Marvel's most underrated X-Men character is finally getting the love he deserves

I need to start this off with an apology to the X-Men, I simply wasn’t familiar with their game. As someone who grouped up with the Fox X-Men films and the one time they appeared in Spider-Man: The Animated Series I had very little knowledge of who Marvel’s mutants were and how cool they are.

Not that I’m saying those depictions were bad, I thought they were pretty sweet when they crossed over with Spider-Man, one more so than the others…

If you haven't watched X-Men '97 yet by the way, you should

However the past year has given us two incredible mutant-focused Marvel projects, Deadpool & Wolverine which marked the first full-on mutant story in the MCU, and X-Men ‘97.

In my opinion the latter is the best piece of television Disney+ has produced so far, and it opened my eyes to how spectacular the X-Men characters really are, giving each member an equal chance to shine throughout its story.

That being said, there was one character in particular that I felt shined brighter than all the others, and I wholeheartedly believe to be one of the most underrated X-Men characters, Remy LeBeau AKA Gambit.

Disney

Gambit is the smooth-talking, card throwing, trench-coat wearing Cajun that steals every scene he’s in, perfectly illustrated by his cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine where he’s played by Channing Tatum. Seeing the fan-reactions to his arc in X-Men ‘97 and his surprise appearance in the latest MCU blockbuster warmed my heart, and I’m thrilled to see he’s finally getting the love he deserves.

That doesn’t appear to be the end either, as his cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine has sparked interest in a spin-off film or TV series.

Channing Tatum was meant to bring the hero to life in a live-action film years ago, but unfortunately plans changed and the film never came to fruition. Tatum was reportedly devastated by this, so much so that he had no interest in watching or appearing in any superhero films that weren’t Gambit related.

Since his cameo he’s once again said he’d be interested in reprising his role and putting the character back into the spotlight.

Disney

The other day a video was also released showing what happened to Gambit after the events of Deadpool & Wolverine. In the film Wade and Logan escape from the void using a sling ring presumably belonging to a variant of Doctor Strange. As the pair leap through the portal we see Gambit, Elektra, Blade and Laura watching, and we later see Laura brought into Deadpool’s universe by the T.V.A, a reward for helping save the world.

It wasn’t made clear what happened to Gambit, Elektra and Blade, though a new video was recently posted by Marvel showing Gambit walking through the void before turning around to investigate a peculiar noise. In the reflection of his eyes we can see another portal appear, hinting at a future appearance later down the road.

Gambit in my opinion is one of the most-underrated X-Men characters, but given all the attention he’s been getting recently I wouldn’t be surprised if soon shares the same spotlight characters like Wolverine and Magneto shine in. I’d certainly be on board with seeing him return in a future MCU project, and I’m very interested to see what will become of him in future seasons of X-Men ‘97…