This story contains major, MAJOR spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine. Seriously, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
If I had a nickel for every time a summer superhero blockbuster brought back a beloved actor to play a role from an unproduced film, I’d have two nickels—which admittedly isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice. Like last year’s The Flash, which reached deep into Tim Burton lore for a back-for-the-first-time cameo by Nicolas Cage as Superman, Deadpool & Wolverine features the return of some classic Marvel characters from the pre-MCU 2000s. But one appearance might have left a few folks scratching their heads, and that’s Channing Tatum, playing the X-Man known as Gambit.
A bit of context here first. (Deep breath.) The main plot of Deadpool & Wolverine involves the two heroes falling into the Void, which is where the Time Variance Authority—known as the TVA, and featured prominently in the Disney+ series Loki—sends discarded or troublesome characters to live out their days. In Loki, it was full of different versions of the show’s titular lead. In Deadpool & Wolverine, it’s a sort of Mad Max wasteland full of a wide variety of characters, from Bryan Singer-era X-Men villains like Pyro and Toad to the film’s primary antagonist, a new-to-the-big-screen villain called Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). Heroes are hard to find in this world, but around the film’s midpoint, Deadpool and Wolverine encounter four of them—X-23 (Dafne Keen), Blade (Wesley Snipes), Elektra (Jennifer Garner), and Tatum, as the New Orleans-born master thief Gambit. (Long exhale.)
Tatum’s history with the Ragin’ Cajun dates back to 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand. The actor told GQ’s Chris Heath in 2014 that he was nearly cast in the part before the role was ultimately written out of the movie altogether. Considering how that film turned out, it’s probably for the best. Tatum was included in discussions to bring Gambit into X-Men Origins: Wolverine before scheduling conflicts with G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra made him unable to participate. As such, Friday Night Lights star Taylor Kitsch stepped into the role, and signed a deal to play the character in three solo movies—except, because Origins: Wolverine was, uh, quite poor, none of Kitsch’s Gambit movies ever materialized.
Tatum mentioned to Heath that Gambit was “the only superhero I really followed.… He was the most real to me: smoking, drinking, women-loving, thief. He just looked cool to me. I’ve always loved him. And obviously he’s Cajun.” Tatum grew up near New Orleans, and his father was from the area. In May 2014, Tatum’s involvement in a solo Gambit project was confirmed, with plans to introduce the character in X-Men: Apocalypse, although that notion was later scrapped.
