Channing Tatum's Gambit is returning in Avengers: Doomsday, joining the sprawling cast as part of the X-Men team from 20th Century Fox's defunct X-Men universe. Tatum made his MCU debut in Deadpool & Wolverine, and despite it being just a cameo appearance, his portrayal of the Ragin' Cajun left viewers wanting more. A deleted scene from the film even showed Gambit escaping the Void, setting up his return. A section of the Marvel fandom wants Tatum playing the character beyond Avengers: Doomsday, but what are the chances of that happening, with an X-Men reboot looming at Marvel Studios?
Channing Tatum addressed his future as Gambit head-on in a conversation with Screen Rant, revealing the conditions for a solo Gambit movie to happen after the original spent years in development hell at Fox. The actor confirmed that he "would love there to be" a standalone film and admitted he is actively "fighting" for the chance to make it happen. Tatum, however, revealed one condition: the movie needs a "very, very good director to realize it" before cameras even roll.
The actor also shed new light on why the original Fox version kept falling apart, revealing that three different directors came and went over the years:
"We had three different directors that were signed up to do it, and the first one, the studio, Fox, they had a fallout, so that one didn't work out. The second one was just in development for so long with somebody that I was just like, 'We got to move to making this thing.' So we separated ourselves, and then the third one almost got going with Gore Verbinski, and then creatively all three of us, the studio, him and me, we started in the same place, and then as it developed, we just all grew apart."
A Gambit movie happening with Channing Tatum as the lead in the MCU would be a full-circle moment comic book movie fans would warmly welcome, given how long they have waited for a Tatum-led take on the character.
The solo Gambit movie was first greenlit at Fox in 2014, with Tatum set to star and produce. Over the next five years, the project cycled through directors Rupert Wyatt, Doug Liman, and Gore Verbinski, and its release date was pushed back multiple times.
At one point, Tatum and his producing partner Reid Carolin even lobbied to co-direct the film themselves, an idea the studio was not keen on given that neither had directed before. The version of the movie that came closest to happening had its cast assembled, and production was about to begin when Disney's acquisition of Fox went through, and the new owners ultimately cancelled the project in 2019.
What Does Channing Tatum's Future as Gambit Look Like Beyond Avengers: Doomsday?
Tatum's future as Gambit in the MCU beyond Avengers: Doomsday looks murky. The movie serves as a farewell for the Fox-era X-Men as they take on Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom, who looks to plunge the entire multiverse into chaos. There will likely be a lot of fatalities in the movie, and if Gambit does survive, Tatum's next destination would be Avengers: Secret Wars. Beyond that Multiverse Saga finale, though, the odds of Tatum returning as Gambit look very tricky.
Marvel Studios is actively developing a full X-Men reboot with Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier at the helm. The reboot already made a splash at D23 2026, where Kevin Feige unveiled Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, Kit Connor as Cyclops, Samara Weaving as Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette as Rogue, Christopher Abbott as Professor X, and Maya Boyd as Storm, with a May 5, 2028 release date confirmed for the movie.
A fresh reboot with a new cast suggests Marvel plans to recast its mutants after the Multiverse Saga ends with Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027. Tatum himself confirmed that his Gambit in Doomsday comes from the Fox X-Men universe, "with gray around it," and confirmed the film will not spend time on the character's backstory.
That does not necessarily mean a solo film is completely off the table, though. A Gambit movie could exist as a one-off, R-rated side story set in Tatum's corner of the multiverse, much like the character's original film was designed to stand apart from the main X-Men series. The odds of Marvel taking that direction, though, are slim, since the reboot exists largely to clean up the convoluted continuity the MCU finds itself in right now. Still, regardless of how slim the odds are, anything can happen.
Another possible angle is Tatum somehow becoming the MCU's definitive Gambit and carrying over into the reboot films, which, again, is improbable given Marvel's much younger reboot cast. One of the most interesting aspects of Gambit's character lore is his relationship with Rogue.
Marvel just cast Obsession star Inde Navarrette as Rogue, and she is 25 to Tatum's 46. An on-screen romance between the pair would be hard to justify. Marvel would likely simply cast someone else as Gambit, leaving Tatum's solo hopes in an awkward place. For now, fans can catch his Gambit when Avengers: Doomsday hits theaters on December 18.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
