Gambit

Background

Full Name: Remy Etienne LeBeau

Powers & Abilities

• Molecular Acceleration: Remy has the power to take the potential energy stored in an object and convert it to kinetic energy, thus “charging” that item with explosive results. He prefers to charge smaller objects, such as his ever-present playing cards, as the time required to charge them is greatly reduced and they are much easier for him to throw. The only real limitation to this ability is the time required to charge the object. The larger it is, the more time it takes. Most charging takes place through direct skin contact. The power of his explosions is dependent on the mass of the object he is charging, for example, a charged playing card explodes with the force of a grenade. He typically cannot utilize his powers on living matter or organic molecules, although he has demonstrated the ability to do so on occasion. These powers have been altered on various occasions; sometimes bolstered while other times weakened. They were most notably augmented once by Sage to enable him to accelerate his own regeneration process and better control his kinetic shifting, and again by Faiza when he was shot through the head by a crime lord and spat a bullet back at him that eviscerated the latter.
  • Dissolution: Gambit can also cause objects to pull themselves apart instead of exploding violently making them harmlessly melt down to nothing. Once having focused charging on dissolving shrapnel in a victim's stomach and at times when jumpstarted able to overcharge falling debris from crumbling buildings. His control over this has increased to the point he can shatter ice he was encased in without blowing up.
  • Disruption: Gambit can take his explosive acceleration to temporarily scramble the sensory awareness of a person, knocking them out cold.
  • Enhanced Conditioning: Gambit's ability to tap energy also grants him increased speed, strength, reflexes and reactions, flexibility, dexterity, coordination, balance, and endurance as a side effect, bestowing him an added edge he has used to his advantage by developing a unique acrobatic fighting style. Under normal circumstances, the physical "charge" he receives makes his abilities exceptional, but not quite superhuman.
    • Accelerating Regeneration: Gambit can enhance his own recovery rate by stimulating his own cellular activity. Through this process he once healed after removing a bone slag lodged in his chest. Another time, when his eyes were damaged by a charged card exploding in his face, Sage augmented his powers and enabled him to restore his sight, indicating his regenerative powers are innate yet sparsely used.
    • Speed Augmentation: LeBeau can use his kinetic abilities to vastly increase his reflexes and locomotion to incredible extremes. Shown by dodging bullets, lasers, catching a bullet and throwing it back, blocking bullets with his staff, able to dodge missiles, spotting a magical bullet and knocking it out of the air scant moments before it struck him in the eye.
  • Enhancement: Can supercharge the energy both converted and accelerated to get more of a bang out of even the smallest objects as well as giving them greater concussive or stopping power.
  • Static Interference: Creates natural static, because of the charged potential energy always in his body, that shields his mind from intrusion by telepaths. Can increase the effect by holding a charged object near his head. Although reportedly uncomfortable for the parties involved, this shield does not totally prevent telepathic invasion.
  • Vibration Emission: Gambit, through kinetic acceleration instead of conversion, can emit a shockwave accompanying a bright flashbang which leaves a sizable crater in the ground.
  • Remote Charging: At the height of his power, Mr. LeBeau could activate the potential/kinetic conversion process of matter from a distance with nothing but direct eye contact. He seems to possess a similar skill to focus his accelerating abilities with a gesture while out in the field with Excalibur.
  • Shearing/Cutting: By charging his cards, Remy can use them to slice through objects as dense as solid steel without worry of them exploding.
  • Acceleration Bestowal: Gambit can take the energy locked within a charged slug and use it in order to continue pushing it forwards and onward in a given direction with enough concentration, even though a solid energy field while withholding its explosive reaction.
  • Delayed Charge: With some effort, Gambit can prolong the detonation time of his activated discharge, causing a slight lag when he's preparing his potential/kinetic conversion of matter into a volatile state.
• Hypnotic Charm: Subliminal psionic talent channeled through his voice that allows a subtle influence over any sentient mind. This power allows Gambit to compel others to believe what he says and agree with anything he suggests. More powerful minds have proven immune to Gambit's charm, and people who are consciously aware of what he's doing can shake off the effects.
• Death Seed Powers: As the Horseman of Death, Remy received new abilities and a new appearance. Sinister allegedly removed Apocalypse's influence from Gambit, but the Death personality and look resurfaced intermittently for several months. It has been some time since Gambit's last reversion into Death, but the second power set was never explicitly removed again.
  • Toxic Transmutation: As Death, he has the ability to convert breathable air into poisonous gases. He could either create clouds out of the surrounding air or transmute the oxygen already inside someone's lungs.
  • Death Charge: As Death, Gambit could charge objects in a manner differently than his regular kinetic charge. This "death charge" caused his cards to break down living matter on contact, totally disintegrating a victim.
    • Trajectory Manipulation: Gambits Death persona also seemed capable of guiding these charged cards to their target mentally.
  • Enhanced Psychic Resistance: As Death, Gambit was unaffected by psionic manipulations that would affect him normally. When his Death personality surfaced, Remy was no longer fooled or distracted by Input's telepathic distortions.
  • Corruption: When reverting to Death in Limbo, Gambit displayed the ability to corrupt other creatures and subvert them to his will. When used on Northstar and Dazzler they began to resemble him, gaining pitch-black skin and white hair.
• Mutant Energy Control: Taking a new perspective on how Remy's kinetic abilities work, Julio Richter enlisted his aid in using the shared energy which mutants' harness in order to utilize their superpowers. Using his own abilities in conjunction with those on the Excalibur team, he was able to facilitate a summoning spell to retrieve fallen comrade.
• Multilingual: He is fluent in English and Cajun French. He also knows some Japanese though he is not very fluent.
• Master Marksman: He is extremely skilled in throwing small objects such as cards, bolas, knives, and balls with great accuracy.
• Master Martial Artist: A profound fighter, often employing martial arts, street fighting, and acrobatics. He is well adept in the martial arts Savate (French kickboxing), and Bojutsu, the art of using a Bo staff.
• Master Stick Fighter: Remy's extreme skills in Bojutsu makes him dangerously skilled in the use of his bo staff.
• Master Thief:
• Gifted Intellect: Gambit is a born strategist, and without studying, he managed to prove himself to be one of the greatest strategists of the X-Men. It is possible that he is as good a strategist as Wolverine or Beast.

Equipment

• Gambit's Guild Costume: Gambit's guild costume is armored, providing better protection than a normal X-Men uniform, according to Gambit himself, there may be a slight headache from being hit, but bullets and energy blasts will bounce off the armor.
• Throwing Spikes:
• Playing Cards:
• Telescoping Bo-Staff:
• Tarot Cards: On his recent adventures Remy LeBeau stole a magic deck of Tarot Cards from Lady Saturnyne's keep, each one having the magical ability represented by the mystical arcana based upon the various characters who represent them, such as Longshot's visage on the wheel of fate governing good fortune.

Weaknesses

• Generally, Gambit's powers require physical contact to function and were nearly, if not totally, incapable of affecting organic matter. His abilities have occasionally been augmented so that these limitations are no longer applicable. Indeed, these limits were artificially imposed on him by Mister Sinister's surgery when his true power levels proved too much for Remy to master.