We already knew that Channing Tatum and producer Lauren Shuler Donner had fallen quite hard for the idea of Tatum playing the dashing, morally ambiguous Gambit in future X-Men films. Now Donner has confirmed, telling Total Film “it’s Channing.”

Donner had a number of reasons for choosing Tatum, citing his roguishness, southern origins, and action-readiness (in other words, that bod).

Though it’s the headline, Tatum’s tapping is only a small part of the ever-expanding X-Men universe (a universe that, unlike others, actually can support such expansion) and the steady stream of news flowing out of it. THR’s Borys Kit confirmed what many of us had already expected – that Channing’s Gambit would be introduced in X-Men: Apocalypse before being given his own film.

Yes, Channing Tatum will play Gambit. Yes, it will be for a standalone movie. And yes, watch for him to be introduced in X-MEN: APOCALYPSE.

— Borys Kit (@Borys_Kit) May 13, 2014

We have yet to see X-Men: Days of Future Past, which comes out next Friday, May 23 (unless you count the promotional blitz, which seems to have given us half the movie), but already we know a veritable boatload of information about it. This includes the release date of Apocalypse – May 27 2016.

Besides the the mainline titles, we also have the bevy of spin-offs that have been hinted at. Donner also talked X-Force to Total Film:

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Tyler Hanan

Tyler raves about movies on the Let The Right Films In podcast. Listen to him make jokes over his beleaguered cohost Kayla St. Onge and their more qualified guests who deserve so much better at soundcloud.com/ltrfipod. Find him on Twitter @tylerhanan.

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