History Characters / MarvelComicsGambit

* AffectionateNickname: He has quite a few of them, usually for women, all in French. Most famously he refers to Rogue as ''Chere''. ComicBook/{{X 23}} and ComicBook/{{Jubilee|MarvelComics}} share the name ''Petit''.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: He likes to toss some French into his dialogue. He sometimes calls Rogue ''"chéri"'' (darling).

* TheCasanova: Largely considered to be a reformed example, having given up that up since meeting Rogue. Until they broke up anyway.
* TheCharmer: He's very adept at sweet-talking others and can really pour on the verbal charm if he wants to.
* CasualKink: It's actually a plot point in issue 2 of ''ComicBook/UncannyAvengers'' that ComicBook/{{Rogue}} and ComicBook/{{Gambit}} engage in BDSM (she specifically references "kinky bondage drinking games").

* ClingyJealousGirl: Occasionally has this in the form of ComicBook/{{Rogue}}, though normally not the "clingy" part as that could [[TouchOfDeath kill him]]. Rogue was especially jealous of Bella Donna whom Gambit almost wed in an ArrangedMarriage.

* ConspicuousGloves: Gambit also wears gloves. His touch allows him to change the potential energy of objects he touches into kinetic energy; his gloves have a few fingers open or missing so he can "charge" and manipulate his cards (one of his weapons of choice). That said, the gloves' design is also [[RuleOfCool cool]].

* HiddenDepths: At first, everyone (especially her) thought he was just into Rogue because she was forbidden fruit and that he wasn't very serious about her. However, he eventually revealed to her that he fell in love with her at first sight, and that he wanted her more than anything he ever knew. It's telling that people who knew him before he joined the X Men say that they've never seen him look at a woman the way he looks at her.
* HighlyVisibleNinja: A skilled thief whose normal outfit is bright purple armor. He's just that good. He switches to bright yellow for All-New X-factor. However, when he's actually working as a thief, particularly in recent series, he's changed into an all-black male cat-suit.

* TheMasochismTango: With Rogue.

* MyGreatestFailure: While he was duped into it to repay a debt to Mr. Sinster, there's the fact that there's his role [[spoiler:as the one to gather the Marauders for what'd become the events of ''Mutant Massacre'' (the titular mass murder of a lot of the Morlocks, as well as Angel's wings getting injured)]].

* TraumaCongaLine: Not only that Gambit had a dark past, but he also has bad luck with his love life - his childhood friend/ex-wife Belladonna is usually crazy, his French girlfriend was murdered by Sabretooth, and he was usually in a MasochismTango relationship with Rogue. He is also shunned by his own teammates after learning his small involvement in the Morlock Massacre.

* ShoutOut: Has cats are named [[WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany Oliver]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Lucifer]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} Figaro]].

** That said, the New Sun storyline has established that Gambit could have a much larger and more diverse array of powers if he fully grew into his ability to manipulate kinetic energy. The New Sun has the power of "Total Kinetic Control", allowing him to manipulate kinetic energy on a molecular level. At its basic, this is Gambit's StuffBlowingUp power... except the New Sun can do it much faster, can do it by ''thinking about it'' instead of needing to touch it, and he can use it ''on living beings'', unlike Gambit. He can also affect the ability of other things to move, either preventing them from being able to stop or stopping them dead, manipulate other energies related to kinetic energy (for example, [[PlayingWithFire setting things on fire]] by accelerating their molecular agitation, or [[AnIcePerson freezing them]]] by slowing it), and turn into a being of living kinetic energy, a form in which he can travel between planets, through time, and even between dimensions.

* MundaneUtility: [[DependingOnTheWriter While it varies from story to story]], he's been shown to have control over how quickly objects release their energy once he charges them. He's occasionally used his powers to turn an object (naturally, typically a playing card) into a light source, and he's also used charged objects to light his cigarettes.

* ExoticEyeDesigns: As part of his mutation, his eyes are fully black (sclera and irises) with red pupils.

* TechnicolorEyes: He has red irises with black sclera.

* ParentalFavoritism: Jean Luc LeBeau makes no secret of the fact that he considers Remy his favorite child and heir apparent. It’s yelling at more than one person refers to Gambit as “Prince of the Thieves Guild”.

* ShoutOut: Has cats named [[WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany Oliver]], [[WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}} Lucifer]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} Figaro]].

After that he traveled the world, saving a thieving de-aged [[Characters/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]] with LaserGuidedAmnesia from the Shadow King. Storm got her age and memories back and became responsible for Gambit joining the X-Men. Helping them save the day many times and forming a long-running relationship with Rogue. Eventually, his secret involvement with Mister Sinister and the Marauders was outed by [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]], and once the truth was revealed through a kiss from Rogue, the X-Men abandoned him in Antarctica, effectively kicking him off the team.

* AmazonChaser: He is definitely this, especially towards his ActionGirlfriend and now wife ComicBook/{{Rogue}} who far eclipses him [[FlyingBrick in strength]] but he doesn't seem to mind at all. In fact, whenever he spars with Rogue in the Danger Room, Gambit enjoys it immensely, and nor is he put off by her being a PowerParasite, believing her touch no matter how deadly to be WorthIt (much to Rogue's exasperation). In their solo series, it's revealed Gambit [[LoveAtFirstSight first fell for Rogue]] [[https://oyster.ignimgs.com/wordpress/stg.ign.com/2018/02/gambit-meeting.png when she punched him so hard that he went flying into a tree]].

Surviving the ordeal with the help of an energy-based mutant named Mary Purcell, Gambit would rejoin and leave the X-Men several times after. At one point, both Gambit and Rogue lost their powers, letting them finally touch and explore their relationship. Despite this, Gambit went through several misfortunes including being blinded, being forced to be one of [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]]'s horsemen, and [[ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen being defeated in battle]] by ComicBook/CaptainAmerica. He currently serves on the X-Men. His and Rogue's relationship remained rocky as Rogue still had trust issues and, of course, had her powers to worry about, resulting in both seeing [[Characters/MarvelComicsEmmaFrost Emma Frost]] for therapy. Mystique attempting to seduce Gambit to prove he wasn't good enough for Rogue in the 2005 "Bizarre Love Triangle" story certainly didn't help matters.

* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: With Courier. In this instance, it was more a case of He Is Not My Girlfriend, because Jakob was [[ShapeshifterModelock stuck in female form]] at the time. They spent several issues denying that they were an item, although that didn't stop Remy from [[AmbiguouslyBi spontaneously making out with him]].

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: He likes to toss some French into his dialogue. He sometimes calls Rogue ''"chéri"'' (darling)... which would be nice if he weren't using the masculine form of the word. Luckily for our grammatically challenged hero, there is no ''audible'' difference between ''"chéri"'' and ''"chérie"''.

* TheCasanova: Largely considered to be a reformed example, having given up his whoring ways since meeting Rogue. Until they broke up anyway.

* CharacterRerailment: Gambit started off as a RuleOfCool-based, MrFanservice ManipulativeBastard HandsomeLech [[DeathDealer Death Dealing]] BadassLongcoat who relished the challenge of getting his hands on the ForbiddenFruit Rogue, though stymied by his self-centered JerkAss qualities and the large number of people he pissed off in his thief career. Then, Rogue left him to die in Antarctica. After this, the result was a lot of {{Angst}} on Gambit's part, whose characterization was changed from the previously-described version to a [[{{Angst}} Self-loathing]] [[TheAtoner Atoner]] desperate to punish himself for his (morally blameless) role in the Mutant Massacre. More recent adaptations, however, have reached back to the character's roots: ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' showed Gambit as competent, charming, handsome and relatively low-angst [[TheGambler card-shark]] who won a CoolPlane in a poker game, and ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen2009'' had Gambit as a mercenary, ruthless, charming, manipulative thief for hire (albeit in only two episodes). Whether or not this trend will continue is currently unknown, though his recent solo series, which compromises by having him return to his thieving roots and ultimately becoming King of Thieves, while remaining a loose faculty member at the Jean Grey School (Wolverine explains that they don't actually expect him to turn up much... but they trust him to be there when it counts, when he's really needed), before joining X-Factor, but still remaining King of Thieves.
* CharmPerson: Depending on who's writing at the time, he has a degree of "hypnotic charm" that even [[EvenTheGuysWantHim works on men]]. However, it ''doesn't'' work if the charmee knows about it.

* ClingyJealousGirl: Occasionally has this in the form of ComicBook/{{Rogue}}, though normally not the "clingy" part as that could [[TouchOfDeath kill him]]. Rogue was especially jealous of Bella Donna whom Gambit almost wed in an ArrangedMarriage. She also brings up every single woman Gambit has been romantically involved with (or just flirted with) during their [[TheShrink couple's therapy]].

** Zigzagged. At his core, not so much; Gambit has training in certain skills (sleight of hand, acrobatics, thievery), but his only superpower is to manipulate kinetic energy in order to turn things into explosives. However, over the years, he has sometimes also had a low-level psychic charm ability, as well as the ability to use charged objects as telepathic scramblers.

** More recently, he's been using his powers more creatively. For instance, in his 2012 series, he used them to power an Iron Man armor he was stealing in order to keep War Machine from remotely shutting down its regular power source.

!!!'''First Appearance:''' ''Uncanny X-Men'' #266 (August, 1990)

Not too long after his birth in [[TheBigEasy New Orleans, Louisiana]], Remy [=LeBeau=] was kidnapped from the hospital by the [=LeBeau=] Clan Thieves' Guild. During this time he was both sought after and feared because of his [[TechnicolorEyes unusual black-on-red eyes]]. In part to protect him from a child trafficker, Jean-Luc [=LeBeau=], the leader of the Thieves' Guild, secretly sent Remy to be part of a gang of young pickpockets before adopting him as a Guild member and his son.

As a teen, he honed his thievery skills, learned acrobatics, Savate (a French martial art), and Bojutsu (bo staff fighting), and learned he had a mutant power: the ability to force objects to explode by "charging" them, converting their potential energy into kinetic energy. The bigger the item the longer it took to charge, so he preferred to use smaller items like his weapon, a deck of playing cards. Around this time he also got mixed up with Mister Sinister during a mission.

After that he traveled the world, saving a thieving de-aged [[Characters/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]] with LaserGuidedAmnesia from the Shadow King. Storm got her age and memories back and became responsible for Gambit joining the X-Men. Despite helping the X-Men save the day many times and forming a long-running relationship with Rogue, he remained a mysterious figure in the group, with [[Characters/WolverineJamesLoganHowlett Wolverine]] never completely trusting him. Eventually, his secret involvement with Mister Sinister and the Marauders was outed by [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]], and once the truth was revealed through a kiss from Rogue, the X-Men abandoned him in Antarctica, effectively kicking him off the team.

In other media, Gambit became popular because of his inclusion in ''WesternAnimation/XMenTheAnimatedSeries'', two years after his debut in the comics. He has been played by Creator/TaylorKitsch in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine''. A solo movie starring Creator/ChanningTatum was in DevelopmentHell for a long time, and appears to have been definitely abandoned following the buyout of Creator/TwentiethCenturyFox by Creator/{{Disney}}.

** Occasionally in the comics, like if he's been caught (and being chastised by another X-Man) or trying to be sly and impress someone.

* LovableRogue: Most of the time. He's a Rakish charmer who makes absolutely no apology for most of his roguish traits but has a [[FriendToAllChildren major soft spot for children]], is fiercely loyal to those he cares for, has a surprisingly "live and let" live attitude that allows him to easily forgive others as long as they don't cross a moral line and has been a loyal and firm member of the X-Men for decades.

* AntiHero: Loose morals, {{red eyes|TakeWarning}}, {{Permastubble}}, and outfit consisting of a BadassLongcoat over skintight armor. No guns, at least. While he was raised a thief, his morality is quite clear as stated in ''Mr. and Mrs. X #3'', ''"My moral compass is just fine. I know what's right."'' He fights for what he considers a good cause and on other matters, his morality is set in stone about what is and isn't right.

* NinetiesAntiHero: In the literal sense, as an AntiHero introduced in the '90s, but also clear from his loose morals, {{red eyes|TakeWarning}}, {{Permastubble}}, and outfit consisting of a BadassLongcoat over skintight armor. No guns, at least.

* AntiHero: While he was raised a thief, his morality is quite clear as stated in ''Mr. and Mrs. X #3'', ''"My moral compass is just fine. I know what's right."'' He fights for what he considers a good cause and on other matters, his morality is set in stone about what is and isn't right.

* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: He likes to toss some French into his dialogue. He sometimes calls Rogue ''"chéri"'' (darling)... which would be nice if he weren't using the masculine form of the word. Luckily for our grammatically-challenged hero, there is no ''audible'' difference between ''"chéri"'' and ''"chérie"''.

* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: This is part of the reason why he's a Cajun; his Louisiana French accent helps feed his 90s "cool" motif. He also makes free use of this trope when trying to be charming.

* OutdatedOutfit: Gambit's trademark outfit is very '90s in terms of style. He's had other costumes afterward, but still wears this one the most.

* PowerIncontinence: Though it's oft-forgotten about now, Gambit's original connections to Mister Sinister were because he originally went to Sinister to get some of his brain excised to permanently dampen down his powers, so he couldn't lose control. He also had to deal with a short-lived villain called "New Sun", who turned out to be a version of himself from a ParallelUniverse slash BadFuture who never got his powers dampened, grew to PhysicalGod status, and lost control. He's called "New Sun" because he ''vaporized Earth'' with his powers.

* ProgressivelyPrettier: He wasn't all that good-looking in his first appearances, but became steadily more attractive from artist to artist.

* RaginCajun: Also his [[SuperheroSobriquets nickname]].

* RuleOfCool: Gambit can make any item explosive by “charging” it. If he wanted he could use more dangerous material to charge, but sticks with playing cards in part because of this trope.

* SuperPoweredEvilSide: It doesn't come up nearly as often as with Archangel but his Horseman of Death persona does still exist, buried within his mind.

** Occasionally in the comics, like if he's been caught (and being chastized by another X-Man) or trying to be sly and impress someone.
* TraumaCongaLine: Not only that Gambit had a dark past, but he also has bad luck with his love life - his childhood friend/ex-wife Belladonna is usually crazy, his French girlfriend was murdered by Sabretooth and he was usually in a MasochismTango relationship with Rogue. He is also shunned by his own teammates after learning his small involvement in the Morlock Massacre.

** He and Rogue have an on-again, off-again, on-again, off-again thing going. Not helping is things like Mystique actively doing what she can to get rid of Remy.

As of the end of James Asmus' Gambit solo series, Gambit is now King of all the Thieves Guilds. In 2013, he left the X-Men to join the All-New X-Factor for a time. As of 2018, he's now married to Rogue, having both Kitty and Piotr's blessing, since Kitty backed out of marrying Piotr. After the founding of the mutant nation of [[ComicBook/XMen2019 Krakoa]], Gambit and Rogue joined the newest iteration of [[ComicBook/Excalibur2019 Excalibur]].

After that he traveled the world, saving a thieving de-aged [[Characters/MarvelComicsStorm Storm]] with LaserGuidedAmnesia from the Shadow King. Storm got her age and memories back and became responsible for Gambit joining the X-Men. Despite helping the X-Men save the day many times and forming a long-running relationship with Rogue, he remained a mysterious figure in the group, with ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} never completely trusting him. Eventually, his secret involvement with Mister Sinister and the Marauders was outed by [[Characters/MarvelComicsMagneto Magneto]], and once the truth was revealed through a kiss from Rogue, the X-Men abandoned him in Antarctica, effectively kicking him off the team.

Surviving the ordeal with the help of an energy-based mutant named Mary Purcell, Gambit would rejoin and leave the X-Men several times after. At one point, both Gambit and Rogue lost their powers, letting them finally touch and explore their relationship. Despite this, Gambit went through several misfortunes including being blinded, being forced to be one of [[Characters/MarvelComicsApocalypse Apocalypse]]'s horsemen, and [[ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen being defeated in battle]] by ComicBook/CaptainAmerica. He currently serves on the X-Men. His and Rogue's relationship remained rocky as Rogue still had trust issues and, of course, had her powers to worry about, resulting in both seeing Characters/{{Emma Frost|WhiteQueen}} for therapy. Mystique attempting to seduce Gambit to prove he wasn't good enough for Rogue in the 2005 "Bizarre Love Triangle" story certainly didn't help matters.

As of the end of James Asmus' Gambit solo series, Gambit is now King of the all the Thieves Guilds. In 2013, he left the X-Men to join the All-New X-Factor for a time. As of 2018, he's now married to Rogue, having both Kitty and Piotr's blessing, since Kitty backed out of marrying Piotr. After the founding of the mutant nation of [[ComicBook/XMen2019 Krakoa]], Gambit and Rogue joined the newest iteration of [[ComicBook/Excalibur2019 Excalibur]].

* AffectionateNickname: He has quite a few of them, usually for women, all in French. Most famously he refers to Rogue as ''Chere''. ComicBook/{{X 23}} and ComicBook/JubileeMarvelComics share the name ''Petit''.

* StreetUrchin: He spent most of his young life being raised to be a thief by thieves in the streets and swamps of Louisiana. When he met ComicBook/{{Storm}} for the first time, she suffered from LaserGuidedAmnesia and briefly returned to her thieving ways. The two quickly became partners in crime.

[[AC:Comic Books]]
[[index]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Gambit|1993}}'' #1-4 (1993): When he discovers that his wife Bella Donna is still alive, Gambit heads back to New Orleans and gets entangled in a feud between the Thieves Guild and the Assassins’
* ''ComicBook/WolverineAndGambitVictims'' #1-4 (1995): An old friend is murdered, so Gambit heads to London - where the evidence seems to point to Wolverine as the killer. Is someone trying to frame him?
* ''Gambit & the X-Ternals'' #1-4 (1995)
* ''ComicBook/{{Gambit|1997}}'' #1-4 (1997): Gambit's pretty good at dealing with supervillains, mutants and aliens. But demons, falling angels and Vatican secret agents bring a very different set of challenges.
* ''ComicBook/{{Gambit|1999}}'' #1-25 (1999)
* ''ComicBook/{{Gambit|2004}}'' #1-12 (2004)
* ''ComicBook/{{Gambit|KingOfThieves}}'' #1-17 (2012): "King of Thieves"
* ''Deadpool v Gambit'' #1-5 (2016)
* ''Rogue & Gambit'' #1-5 (2018)
* ''Mr. and Mrs. X'' #1-12 (2018)
* ''[[ComicBook/{{Gambit2022}} Gambit]]'' #1-5 (2022): "Thick as Thieves", an {{Interquel}} set between Gambit's initial ''Uncanny X-Men'' appearances. Accompanied by a teenage Storm, Gambit gets mixed up with organised crime and plans a crime spree of his own.
[[/index]]

* ''ComicBook/WolverineAndGambitVictims'' #1-4 (1995): An old friend of Gambit's is murdered in London and the evidence seems to point to Wolverine as the killer. Is someone trying to frame him?

* ''ComicBook/{{Gambit|1997}}'' #1-4 (1997): Gambit's getting pretty good at dealing with supervillains, mutants and aliens. But demons, falling angels and the Vatican's secret agents? That's a problem that doesn't follow the same rules.

* ''ComicBook/{{Gambit|1997}}'' #1-4 (1997)

* ''ComicBook/WolverineAndGambitVictims'' #1-4 (1995)