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gambitgazette · 4 years

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The X-Perts: Gambit

The following is a repost of an article about Gambit that was posted to the Marvel site in 2011. We’re reposting it here at Gambit Gazette for two reasons; 1) it’s no longer on Marvel’s site (as far as we can tell), and 2) it exhibits insight and respect for Gambit’s character far deeper than what’s displayed on the comic book page the vast majority of the time (sadly). Gambit Gazette has taken the liberty of highlighting passages we find especially noteworthy.

The X-Perts: Gambit Kieron Gillen, Mike Carey, Marjorie Liu and Victor Gischler determine where this wild card will fall Posted Jul 12, 2011 1:31 pm Updated Aug 4, 2011 1:58 pm

By Ben Morse

This July, X-MEN: SCHISM kicks off a startling metamorphosis in the mutant corner of the Marvel Universe that will split the Children of the Atom and lead to ReGenesis in the fall along with two new ongoing series, each featuring it’s own distinctive team: UNCANNY X-MEN and WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN.

With change in the air, here on Marvel.com we’ll be regularly gathering the creators and editors responsible for guiding the X-Men’s destiny to dissect each of their charges to examine what makes them tick and perhaps lend some insight into where they will find themselves once the Schism ends and the ReGenesis gets underway.

This week, we take a look at Gambit, the thief-turned-X-Man who currently serves on the mission squad led by his on-again, off-again love, Rogue, while also mentoring the unpredictable X-23.

Marvel.com: How would you describe the core of who Gambit is and what is most important to him?

Victor Gischler (writer of X-MEN): Self-reliance.

Mike Carey (writer of X-MEN LEGACY): Gambit’s a guy with a core skill that he glories and excels in, and his sense of himself has formed around that, to some extent. He’s not just a thief, in the sense of having earned his living by stealing—he’s a Thief in a self-defining sense that’s halfway between family and ethnicity. [He was] raised by thieves, in a city where thieves were a clan with clan loyalties. So I think that’s his core, and his instincts and identity and an X-Man were grafted onto that.

Kieron Gillen (writer of UNCANNY X-MEN): Gambit's just one of those classic conflicted characters, torn between a fundamental selfishness—or, at best, self-interest—and the realization that [this] isn't right. His shows of genuine compassion are all the more striking now because of where he's come from. I mean, put aside his recent interactions with Rogue. Look at his interactions with X-23. A man of experience who is man enough to realize that not all experience is worthwhile. He'd roll his eyes at anyone who takes the Sinatra-ian "Regrets? I've had a few, etc" line.

Marjorie Liu (writer of X-23): At his heart, Gambit is a good man who believes in taking care of his friends, and his friends are what's most important to him. People are his home. He will do anything for those who matter to him.

Marvel.com: What is Gambit’s view of how the mutant race should conduct itself moving forward?

Kieron Gillen: Any future of the X-Men that involves having a future and keeps him out of long, boring meetings is probably good with him.

Mike Carey: Arising out of his childhood experiences, I think Gambit is fairly tribal in his gut instincts. Protecting his own, and keeping faith with his own, are core values for him. He’s also perfectly comfortable with a sort of under-the-radar lifestyle, and he knows first-hand that it’s possible to live invisibly among others who don’t share your values or your lifestyle. I’d say Gambit would be comfortable with a strategy that saw mutantkind dropping right out of the rifle sights of the various nut jobs out there and going underground until its numbers are up again and it can confront the world on its own terms.

Victor Gischler: I think he knows that difficult things need to be done, but he wants to see the mutant race finally push through those times so things will be better for the next generation.

Marjorie Liu: The thing about Gambit is that he's a man who knows how to adapt to survive. He plays things by ear, depending on the situation, and never feels obligated to follow the rules, because the only rules that matter are his own sense of honor. Ultimately, that sense of honor includes 'doing no harm'—at least, not to the innocent.

Because of that, however, I don't think he has a firm idea of how the mutant race should move forward. There's no overarching philosophy, no set of rules. Again, he adapts, he plays by ear. I think he would be more likely to say that the mutant race is filled with individuals, and each situation needs to be taken on an individual basis, without imposing some master plan.

Again, though, he's a survivor, and if the world turned on mutants as a whole, his approach would change, as well. He'd fight. He'd protect.

Marvel.com: Does Gambit like being a member of the X-Men? What keeps him affiliated with them?

Mike Carey: He likes the excitement. He likes the company—or some of it. He likes the sense of family. I think those would be the most important things for him. Having said that, he’s definitely someone who would be able to step into another life if the X-Men folded. He’d miss it, but he wouldn’t mourn it. He’d survive perfectly well.

Kieron Gillen: Honestly, I could spin out an enormous answer about how he sees himself in relation to mutants—though it suddenly strikes me that I see Gambit as one of the mutants who least self-identifies as "mutant"—but about 85% of it boils down to the following: One word, five letters.

Marjorie Liu: I don't know if he likes being a member of the X-Men, so much as he likes some of the people there, and feels obligated to stick by them, and guard their backs. It's a 'people' thing that has him sticking around, and not philosophical.

Victor Gischler: There is kind of a lone wolf aspect to Gambit, but I think deep down all lone wolves really want to be part of the pack. They just don't want to get burned or have their trust betrayed. Gambit has been an X-Man too long not to be a team member in his heart.

Marvel.com: What are Gambit’s most honorable qualities? His least honorable qualities?

Mike Carey: His chimerical gallantry. His insane courage. His anarchic shrewdness.

When he first joined the X-Men, Gambit served as a cynical and occasionally ruthless counterpoint to their stern virtue. They’ve met him more than halfway now—in fact, in some ways, they’ve surpassed him: the X-Men’s moral mainstream has changed so much that Gambit now seems more like a Robin Hood among them, a principled thief with a paradoxically strong code of ethics. He’s still got that ruthless streak, and he can be dishonest both in concealing information and in lying outright. And he has a weakness for going it alone when he ought to trust the people around him. That was what got him sucked into Apocalypse’s wake.

Victor Gischler: He's honest about who he is, warts and all.

Marjorie Liu: Most honorable qualities? Least honorable? Sometimes I think those are one and the same. He'll take care of his friends, no matter what. That's great. But what's not so great for everyone else is that he'll take care of his friends -- no matter what. Even if it means an act of betrayal.

Marvel.com: Do you think the rest of the X-Men really trust Gambit?

Kieron Gillen: Dark, tortured past. Propensity for playing on the other side. Will make out with your other half behind your back. A big part of me thinks they trust Gambit more than they probably should.

Or maybe they don't. The Utopia-era Cyclops-condoned Wolverine-lead X-Force—Gambit wasn't on that team.

Marjorie Liu: No, not really. I don't think they know him, that's the problem. The individuals who do—Storm, Jubilee, X-23—would trust him with their lives, without question. Everyone else? Not so much. To them, he's a wild card, so to speak. They see his reputation first, before they see the man.

Mike Carey: I think they didn’t, and then they did, and now they don’t again. He’s got a lot of lost ground to make up after the Limbo debacle. His past as a thief doesn’t count against him any more, but his past as a Horseman and his past as a Marauder during Messiah Complex do.

Victor Gischler: As long as they keep one hand on their wallets at all times.

Marvel.com: Could Gambit ever be leader of the X-Men again?

Victor Gischler: I don't see it. But that's mostly because I don't think he’d ever really want the job.

Marjorie Liu: My first instinct was to say yes, but the more I think about it, issues of trust and reliability would undermine his position. I'm not sure all the X-Men would feel secure with him in charge, or be willing to follow him to hell and back—and that's a huge component of successful leadership.

That said, I do think he can lead, just on a smaller scale, with a team that would fit his highly adaptable nature.

Mike Carey: He’d never want that job. It’s too public and too constricting. He wouldn’t be afraid of the responsibility, although he wouldn’t exactly relish it, either—he would be afraid of having his hands tied in a fight by having to co-ordinate what everybody else was doing.

Kieron Gillen: It doesn't seem a natural fit, but I'd never say never. I wouldn't say he could lead the X-Men as they are now. But a hypothetical X-Men team of the future? Yeah, I can see him pulling that off. As long as it doesn't involve all too many of the aforementioned long, boring meetings.

Marvel.com: How does Gambit’s relationship with Rogue color his place among the X-Men?

Marjorie Liu: I wish it didn't! If this was real life, that relationship would be one of those bad running jokes that people tell each other around dinner, or when there's nothing else to talk about and so you go to the one topic that's only less boring than dull silence. Don't get me wrong, I used to be a fan of Gambit and Rogue, but the relationship doesn't do either of them any favors.

Mike Carey: It’s the main reason why the X-Men feel like home to him. If she left, his attachment to them would be significantly weakened.

Kieron Gillen: What can I say? Heavily.

I know I've been laboring it, but more than almost anyone else, his ties with the X-men are personal. He's happy to exist in a world with the X-Men. He's happy to do the X-Men's work. But he's an outsider, and I think that's a real core of who he is. He needs shadows to step out of.

Mike Carey: Who among the X-Men does Gambit trust? Who does he feel should lead the team?

Victor Gischler: I think he'd trust Storm under almost any circumstances.

Kieron Gillen: Rogue. That's about it. And I don't think he has particularly strong feelings about who should lead the team—but he is interested in the institution of the X-Men. I wouldn't say he's a "Doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always gets in" cynic, but as long as there's an institution which exists to do the job the X-Men have been doing, he's happy. If a leader appeared who changed that role entirely, it's only then Gambit would raise an eyebrow.

Marjorie Liu: I'm biased, but I feel he trusts X-23 and Jubilee, along with Storm. I'm not sure he trusts Rogue, even though he loves her—and I'm sure he's comfortable with Wolverine leading.

Mike Carey: I think he trusts Cyclops and is comfortable with his leadership. Certainly there’d be more tension for him if, say, Magneto had a leadership role. But the question of who leads isn’t a compelling one for Gambit, because he doesn’t see himself as being a follower. He follows his own conscience: sometimes that takes him outside the X-Men’s big tent. When he’s there, he toes the line, but his allegiance isn’t easily given or given without provisos.

#gambit #marvel #gambit gazette articles

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xavierfiles-blog · 7 years

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Entry 088 - Bishop

Name: Lucas Bishop

Code Names: Bishop

First Appearance: Uncanny X-Men #282 (Nov ‘91)

Powers: Energy absorption and redirection

Teams Affiliation: XSE, X-Men, X-Force

About

When I was young I had a weird idea that I was just fixated on. I wanted the next Metal Gear Solid game to give Solid Snake a teen sidekick who could be his best friend and also do all the cool spy stuff. In retrospect, I can see why this was a worse idea than tricking your audience into playing an anticipated squeal staring a totally secret new bishōnen character instead of a gruff, Nick Fury looking dude they expected. The idea stuck with me because kids don’t always want to be their heroes, they want to hang out with them. They want to be Robin, not Batman. It’s a strange but understandable tic in fandom but it is why things like self-insert fan fiction is so big. More than anything else, Lucas Bishop was a fanboy who got to live the dream of being best friends with his heroes, and you know what? It kinda worked.

Portrayed by Omar Sy

Lucas Bishop was born of Australian Aboriginal parents in the late 21st century. Years ago a red-haired girl known as the mutant messiah had restored the X-Gene after the events of M-Day but lost control of her powers and accidentally killed over one million baseline humans. The world’s response was to round up all mutants, brand them with an “M”, and place them in relocation camps. These were the camps Bishop and his sister Shard grew up in. These were the camps where they watched their parents die. Raised by their grandmother, Lucas and Shard were raised on the stories of X-Men, mutant freedom fighters of the past. It was these stories that would drive him for the rest of his life.

Larry Stroman, Mark Farmer, and Matt Milla

Mutant freedom fighters known as “The Summers Rebellion” broke down the walls of the camps and freed those inside. In the chaos, Bishop was separated from his family and raised by a thief known as The Witness. He claimed to have been an X-Man in his past and told Bishop of the betrayer that destroyed the rest of the X-Men and the Son of Askani who protected the red-haired girl. Bishop found his way back to his sister and they were both recruited by a new mutant police squad known as the XSE, Xavier’s Security Enforcers. They trained hard and became the youngest officers in the program’s history. Bishop was consumed by his dedication to the job and chased the time traveling mutant Trevor Fitzroy back decades to the late 20th century where he finally came face to face with his heroes, the X-Men.

Whilce Portacio, Art Thibert, and Joe Rosas

The X-Men were displeased by Bishop’s militaristic attitude and willingness to kill but Bishop was simply in shock. These were the X-Men, his X-Men, and he would fall in line to learn from them. Bishop struggled to understand the customs of the time but desperately wanted to learn. He and Storm grew close and he quickly became a strong field commander. He was constantly on the lookout for a way to prevent his future and often battled with Gambit, who he believed to be the traitor to cause the fall of the X-Men.

Jim Lee, Art Thibert, and Joe Rosas

Bishop was among the X-Men to travel into the past and try to stop Legion from killing Magneto. Legion went to kill Magneto but his father, Charles Xavier, took the blow in his stead. This caused the world to rip into an apocalyptic splinter timeline and Bishop was the only one to remember the world as it was. He sought out the X-Men of that world and convinced them to make the world right again. Through great struggle and sacrifice, the X-Men of the Age of Apocalypse sent Bishop back to the moment Charles was killed. Bishop absorbed Legion’s blow and redirect it back at him, killing the young mutant and fixing the time stream.

Bishop returned to the X-Men, always on the lookout for the traitor. That traitor was revealed to be Charles Xavier himself as Onslaught. Bishop was key in his defeat but felt aimless when Xavier was gone. He traveled to Shi’ar space with the other X-Men but was separated from the team and paled around with Deathbird saving alternate realities. He was captured as one of The Twelve and returned to the X-Men after that event finished, looking for a new purpose in the past.

Kevin Lau

Bishop joined Storm’s X-Treme X-Men on the hunt for the Destiny Diaries and was essential in getting the squad legitimized as mutant law enforcement officers known as the XSE. He began working as a detective in a Manhattan neighborhood called Mutant Town on the Middle East Side. He investigated a mutant gang war and got to the bottom of a new, dangerous street drug called “Toad Juice” alongside his partner Izzy Ortega. It felt good to be a cop again but it all came crashing down when the Scarlet Witch depowered all but 198 of the world’s mutants.

Phil Jimenez

Bishop remembered the stories from his childhood, this is how it started. Soon the red-haired girl would be born and that could only lead to the camps. He kept this knowledge to himself, how could he tell his friends that their only hope would lead to the enslavement of the mutant race? Bishop was at the mansion when he heard of the first mutant born after M-Day, and he knew it was time to act. He chased down Cable, he remembered the stories of the Son of Askani fathering the girl and knew that is where she would be. He succeeded in incapacitating Cable and drawing his gun on the newborn, but he is attacked by a mutant hunting monster known as Predator X who bit off his right arm. He saw Cable and the child begin to teleport into the future and fired wildly at them. This was his last best chance before they escaped to the time stream and he intended to take it. The shots missed their target but one caught Charles Xavier. Bishop had spent his entire life idolizing the X-Men but now he had killed their leader and became their enemy.

Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend, and Brian Reber

He made his way to Forge’s workshop in Dallas, stole a cool new robot arm, and began blanketing the future on the search for Cable. After an unsuccessful ambush in 2043, Bishop realized that he had to fight this war smarter. Cable could be anywhere on the planet at any time in the future and Bishop had to restrict that. He became a destroyer of worlds, killing billions to make continents inhospitable over hundreds of years. He didn’t care about the lives he destroyed. If he could prevent his future from happening, if he could kill the baby Hope, all of this would go away, right? These weren’t real people he was killing, they were just some mistake of a reality. That’s what he told himself at least. As Bishop tried and failed to destroy her, Hope grew into a young woman and she defeated Bishop with her father’s help. They were not content to leave this shallow husk of a man somewhere he could find them again. They destroyed his time travel device and sent him to the shallow husk of the Earth of 6700 AD, he was forced to live and die on the world he had razed.

Denys Cowan, Sandu Florea, and Pete Pantazis

His entire life, Lucas Bishop was a fighter, and this was no different. He wandered the wasteland until he was found by the Brothers of the Order. They were a group dedicated to protecting humanity from their dark shadows known as Revenants, beings the Shi’ar called Mummundrai. Bishop became a hunter in their order, seeking penance for what he had done to hope. The Revenant Queen known as the Great White Owl learned of Bishop and enacted a plan to travel back to the 21st century and establish world domination. She succeeded in coming to the modern era with Bishop but was eventually defeated by the X-Men. Bishop experienced deep sorrow for what he had done in the future and his one-time friend Storm decided she would help him make amends.

Adrian Alphona and Christiana Strain

Hope Summer’s was not so quick to forgive the man who had tried to kill her since the day she was born. The villain Stryfe orchestrated a situation to place Hope in a locked room with a bound Bishop and a sharp Psimitar as some elaborate revenge plot against Cable. Bishop begged for forgiveness but he understood that he deserved to die. Hope chose not to kill him in cold blood and the two reluctantly worked together to stop Stryfe. Since that day, Bishop dedicated his time to understanding the present to see if he could prevent any horrible futures. When Psylocke sent out a psychic distress call, Bishop was one of the X-Men who received it, and he worked with her to prevent the Shadow King from taking over the world.

Must Read

I am just going to tell you that my favorite Bishop based property is incredibly self-serving. It is Bish & Jubez by my Battle of the Atom co-host Adam Reck. It is a delightful adventure about a tough soldier and a spunky teen looking for a piece of junk food. It is so worth your time so check it out. The first volume is complete (you can read the whole thing here) and the second titled Bish & Jubez: The Age of Stryfe is just about to wrap up.

Ranking

I think Bishop can be a fun character if a little stiff. His villainous turn was fantastic and understandable; however, it did serious damage to the long-term health of the character. His redemption in Uncanny X-Force wasn’t convincing and current writers seem content with acting as if he didn’t commit global genocide. Another character that was ranked based on uneven writing was Warlock, and I frankly like that little robot dude better. Under him is Domino, another character I like, but don’t love. I do think Bishop is more flexible in stories than Dom so he can slide in as the new number 44 in the Xavier Files.

Magneto was requested by Max Dweck on Patreon among others. Thank you for the request. If you have a request for how about you send it below? If you want to cut to the front of the two-year long line, we have a Patreon you can support Xavier Files for just $1 to get a line cutting reward.

Make sure you check out my brand new podcast BATTLE OF THE ATOM. It’s where Bish & Jubez creator Adam Reck and I talk about every single X-Men story that ever existed and rank them from best to worst. Episode 6 is up and talk about that time George RR Martin and Stephen King wrote an X-Men book together. Make sure you subscribe on any of the following platforms (or others, I’m not picky) Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Stitcher | RSS.

Click here if you want to see the full ranked list, with links to every entry in the Xavier Files so far.

If you liked what you read be sure to follow Xavier Files on twitter, Tumblr, Facebook!

Next week we got ourselves some Bishop! See you then!

#Bishop #cable #Days of Future Past #Hope #X-Men #xmen

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