Two Years Ago, This Marvel Masterpiece Gave an X-Men Cult Hero His Defining Moment — Now We Need More

Marvel TV on Disney+ has been a mixed bag compared to the movies, but let’s be honest: we’ve eaten pretty well. WandaVision kicked things off and still holds up as a high-water mark, and shows like Loki, Daredevil: Born Again, Wonder Man, and Hawkeye have delivered some of the MCU ’s best small-screen moments. Secret Invasion was a faceplant, sure, but if we’re grading pass/fail, the slate clears a pass — especially on the animated side.

The animated curveball that hit like a truck

Two years ago, Beau DeMayo’s revival of X-Men: The Animated Series dropped ten episodes and turned out to be the biggest pleasant shock of this whole era. There was backstage drama around the show, but on screen it didn’t miss. And nothing hit harder than episode 5, Remember It — the Genosha episode that went full tragedy and somehow pulled off the best Sentinels story any screen version of the X-Men has ever managed.

Why Remember It still stings (and sings)

Here’s the setup: Gambit is already having one of those days because Rogue has pushed him away — for Magneto, of all people. Then Master Mold unleashes the Sentinels on Genosha, and it is brutal. Thousands of mutants die. Gambit steps up, sacrifices himself to take down Master Mold, and it is the definition of a hero’s exit. The image of Rogue cradling his shattered body? That’s the kind of gut punch you don’t forget — and this was an animated episode doing IMAX- scale spectacle and cleaner character writing than most live action gets to try.

The reason it lands: the show cashed in years of character work. Gambit’s got a shady past with the Thieves Guild, a permanent question mark around his morality, and a heart that always aimed true anyway. X-Men ’97 doubled down on the version the comics nailed for decades — the cool factor live-action never really captured. Taylor Kitsch gave it a go in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, but that script gave him nothing. Multiple other Gambit plans fizzled before and after that, and at the time Remember It aired, Deadpool & Wolverine was still months away.

The long, messy road to Gambit getting his due

• Origins gave us Taylor Kitsch as Gambit, but the material boxed him in and that was that.
• Fox-era Gambit projects kept collapsing before they could properly launch.
• When Remember It hit, Deadpool & Wolverine was on the horizon but not out yet.
• Since then, Channing Tatum’s surprise cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine was a blast, and then the well kind of dried up again.
• Right now, the big teases are X-Men: Doomsday and X-Men ’97 season 2 — where the show left Gambit headed next.

Where the show left him (and why it’s deliciously dark)

The season’s ending didn’t just memorialize Gambit — it set up his return as one of Apocalypse’s Four Horsemen. Translation: we’re getting more Gambit, but it’s coming with a heavy twist. Frankly, I can’t wait. If this summer ends up being the second summer of Gambit between X-Men: Doomsday and X-Men ’97’s next batch, it won’t be a minute too soon.

The part that’s a little industry-niche but matters

Despite the behind-the-scenes turbulence around X-Men ’97’s production, the show powered through and delivered ten rock-solid episodes. Remember It isn’t just a standout — it’s the kind of peak that might be tough for the series to top when it comes back. That’s not a knock; it’s just what happens when you swing that big and connect.