Fox Almost Turned Gambit Into the X-Men’s First R-Rated Rom-Com

Channing Tatum finally got to throw cards on screen as Gambit in Deadpool & Wolverine, and he is coming back for more in Avengers: Doomsday. Now he is talking about the Gambit solo movie he spent years trying to make at Fox, and yeah, it sounds like something Disney would never, ever touch.

The Gambit movie Fox almost made

Talking to Variety, Tatum explained that his version at 20th Century Fox was built as an unapologetic R-rated romantic comedy. Not winky, not soft. He says they pushed it. The tone was designed to sit next to Deadpool, and the script even included actual sex between mutants. Full-on. The idea was to lean into Gambit as a filthy-charming chaos agent and let the movie be as wild as the character.

He is pretty blunt about why it never happened once Disney took over: you can guess the guardrails. In his view, Disney will experiment, but it is not going to be horror and it is not going to be sex. That is the line. He argues Marvel could use some tonal variety to balance out the usual house style, and Gambit is tailor-made for that lane.

Could Marvel ever do it now?

Tatum thinks the character is slowly being threaded into Marvel's larger plans. He sounds optimistic that someone will crack the right version eventually, even if it is not the Fox script he tried to mount for years.

"If the fans really want it, I think there is a world where Gambit could finally get his due."

So what is actually next?

Tatum says there are ideas floating around for Gambit's future in the MCU after Avengers: Doomsday. Nothing he can announce, but the door is not closed.

• Tatum played Gambit in Marvel's Deadpool & Wolverine.
• He will reprise the role in Avengers: Doomsday, which has wrapped production and opens in United States theaters on December 18, 2026.
• His long-gestating Fox movie was an R-rated rom-com built to live alongside Deadpool, including explicit elements the Disney-era MCU is not likely to allow.
• He told Variety he believes Marvel needs more tonal diversity and that Gambit is a perfect candidate.
• Post-Doombay, there are ideas on the table if the audience shows up for more Gambit.