Omega Underground has recently learned from a source with knowledge of Gambit‘s character lineup that telepathic X-Men supervillain Candra The Benefactress aka Red Death will be appearing in the solo film. The villainess controls both mutant New Orleans gangs the Thieves Guild (Gambit) and Assassins Guild (Bella Donna), with Remy LeBeau’s origins being the focus of the film it’s not entirely shocking she would have a role to play in the film due to her ties to that origin.
Candra grants the Guilds with their powers via telepathy.
A version of the character was seen in the 90’s X-Men animated series drawn as a woman of color, quite the opposite of her white comic book counterpart. So, there is a possibly Fox could cast an actress of color.
Candra’s inclusion in Gambit could be setting up a wave of future villains for the X-Men franchise, specifically for Drew Goddard’s X-Force and possibly even Deadpool 3.
There’s no secret that Fox is starting to run out of usable X-Men villains and with the franchise setting out down the criminal underworld with projects like Deadpool and Gambit there is a group of villains that are ripe for use. That being, X-Force villains The Externals (first appearing in X-Force #10 in 1992) which Candra just happens to be a member of.
Not unlike Mister Sinister appearing in Gambit would lead us to the idea of the potential additions of Sinister’s villain teams The Marauders and The Nasty Boys eventually.
The Externals are a powerful sub-group of mutants able to recover from mortal wounds/death and that consider themselves immortal. Their members include Candra, Absalom, Burke, Crule, Gideon, Nicodemus, Saul, and Selene. Apocalypse is also possibly one as well but is never given membership. New Mutants team members Sunspot and Cannonball were also eyed for membership.
Gambit has a direct connection with them as well leading an Age of Apocalypse version at one point in Gambit and The X-Ternals.
Outside of Candra, another External character that is extremely striking is Gideon due to his connections to X-Force, New Mutants, Deadpool, and even Gambit. He’s a crossover villain that would make a lot of sense getting an on-screen debut.
We don’t know what Fox’s overall plans are for Candra, but her addition to Gambit has us considering that the Externals could be a bridge between Gambit, New Mutants, and X-Force. That’s if Fox is considering to get some cohesiveness going between their new X-Men films.
Gambit’s release date has been slated for February 14th, 2019.
SOURCE: OMEGA UNDERGROUND