Play for Keeps: The X-Men’s Gambit Plays Poker in Excellent Fan Film Starring Nick Bateman [NSFW]

With Disney’s acquisition of Fox and the dissolution of the former “X-Universe” built around the X-Men, it’s highly unlikely we will ever see the planned Gambit solo movie starring Channing Tatum. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, given Fox’s hit-and-miss record of adapting Marvel characters, but it’s still unfortunate that one of the X-Men’s more complex and charismatic characters, Remy LeBeau, never got his shot at headlining a franchise.

Thankfully, while we’re waiting for Disney to decide what to do with the X-Men, we’ve got Nick Bateman turning in an excellent performance as the “Ragin’ Cajun” in Gambit: Play for Keeps from award-winning independent director Jensen Noen. The fan film is a continuation and extension of the 4-minute Gambit short the pair released in 2018 that included a decent fight scene between Gambit and Wolverine’s feral son, Daken.

This time around, Gambit is forced to play poker against a mercenary, a psychopath, a gun runner and a crooked politician in order to save the life of beloved cher, Rogue.

“Gentlemen, the buy-in is $100,000. No ancient spells or apocalyptic stones; we’re talking cash.”

Gambit: Play for Keeps was directed by Jensen Noen, from a story he wrote with Joe Grayem. The cast features Eric Roberts as Nicky Lonero, with Ellen Hollman as Rogue, Adam Senn as Assassin, Gary Kasper as Ashley, Gene Freeman as Jabari, Glen Baggerly as Senator Johnson and Anna Butkevych as Magik.

Image courtesy of Nick Batman