Gambit debuted in Marvel Comics in 1990 as a mutant thief who rescued an amnesiac Storm from the Shadow King’s minions. His charisma and southern charm, mixed with a dangerous, shadowy past, made him an instant fan favorite. Once the X-Men cartoons began airing in the 1990s, he grew to the level of popularity of names like Wolverine in the X-Men universe. His storylines through Marvel Comics often deal with his past as a member of the Thieves’ Guild, his tragic past with Mr. Sinister and the Marauders, and his enmity with Rogue. Over his career as a hero, he became a leader in his own right, although there were plenty of missteps along the way.
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With stories from creators like Chris Claremont, Fabian Nicieza, Jeph Loeb, James Asmus, Kelly Thompson, Peter Milligan, and Tini Howard, here is a look at the best Gambit stories in Marvel Comics history.
10) “Bishop’s Crossing”
“Bishop’s Crossing” takes place in the pages of Uncanny X-Men #281–288 (1991-1992), and this is the storyline that introduces the time-displaced mutant cop Bishop. In this story, Bishop shows up from an alternate future where the X-Men were destroyed by an unidentified traitor from within their own ranks. His goal is to find the traitor in this timeline and make him pay, and he believes that man is Gambit. This was the storyline that started the entire suspicion that Gambit could be the X-Traitor throughout history. That suspicion wasn’t resolved until the Onslaught storyline. This shows how Gambit was always an outsider, even while part of the X-Men.
9) Knights of X
Released in 2022, Knights of X is a five-issue miniseries that was part of the “Destiny of X” phase in Krakoa and was the follow-up to the previous Excalibur series. In this series, Gambit teams up with Captain Britain (Betsy Braddock), Rictor, Shatterstar, Rachel Summers, Gloriana, and Bei the Blood Moon to take Otherworld back from a corrupted Merlyn and King Arthur. Gambit actually dies in this series, and since it happened on Otherworld, he wasn’t supposed to be eligible for the Resurrection Protocols, causing a huge emotional moment for the mutant nation.
8) Wolverine/Gambit: Victims
As the 1990s wore on, Gambit grew in popularity to rival Wolverine, and in 1995, the two got their own four-issue miniseries from Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale, the same team who later wrote DC’s The Long Halloween. The story here sees Gambit heading to London to investigate some murders, with evidence pointing to Wolverine being the killer. This leads to the inevitable Gambit vs. Wolverine battle before they finally team up to learn Arcade and Martinique are the villains. This shows Gambit as a detective, which was unusual at the time and allowed him to have one of his earliest leading roles alongside Wolverine.
7) Gambit and the X-Ternals
Gambit and the X-Ternals is a 1995 four-issue miniseries that was released during the “Age of Apocalypse” crossover. In this alternate Earth story, Gambit leads the X-Ternals, who are a group of thieves and outcasts, including Lila Cheney, Strong Guy, Jubilee, Sunspot, and others. Their goal in this story is to steal a shard of the M’Kraan Crystal at Magneto’s request to help restore reality. This was unlike almost any other Gambit story, as he heads into space and into conflict with the Shi’ar Empire, and it shows him as a strong leader who will never give up.
6) Mr. & Mrs. X
Released in 2018-2019, Mr. & Mrs. X is a Gambit and Rogue 12-issue series that spins out of their surprise wedding in X-Men Gold #30. This takes Gambit back into space, as the couple goes on an interstellar honeymoon protecting a mysterious egg pursued by the Shi’ar Imperial Guard, the Starjammers, Technet, and Deathbird. Deadpool even shows up. The shocking moment that spun out of this series was that the egg was the genetically engineered child of Professor X and Lilandra. This pushed Gambit from his loner role into that of an equal partner and helped once again solidify his place in the X-Men lineup.
5) Gambit Vol. 5
Released in 2012, Gambit Vol. 3 was a 17-issue series that was released during the “Marvel NOW!” run. This returned Gambit to his role as a master thief after he chose to take a sabbatical from the X-Men. This allows him to take part in another major heist, which is always an exciting time for the Cajun hero. When he ends up with an alien artifact fused to his chest during the heist, he ends up in conflict with ancient alien gods and the Tombstone crime family before he is hired by MI:13 to recover an enchanted artifact. This series showed that Gambit was always a thief first and an X-Man second.
4) Gambit Vol. 3
Released in 1999, this was the first-ever Gambit ongoing series as Marvel attempted to cash in on his growing popularity. This was an important series because it really began to dive into his past with the Assassins’ Guild and his role in the Thieves Guild in New Orleans. The series started with Gambit getting impossible jobs from a mysterious figure, before that same benefactor set every assassin in the Marvel Universe after him. Anyone who wants to know about Gambit’s history needs to read this series, as it shows his Thieves’ Guild leadership, his powers’ origin tied to Mr. Sinister’s neural surgery, and the reasons for his moral code.
3) Uncanny X-Men #266
Gambit made his first full appearance in Uncanny X-Men #266 (1990) by Chris Claremont and Mike Collins. In this issue, an amnesiac Storm is in Cairo, Illinois, and Gambit shows up to rescue her from the Shadow King’s pawns. This introduced him as a mysterious thief who still acted as a hero, and it was the perfect start to his rise in popularity for the next decade. This had an impact on every Gambit story that followed, including the Marauder revelations, the romance with Rogue, and his own solo adventures. It all started with this appearance.
2) “Blood of Apocalypse”
In 2006, Apocalypse came calling for Gambit at his lowest point in the “Blood of Apocalypse” storyline. After the “Decimation” event and his rift with Rogue, Gambit agrees to submit to Apocalypse and become his Horseman of Death. However, for his part, Gambit planned to work as a double agent before he realized he was losing almost all his personality and free will in the transformation. Along with his fellow Horsemen, Sunfire and Polaris, he attacks the X-Men and tries to kill Rogue. When this storyline ended, Gambit was fully evil. With Apocalypse defeated, Mr. Sinister restored Gambit, leaving him indebted to the villain and joining the Marauders.
1) “The Trial of Gambit”
“The Trial of Gambit” was the storyline that marked the downfall of the hero, from a trusted X-Men member to a pariah and outcast, banished by the team and even shut out by Rogue. This ran from Uncanny X-Men #347–350 (1997), and it forced the X-Men to judge Gambit for his role in the Mutant Massacre. Archangel, who originally lost his wings in that attack, defended Gambit. In the end, Rogue absorbed Gambit’s memories and learned that he was the one who assembled the Marauders for Mr. Sinister to help fix his runaway kinetic powers and then led them to the Morlock tunnels, with no knowledge of their true intentions. This is Gambit’s single most important storyline in history for his own character definition, and it showed the weight of guilt he had always carried.
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