Gambit Actor Channing Tatum Reveals ‘Big Fight’ With Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom in Avengers: Doomsday, Says ‘I’m Not Gonna Go Full Cajun’

With filming for Avengers: Doomsday in full swing, we’re learning more and more about what kind of movie Marvel fans can expect to see next year. Whether it’s via leaked set photos or off-hand comments from one of the film’s many stars, we’re building an ever clearer picture of Doomsday. Now, it’s time to add Gambit star Channing Tatum to the list.

Tatum is set to reprise his role as Gambit after his hugely popular cameo as the card-carrying X-Men superhero. Now, speaking about his time shooting Doomsday in an interview with Variety, Tatum has shed new light on his involvement.

The first thing to note is Tatum revealed he was forced to skip what he described as a “big fight” with Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom due to injury, leaving his double to take the action and stepping in only for close-ups. This teases an X-Men vs Doctor Doom fight at some point in the movie, which most fans had expected anyway based on leaked set photos. The question is, does Gambit survive this fight? Do any of the mutants confirmed to appear in the movie?

The second thing worth noting is that we’ll see a toned down version of Tatum’s Gambit in Avengers: Doomsday, compared to the version we saw in Deadpool & Wolverine. This, Tatum said, means that comedy accent will be a little clearer, and the comedy won’t match Deadpool’s tone.

As Tatum said, executives “really had to wrap their mind around the accent and how people are going to understand him.” In response, Tatum said: “I’m not gonna go full Cajun.” Co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo “want things to be funny, but they don’t want to go full Deadpool. They want to keep the drama and keep it tight. When Gambit gets serious — when he drops the Mardi Gras mask — things do matter.”

Tatum also summed up Gambit as he sees him as a character: “He likes women, he smokes, he drinks. He’s not just a save-the-world kind of guy — we need those, but we need contrast.”

Fans will have to wait and see exactly how it will all play out, however, with Avengers: Doomsday currently set to launch in theaters on December 18, 2026.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.