WITNESS
See entry for Bishop
XAVIER, PROFESSOR CHARLES
Founder and long-time leader and mentor of the X-Men, Professor Charles
Xavier had long dreamed of a world where mutants and humans could live together in peace and he formed
the X-Men with this dream in mind. Professor Xavier had been in Shi'ar space and not present at the
mansion when Storm returned with Gambit after they first met, but Gambit
joined the X-Men on their mission into outer space to free the Professor after he was kidnapped there.
Professor Xavier never officially invited Gambit to join the X-Men, but Gambit's membership nevertheless
seemed to be accepted by him when the X-Men found him and the new team was introduced.
Professor Xavier and Gambit didn't start out close. He seemed to find Gambit something of an enigma
- difficult if not impossible to read, telepathically - and he questioned some of Gambit actions and
possible motives along the way. However, they soon warmed to each other and Gambit felt he could trust
the Professor enough to talk to him when he suspected (or knew) that Rogue
had absorbed Bella Donna when they were in New Orleans together.
It seems as though in Bishop's timeline, Gambit also cared for and had
respect for the Professor as he was willing to take years of suspicion and/or outright accusation of
possibly being the X-traitor in order to ensure that Professor Xavier was not blamed when it was he
who had apparently fostered Onslaught's existence. Gambit logically wouldn't have known about Bishop's
intervention to save the X-Men against Onslaught prior to Bishop's leaving that timeline.
The Professor has finally returned to the X-Men having been held by the governement for crimes he committed
as Onslaught. Upon returning to the X-Men after his trial, Gambit assisted the team in finding and saving
the Professor.
[See UXM 277, 324, 350; XM 17, 32; Onslaught:X-Men]
X-CUTIONER
Carl Denti is a human FBI agent who heads the U.S. Superhuman Investigations Team. He was once mentored
by FBI agent Amos "Fred" Duncan before Duncan's death at which time he inherited Duncan's FBI workload.
Fred Duncan was a contact of Xavier's, in the FBI and helped Xavier
to track down mutants to assist them in co-existing with normal humans. During his association with
Duncan accumulated government records on mutants and stockpiled the weapons and devices of the
X-Men's earliest foes including the Sh'iar, the Z'noxx , Factor Three, the Sentinels, etc. Duncan
was supposedly killed by a mutant.
Using the weapons and devices stockpiled by Duncan, Carl first appeared as the X-Cutioner in X-Men Annual
#17. He claims he is out to bring to justice (execute) renegade and murderous mutants for their crimes
and to somewhat avenge his mentor's death. He is also willing to kill anyone getting in his way. At
that time, he was after Mastermind, who was already dying, and fought some of the X-Men to get to him
including Storm, Archangel, and Colossus, who Denti severely injured.
Denti has since had run-ins with Cable and Cyclops while trying to execute Emma Frost and tried to kill
both Rogue and Skin for their "crimes".
Carl Denti is 6 feet tall and weights 230 pounds in his X-Cutioner armor.
As the head of the U.S. Superhuman Investigations Team, he has been assigned to assist Elysian Enterprises
in their quest for military artifacts, and therefore came into contact with Gambit during Remy's thefts
from Elysian for the New Son. He tried to kill Gambit but was out
maneuvered and is now beginning to consider Gambit something of personal thorn.
[See Gambit #1]
X-MEN
The X-Men are a group of mutants gathered by Professor Charles Xavier
to aid in bringing about his dream for a peaceful co-existence between mutants and humans. They fight
to protect a world that sometimes hates and fears them trying to prove that mutants are basically the
same as other humans despite their mutant powers and aren't the evil threat some believe them to be.
Gambit joined the X-Men after saving the X-Man Storm from the
Shadow King and worked closely with most of the X-Men who were members while he was with them.
This included Storm, Rogue, Wolverine,
Cyclops, Beast, Psylocke, Bishop, Angel, Iceman, Phoenix,
Joseph, Colossus, Cannonball, Forge and Banshee.
Because of his mysterious past, the X-Men were wary of Gambit at first, but still allowed him onto the
team. From that time, Gambit fought beside them and risked his life for theirs many times, coming to
think of them as friends and family.
However, upon the revelation that prior to being an X-Man, Gambit once was involved with
Sinister, one of their most hated enemies, and that he had some involvement with the
Morlock Massacre, which involved the death of numerous mutants, Gambit was abandoned to
survive unprotected in the Antarctic by Rogue and the X-Men either by their actual agreement of his
fate or their indifference. This despite the fact that many of them have also been involved with or
been villains against the X-Men in their pasts, hurt people the X-Men knew, or taken numerous lives
by their own actions and that all of those team members were still either accepted into or back into
the teams in spite of some bad feelings.
Gambit is presently on his own after surviving being left to fend for himself in the wastelands of Antarctica.
Since he was saved only by luck, in essence, the X-Men condemned him to die. Ironically, they never
considered such a harsh fate for other people, like Sabretooth, who actually killed the Morlocks or
Sinister, who actually ordered their deaths.
Only time will tell if Gambit will become involved with the X-Men again. At present, most of the X-Men
continually make disparaging remarks concerning his memory.
[See all issues]
YUKIO
Yukio is an adventurer thief friend of Wolverine's and Storm's. She is also ronin - a masterless samurai. She enjoys getting into trouble and wouldn't exactly win any morality awards. She and Gambit have obviously crossed paths on a number of occasions and she very much dislikes him. The two known or mentioned times are London and Milan, but there were likely more. One reason for her dislike of Gambit seems to be because he's a better con man and thief than she is and she has continually been on the losing end of their contests. It's also possible that Gambit has had some personal involvement with either her or someone she has known. She has warned him not to hurt Storm.