With the upcoming release of The Avengers, Marvel is as popular as ever. They have a large stable of popular characters that are making for hit movie after hit movie. We're also getting a Spider-Man reboot, but I can't help but think of other characters that are getting the shaft in place of more sequels and reboots. These characters have strong stories that would make for a heck of a movie. Some of them have been in other movies, but have either been weakly portrayed or didn't get enough screen time. So here are five Marvel character's that we'd like to see have feature films.
We're going to release one a day for the week, starting with number five today, and ending with our top pick on Friday. First up we have…
#5 Gambit
Gambit was used in the movie Wolverine, with Taylor Kitsch playing him. I actually loved the casting choice of Kitsch as New Orleans master thief Remy LeBeau; what I hate is how they used him in the movie. First of all, the timeline for these characters don't match up with how the comics or cartoon set them out to be, but with the movies, little matches up. Gambit's real story is much cooler — he's not just a cameo for Wolverine comics.
Gambit has been many things in the Marvel universe, from Apocalypse's horseman, Death, to leader of one of two X-Men teams. But the most logical storyline for a Gambit movie would be an origins story. It wouldn't feature any of the X-Men, so we really wouldn't have to worry about it interfering with movies that already exist.
Gambit was abandoned at birth due to his burning eyes, and was kidnapped from the hospital ward he was at by the New Orleans Thieves' Guild who believed he was “le diable blanc” — the white devil. Supposedly, they thought he was the prophesied child to united the warring Guilds, so they taught him how to be a thief.
At ten years old, Remy tried to steal from Jean-Luc LeBeau, who was the leader of the Thieves' Guild. Remy was shown mercy, as Jean-Luc took him off the street and adopted him. This whole time, there's a war between the Thieves' Guild and the Assassin's Guild; as part of a peace pact between the two Guilds, a marriage was arranged between Remy and Bella Donna Boudreaux, the granddaughter of the head of the Assassin's Guild. Bella Donna's brother Julien didn't like this one bit, so he challenged Gambit to a duel and Gambit had to kill him in self-defense. As a result, he was banished from New Orleans to keep the peace between the two Guilds.
Not enough? Get ready for Mutants. You know Gambit has the power to charge objects with energy and make them explode, and his weapon of choice is playing cards. He's also a master thief. To make his power more controllable, he meets geneticist Mr. Sinister, who could be one of two villains in this movie. Mr. Sinister removes some of Gambit's brain tissue to reduce his power levels, thus giving Gambit a greater degree of control. In return, Gambit has to assemble a team of Mutant assassins called the Marauders. Queue the second villain — Sabertooth is one of the Marauders.
That might be more difficult to pull off with the Wolverine movie already in existence, but I'm sure writers can find a way around it. Or they can make one of the other Marauders another villain. The purpose of the Marauders, unknown to Gambit, is to destroy the underground mutant community, the Morlocks. Gambit finds out, tries to stop the attack, but is almost killed as a result. He does manage to save Morlock, a young mutant girl who later goes on to become one of the X-Men. That would tie him in to a sequel possibly.
The movie would have thieves, assassins, and mutants — how cool is that? A video game would also play out as a mix between Assassin's Creed and one of the better super-hero games (hopefully). This movie makes too much sense to not happen. The setting is awesome, you have your pick of tons of mutants to make an appearance, and Gambit is a cool, well-liked character that deserves to have the spotlight.
What actor would play him? I don't mind Taylor Kitsch again. I think he would do well in this type of plot as Gambit. It will have to be someone young, regardless, as most of this will happen in his late teens and early 20s.
Visit tomorrow to see who #4 on our list is.
You can follow Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ
