GAMBIT

 

GAMBIT

Real Name: Remy Etienne LeBeau

First Appearance: The Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #266, August 1990

Powers: Gambit’s mutant power is interkinesis, converting potential energy into kinetic energy. His power requires physical contact with an object in order to trigger the effect, and cannot affect organic molecules. His interkinetic force stirs molecules into volatile and unstable activity, making anything charged by his power highly explosive on impact, destroying the charged object and creating a burst of concussive force that varies depending on the mass of the object. The chain reaction generated by his interkinetics rushes through the entire uniform surface of what he touches, not just the area he comes into direct contact with. The amount of time it takes for him to complete a charge depends on the mass and volume of the object: A playing card is fully charged in under a second, but a two foot thick steel vault door may take 10 seconds or longer. The interkinetic energy active in his body only causes unstable kinetic activity; it is not explosive itself. Typically, he uses playing cards as a focus for his power.

His internal energy does have a hyperkinetic boosting effect on his system, though, causing his agility and other physical attributes to be maintained at peak human levels at all times. It also has a disruptive effect on psionics, creating a masking aura that makes even the most powerful of telepaths have trouble reading his thoughts or even sensing his presence. Gambit has found it possible to amplify this distortion even further by holding a charged card near his head. Gambit has undergone surgery to remove a portion of his brain, thus limiting the full potential of his abilities. In recent years, he temporarily regained these enhanced power levels. This gave him the ability to affect organic molecules as well, and his range was expanded to line-of-sight, and an invisible field of interkinetic energy now extended out into his environment at all times. Before he could fully control his powers, this meant that Gambit might accidentally explode anything in his immediate area. Gambit also became capable of controlling the kinetic charge his power produces for a variety of effects. He could now tag objects with a dormant charge that he could mentally detect and track from a distance, create different intensities of heat by stirring up molecular activity, burning his opponents or simply causing them extreme discomfort as their molecules shuffled around. Remy could also mentally control the power of the explosion he created when charging an object, creating ones much weaker or stronger than he could previously, and even create a charge to completely incinerate matter without causing an explosion at all.

Gambit's physical abilities were also increased by the use of his powers: His strength, agility, reaction time, and especially his endurance were boosted to superhuman levels so long as he continued to employ his powers. Though this made him virtually tireless during a sustained conflict, Remy would begin feeling the exhaustion of all his activity once the situation cooled down and the interkinetic levels in his body dropped back to their standard levels from disuse. Ultimately, a conflict with his alternate self, the New Sun, burnt out these excess power levels.

Gambit also has a hypnotic charm that has been employed very sparingly over the years. It takes the form of a special quality in his voice, lulling people into complacency and making them far more susceptible to believing anything he has to tell them, and more inclined to think doing what he asks is a good idea. People are far more capable of resisting it if they are aware of his power and recognize what he's doing.

As the Horseman known as Death, Remy was mutagenically altered by Apocalypse. He now had jet black skin, long white hair, and eyes even more red than before. Mr. Sinister apparently reversed the transformation before the Messiah CompleX event, but in fact Remy now seems capable of shifting between Gambit and Death at will, much like Angel/Archangel did. While active, Death can transmute regular air into a toxic vapor. This enables him to summon clouds of lethal gas literally out of thin air, creating an anaerobic environment that leaves his foes breathless, and can kill them if they inhale and metabolize too much of it. Remy can even transform the air inside someone's lungs directly into his toxic vapor, killing them from the inside out. He can still charge objects, only Death fills them with a black, carbonizing energy. Death seems able to mentally direct his black-charged objects, guided them towards a specific target. Once they strike a person, the charged objects quickly spread black energy over the victim, consuming them completely and reducing them to ash. Death may also possess some level of enhanced strength and resistance to impact, and has increased psychic senses or protection which allows him to overcome certain kinds of mental influence.

Gambit is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, utilizing street-fighting techniques and acrobatics. He is a master thief, skilled in breaking-and-entering, pick-pocketing, lock picking, and disabling security systems. He is also bilingual in English and French and is proficient in throwing small objects, including knives, playing cards, and throwing spikes, with great accuracy.