Avengers: Doomsday Merch Reveals Gambit’s Comic-Accurate Upgrade

Channing Tatum's Gambit is about to make a name for himself, thanks to a comic-accurate upgrade he's going to receive in Avengers: Doomsday. The X-Men are back and better than ever in Marvel Studios' next team-up movie. After doing their time in Fox's up-and-down franchise, characters like Magneto, Professor X, Nightcrawler, and Cyclops are all getting new looks in Doomsday, ones that honor their classic costumes in Marvel Comics.

Not every mutant got the dress code memo, though. Gambit, played by Channing Tatum, who spent years trying to get a Ragin' Cajun solo project off the ground, will wear essentially the same outfit he had in Deadpool & Wolverine. However, new Doomsday merchandise reveals that not everything is business as usual for the card-throwing mutant.

A set of Doomsday Beast Kingdom mini-figures is up for pre-order on e-retailers. Most feature new looks at costumes already revealed through marketing or merchandise. But Gambit's figure stands out among the rest because it gives the hero red eyes. 

In the comics, Gambit's eyes are black with red irises because of his X-Gene mutation. When it came time to bring the character to the MCU, the powers that be elected to drop that feature altogether and allow Tatum to show off his own eyes. Deadpool & Wolverine makeup designer Bill Corso explained the decision on Instagram shortly after the movie came out.

For those of you who were wondering about his eyes, initially I proposed "comic accurate" black contacts with a glowing red center, but it was decided that his eyes should only glow red when he was energized or energizing something, which occurs through most of the big fight. That was all done digitally and I agree, it probably would've looked a bit creepy and frankly would've distracted from all his wonderful dialogue otherwise.

The new Doomsday figure sure makes it seem like Kevin Feige and Co. are reversing course, at least when it matters most. 

So far, the film's marketing has shown Gambit with his regular eye color. But things are going to get intense around the X-Mansion when Doctor Doom arrives, which could push Gambit to tap into his latent potential.

Gambit Is Far More Powerful Than He Realizes

The live-action X-Men movies have spent very little time exploring Gambit's backstory. X-Men Origins: Wolverine caught up with him when he was already a hustler ready to take on Weapon X with the titular hero. And Deadpool & Wolverine took the meta route by having Gambit not remember anything about his past because his movie never got made.

Of course, the comics are the place to search for answers regarding Gambit's early life. As a young man, Gambit couldn't control his powers, so he had Mister Sinister perform surgery on him to remove part of his brain. Gambit then went on to become a career criminal before redeeming himself as a member of the X-Men.

In a reality where the operation never took place, Gambit turned out very differently. He became a villain known as the New Sun who controlled biokinetic energy with ease. The New Sun was so formidable that not even the Phoenix Force could stand against him.

There probably won't be time in Doomsday to adapt the entire New Sun storyline. After all, the movie has more mouths to feed than any superhero project in history. What Doomsday will have time for is allowing Gambit to reach a new level with powers and earn the red eyes that have alluded him on the big screen up to this point, even if it's only for a scene or two before Doom obliterates him from existence for good.