If children of the '90s were under the impression that X-Men '97 was going to be a by-the-books continuation of their revered X-Men: The Animated Series, then they were in for a rude awakening. While X-Men '97 is repeatedly lauded as one of the best things to come out of Marvel Studios' Disney+ era, it also plays much faster and looser than most fans were expecting it to.
The animated series' first episode, "To Me, My X-Men," was a stock 30 minutes for the Merry Mutants. The team shot some b-ball, had some laughs, and crumpled a platoon of Sentinels like tin cans. Episode 1 gave longtime viewers who adored X-Men cartoons in the 1990s exactly what they desired. But they were all deceived. In hindsight, one might accuse the pilot of luring watchers into a false state of comfort before brutally pulling the rug out from underneath them.
Subsequent installments of X-Men '97 contained hostile anti-Mutant bigotry, the kidnapping and harmful genetic manipulation of a newborn, and a team staple getting unexpectedly stripped of her powers. But arguably, none of that compares to what happened in Episode 5.
In Episode 5, a portion of the X-Men are dispatched to the remote island of Genosha as envoys of Charles Xavier's dream. Genosha, a tropical, peaceful haven for Mutantkind, had been inducted into the United Nations. The world's media were on site to record and report on Genosha during this significant achievement.
Erik Lehnsherr, perpetrator of countless unspeakable crimes against humanity as Magneto, was asked to lead the Genoshan council in service of his mutant siblings. The Master of Magnatism was trying to convince the planet, and especially the X-Men, that he had turned over a new leaf and was ready to act benevolently.
But then something happened that no one but Cable, who time-traveled to the event, could have predicted. Out of the blue, the nigh-unbeatable automaton known as Master Mold invaded Genosha in a blitzkrieg of metal and energy blasts.
Master Mold and his seemingly limitless supply of Sentinel drone reinforcements struck with speed and precision, all with one directive programmed into their computerized minds: Target and exterminate all Mutants with extreme prejudice.
The X-Men leapt into action, but eventually, the battle seemed unwinnable. That was until Remy LaBeau, the Ragin' Cajun himself, deliberately put himself directly into Master Mold's crosshairs. Gambit launched into the air but was impaled in the abdomen by a robotic tentacle.
Little did Master Mold's CPU account for, though, was Gambit's Mutant ability. He kinetically charged Master Bold's entire body, priming it to explode. And with one last breath, the hero uttered his final words, "The name’s Gambit, mon ami... Remember it."
Funko paid its respects to Gambit with a brand-new X-Men '97 Pop! figure (via Marvelous News), modeled on the character's battered, bloodied appearance in the minutes before his heartbreaking death. He's clad in his screen-accurate white tuxedo and clutching his signature bo staff.
The X-Men '97 Gambit (Genosha Battle) Funko Pop! Vinyl Figure is available for pre-order, priced at $16.99. However, the item is only exclusively offered by Entertainment Earth, a longtime online toy retailer.
Marvel Animation's X-Men '97 concluded its critically hailed first season in May 2024. The program will return for Season 2 on a still-to-be-announced date in 2026.
What's Next for Marvel's Gambit?
Patient fans who sat through the credits of X-Men '97's Season 1 finale were gifted with a tantalizing post-credits scene. The camera pans over the desolate ruins of Genosha. A large, armored hand recovers one of Gambit's playing cards from the rubble and deviously growls out the line, "So much pain, my children. So much death."
Even though only the speaker's mouth is shown delivering that ominous-sounding dialogue, it's clear that this is En Sabah Nur, one of history's most immensely powerful Mutants.
The being, also known as Apocalypse, faced the X-Men before in several episodes of X-Men: The Animated Series. And Marvel aficionados will understand exactly why he has resurged.
Apocalypse's ultimate goal is to obliterate Earth and use his incalculably vast abilities to rebuild society in his image. To do this, he typically enslaves other Mutants to serve as his Horsemen. Apocalypse once corrupted the X-Man, Angel, transforming him into Archangel and forcing him under his thumb as his Horseman of Death.
Now, it seems like Apocalypse is back up to his old tricks, only this time, resurrecting Gambit and warping him into another Horseman. Season 2 of X-Men '97 will undoubtedly delve into this storyline.
However, animation isn't the only medium in which Remy LaBeau has been seen recently. In 2024's billion-dollar-grossing MCU film, Deadpool & Wolverine, actor Channing Tatum finally got a crack at the character. Tatum played a Variant of Gambit who was exiled to the Void by the Time Variance Authority after it pruned his home reality.
While 20th Century Fox still owned the X-Men film rights, the studio greenlit a Gambit solo movie that would have starred Channing Tatum. However, due to delays and Fox's 2019 acquisition by The Walt Disney Company, the further live-action adventures of Gambit would languish in development hell for nearly a decade, despite Tatum's frequent and enthusiastic wishes.
Deadpool & Wolverine cashed in big-time on nostalgia for the Marvel films of yesteryear, bringing in Wesley Snipes' Blade and Jennifer Garner's Elektra. And at long last, Channing Tatum was finally thrown a bone and got to suit up as Gambit, complete with a comic-accurate uniform. Remy even hilariously, gently broke the fourth wall by obliquely referencing his stalled movie project.
Channing Tatum's hysterical, mouthy turn as Gambit was so well-received that Marvel Studios is bringing Tatum back to reprise the part for Avengers: Doomsday in 2026. Presumably, he'll fight alongside other legacy X-Men cast members like James Marsden as Cyclops and Kelsey Grammer's Beast. Despite some notable setbacks, it appears that the cards are always in Gambit's favor.
