How Can Channing Tatum's Bonkers Gambit Work In Avengers: Doomsday?

"Deadpool & Wolverine" was a big surprise — not that it would be a hugely successful blockbuster hit, but that the film's approach to cameos and guest appearances would actually have some thematic substance to it. The movie spends most of its runtime in The Void from "Loki," where discarded, unwanted aberrations go to die. Except there's more. In the movie, the people we meet in The Void are characters from 20th Century Fox movies. Not the fan-favorite characters from beloved and influential hits like "X-Men," but rather Jennifer Garner's Elektra, Chris Evans' Johnny Storm from "Fantastic Four," and of course, Channing Tatum's Gambit from the unproduced "Gambit" movie.

His cameo doesn't exactly feel like a logical fit, as his character never even made it to the screen before this and the only audience members who would understand the joke are those who read sites like /Film and knew Tatum once spent years trying to make a "Gambit" movie. Still, he ended up being a scene-stealer character, thanks in huge part to Tatum's insistence of doing a Cajun accent to mimic the character from "X-Men: The Animated Series."

Gambit works within the confines of something like "Deadpool & Wolverine," which is not serious and for the most part plays fast and loose with continuity and canon. This is why it's so surprising to see Tatum amongst the army of chairs representing (part of) the cast of "Avengers: Doomsday."

So how exactly is his return going to work? We have some ideas.

We know Gambit didn't die at the end of "Deadpool & Wolverine," but does that mean that we're stuck with this comic relief version of him? Lots of folks are wondering how the character as portrayed by Tatum in that movie will fit with a serious, epic "Avengers" movie.

The key here is the multiverse. Though it seems that "Avengers: Doomsday" will specifically focus on characters from the original "X-Men" movie, the film could simply use those characters but ignore the plot of those movies by setting the characters in another universe. This means they could easily have fan-favorite actors reprise the roles, but, say, have them wear comic-accurate suits without contradicting what we all saw in the previous movies. And if you're already doing that, why not pretend like Gambit was part of whatever universe those X-Men characters are from? That way we can have Channing Tatum play Gambit, have him interact with Rogue and Professor X, and not even acknowledge that he was technically never a part of those movies.

The other, easier solution is to just ignore Tatum's performance from "Deadpool & Wolverine." Fans could write it up to Gambit temporarily losing his mind from being in The Void and him getting better once he managed to escape, so he can act like a more traditional version of the character in the upcoming movie. In either case, the prospect of Gambit finally being part of a new X-Men story is extremely exciting. 

"Avengers: Doomsday" hits theaters on May 1, 2026.