This story accommodates main, MAJOR spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine. Critically, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
If I had a nickel for each time a summer time superhero blockbuster introduced again a beloved actor to play a task from an unproduced movie, I’d have two nickels—which admittedly isn’t rather a lot, however it’s bizarre that it’s occurred twice. Like final yr’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 options the return of some traditional Marvel characters from the pre-MCU 2000s. However one look may need left a couple of of us scratching their heads, and that is Channing Tatum, enjoying the X-Man often known as Gambit.
A little bit of context right here first. (Deep breath.) The primary plot of Deadpool & Wolverine entails the 2 heroes falling into the Void, which is the place the Time Variance Authority—often known as the TVA, and featured prominently within the Disney+ sequence Loki—sends discarded or troublesome characters to reside out their days. In Loki, it was full of various variations of the present’s titular lead. In Deadpool & Wolverine, it is a kind of Mad Max wasteland filled with all kinds of characters, from Bryan Singer-era X-Males villains like Pyro and Toad to the movie’s major antagonist, a new-to-the-big-screen villain known as Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). Heroes are arduous to seek out on this world, however across the movie’s midpoint, Deadpool and Wolverine encounter 4 of them—X-23 (Dafne Eager), Blade (Wesley Snipes), Elektra (Jennifer Garner), and Tatum, because the New Orleans-born grasp thief Gambit. (Lengthy exhale.)
Tatum’s historical past with the Ragin’ Cajun dates again to 2006’s X-Males: The Final Stand. The actor advised GQ’s Chris Heath in 2014 that he was practically forged within the half earlier than the position was finally written out of the film altogether. Contemplating how that movie turned out, it’s most likely for the very best. Tatum was included in discussions to deliver Gambit into X-Males Origins: Wolverine earlier than scheduling conflicts with G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra made him unable to take part. As such, Friday Night time Lights star Taylor Kitsch stepped into the position, and signed a deal to play the character in three solo films—besides, as a result of Origins: Wolverine was, uh, fairly poor, none of Kitsch’s Gambit films ever materialized.
Tatum talked about to Heath that Gambit was “the one superhero I actually adopted.… He was essentially the most actual to me: smoking, consuming, women-loving, thief. He simply regarded cool to me. I’ve at all times cherished him. And clearly he’s Cajun.” Tatum grew up close to New Orleans, and his father was from the world. In Could 2014, Tatum’s involvement in a solo Gambit mission was confirmed, with plans to introduce the character in X-Males: Apocalypse, though that notion was later scrapped.
