Not only is Deadpool & Wolverine the highest-grossing live-action movie of 2024 so far, it’s also speeding its way up the list of the highest-grossing MCU movies of all time (watch out, Iron Man 3 — it’s coming for your #7 slot). In other words, Marvel would be foolish not to capitalize on the craze by immediately fast-tracking a spin-off or fifteen. And, if they want to know where to start, Ryan Reynolds has got them covered.
Wade Wilson himself blew the faithful fandom’s collective mind by sharing a deleted scene from Deadpool 3 on social media — which goes and confirms something that was many an X-Men lover’s greatest wish after leaving the theater. Namely, that Channing Tatum’s irresistible, unintelligible incarnation of Gambit survived the film’s events.
In the 20-second clip, Tatum’s Remy LeBeau is shown wandering through the wreckage of the battle against Cassandra Nova’s forces in the Void, with many a dead mutant littered on the ground (what happens when a Toad is killed by Gambit? The same thing that happens to everything else). He then turns and as a smile creeps onto his face, we see the familiar reflection of a Sling Ring in his eyes. Or, as Reynolds dubbed it, a “Marvel Sparkle Circle.”
In other words, Gambit hopped into a multiversal portal and returned to his own world — probably the same universe that Deadpool and Wolverine hail from — which suddenly skyrockets Tatum’s likelihood of returning to the role. In effect, Reynolds himself posting this deleted scene feels like something of a promise to fans that we haven’t seen the last of Gambit.
The fans are so happy, Kevin Feige had better deliver on what they’re asking for.
And that’s, of course, a Gambit solo movie. I mean, Tatum’s only been waiting over a decade for one.
Don’t forget that Reynolds also wants Wesley Snipes to get another Blade movie. Is he single-handedly starting his own nostalgic cinematic universe, aka the NCU?
Let’s also spare a thought for fans of Taylor Kitsch’s Gambit in this difficult time… Yes, they do exist.
You want more proof that this is canon? This same scene can be glimpsed via a TVA monitor in Deadpool 3‘s post-credits scene.
Sure, Ryan Reynolds is just one man, and one man can’t move the mountain that is the MCU. And yet this is the man who successfully got himself recast as Deadpool after the character was (figuratively and literally) mutilated in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and then turned that into a mega-earning franchise that has now restarted Marvel’s box office dominance all on its lonesome. If anyone can get Channing Tatum his own Gambit movie, it’s him.
We certainly haven’t seen the last of Wade or Logan in the MCU, and the chances are looking good they might bring their main man with a Minions dialect coach with them, too. Or else a lot of fans are going to be very, very angry. And Marvel won’t like them when they’re angry…