Fans of the X-Men already know the mutant Gambit possesses a killer superpower, but a preview of Marvel's Excalibur reveals he may finally confirm one new ability: super speed.

While people are constantly shooting at each other in comics, this new instance stands out. Traditionally, Gambit's mutation allows him to grant instant, devastating kinetic energy onto everyday objects (famously turning a playing card into a battering ram). But in his time with Excalibur, Gambit learned to channel magical energy as well. When Gambit displayed this new ability, it was unclear if this was a one-off instance due to his joining hands with the rest of the Excalibur team. The trend continued when Excalibur #10 showed Gambit capable of draining an incoming missile of its energy in moments. And in Excalibur #22, the storyline of Gambit discovering new powers or enhancing old ones reaches a brand new level.

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In the official preview pages for Excalibur #22, Gambit and the other members of Excalibur are on a mission in the brutal Blightspoke, back on their beat monitoring Otherworld after the events of the X-Men's historic Hellfire Gala. While their intentions are not yet known, those of Gia Whitechapel, the Sheriff of Blightspoke, certainly are: wasting no time in firing a bullet directly at Gambit's head. Giving him a chance to showcase the absurd speed he is now apparently capable of. Check out the preview pages below:

Excalibur 22 Preview Page 1
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Excalibur 22 Preview Cover

Gambit stops Gia Whitechapel's bullet by grabbing it out of mid-air before it can hit him. How Gambit is able to accomplish this feat is unclear. Does he grab the bullet, absorbing its kinetic energy and redirect the energy into the ground? Or does he redirect the kinetic energy once it makes contact with his body, providing a form of 'bulletproof skin' (assuming he is aware of the bullet). Being speedy and having quick reflexes is part of Gambit's known skillset, but stopping a bullet is absolutely above his normal range of speed, bordering on Quicksilver-level super speed. Is this new skill part of the talents he picked up from Rictor? Or is this akin to the energy swap he performed even earlier in this series?

Each one of these possible explanations has far-reaching consequences for Gambit as a character. If his normal skills as a kinetic (and now magical) energy absorber-and-redirect-er have always included above-average speed, that's one matter. But stopping a bullet from hitting him is far speedier than Gambit's ever been shown, and isn't the kind of ability or heightened reflex that is showcased carelessly, expecting fans to overlook or forget it before long. If Gambit is picking up super speed as a permanent skill, it raises the question of just how relevant that talent is to his core powers and whether he is experiencing "power creep" as a character.

Fans will have to wait for the full issue to see if these questions are addressed, when Excalibur #22 arrives on July 14th, 2021.

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