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The X-Men Rise [SPOILER] – In his most dangerous form ever – newsdubai
The following contains spoilers for Knights of X #5, now on sale from Marvel Comics.
The heroic missions of the X-Men often risk their lives, a threat that became considerably easier after the codification of the resurrection of the Five. However, it hasn’t worked for everyone, especially everyone lost in the Otherworld. Instead, a new form of resurrection has been introduced which has already effectively restored a great hero.
Knights of X #5 (by Tini Howard, Bob Quinn, Erick Arciniega, and VC’s Ariana Maher) reveals that Gambit has been resurrected after his apparent death in the battle against Merlyn—and in the process, he even briefly takes on his most dangerous form ever.
During the Knights of X’s venture into the Otherworld to try to prevent Merlyn’s plans to wipe out the mutants across the mystical realm, the team apparently lost Gambit. Facing Merlyn all on his own, the Cajun Mutant supercharged the Death Card from the tarot card he stole from Saturynne with energy and caused a massive explosion. But after reaching Mister M’s kingdom of Mercator—revealed as the actual besieger—Gambit’s body disappears and is teleported into a mysterious castle made of giant playing cards. As they venture into the castle, they discover monuments to different versions of Gambit, which Rachel Summers realizes is Gambit’s spirit trying to figure out who he will be if he is resurrected. As a result of dying in the Otherworld, any attempt to revive Gambit through the Five would leave him an amalgamation of all Gambits, similar to the new versions of Rockslide and Gorgon created after their demise during X of swords.
Using her powers, Rachel Summers is able to eventually use her powers, so search through the castle to find their Gambit – who has been transformed into the form he briefly assumed as the Death Rider of Apocalypse. In the period around The house of M and the ensuing M-Day, Gambit found himself increasingly isolated from his allies in the X-Men. When Apocalypse carried out an attack on the Xavier Institute in X-Men #183 by Peter Milligan and Salvador Larroca, Gambit ended up surprising everyone by accepting a position within the newest incarnation of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse as Death. The process transformed Gambit, giving him inky black skin and stark white hair, along with giving him new powers. Gambit’s mind was affected by the process, but ultimately he and the powerful Sunfire (who was also briefly transformed into a Rider) were able to escape Apocalypse and regain control of themselves.
Lost in the possibility that he could be transformed into something unexpected and dangerous, it makes some sense that Gambit would be transformed back into his death form – especially since the card he was holding at the time of his apparent death was death card. Fortunately, the Knights of X simply refuse to allow Gambit’s transformation to take full effect. Using his psychic abilities, Captain Britain is able to stab Gambit right in the mind – weakening his defenses enough for Prestige to create a mental projection of Sunfire to help complete the process. Ultimately, the final step is the arrival of Rogue – who, along with the rest of the X-Men, arrives on the scene via a new Krakoa gate established in Mercator. This allows Gambit to be formally restored to his true form – proving under the right circumstances that a mutant has been lost on the Otherworld able to be restored.
Gambit’s revival is a big deal, as it helps ensure that Otherworld remains a viable backup location for the mutants to fall back on. It also means that Gambit has indeed survived his potentially fatal encounter – hopefully helping to avert the dark future Destiny saw for her adopted daughter in her visions. The return of Gambit’s Death form should give the rest of the X-Men pause as it suggests that this dark version of the hero still exists in some form. But it’s exciting to find out that Gambit didn’t actually die in the fight against Merlyn, and might continue to serve Krakoa going forward.