We knew that Channing Tatum was stepping into the role of Remy LeBeau a.k.a. Gambit, and we assumed that he'd be joining the ranks of Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique and James McAvoy's Professor X in Bryan Singer's X-MEN: APOCALYPSE. But it seems that soon afterwards, we'll be getting a full dose of Tatum's Gambit in his own spinoff flick.
Fox has been developing a GAMBIT flick based on a treament by Chris Claremont, and has hired Josh Zetumer (ROBOCOP) to pen a draft.
It's too late to get it out before 2016's APOCALYPSE, but I'd imagine that film will introduce the character (possibly as one of the Horsemen??), with GAMBIT serving as his backstory up to that point (but you can bet they won't call this one ORIGINS). The fact that it's based on a Claremont outline makes me think it'll retain a good amount of fidelity to the character's comic-book history. That could very possibly mean Mister Sinister and the Marauders (probably sans Sabretooth).
Now that I think about it, it would've been a little weird to see Tatum shuffled in alongside the pre-established characters. Obviously they introduce a ton of new mutants in each X-MEN, but there's a gap in star power between dudes like Omar Sy and will.i.am and the 21 JUMP STREET/MAGIC MIKE/FOXCATCHER star. This gives Mr. Tatum a chance to cement his vision of the character so that he doesn't have to angle for screentime against Fassbender, Lawrence, and the rest. It also gives the actor more of an incentive to commit to this type of big-budget franchise while he's at an all-time career high, on top of being a near-lock for a Best Supporting Actor at this year's Oscars.
On top of that, people have been clamoring for a legit onscreen Gambit for so long (Kitsch's turn in ORIGINS does not count) that it makes sense for Fox to indulge the fans and give them their beloved cardshark for a full movie length. In this age of BLACK PANTHER and CAPTAIN MARVEL flicks, wouldn't it make just as much sense to give the comic book world a whole movie with Gambit learning his tricks in New Orleans and beyond?
I think Tatum as GAMBIT could be really cool, and if they hire a director on the level of Singer, Vaughn, or even Mangold, it could be another THE WOLVERINE in between the omnibus X-MEN movies we have coming our way
