Gambit (Marvel Comics)
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 | It has been suggested that Courier (comics) be merged into this article. (Discuss) Proposed since January 2008. |
| Gambit | |
|---|---|
| File:Newgambit.jpg Gambit. Art by Chris Bachalo. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | Uncanny X-Men #266 (August 1990) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont Jim Lee |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Remy LeBeau |
| Species | Human Mutant |
| Team affiliations | Marauders Horsemen of Apocalypse X-Men XSE Thieves' Guild Crimson Pirates |
| Notable aliases | Le Diable Blanc, Robert Lord, Death, The Witness (alternate reality) |
| Abilities | Ability to charge matter with explosive bio-kinetic energy, Hypnotic charm, superhuman acrobat, Skilled hand-to-hand combatant and strategist, Master with a staff, Master thief |
Gambit (Remy LeBeau) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superhero that has been a member of the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Jim Lee, the character first appeared in Uncanny X-Men #266 (August 1990). As of 2007, there have been two attempts at an ongoing title starring the character. Gambit also had two different mini-series and starred prominently in the X-Force replacement title during the Age of Apocalypse: Gambit & the X-Ternals.
A mutant, Gambit possesses the ability to manipulate kinetic energy as well as limited hypnosis. He is also skilled in the use of a Bō, card throwing, and hand-to-hand combat.
A professional thief, few X-Men trusted Gambit when he first joined the group, a source of stress between him and his longtime on and off again love interest Rogue. This was exacerbated when his connections to villain Mister Sinister were revealed, although some of his team members accept that Gambit honestly seeks redemption.
The X-Men's self-described ladies man, Gambit has shown a more vulnerable side of himself over the years, especially when it comes to Rogue, his love. Gambit remains fiercely proud of his Louisiana heritage, and speaks in a very thick New Orleans, Cajun accent.
One of his defining traits is that he used to be a chain smoker, along with Wolverine. However, with Marvel's later anti-smoking policy, this trait has completely vanished.[citation needed]
Publication history
Gambit appeared on the X-Men animated series and in video games. He also starred in two solo series, one lasting from 1998 through 2001 and the other 2004 though 2005. He also starred in two miniseries of his own, the first having been released in 1993 and the other in 1997. Additionally, "Gambit & X-Ternals", published in 1995, featured a group of renegade mutants lead by Gambit who has been living on the edge of law during the Age of Apocalypse.
Fictional character biography
Early life
Remy LeBeau was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was kidnapped from the hospital where he was raised by the Thieves Guild, and given to the Antiquary as a tribute.
They referred to the child as "le diable blanc" ("the white devil") and believed he was prophesied to unite the warring Thieves and Assassins Guilds. Soon after, Remy was placed in the care of Fagan's Mob, a gang of street thieves who raised the child and taught him the ways of thievery. After living as an orphan on the streets, a 10 year-old Remy attempted to pick the pocket of Jean-Luc LeBeau, then patriarch of the Thieves Guild. Jean-Luc took the boy off the streets and adopted him into his own family.
Remy's bio kinetic charging abilities manifested early in his teens, although he kept it secret from his family and friends, practicing his powers away from prying eyes. When he was 15, he accompanied his best friend Etienne Marceaux on his "Tilling", the ritual initiation test of the Thieves Guild. However, it went awry as they were assigned to steal from the powerful immortal mutant Candra, who quickly captured them. Candra recognised Remy from an encounter that had taken place in her past but in his future (due to a time travel mission to the 19th Century Remy would take as an adult) and sold them to the deformed, mutant gangster and child slave trader known as the Pig, who planned to sell them and others their age on to HYDRA as boy soldiers. Remy used his powers to escape their holding pen, but the physically enhanced Pig quickly caught up to them. Remy discovered his signature attack when he picked up a playing card that the downed Etienne had dropped, charged it and threw it in the Pig's face, taking out his eye. Finally escaping his cliff top headquarters by diving into the sea, Remy was ultimately rescued by the Guild; Etienne drowned.
In an attempt to reconcile the Thieves and Assassins Guilds, Remy married Bella Donna Boudreaux, granddaughter of the head Assassin, whom he had met at age 8. Unfortunately, he was challenged by her brother Julien to a duel after the wedding. In the duel, Gambit killed Julien, and he was exiled from the city, ending his relationship with Bella Donna.
The Mutant Massacre
After his exile from New Orleans, he wandered the world and became a master thief, making many contacts (and quite a few enemies). During this period, Gambit found he had an uncontrollable amount of energy flowing through him, to the point that he could not withstand it. Desperate, Gambit went to Mister Sinister for help. Sinister modified Gambit's power, making him significantly less powerful, but able to control the still considerably large amount of power in him.
However, Sinister wanted the favor returned, so Gambit carried out various missions for him. For the last of these operations, Gambit gathered together a group of mercenaries which Sinister named the Marauders. The group included the mutant Sabretooth as one of its members. Gambit was then ordered to lead the Marauders into the tunnels under New York City. He lead Sabretooth, Blockbuster, Prism and Riptide there, while unknown to Gambit, Scalphunter, Arclight, Harpoon, Malice, Scrambler and Vertigo followed the Morlock Tommy into the tunnels. Their goal was to wipe out the Morlocks. Gambit was unable to prevent the Marauders from killing a considerable number of Morlocks, but he was able to save one, a child. Her name was Sarah, and she would grow up to be Marrow, the leader of the mutant terrorist group Gene Nation. Gambit long kept his involvement in the mission a secret from his fellow X-Men, much to their eventual displeasure.
X-Men
After wandering around the world, he rescued a de-aged and powerless Storm from Nanny and the Orphan-Maker[1]. Afterwards, the young amnesiac, who had reverted to thieving to stay alive, joined Gambit, and she eventually brought him back to the X-Men. Only Wolverine had his doubts about the Cajun, which led to a Danger Room duel between the two. Gambit was able to triumph by using a robotic doppelganger of Lady Deathstrike to distract Wolverine, while taking advantage of Wolverine's injuries, inflicted by the Reavers.
When the original five X-Men rejoined and the team was divided into two squads, Gambit became part of the Blue team under Cyclops’ leadership. He became interested in one of his teammates in particular, Rogue, and started flirting with her, despite her off-putting manner and the obstacle of her uncontrollable power that prevented anyone from touching her. It should be noted that their relationship was originally written as a one time, flirtatious moment. Many publishing years later, it had become apparent Remy had a dark secret. Sabretooth had hinted to it on numerous occasions during his "residency" at the X-Mansion, prompting Rogue to ask him to reveal whatever he knew about Gambit's past. Remy was captured and brought before a mock trial held by Magneto, the mutant Master of Magnetism, then disguised as Erik the Red[2]. Rogue was forced to kiss him again, revealing that he had assembled the team of Marauders for Mr. Sinister that later killed most of the Morlocks. However it was also revealed that Gambit saved a single girl from the Marauders during the massacre. This apparent revelation and absorbing Gambit's own guilty memories caused Rogue to reject him. Gambit was similarly cast out of the X-Men and was abandoned in the frozen wastes of Antarctica.
Starving to death and haunted by the betrayal of his love (Rogue), Gambit made his way back into Magneto's citadel, where he encountered the psionic essence of a dead mutant named Mary Purcell. The wraith-like Mary bonded with him, allowing him to survive until he reached the Savage Land, a hidden jungle nestled in the icy wasteland. There, Remy struck a deal with the enigmatic being known as the New Son. In exchange for passage back to America, Gambit agreed to run errands for the New Son with the help of friend Jacob Gavin Jr..
When Gambit's psyche absorption had worn off, Rogue spent months searching for him, to no avail. Gambit encountered the X-Men again when he attempted to steal the fabled Crimson Gem of Cyttorak for his new employer. He agreed to return to the team, mainly for his self-respect and for Rogue. At one point he became the field leader of a branch of X-Men. His love for Rogue was still intact, but her inability to control her powers made her break it off out of fear of hurting him.
Meanwhile, the New Son revealed his true identity after organizing an assassination game for a cadre of super-powered mercenaries with Remy as the target. The attempt failed, and Remy learned that the New Son was an alternate reality version of himself. In his reality, the New Son's kinetic charging powers had flared out of control, burning the world and killing everyone but himself. This incredible power was the reason for his true name, New Sun — not "son" as Remy previously thought.
Bishop's future
In Bishop's future timeline, Biship stumbles upon a video from the past with Jean Grey making a frantic call to any X-Men she can find. She says that the X-Men have been betrayed by "one of their own" and it appears in the video that she is the last one left and is killed in the video. Disturbed by this, Bishop seeks "The Witness", a man who is said to be the last person who has ever seen the X-Men of the past alive. He enters a citadel of sorts where he confronts an old and withered but plucky man with long gray hair sitting on a throne, with two blonde women to either side of him. When Bishop confronts him as to who killed the X-Men the Witness acts as though he knows, but refuses to tell and Bishop is thrown out of the citadel.
When Bishop comes to the X-Men in their original timeline, he meets Gambit and is sure that he is the same old man in Bishop's future and that it was Gambit who was the "Traitor" that killed the X-Men. For some time, he continues to watch Gambit's every step until he is finally convinced some time later that Gambit was not the Traitor (with the Onslaught being revealed to be the traiter). The reason behind Gambit being called the Witness in Bishop's timeline has not been revealed.
X-Treme X-Men: XSE
When Storm led a team of X-Men in search of Destiny's diaries, the thirteen-volume Books of Truth, Gambit volunteered to join them, but Rogue - afraid that her increasingly uncontrolled powers would bring him harm - flatly refused to allow him along. He returned to thievery instead, and was soon after framed by mutant businessman Sebastian Shaw for the death of the Australian crime lord named Viceroy. With the assistance of Rogue, Storm's team of X-Treme X-Men, and former Triad member Red Lotus, Gambit was able to clear his name. Soon after, Remy became embroiled in the X-Men's fight against an alien invasion of Earth led by the interdimensional warlord Khan, after trying to assemble the "Madripoor Set," a group of seven gems. The X-Treme team's enemy, the enhanced human named Vargas, used the invasion as a chance to attempt to kill more of Storm's team, going after Rogue and Gambit. Rogue tried to shield Remy against Vargas' sword, but he impaled them both as a reward for her fidelity. Both Rogue and Gambit survived, but lost their mutant abilities (for a time). As a result, the couple sought to live a normal life and sort out their relationship, retiring from the X-Men temporarily.
Horseman of Apocalypse
Rogue's foster mother Mystique was displeased with Rogue's choice of lovers and infiltrated Xavier's Institute by shape shifting into a student called Foxx. She joined Gambit's squad in an attempt to ruin his relationship with Rogue. After Gambit resisted her charms, Mystique reverted to her true form and then offered Gambit something significantly more difficult to refuse: she transformed into Rogue and offered Gambit a Rogue with whom he could have a physical relationship. Rogue eventually discovered her mother's presence in the school. Upon the return of Apocalypse, Gambit submitted himself to the villain and was transformed into one of Apocalypse's Horsemen, Death. Gambit intended to infiltrate himself into Apocalypse's ranks in order to protect the X-Men from the Dark Lord's eventual betrayal, but he miscalculated, as the transformation process warped his mind as well as his body. After becoming Death, Gambit's hair turned white and his skin turned deep black. Despite having his mind and body twisted, Gambit retained a large portion of his former self, stating to Apocalypse, "I'm both Death and Gambit," and he also remembered his love for Rogue as he could not bring himself to kill her.
Gambit and Sunfire then returned to the Xavier Institute to claim Polaris. Gambit, in an attempt to free all ties with his old self, tried to kill Rogue and would have been successful had it not been for Pulse neutralizing Gambit's powers.
After the X-Men defeated Apocalypse, Sunfire left with Gambit to help him clear Apocalypse's brainwashing and live as entirely new beings, only to then be approached by Mister Sinister.
Marauders and Mr. Sinister
Gambit returned to his original appearance and powers (presumably with the aid of Mr. Sinister) and re-emerged as a member of the Marauders, invading the Xavier Institute to destroy the X-Men.[3] On a mission for Mr. Sinister (involving obtaining knowledge of the future) Gambit and Sunfire encountered Cable on the recently evacuated island of Providence. Before the fight Gambit said, "I dropped that whole new look, wit' the help of a friend." He then asked Cable for use of his super-computer to answer a question referring to the phrase "one minute before dawn", which tied into the then upcoming Messiah Complex storyline. As a result, Gambit and Sunfire attacked him eventually forcing Cable to activate a self-destruct sequence destroying the entire island.[4] Gambit and Sunfire escaped empty handed. During the fight, Cable noted that Gambit's accent sounded 'forced' either for comic effect or perhaps to indicate that things may not be as 'back to normal' as they seem with Gambit.[5] As Gambit returned to Mr. Sinister's base to discuss the next step of the plan, he reprimanded Mystique for shooting Rogue when they abducted her, being placated only by Mr. Sinister's assurance that Rogue was still needed and would survive. In a recent confrontation with Cannonball and Iceman, he seemed to sympathize with a beaten Cannonball. He interfered when Scalphunter was about to kill Cannonball by attacking Cannonball and by his actions he was able to save Cannonball from certain death. At the same time, he also destroyed Destiny's diaries, preventing Sinister and the Marauders from getting them.[6]
Gambit is personally targeted by Wolverine during the X-Men's assault on Sinister's Antarctic base[7]. After being tortured by the Canadian mutant, Gambit reveals that Cable has the baby before Sinister manages to regain the advantage and drive the X-Men off with Gambit later revealed not to be harmed. Later, as Biship attempts to kill the baby (after imobolizing Cable), Gambit and several of Marauders quickly stop Biship with Gambit bringing a section of the ceiling down on Bishop. Knowing the X-Men will arrive in moments, the Marauders depart with the baby, but not before Gambit ponders what could make Bishop turn on the X-Men[8].
Later the X-Men found, by using Cerebra to track Gambit, that the Marauders hideout was on the Muir Island. However, what they didn't know is that Gambit let them track him. It appears that Gambit has along with Mystique plans of their own for the newborn mutant as seen in X-Factor #27, when he presents the baby to Sinister, who in turn reveals himself as Mystique while the real Sinister lies on the floor in a pool of his own blood, apparently dead with shock etched into his face.
Powers and abilities
Gambit's mutant ability allows him to charge inanimate objects with unstable kinetic energy. This usually causes the object in question to detonate after a controlled time restraint.
Gambit is skilled in card throwing and all aspects of thievery. One of his trademark tricks is to hurl playing cards at an opponent, charging each card and turning it into a deadly projectile. His other tricks have included charging a wad of chewing gum when he was otherwise entirely tied up and charging the floor of an entire room, causing it to explode with great force. One of Gambit's most powerful attacks consists of charging a whole deck of cards and hurling them at an opponent.
Gambit's power provides him with superhuman agility, flexibility, dexterity, speed, reflexes, coordination, and balance, possessing all the physical attributes of a human body naturally evolved for constant motion as a living generator of bio-kinetic energies. This also creates static interference around him at all times making him immune to telepathic probes, and at the peak of his powers, this grew to become a constant ambient bio-kinetic aura around his body which neutralized all other mutant powers which involved direct physical contact upon his person, allowing him to actually touch Rogue physically.
Gambit possesses a subtle hypnotic charm. He can compel people to believe what he says is true though some minds have proven to be immune, and it has been stated that for his charm to work, the other person has to not be aware of it. It has been theorized in the Marvel guidebooks that Gambit is able to achieve this by bio-kinetically charging the brain matter of the target individual.
Gambit customarily wears a suit of highly articulated light body armor and his weapon of choice is a telescopic metal staff. He is extensively trained in martial arts, particularly French kick-boxing or savate, which coupled with his Thieves Guild training and natural mutant abilities, makes him a superhuman combatant.
In his youth, Gambit was able to control all forms of kinetic energy, allowing him to charge all matter within his line of sight by mere thought alone, but his failure to control it caused him to turn to Mister Sinister (it was hinted that it led him to accidentally massacre a theater full of people). Sinister excises the portion of his brain stem responsible for his full mutant powers. Later, he returned to Sinister while he was in Victorian England, and had his grey matter surgically reimplanted, restoring his abilities to their full potential until he burns them out after fighting the New Son. However, the jumpstart of his mutation by Sage, which restored his powers when the XSE rejoined the Xmen, leaves the possibility that he may someday yet regain the full use of his abilities.
After losing his eyesight, it was shown that Gambit may possibly be skilled in tarot reading, as he was able to foresee future events using his playing cards.
As the Horseman Death, Gambit has shown the ability to convert inert materials into toxic substances, such as transforming breathable air into poisonous gases and also potentially the ability to ingest diseases and plagues similar to one of Famine (Polaris's) powers. He has not shown his Death/Gambit powers since his reappearance as a member of Sinister's Marauders
Other versions
In addition to his mainstream incarnation, Gambit has had been depicted in other fictional universes.
In other media
Cartoons
Marvel animated universe
- Gambit was one of the starring X-Men characters in the X-Men animated television series of the 1990s, in which he was voiced by Chris Potter until Potter left in 1996 and was replaced by Tony Daniels until the series ended. One particular episode features the time traveler Bishop. He accuses Gambit of betraying the X-Men by assassinating Senator Robert Kelly. The traitor is revealed to be the shape-shifting Mystique disguised as Gambit. This episode was clearly modeled after a combination of the Days of Future Past story arc (in which an alternate future version of Kitty Pryde traveled back in time to prevent Kelly's assassination) and the buildup to the Onslaught crossover (in which Bishop accused Gambit of being the one who would betray the X-Men). Another episode explored Gambit's past as a member of the Guild of Thieves, and his relationship with Bella Donna.
- He also guest starred in Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the 1990s in first the fourth and fifth episodes of Season 2, along with the rest of the X-Men.
X-Men: Evolution
- In the X-Men: Evolution animated TV series, Gambit appeared in a few episodes as a henchman of Magneto, and was voiced by Alessandro Juliani. This version of Gambit is noteworthy for taking liberties with the character; he didn't join the X-Men and appeared to enjoy working for Magneto, displaying sociopathic tendencies behind his charming exterior. Originally, his flirtatious moments with Rogue were meant to be an inside reference for fans of the comic books, but fan demand led the producers to pursue the relationship a little more seriously. Towards the end of the show's run, an episode featured Gambit kidnapping Rogue in an attempt to manipulate her into helping him rescue Jean-Luc LeBeau from the Assassins Guild (re-named The Rippers to be more kid-friendly, although it should be noted that in the 1990s X-Men animated series they were called "The Assassins" and Gambit himself stated "thieves kill assassins, assassins kill thieves") and parting ways at the end on friendly terms. Remy states in the episode that his favorite card is the Queen of Hearts, whereas in the '90s animated series and comics it is highly believed that his favorite card is the Ace of Spades. In a screenshot from the future, it is shown that Gambit will join the X-Men. In his first appearance, Gambit appeared with normal eyes (black pupils and white iris, as seen in the picture), which were later modified into how they look in the comics (black iris and red pupils).
- In the anime, Rurouni Kenshin, the character Jin-e the Manslayer is based on Gambit's likeness. Shinomori Aoshi's coat and double-kodachi are borrowed from Gambit. Aoshi's kodachi are based on Gambit's cue stick/bō.
Video games
- Gambit first appeared in the Super Nintendo game Spider-Man and the X-Men: Arcade's Revenge.
- Sega Genesis games X-Men and X-Men 2: Clone Wars both feature him as a starting playable character as well.
- He is a playable character in the X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse game for the Super Nintendo.
- Gambit is featured in some games from the Marvel vs. Capcom series, which is voiced by Tony Daniels, his second voice from the '90s cartoon.
- He also appears in both of the X-Men: Mutant Academy games.
- He is a playable character in the video games X-Men: Next Dimension, X-Men Legends, and in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse.
- Gambit was one of the X-Men that were taken out by Doctor Doom in the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Doomsday cutscene.
Films
- In X2 his name was seen on a screen among a list of other mutants when Mystique hacks the system of William Stryker for information on different mutants.
- An early leaked script suggested that Gambit would be included in X-Men: The Last Stand as a minor character. Josh Holloway was offered the role but declined it due to it being too similar to his character on Lost. Also, an interview with producer Lauren Shuler Donner reveals that Channing Tatum auditioned for the role, before the character was cut [1]. In an interview with Wizard magazine, WWE professional wrestler Greg 'The Hurricane' Helms said that he had planned to read for the part before the change of producers and director.[2] According to the audio commentary of X-Men: The Last Stand, Gambit was to appear in the prison convoy scene of the movie, before the character was cut.
- In Chris Claremont's novelization of the X2 movie, Gambit is one of the mutants seen being affected by Dark Cerebro. He is playing cards in a New Orleans bar when he suddenly falls in pain from the machine's activation and causes a table to explode. In the X3 novelization, he is a new student at the mansion being trained by Wolverine, along with Cannonball, Danielle Moonstar, and Sage.
Toys
Gambit has had many action figures produced of him since his comic debut, the first being released less than a year after his first appearance.
- The first was released in 1992 in Toy Biz's X-Men toy line. He featured a removable plastic trenchcoat, staff, and had a kicking action feature when a button on his back was pressed. This figure was rereleased in the first X-Men Classics line.
- The second Gambit figure had a much better sculpt, and had a non-removable vinyl trenchcoat. He also came with his trademark staff, and also had an action feature. This time it was a light-up feature, with which he could appear to be throwing several playing cards. This version also had a variant, which featured Gambit wearing a blue and yellow uniform, meant to resemble the original X-Men uniforms.
- Gambit was also featured in the X-Men Robot Fighters subline, which was meant to simulate the various characters training in the Danger Room. This version of Gambit did not come with a coat or staff, but did come with a training robot that he could battle.
- He was also featured in the X-Men Power Slammers line, wearing the Shi'ar armor that he wore during the "Trial of Gambit" storyline.
- Gambit also had an exclusive release in the BJ's Wholesale exclusive X-Men Strike Team set, which featured all the X-Men characters wearing the classic blue and yellow X-Men uniforms.
- X-Men vs. Street Fighter also released a Gambit figure, as well as a variant. The standard version used the body, arms, and legs from the Light-up Gambit, and a newly sculpted head. He came with a spring loaded arm that could throw a playing card when pulled back and released. The variant was painted in the "Player 2" colors of the character, featuring a blue trench coat.
- Gambit has appeared in the Marvel Legends toy line, in series 4 and in the X-Men legends box set (with leather trenchcoat instead of cloth).
Footnotes
References
- Articles lacking sources from December 2007
- Articles to be merged from January 2008
- Fictional adoptees
- Fictional Cajuns
- Fictional Catholics
- Fictional characters from New Orleans
- Fictional kickboxers
- Fictional martial artists
- Fictional mercenaries
- Fictional schoolteachers
- Fictional thieves
- Marvel Comics martial artists
- Marvel Comics mutants
- Marvel Comics superheroes
- Marvel Comics supervillains