Avengers: Doomsday will feature the original big screen X-Men's return, albeit with one noteworthy addition in Channing Tatum's Gambit. The actor was lined up to play Remy LeBeau over a decade ago, but didn't get the chance to do so until last summer's Deadpool & Wolverine.
While he was a largely comedic character in that movie, Gambit is expected to get serious when he lines up with Professor X, Magneto, Cyclops, Beast, Nightcrawler, and Mystique to fight the Avengers and Fantastic Four.
Unsurprisingly, that's going to include toning down the mutant's Cajun accent. "It's always an interesting negotiation," he told PEOPLE. "When you go down to Lafayette, where most of the Cajuns are and Cajun culture, there's a huge spectrum of Cajun. It's massive."
"And so I have to interpret what I need to get across in the scene," Tatum continued. "And I got to make sure that, 'Is this line for a joke, and can I really Cajun this one up? Or is this line for plot, and do I need to be really clear but still in a Cajun accent?'"
Acknowledging that it's "always a bit of a push and pull," the Roofman star said that Avengers: Doomsday directors Joe and Anthony Russo "love their comedy and that's always going to be in there as well." Even so, "it's definitely going to be a dramatic movie."
Teasing the "sheer scale" of the upcoming movie, Tatum added, "I think that they really set themselves up for a really hard bar to hit. I think that they really set themselves up for a really hard bar to hit. Every single movie that they make is the next one has to top it."
"When I read the script, I was just like, 'What?!' I don't think anybody's really going to understand how they did this," he enthused. "It's going to melt everybody's brain all over again."
The hope is that Avengers: Doomsday will add the likes of Jean Grey, Storm, and Wolverine to that X-Men team. If that is the plan, then Marvel Studios is either keeping their casting a surprise or plans to shoot scenes with those actors during reshoots.
From his hair to the costume he wore and, crucially, that Cajun accent, Tatum gave it his all to do right by Gambit in Deadpool & Wolverine. It will be interesting to see what that looks like when he dials back the comedy and gets serious, especially as the stakes look set to be incredibly high in Avengers: Doomsday. After all, Doom is coming.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.