Channing Tatum was supposed to play Gambit in his own solo movie for 20th Century Fox. However, after going through several filmmakers and multiple false starts, the Disney/Fox merger happened before cameras could start rolling on the ill-fated spin-off.
Much to the delight of many fans—and Tatum himself—the actor got a second chance in 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine. While he was front and centre in a variety of badass action scenes set in The Void, Tatum largely played Gambit for laughs with a near-incomprehensible Cajun accent.
It was hard to imagine that ever factoring into a far more serious movie like Avengers: Doomsday, and a new Dunkin' commercial reveals what Remy LeBeau's new accent sounds like. Tatum has dialled it back significantly; what he's come up with is what you'd expect and want a character such as Gambit to sound like when he speaks.
In the commercial, the mutant is hanging out in the New Avengers Tower when H.E.R.B.I.E. arrives and attempts to explain the Incursions that are laying waste to the Multiverse...using "Avenging Munchkins Donut Hole Treats," of course.
Interestingly, we get a glimpse of what the opening stages of an Incursion will look like as another Earth hovers ominously about the MCU's Earth-616.
"The accent’s a tough one," Tatum previously acknowledged. "It’s hard to explain that to someone that isn’t from the South, isn’t from Louisiana. My dad’s from New Orleans. I’ve been around. That accent has a big spectrum. You cannot understand ‘em at all, and you can understand 'em at times. So you have to really play with it."
"I’m not gonna go full Cajun. [Directors Anthony and Joe Russo] want things to be funny, but they don’t want to go full Deadpool," he later explained. "They want to keep the drama and keep it tight. When Gambit gets serious — when he drops the Mardi Gras mask — things do matter."
Check out this new Avengers: Doomsday commercial in the player below.
In Avengers: Doomsday, beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered.
Avengers: Doomsday stars Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Anthony Mackie, Winston Duke, Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, Letitia Wright, Paul Rudd, and Robert Downey Jr. Wyatt Russell, Simu Liu, Tenoch Huerta Mejia, Mabel Cadena, Florence Pugh, Danny Ramirez, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Lewis Pullman, India Rose Hemsworth, and Wesley Holloway all make their Avengers franchise debuts.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps leads Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Joseph Quinn, joined by X-Men franchise stars Kelsey Grammer, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Alan Cumming, Rebecca Romijn, and James Marsden, plus Deadpool & Wolverine star Channing Tatum.
The Russo Brothers direct Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars from a screenplay by Stephen McFeely, with whom they previously collaborated on the Avengers and Captain America franchises. Loki and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness writer Michael Waldron has also been enlisted to refine the story, alongside Spider-Man: Brand New Day's Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18.