5 Characters Fox Could Do Instead of Gambit
After an end-all film like X-Men Apocalypse, Fox obviously has to find another way to keep their Marvel rights. They’d have to come up with something pretty creative after conquering Apocalypse, so it would probably be easier for them if Gambit or Deadpool got a sequel. Deadpool makes sense as a film project since it would try to be unique in the character’s violent and fourth-wall breaking qualities, but Gambit's…just there. Hell, there are (at least) five characters that could support a solo movie instead of Gambit.
CABLE
My first, obvious, and admittedly most difficult choice, Cable deserves to have a movie appearance. The mutant son of Scott Summers and Madelyne Pryor, a Jean Grey clone, Nathan Summers led a new team of mutants in both the distant future and the present. Cable not only has the skills and kick-ass look of a post-apocalyptic warrior but also the latent telepathy and telekinetic skills of Jean Grey as well as being a skilled time-traveler. The bottom line is, the guy’s not only a badass war mutant but the badass war mutant.
That’s not even considering the range of stories that could come from using Cable. There’s the new team of the New Mutants or the X-Force as well as the Messiah Complex featuring the last mutant baby born. Either one could be an exciting movie even with Fox’s meddling. It will be telling if they would be able to incorporate his crazy backstory and time-travelling activities, but only time will tell.
CANNONBALL
Another less obvious choice, Cannonball is just one level below ranking in Cable with enough differences to make him interesting. Instead of a mutant from the future, Sam Guthrie comes from a large, rural family before developing his powers. From his polite, hard-working background to his value of life even within the Hellfire Club, Cannonball’s basically a flying version of Captain America.
One thing that could work with Cannonball is basically the development of a mutant to a new leader in his own independence and rebellion of authority. Guthrie starts out as a mutant saving his co-workers to joining the Hellfire Club to joining the New Mutants to working and helping lead the X-Force. That story alone is enough to push a movie, and that doesn’t even cover the visuals of his powers. His jet propulsion and energy blast field could help an X-Men film stand out again, or at least introduce the cinema to more than six characters.
CHAMBER
Definitely the least known member on this list, Chamber will probably never get his own movie even if the studio decided to drop Gambit. Granted, his power is pretty similar to Havok’s in projecting energy blasts from his chest, but the idea of a character with that power with less control becoming a more prominent figure moving in and out of the X-Men is apparently a new concept in the X-Men series. Also, Chamber is supposed to be British which could help Fox remind people that mutants and situations exist outside the United States.
CALLISTO
Yes, I am cheating with this one since Callisto has technically appeared in the X-Men film series already, but I feel justified to include her since a. she’s the only female on this list, b. initial appearances didn’t stop Deadpool or Gambit from being made, and c. her only appearance took place in The Last Stand which even the series has proved no longer exists.
Callisto’s the rare female leader of her own mutant group the Morlocks which initially act against the X-Men but eventually gains an alliance with the team. It could be a nice change of pace to see a movie about a female leader of a group even more outcast than the X-Men, though I would not have nearly as much hope in Fox pulling it off in a decent movie. At the very least, it’d be a more original take than watching Gambit.
THUNDERBIRD
The only one on this list without a C in his name…that is probably one of the few things that make him special on this list. Then again, Thunderbird is an Apache, and he’s probably the only one here known just as well for being dead than being alive. I think that concept of main character in a film actually dying in the end would be a ballsy move for Fox. Sure, they would rather die themselves than make a movie without sequel possibilities, but we can dream.
No matter what happens, these characters aren’t getting their solo film any time soon, but that doesn’t stop them from being just as interesting as the ones we have now. I can’t tell whether that’s a testimony to the characters and their histories or how far the individual Fox/Marvel movies have fallen. It could be both.
