One Gambit Cosplay Brought the X-Man to Life Years Before His MCU Debut

The X-Men’s classic design for Gambit has finally made it to film after many years, but one cosplayer got there first, recreating his classic look several years before Deadpool & Wolverine. Gambit’s road to live-action stardom has been a rocky one, but this cosplay shows exactly why the hero is so appealing, while also highlighting one of cosplay’s most important strengths.

Cosplayer Lovro Belošević (@lovrothesupernaut) created the perfect Gambit cosplay in 2022, long before the character’s MCU debut.

In his cosplay, Belošević is the spitting image of the Cajun ‘tief, sporting Gambit’s classic head-sock, trench coat and purple armor from his original Jim Lee design.

Using a combination of practical effects and photo editing skills, Belošević’s brought Gambit’s powers to life with glowing trading cards and moody purple lighting. Belošević also highlights the work of @plottwist_produkcija in providing said lighting and photography for the cosplay shoot, showing how cosplay often functions as a collaborative project as well.

This Gambit Cosplay Captures His Look Way Better Than X-Men Origins: Wolverine

Gambit has had a fascinating trajectory off the page when it comes to X-Men adaptations. His first live-action appearance, as portrayed by Taylor Kitsch, was in the generally derided X-Men Origins: Wolverine in 2009, which gave him a design more reminiscent of a street magician than a superhero. Channing Tatum was then attached to a live-action Gambit solo film that seemed stuck in development hell from the beginning. It was only thanks to Deadpool & Wolverine’s cameo-tastic universe-hopping shenanigans was Tatum able to finally play his dream role, albeit a decade later.

Gambit has fared better in animation, with a star turn in the recent X-Men ’97, but he’s still surprisingly underrepresented in adaptations for a character with such broad appeal and name recognition. Part of this is due to just how messy many X-Men live-action projects have been. For many people, Gambit is a symbol of 1992’s X-Men: The Animated Series, whose aesthetic the first Fox X-Men films steered well clear of for a variety of very silly reasons.

Only in today’s age of superhero ubiquity has Gambit’s classic look made it to film, but cosplay got there first.

Great Cosplay Can Come From Anywhere

Beloševic is a Croatian creator and has highlighted how there isn’t as large a cosplay community in the country as there is in more central European nations.

Cosplay is something that can and should be universal, and the spread of social media provides unique opportunities for cosplayers to foster their own local scenes while also getting contact and recognition from those overseas. Beloševic’s X-Men cosplay of Gambit is the perfect example, an incredible piece of work from an underappreciated community that proves that anywhere can have its own amazing cosplay scene.

Source: Lovro Belošević via Instagram (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)