumors that Tatum could make his way into Marvel’s Cinematic Universe as the timeline’s official Gambit. Marvel is reportedly working on its X-Men reboot, and will likely be searching for someone to help usher Gambit into the MCU. Though Tatum’s performance was mostly comic relief thanks to that baffling Cajun accent, Marvel’s X-Men could give the actor another chance to bring some depth to the character.
Gambit’s future is uncertain
A pessimist, however, would argue that the odds of Tatum appearing as Gambit again are probably slim. Deadpool & Wolverine isn’t meant to connect to the MCU. Like other multiverse projects, it was more interested in exploring possibilities and missed opportunities. Marvel clearly has other plans for its big reboots, and the studio hasn’t let any crowd-pleasing cameos derail them.
Multiverse of Madness introduced a variant of Reed Richards played by fan-favorite John Krasinski, but Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot took a different direction by casting Pedro Pascal as the same character. Wesley Snipes jokes about being the multiverse’s only Blade, but if Marvel has its way, Mahershala Ali will soon step into the role. If Marvel plans to reintroduce Gambit at all, it seems safe to assume he’ll be recast.
For now, it’s best to just enjoy Tatum’s Deadpool & Wolverine cameo, especially knowing the background of the casting. It took 15 years to do Gambit justice on the big screen; hopefully, Marvel won’t take nearly as long to bring the character back into the fold.
