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Avengers: Doomsdayis getting tantalizingly close, as Marvel Studios launches the first full trailer. The film is set to hit theaters on December 18, with the Russo Brothers back as directors. The film also marks the first time in Marvel's live-action history that the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Avengers all appear onscreen together.
As exciting as it is for Marvel's superheroes to come together onscreen like never before, there is one iconic mutant who has been officially erased by the upcoming crossover. The first trailer and synopsis for Avengers: Doomsday confirm that one of the most underrated mutants from Fox's X-Men franchise is disappearing forever. Thankfully, there's a silver lining.
Avengers: Doomsday Completely Erases Taylor Kitsch's Gambit
Gambit will return in Avengers: Doomsday after his most recent appearance in 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine. As exciting as this is for fans of the iconic X-Men character, it subtly erases one of the most underrated personalities from Fox's franchise. More than a decade after his introduction, Taylor Kitsch's iteration of the character has officially been erased from existence.
Taylor Kitsch made his first and only appearance as Remy LeBeau/Gambit in the 2009 prequel, X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Therein, he is presented as a longtime ally of Hugh Jackman's Logan Howlett/Wolverine, who joins him to help take down the villainous William Stryker and his vicious experimentation on mutants.
Gambit was most likely planned to be a much larger character in the wider X-Men franchise, especially given the mutant's popularity in Marvel Comics. Remy LeBeau is undoubtedly one of the most famous X-Men, thanks in no small part to his role in the beloved animated series and its sequel, X-Men '97. However, after the terrible reception to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, most of the characters from the film were forgotten by the live-action franchise, including Gambit.
Channing Tatum's Gambit made a surprise cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine, where he teams up with Deadpool, Wolverine, Elektra, X-23, and Blade to fight Cassandra Nova and her minions. At the time, this seemed like a generally harmless cameo, especially since it took place in the Void, the massive garbage dump of the multiverse. Tatum's version of the character could have come from any timeline. Avengers: Doomsday changes that.
The first official synopsis for Avengers: Doomsdayreveals that it will follow heroes from "three distinct universes," those being Earth-616 (the MCU, a.k.a. "The Sacred Timeline), Earth-838 (the timeline of the Fantastic Four), and Earth-10005 (the Fox X-Men timeline). The first full trailer further supports this by showing Channing Tatum's Gambit in the X-Mansion. The implication is clear: Taylor Kitsch's iteration of Gambit no longer exists.
Fox's X-Men franchise is no stranger to random and unexplained retcons, even when it comes to iconic mutants like Gambit. Multiple characters, including Archangel, Psylocke, Juggernaut, and even Deadpool, have been rebooted without explanation. The franchise chalks this up to its rampant time travel, even though this explanation still doesn't usually make sense. It seems that Gambit is just the latest X-Man to get this treatment.
Avengers: Doomsday officially establishes Channing Tatum as Earth-10005's Gambit, effectively erasing Taylor Kitsch's version of the character. This may have been inevitable, especially after the X-Men Origins iteration of Remy LeBeau lay dormant for over a decade. However, this has been Fox's plan for many years, even though it took the Marvel Cinematic Universe to finally bring these plans to fruition.
Channing Tatum Has Been Gunning for Gambit for Years
Those with elite Marvel knowledge may know that Channing Tatum wanted to play Gambit long before he appeared in Deadpool & Wolverine. The actor is very public about his love for the comic book character and has been heavily involved in the process of bringing him to the big screen for over a decade.
Tatum was reportedly in the running to play Remy LeBeau in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but eventually took himself out of consideration because of scheduling conflicts. Taylor Kitsch eventually got the role, making his one and only appearance as Gambit in the 2009 prequel. There were always plans to include Gambit in later X-Men projects, though Fox seemed most interested in giving the character his own solo project apart from the other mutants.
A Gambit spin-off film was first confirmed to be in production as far back as 2014 with Channing Tatum in the lead role. The plan was most likely to use the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past to retcon Kitsch's character in favor of a rebooted version of Remy LeBeau. The spin-off would have followed Tatum's mutant on the streets of New Orleans, taking the form of a smaller superhero movie far removed from the larger scale of the X-Men movies.
Later, it was reported that Tatum would make a cameo appearance in X-Men: Apocalypse, which was released in 2016. This would have set up the Gambit spin-off, which was already being looked at to spawn a whole new franchise surrounding Tatum's character. The actor even infamously appeared alongside the cast of X-Men: Apocalypse at a comic-con, despite having no official appearances in the franchise at that point.
When X-Men: Apocalypse hit theaters in 2016, Gambit was nowhere to be found, most likely because plans on his solo film had stalled. The spin-off was originally slated for an October 2016 release date, but was eventually pushed back. It cycled through a series of potential directors, all of whom either passed or eventually left the project. Included among those approached was Shawn Levy, who would eventually bring Tatum's wishes to life in Deadpool & Wolverine.
The Gambit solo film was continuously pushed further back on Fox's release slate all the way up until 2019, when the studio was purchased by Walt Disney Studios. The House of Mouse officially cancelled the project shortly thereafter when it was announced that the X-Men would be rebooted as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This was seemingly the end of Tatum's hopes of playing Gambit... until he made a surprise cameo in Deadpool & Wolverinea few years later.
After his fan-favorite appearance, Tatum was surprisingly asked back by Marvel Studios, making his Gambit the official version of the character in Earth-10005. While the mutant will most likely be recast for the MCU after the Multiverse Saga, Tatum at least has the chance to live out his dream of playing the card-dealing X-Man.
What to Expect from Avengers: Doomsday
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be one of the biggest cinematic events of all time. It is the first live-action Marvel project to bring together the studio's three most iconic superhero teams: The Avengers, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four. This moment seemed impossible only a few short years ago, but has now come to fruition thanks to Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox in 2019.
The film also brings back Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Victor von Doom, an incredibly powerful villain on a mission to save the multiverse by any means necessary. His version of salvation doesn't match those of the multiverse's heroes, however, leaving them with no choice but to team up and do everything in their power to stop him.
Doomsday will play into the events of Avengers: Secret Wars, which hits theaters in 2027. Together, the two films act as the conclusion of the Multiverse Saga and the swan song for long-running legacy characters like Fox's X-Men cast. This will most likely mark the final appearance of Channing Tatum's Gambit before the character is eventually rebooted in the MCU's future X-Men films.
Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18, 2026.
