Channing Tatum Replaces Taylor Kitsch as Gambit in Avengers: Doomsday—What Happened to the Last One?

Asked about Channing Tatum stepping in as Gambit, Taylor Kitsch kept it gracious. In a 2025 interview with ScreenRant while promoting Prime Video ’s The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, the actor who first played the card-slinging mutant on film said he was content with where his career has gone since his one-and-done turn in 2009.

“It's all good. It's like I love the path I'm on and the actor I've become and the stories I'm engaging in. No pun intended, here's a quote for you, but Gambit wasn't in the cards for me, man.”

From Fox to MCU

The handoff traces back to the Disney –Fox deal. After Disney acquired 21st Century Fox, Marvel Studios took control of the X-Men and rethought how to fold mutants into the MCU. That meant fresh casting in some cases, and Kitsch wasn’t brought back. Tatum, who had long chased a Gambit project at Fox, finally got to suit up when Marvel opened the door.

Tatum had actually been in the mix to play Gambit in the late-2000s but couldn’t make the timing work, clearing the way for Kitsch to debut the character in the Fox era.

• 2009 — Kitsch introduces Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine .
• 2010s — Tatum is attached to a Fox solo movie that stalls before cameras roll.
• 2024 — Tatum makes his on-screen debut as Gambit in Deadpool & Wolverine.

On screen, the approaches have looked different. Kitsch’s take in Origins was lean and grounded, a supporting turn built around sleight-of-hand fights and kinetic card tricks. Tatum’s cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine leaned into the comics—trench coat, headpiece, the purple-and-black palette, and a thick Cajun drawl—playing up Remy LeBeau’s showman flair.

As for a return, Kitsch said he’s open to ideas but isn’t chasing the role, focusing instead on projects like The Terminal List: Dark Wolf. Marvel hasn’t announced a standalone Gambit title in the MCU.