Gambit

Born into the New Orleans Thieves Guild and eventually adopted by its patriarch, Remy LeBeau discovered he was a mutant with the power to charge objects with explosive kinetic energy. A master thief and bo-staff fighter, he later sought redemption by joining the X-Men.

Few Marvel characters have made an entrance quite like Gambit — debuting in X-Men Annual #14 in 1990, the creation of Chris Claremont and Arthur Adams, this Cajun charmer arrived at the dawn of the Modern Age and never looked back. A card-carrying X-Men member through and through, he's spent over three decades sharing the spotlight with legends like Wolverine, Rogue, and Ororo Munroe across the pages of Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, and his own solo series. With 726 catalog appearances and 16 key issues to his name, his staying power speaks for itself — this is a character who captured imaginations in 1990 and has kept them ever since. If you're building a serious Marvel collection, Gambit is absolutely one to know.