GAMBIT

Publication Date: 1st Nov 2011
Written By: Peter Luzifer and Ruth.
Image Work: Peter Luzifer.
Alternate Versions

ALTERNATE VERSIONS

In the X.S.E. future, the timeline that Bishop comes from, there was an elderly man named LeBeau, also called the Witness,  for he was said to have been the last person to have seen the X-Men before they were killed. Shortly after having come to the present, Bishop recognized Gambit as the same man, some 60-80 years removed. However, later on, the Witness too made an appearance in the present and he also revealed that he existed simultaneously in all timelines at once, this being the reasoning for him witnessing and knowing everything. The question remains, though, who the Witness really is. It could be the case that at one point Gambit’s powers will evolve or be altered into him becoming the Witness. Another option could be that he is Gambit’s future offspring.


Formerly an X-Man and good friend of their leader, Magneto, the Gambit version of the Age of Apocalypse left the team deeply hurt when the woman he loved, Rogue,  fell for Magneto. Since then, he founded his own team of Robin Hood-style mutant thieves, the X-Ternals, trying to help humans, also finding comfort in the arms of Lila Cheney. Magneto eventually and reluctantly called on Gambit’s help, again needing his help and that of Remy’s teleporting girlfriend, Lila Cheney, to travel across the galaxy and steal a piece of the M’Kraan crystal. The task was harder than originally thought, for one can’t take from the M’Kraan without offering something in return. Gambit apparently sacrificed the love he felt for Rogue and was granted a shard of the crystal. Having succeeded in their mission, the X-Ternals returned to Earth, only to be betrayed by one of their own. When given the choice, Remy saved Lila’s life instead of claiming the prize, proving that he was capable of truly loving another person again. It is unknown what became of Lila, but after Apocalypse’s defeat, Remy rejoined the X-Men to help them rebuild. For about a decade, Earth prospered. Eventually, though, a reborn Apocalypse re-established his world order, and Gambit died fighting his minions to buy his true love, Rogue, and her fellow X-Men enough time to escape.


After the X-Men learned of his involvement in the Mutant Massacre, they felt quite betrayed, but eventually forgave their teammate. However, not every version of Gambit was that lucky. In the reality shown in What if (2nd series) #106,  the revelation of his dark secret drove a wedge between the X-Men; Archangel especially had a hatred for the man, as he had lost his original wings during the Massacre. Eventually, he hunted Gambit down and the matter was supposed to be settled in Morlock style – with a duel to the death. During the battle, Remy stopped fighting back at one point, correctly guessing that Archangel would realize that killing him wouldn’t solve anything. Marrow, however, thought otherwise and rammed one of her bone daggers in Gambit’s chest. With his dying breath, Remy asked the X-Men to forgive her and end the cycle of violence.


The New Sun is an alternate Gambit, who was raised with his full power and intended to become the fulfillment of an ancient Guild prophecy to create Heaven on Earth. However instead, when he charged up his power in a special ritual, a chain reaction was started that caused everyone on Earth beside himself to burn up. Failing to remake time, the New Sun traveled to other universes, hoping to prevent the same thing from happening there. However, he found many worlds in ruins, often because of that world’s version of Gambit. Coming to the main Marvel Universe, he first attempted to create a new world where everyone would eventually be transported to, using the main reality’s Gambit to help (without revealing to him who he truly was). When he learned that his plan wasn’t possible, he tried to kill Gambit, transporting both of them to his destroyed homeworld before he became a threat to the main universe’s Earth world as well. During their final conflict, Gambit finally blasted the New Sun, burning out his recently increased powers, just as the New Sun died.


In the Mutant X universe, Gambit was the leader of the New Orleans Thieves Guild and close friend of Bloodstorm, when he happened to get lethally hurt in a caper.  Not wanting to die, Gambit begged for Bloodstorm to grant him immortality by turning him into a vampire, which she only reluctantly agreed to. She soon came to regret this decision, as Gambit blamed her for this act, finding himself overwhelmed by the hunger for blood that came along with the transformation. Every other sensation paled to that and resisting the urge to feed became a daily struggle. His eyes already having been red before, nobody noticed the transformation, so Gambit continued his role as leader of the Thieves guild and adopted one of the children he and Bloodstorm had kidnapped from Sinister. Years later, he was forced to join her team, the Six, and both he and Storm were given a cure for their constant bloodhunger by the Brute.


One of many super-beings to become unstuck in time, a version of Gambit was summoned by the Timebroker to join Weapon X, the more merciless of the two teams hopping around the dimensions in order to fix timelines gone wrong. Gambit succeeded Sabretooth as leader of the team. Little of Gambit’s native reality was revealed; only that he was married to Storm - hence it had quite an effect on him that one of his teammates was a teenage Ororo. Later, during one of Weapon X’s missions, he was forced to kill another counterpart of the woman. Unlike most of his teammates, Gambit may have been shady, but wasn’t totally ruthless or a psychopath. So, he put himself against the team’s newest self-styled leader, Hyperion, which cost him an arm. Gambit then joined up with the Exiles, who were stuck on the same world in order to stop the threat Hyperion and his group posed. They managed to kill Hyperion, though Gambit had to sacrifice his life to accomplish this.


In the Ultimate universe, Remy LeBeau, a runaway abused by his father, was a charming mutant thief with a heart of gold, which he proved when he helped save a little girl from the murderer Hammerhead. Remy had a past with a shady gentleman named Essex and he was distrustful of do-gooders such as the X-Men, refusing their offer to join. Their paths crossed again, though, as Gambit was employed by Fenris International to kidnap Rogue. Fenris offered Rogue a suit to help regulate her mutant power in exchange for her servitude, but Rogue turned down their offer. Impressed by her, Gambit turned on Fenris and helped Rogue escape. To Gambit's surprise, Rogue then quit the X-Men, and Gambit and she departed together. Eventually, the couple was confronted by Juggernaut, Rogue's old partner from the Brotherhood, who wanted Rogue back. Gambit battled Juggernaut for some time, until he caused a large building to fall on them both, ending the Juggernaut's rampage. However, Gambit was fatally wounded and died in Rogue's arms as she kissed him, absorbing his power.


That Gambit identified himself more with his Thieves Guild roots than his status as a mutant became obvious in the altered reality governed by Magneto’s House of M. While mutants were the ruling class in this reality, Gambit fancied a life of crime and apparently robbed a bank together with some of his friends. However, his thieving days came to an end when he was apprehended by Ms. Marvel, the world’s most popular non-mutant heroine.


One very different Gambit is the one from Earth 6706. Though also carrying the first name Remy, this Gambit is Remy McKenzie, first-born son of an Afro-Atlantean Prince Namor and his wife, Susan Storm, the Invisible Woman. Remy had several siblings, some of which had dark skin like their father, lighter skin tones like himself or even blue like true Atlanteans. When the reality-hopping Exiles visited his Earth, Gambit was excited about the chance for adventure and joined the group. However, after a few months with the team, he was called back home to take over his father’s kingdom, as Namor had been slain in battle. With the Exiles’ help, Gambit was able to defeat the rebels and he united Earth under his peaceful rule.

 


Ten to fifteen years in the future, the X-Men faced their The End when several of their deadliest foes coordinated their attacks on them. Gambit and Rogue had been running the occasional mission for the X-Men but were otherwise living as a married couple in Valle Soleada raising their two children, Olivier and Rebecca. One of the villains involved in the attacks on the X-Men was Mr. Sinister, who also put a target on the offspring. In order to protect his children and those of Scott Summers and Emma Frost, Gambit kidnapped the kids and took them to Sinister himself. The villain then startled Remy with the revelation that he was the long-rumored third Summers brother, as Mr. Sinister had created him years ago by mixing some of Cyclops’ DNA with his own to act as the ultimate weapon against his arch-enemy, Apocalypse. Already shocked over this revelation, Gambit snapped when Rogue was killed in battle against Sinister’s forces. Remy turned on Sinister together with his mother-in-law, Mystique, and once the villain was dead, he took Sinister’s place to try undo some of the damage he had done.


In yet another realty, the X-Men, found their world Forever changing, with members dropping in and out, and some even swapping their powers. One constant in all this was Gambit,  who developed into a reliable mainstay of the group pretty soon after he joined. Though an obvious counterpart of the main reality Gambit, this Cajun X-Man was named Remy Picard, instead of LeBeau. Whether this means he was adopted by someone else other than Jean-Luc LeBeau is unknown, as the name could also have been a fake alias. Gambit soon replaced his flashy costume with dark shades, a black suit, red shirt and tie. He also kept his taste for rebellious brunette female teammates, though in this world he started a relationship with Kitty Pryde rather than Rogue.


In a world where the X-Men never existed, mutantkind was hunted to the brink of extinction. The few remaining mutants gathered in Fortress X and spent every day fighting for their very lives. However, after three years of fighting, the woman named Legacy grew suspicious about the goings-on inside their home and set on a quest to uncover the truth about this so-called Age of X. Legacy soon found an ally in Gambit, who trusted her instinct and together they eventually discovered that their world was faked; it was a realty accidentally created by the near omnipotent Legion.