Within the world of geeky franchises, Anson Mount is arguably best known for playing Christopher Pike, having debuted as James T. Kirk’s USS Enterprise captaining predecessor in Star Trek: Discovery and will soon be seen leading Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. But let’s not forget that several years back, Mount left his stamp on the Marvel landscape by playing Black Bolt in ABC’s Inhumans series. However, if given the opportunity, Mount would gladly jump back into the Marvel pool to play X-Men hero Gambit, and he’d definitely be a solid choice.
While recently speaking with Anson Mount about his time voicing Batman in the upcoming animated Injustice movie, I asked if he would want a go at a different Marvel character, or if playing Black Bolt had been enough for him as far as Marvel content goes. Mount made it clear he’d welcome the chance to score a different role in the MCU, saying how he doesn’t really think he’s had his “shot at it.” The actor then said this:
If you told me any Marvel character I could play, Black Bolt would have been my second choice. My first choice would have been Gambit.
I then brought up how the Marvel Cinematic Universe is planning to introduce the X-Men in the coming years, and Anson Mount noted how like himself, Gambit is a Southern superhero. That provides a little extra incentive for the powers-that-be at Marvel Studios to at least consider Mount for the Gambit role, assuming that’s an X-Men who’s being prepped for the MCU stage. Of course, if Mount was cast as Gambit, he’d actually get to deliver dialogue, as opposed to Black Bolt, who, like his comic book counterpart, couldn’t speak in Inhumans without his powerful voice causing destruction.
Gambit, a.k.a. Remy LaBeau, made his first comic book appearances in Uncanny X-Men Annual #14 and Uncanny X-Men #266, and just a few years later, he became one of the animated X-Men series’ starring characters. Within the film realm, Gambit was played by Taylor Kitsch in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and in 2014, it was announced that Channing Tatum would play the card-throwing mutant in his own movie. However, the spinoff spent about half a decade in development hell and was ultimately shelved by Disney following the company’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox.
Considering that Gambit hasn’t received nearly as much cinematic attention compared to many other X-Men characters, the MCU could easily rectify that in the coming years. And since Inhumans was cancelled after just one season, this would be a great way for Anson Mount to leave a bigger impact on this franchise, and there’s precedence for this kind of recasting. After all, following his time as Cornell “Cottonmouth” Stokes in Netflix’s Luke Cage series, Mahershala Ali is now primed to play Blade, and Gemma Chan will soon be seen as Sersi in Eternals after previously appearing as Minn-Erva in Captain Marvel.
For now, the MCU’s plans for the X-Men are shrouded in secrecy, but we’ll keep you apprised of any concrete information that surfaces. As for Anson Mount, you can hear his Batman performance when Injustice is released on October 19, and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is expected to debut on Paramount+ sometime next year.
