When Channing Tatum returns as Gambit in “Avengers: Doomsday,” he will be a “fully-rounded character” and not just a supporting player used for non-stop laughs and cool action scenes. That was mostly Gambit’s purpose during his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in 2024’s “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Fans have been wondering ever since Tatum was confirmed for “Doomsday” how the MCU would navigate the tone of Gambit moving forward.
“He’s a standout,” Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige told Empire magazine about Tatum’s Gambit in the upcoming “Doomsday” movie. “It’s fun to see Gambit be as charismatic as he was in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine,’ and yet in ‘Doomsday’ it’s not all for laughs. He’s a fully-rounded character.”
Tatum previously revealed in a Variety cover story last year that Gambit would be softening his thick Cajun accent in “Avengers: Doomsday.” The actor spent years trying and failing to get a standalone Gambit movie made under 20th Century Fox. A running joke in “Deadpool and Wolverine” is that nobody can understand the superhero’s thick Cajun accent. Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool quips at one point: “Who’s your dialect coach? The Minions?”
“I’m not gonna go full Cajun,” Tatum said at the time. “[Directors Anthony and Joe Russo] want things to be funny, but they don’t want to go full ‘Deadpool.’ They want to keep the drama and keep it tight. When Gambit gets serious — when he drops the Mardi Gras mask — things do matter.”
Tatum also told Variety that studio executives “really had to wrap their mind around the accent and how people are going to understand him” as Gambit moves forward in the MCU beyond “Deadpool and Wolverine.” Fans know very little of how Gambit will be utilized in “Doomsday,” although trailers have showed him facing off in battle against Simu Liu’s Shang-Chi. Tatum told Variety last year that he suffered an injury on set that resulted in him taking pain medication and undergoing intensive physical therapy. He had to be sidelined from some action scenes due to the injury, instead sitting in for close-ups of his face while relying on his stunt double to do the heavy lifting.
“Avengers: Doomsday” is set for release on Dec. 18 from Disney and Marvel Studios.