X-Men member Gambit was supposed to be bisexual, writer reveals

A writer of the X-Men comic book character Gambit has revealed he intended the character to be bisexual.

James Asmus, who started writing Gambit’s storyline in 2012, told comic book fan Rich Johnston that he had planned bisexual storylines for the character, but it got turned down by Marvel

“It’s true that I was interested in revealing Gambit to be bisexual in our series with us first seeing him seduce a man on one of his missions,” Asmus said.

“Soon thereafter meeting a member of the thieves guild that Gambit previously had a more significant relationship with, in his pre-X-Men debut.

(Marvel)

However, he said that the idea was vetoed from higher up

“I never got past pitching the first part, though, as word came down we wouldn’t be redefining the character as such.”

Despite this, Asmus was quick to avoid casting blame.

A few important disclaimers, though… first, I have no idea how high or low on the totem pole that decision was made, or for what reasons – but my editor on the book was the fabulous Daniel Ketcham who is an out man and prominent voice for LGBT diversity in comics.”

“Though the memory is hazy (I pitched a LOT of different ideas for that book) I don’t think he was keen on the idea just from a practical/story standpoint.”

He also admitted he probably didn’t push the idea as strongly as he should have done.

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“And as I mentioned, I had lots of different concepts I was happy to explore – so in fairness, the No wasn’t something I fought against. And in hindsight, maybe that pitch was too half-baked?”

Related: 9 LGBT comic book heroes we’d love to see kick ass on the big screen

However he did throw out hopes that a future writer may take the character where he wasn’t able to.

“Either way, we never did anything to go against the idea he’s bisexual. So maybe someone else will craft that story?”

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Coincidentally, Anna Paquin, who plays Rogue, Gambit’s comic book love interest, in the X-Men franchise, is out and proud bisexual.

Anna Paquin (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

In 2014 she shot down Larry King when he rudely called her a “Non-practicing bisexual,” and referred to her sexaulity in the past tense, saying “It doesn’t really work like that.”

Related: Anna Paquin backs up Ellen Page’s sexual harassment allegation against director Brett Ratner

Gambit appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, portrayed by Taylor Kitsch. Watch his clash with Wolverine here.

A solo film has been in the pipeline since 2014, with Channing Tatum signed on to portray the title role.

However, although the movie was supposed to come out in October 2016, it has hti many bumps in pre-production, with some calling it “cursed.”

Channing Tatum (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Just this week, after promises to start filming in March, it was confirmed that Gore Verbinski had resigned as director, the third in a row to do so.
The release date has now been pushed back again to June 2019.

So will we get ever to see Channing Tatum play a bisexual, card-wielding mutant? Fingers crossed!

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