X-Men Origins: Gambit

Issue Date: 
June 2009
Story Title: 
Gambit: Random Acts of Redemption
Staff: 

Mike Carey (writer), David Yarden and Hraim Roberson (artist), Nathan Fairbairn (color), Rob Steen (letters), Daniel Ketchum (assistant editor), Nick Lowe (editor), Joe Quesada (editor in chief), Dan Buckley (publisher), Alan fine (executive producer)

Brief Description: 

At eight years old Remy LeBeau jumps to the rescue of another eight year old girl being attacked by assassins. Unknowingly to him the girl is Bella Donna Boudreaux, princess of the New Orleans Assassins Guild, and is capable of taking care of herself. They fall in love and get married years later. Since LeBeau was a member of the Thieves’ Guild the marriage would also act as a peace treaty between the two guilds. However, Bella Donna’s brother, Julien, does not want peace and challenges Remy to a duel on the day of the wedding. Remy kills Julien due to the first manifestation of his mutant powers. The Assassins Guild declare it an unfair kill and exile Remy from the city. When Remy begins to lose control of his powers he seeks the help of Mr Sinister. In return Remy assembles a team for Sinister which he calls his Marauders. Remy then leads them to the lair of the Morlocks on Sinister’s orders. Once there Remy is horrified that the Marauders were sent to massacre the Morlocks and tries to stop them. He is wounded by Sabretooth but is able to save one young Morlock named Sarah. Much later Gambit witnesses a girl being attacked in Cairo, Mississippi. The girl is Storm reverted back to a young age. She is being attacked by the Shadow King and his minions. Remy steps in to protect Storm.

Full Summary: 

Remy’s narration:
On the streets of New Orleans a young Remy LeBeau watches a young blonde girl walking and eating an ice-cream cone. He is admiring her composure as she walks with proud arrogance. Suddenly he notices three men in suits attack the girl. He kicks one in the face but the other two are taken down knives thrown in their chests by the girl. The Girl was Bella Donna Boudreaux, Princess of the New Orleans Assassins Guild. “We were eight years old. And it was love at first sight.”

end of narration

Remy is telling this story to his adoptive father, Jean-Luc LeBeau head of the New Orleans Thieves’ Guild. They are preparing for Remy’s wedding where he will marry Bella Donna. Jean-Luc reminds Remy that today is more than his wedding day. The marriage also acts as a peace treaty between the Assassins and Thieves Guilds. Jean-Luc also tells Remy he is afraid for him. “You have a romantic streak. A perverse weakness for gallantry. A thief should be pragmatic, above all things. Not yield to sentiment. Not run to the rescue of imperiled damsels, or waste his time buying redemption with random acts of kindness.” Remy reminds his father he did the same by adopting him.

After the wedding, Remy is attacked by Bella Donna’s brother, Julien. Julien hates the fact that his sister has married a thief and believes it is an obscenity to the Assassins. He does not want his family name defiled anymore and challenges Remy to duel to the death. Remy accepts and hands the priest a deck of cards to hold on to and tells him he will be back later to sign the register.

Remy’s father tries to convince him to deny the challenge but Remy refuses. Here Remy tells his father that he has been feeling something, a pressure, building in him lately. Jean-Luc gives him advice on what to watch for and wishes his son luck.

The duel is with sword and dagger. Julien is obviously the better swordsman due to his training. He insults Remy during the bout. Finally Julien is able to maneuver Remy’s sword from him. In response, Remy throws his dagger at Julien impaling his shoulder. Remy didn’t notice that his mutant powers had manifested during the duel and he had charged the dagger with kinetic energy. The dagger explodes killing Julien.

Jean-Luc and Marius Boudreaux, Bella Donna and Julien’s father, King of the Assassins Guild, debate whether the kill was fair or not. Bella Donna pleads with her father to show mercy to her husband. When Jean-Luc comes to tell Remy the decision Remy is ready to accept the punishment, even if it means his death. His father informs him that they don’t want his life but for him to be exiled from New Orleans. Remy is furious and finds out that the exile was due to his wife’s pleading. Remy is mad at Bella Donna but she asks to go with him. He tells her no, saying that she would end up hating him for taking her from her guild and family and then he leaves.

In some secluded snowy mountains Remy is discussing a deal with Nathaniel Essex, a.k.a. Sinister. Remy has lost control of his powers. He can’t control how much he charges objects and they become highly volatile explosives. Sinister agrees to help him but for a price. Sinister has heard of Remy’s reputation as a master thief and one that will accept any job. Sinister wonders what it is Remy is looking for or running from. Remy says he is not doing either. “A thief has to be pragmatic, Dat’s all. If de price is right, I’ll do de job. I got no use for sentiment.”

Sinister agrees to help Remy. To do so, Sinister performs brain surgery on Remy and cuts out a small piece of the section of his brain that produces Remy’s powers to keep them under control. Unfortunately Remy had to be awake during this so Sinister would know which part to cut on.
In return Remy begins recruiting other mutants for Sinister. These mutants include Sabretooth, Vertigo, Scalphunter, Riptide, Harpoon, Malice and Scrambler. Afterwards, Remy says he is done. Sinister retorts he still owes him one more thing. He wants Remy to lead his new team of Marauders to the lair of the Morlocks, a group of mutants who live in the sewers of New York City. Sinister tosses Remy a vial containing the piece of brain he cut out and says once he does what Sinister asked he will be done.

Once they are close enough to the lair Scalphunter sends Sabretooth ahead to scout. When the rest of the team catchtes up with Sabretooth they find that he has already killed one of the Morlocks. Remy is infuriated and demands to know why they were sent there. Scalphunter tells Remy his job is done and orders him to leave. Remy refuses and attacks the Marauders. Vertigo stuns him and Sabretooth catches Remy and jabs his claws into him, seriously injuring him. The Marauders leave Remy to die in the sewers.

Remy regains his strength and makes his way to the Morlocks lair where he is horrified to see the Marauders massacring them. While the Marauders leave to find more Morlocks Remy finds a woman and her daughter still alive. The woman begs Remy to rescue her daughter Sarah. Remy wants to save them both but the woman’s legs are pinned down by debris and broken. He promises her that her daughter will live.
Remy carries Sarah to the surface where they are found by a policeman. While the policeman radios for an ambulance Remy tells him to look after the girl. When the policeman turns around Remy has disappeared.

Remy makes his way to a bridge where he falls onto a garbage boat.

Months later, Remy is sneaking his way through a building recalling the words of his father. “I’m afraid for you, Remy. You have a romantic streak. A perverse weakness for gallantry. A thief should be pragmatic, above all things. Not yield to sentiment. Not run to the rescue of imperiled damsels, or waste his time buying redemption with random acts of kindness.”

Suddenly Remy sees a young Storm being attacked by the Shadow King’s servant Lian Shen and two of his Hounds. Remy steps in between Storm and the trio. Lian tells Remy Storm is theirs and that he should leave and forget what he saw. Gambit’s reply: “Got a lot to forget already, Chere. More than you could ever know. Let’s make dis a night to remember …

Characters Involved: 

Gambit
Jean-Luc LeBeau
Bella Donna Boudreaux
Julien Boudreaux
Marius Boudreaux
Mr Sinister
Harpoon, Malice, Riptide, Sabretooth, Scalphunter, Scrambler, Vertigo (all Marauders)
Sarah/ Marrow
Sarah’s mother
De-aged Storm
Lian Shen, Hounds (servants of the Shadow King)

Story Notes: 

Gambit first appeared in Uncanny X-Men Annual #14, although his appearance in Uncanny X-Men #266 predates that. The annual just came out first.

The Morlock Sarah whom Gambit saves, would later grow up to be the X-Man Marrow.

The young Storm that Gambit encounter had been reduced to a pre-teen age by the villain Nanny, and had no memories of her life as an X-Man

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