“ | For the record now, just to make this official:... bang... you dead. | „ |
~ Gambit to Wolverine in Uncanny X-Men #273. |
“ | Admit it, mon ami, we actu'ly make a pretty good team... when we ain't tryin' t'kill each other. | „ |
~ Gambit to Bishop in X-Men #47. |
“ | My moral compass is just fine. I know what's right. | „ |
~ Gambit to Rogue in Mr. and Mrs. X #3. |
Gambit (real name Remy Etienne LeBeau) is a fictional character and superhero that appears in Marvel comics and its universe, appearing in the titular comics and the X-Men comics. He is a semi-reformed thief and member of the X-Men whose troubled past has sometimes come back to haunt him, on the whole however Gambit has left his past behind and is a hero - sharing an on-and-off romantic interest and wife with Rogue, despite the fact he couldn't touch her without fear of death.
He is sometimes referred to as the "Raging Cajun" and has the ability to charge objects with kinetic-energy via touch and cause them to explode. He has a liking of utilizing playing cards as weapons via using this power and this trait is what he is most famous for.
Born in the bayou of Louisiana, Remy LeBeau possesses a unique outlook on life — one that has gotten him into quite a lot of trouble with the law as well as with women. Despite his lapses, Remy normally uses his energy-charging abilities for the greater good.
He was created by Chris Claremont and Jim Lee and first appeared in Uncanny X-Men Annual in July of 1990 and Uncanny X-Men #266 in August of 1990.
History[]
Unlike other X-Men, Remy LeBeau, alias Gambit, walks on both sides of the law. Coming from the Cajun culture of New Orleans, Gambit takes pride in his talents as a thief. He is also a mutant with the ability to charge objects with kinetic energy generated by his body.
Gambit's trademark weapons are the playing cards he throws: imbued with energy, they explode on hitting their targets. A homeless boy living on the streets of New Orleans, Gambit was eventually adopted by Jean-Luc LeBeau, the leader of the legendary Thieves' Guild. Under his foster father's tutelage, Remy grew up to become a master thief himself.
As part of a peace agreement between the Thief's Guild and their rivals, the Assassins' Guild, a marriage was arranged between Remy and Bella Donna Boudreaux. Her brother, Julien, objected to the marriage and challenged the marriage and challenged Remy to a duel. When he wounded Julien, Remy was forced to leave the city to prevent a guild war. Turning his back on his past, Gambit traveled the world, playing his trade as a thief.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
The man that would one day be known as Gambit was abandoned at birth due to his burning red eyes, and he was kidnapped from the hospital ward by members of the New Orleans Thieves Guild. The guild referred to the child as "le diable blanc" (the white devil), and believed that he was the child prophesied to unite the warring guilds of New Orleans. Named Remy, he was placed in the care of a gang of street thieves who raised him and taught him how to be a thief. When he was ten years old, Remy attempted to pick the pocket of Jean-Luc LeBeau, but was stopped and adopted by LeBeau.
Remy was later commissioned to recover the diary of Nathaniel Essex from the Weapon X facility in Canada, and managed to get away with the diary due the Wolverine escaping. Appalled by the experiments at the facility, Remy burned the diary and later told Essex that the diary was lost. Remy was part of the arranged marriage between him and Bella Donna Boudreaux to make peace with the Assassin's Guild, but Bella Donna's brother Julien objected to the marriage. Changeling him to a duel, Julien battled Remy, but was killed in self-defense. Despite killing Julien in self-defense, he was excommunicated and banished from New Orleans to maintain an non-aggression act between the guilds.
Marauders[]
Remy wandered the world and used his thieving skills and ability to charge objects with explosive energy to survive, and employed playing cards with kinetic energy as his trademark weapon. He was approached by Mister Sinister for help in controlling his powers, and removed some of Remy's brain tissue to reduce his power to manageable levels. Now in debt to the geneticist, Remy was charged by Essex in assembling a team of mercenaries called the Marauders.
With the team assembled, Essex tasked Remy of leading them down into the Morlock tunnels, but wasn't aware that Mister Sinister wanted to massacre the Morlocks. When learning of Essex's true intentions, Remy attempted to stop his teammates, but was injured by Sabretooth and left for dead. Remy managed to rescue a young Morlock girl, who would one day grow up to become a superhero named Marrow.
The X-Men[]
After recovering from his wounds, Remy encountered Storm who had been transformed into an amnesiac child. He helped her escape from the psionic entity known as the Shadow King, and the two became partners by stealing to survive. Later, when Professor Charles Xavier returned from traveling in outer space, Storm sponsored Remy to be part of the X-Men. Remy soon fell in love with X-Men member Rogue, who had the power to absorb other mutants' thoughts and abilities via contact. Though she loves Remy, her power kept them apart at times. But after rekindling their relationship, Beast was able to adjust a mutant inhibitor collar for Rogue in X-Men #30, where Gambit proposed to Rogue, the two were able to touch until she was able to control her power in Mr. and Mrs. X #9.
Personality[]
“ | The X-Men are heroes. I'm a thief. | „ |
~ Gambit. |
A charming theft with a heart of gold and a ladies' man who was once a member of the Thieves Guild, but after taking a moral stand against the Guilds and the death of Julien Boudreaux, Gambit was exiled. Shortly after joining the X-Men, the Imperial Guard Gladiator was chocking Deathbird, feeling the need to do something Gambit stated, "Apologies Jubilee. I guess when you wear the uniform of a hero... hey I guess you sometime got to act the part." and attacked Gladiator (Uncanny X-Men #276). While he has somewhat of an ego, it's his way of maintaining strength, this ego along with his moral compass is what led him to join the X-Men and fall in love with Rogue.
Portrayals[]
Films[]
- In the X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he was portrayed by Taylor Kitsch, who also played John Carter in the titular film and Alex Hopper in Battleship.
- In Deadpool and Wolverine, he was portrayed by Channing Tatum, who also played Duke in G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Marcus Flavius Aquila in The Eagle, Greg Jenko in 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street and John Cale in White House Down, and voiced Joaquin Mondragon in The Book of Life and Migo in Smallfoot.
Television[]
- In X-Men: The Animated Series, he was voiced initially by Chris Potter and later Tony Daniels between the Season 5 episode The Fifth Horseman and the series finale, Graduation Day.
- The latter also voiced the character in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, X-Men: Mutant Academy, X-Men: Mutant Academy 2, and X-Men: Next Dimension.
- In X-Men: Evolution, he was voiced by Alessandro Juliani, who also voiced L in Death Note, Prince Nalu in Barbie: Fairytopia, Prince Julian in Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper, and Prince Carlos in Barbie: Mariposa series, Vakama and Tanma in the BIONICLE series.
- In Wolverine and the X-Men, he was voiced by Phil LaMarr, who voices Kotal Kahn in the Mortal Kombat series, Samurai Jack in the titular series, Kit Fisto in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Static in Static Shock.
- LaMarr also voiced the character in X-Men: Destiny and Lego Marvel Super Heroes.
Video Games[]
- In the X-Men Legends series, he was voiced by Scott MacDonald.
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, he was voiced by Michael Dunn.
- In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he was voiced by Chris Edgerly, who also voiced Cid Highwind in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
- In Marvel Heroes and Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order, he was voiced by Rick Pasqualone.
Quotes[]
“ | The gentleman assumes the pot is his to win... but I have a literal ace up my sleeve. | „ |
~ Gambit. |
“ | You can fool an honest man like Scott, Professor. But you can't fool a thief. It's like dat trick where you shuffe the ace of spades into a deck and it keeps finding its way back to the top. You keep coming back here. To these people. You asked Cyclops to define himself without the X-Men, Professor. You want to take the test yourself? | „ |
~ Gambit to Professor X. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Ranked 65th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time".
- Ranked 4th on ComicsAlliance's "50 Sexiest Male Characters in Comics" list in 2013.
- Gambit's three cats, Oliver, Lucifer and Figaro are named after three Disney films.
- Comic book writer Chris Claremont initially planned for Gambit to be an older clone of the character was originally going to be behind Mister Sinister.
- Writer James Asmus pitched the idea for Gambit to be bisexual during his Gambit 2012 series, but the idea was rejected.
- His name is based on a strategy in Chess.
- Gambit was originally intended to be a villain of sorts, with his origins tied to the supervillain Mr. Sinister.
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