“De name is Gambit — remember it!”
As far as superhero catchphrases go, that one was always a C+. Uttered for the first time in X-Men’s Season 2 finale, it always felt perfect for the team’s ragin’ Cajun. Just like Gambit, that battle cry is equally cocky and goofy — goofy in a way that’s either grating or endearing depending on how you already feel about Gambit. It’s polarizing, and that’s the role Remy LeBeau has played on the X-Men since his debut almost 35 years ago. And now, thanks to a devastating and heartbreaking bit of action in X-Men ’97, that silly quip is one we will never forget. SPOILERS for X-Men ’97, “Remember It,” ahead.
If you’re reading this, then I don’t need to break everything down beat by beat. I don’t think I could bear to relive that harrowing sequence any more than you, so let’s just talk about the broad strokes: Gambit’s dead, and he died in the most spectacularly Gambit way you could ever imagine. Ugh, okay, I guess I have to break this down a little. Brace yourselves, X-Fans.
With just him and Rogue standing against a genocidal, zillion-foot-tall rampaging Sentinel, Gambit did exactly what Gambit needed to do: he launched his kinetically-charged motorcycle at a vengeful Rogue, knocking her off her one-way road to obliteration, and then he took charge as a one-Cajun army against this wild Master Mold, flipping and quipping his way into battle. And then a “squlch” sound, some heavy breaths, as Gambit looks down and sees a sharp Sentinel tentacle stabbed into his side. But Gambit always has another card up his sleeve, and this mega Sentinel didn’t pay enough attention to what Gambit can actually do. He’s not an Omega Level threat like Magneto — but dat don’t mean he can’t charge de hell outta a whole ‘bot, no?
“De name is Gambit. Remember it.”
I love Gambit. I was 8 when the original X-Men cartoon debuted, and Gambit was essentially engineered to be every 8-year-old’s favorite character in the years 1992 and 1993. He had cool hair, a trench coat, was a reckless flirt as well as dangerously mysterious. Tuning in every week, you never knew if he was going to get thrown across the room for trying to smooch Rogue or if he was going to be accused of being a traitor to the X-Men and the harbinger of a hellish future. Gambit had range!
But Gambit wasn’t exactly beloved — not by a segment of the fandom, nor by the show’s censors. To the latter point, how many times did we ever see one of Gambit’s charged cards actually connect with a target? Those Saturday morning guidelines prevented Gambit from being as proficient a fighter as he was portrayed in the comics. Yeah, Jean Grey fainted a lot in the ’90s cartoon, but Gambit was frequently the first X-Man knocked out during battle.
And then there’s the fact that Gambit probably shouldn’t have been in the original cartoon at all. Gambit debuted a mere two years before the cartoon debuted, and it took him a while to become a full-fledged member of the comic book team. Instead of giving a slot on the animated team to other more notable X-Men — Nightcrawler, Iceman, or even Longshot — the show catapulted a character who was essentially Jean-Claude Van Damme in neon aerobics gear to superstardom.
But still, I loved Gambit. Kids loved Gambit. The girls loved Gambit. The boys who didn’t know they were gay yet loved Gambit. Enough of everyone loved Gambit enough to let him stick around well past the ’90s, thus leading us to this very moment in “Remember It,” the culmination of five episodes’ worth of fantastic, slow-burn character work that added depth to a character many viewed as shallow.
Gambit comforting Rogue in the night club, him seeing Rogue and Magneto leaving the Danger Room together — like one of Gambit’s playing cards, these moments lasted only a moment but they packed a punch. They revealed Gambit’s flirty feelings for Rogue as being way more real than we’d ever imagined, and the fact that they stood in contrast to Rogue’s growing relationship with Magneto only made our hearts break for the guy.
And that all leads us to his final words: “The name is Gambit. Remember it.” After this story arc, after this final act of heroism, after this selfless sacrifice and after this declaration of undying love, I don’t think anyone can forget Gambit. Not the kids who crushed hard on a smarmy swamp rat, and not the adults who groaned over his trope-y attitude. He’s Gambit. You’ll remember him.
