top of page

4 Comic Characters That Just Love to Gamble

Writer: Byron O'NealByron O'Neal

Updated: Aug 15, 2023

The world of comic books is vast and expansive, leading to innumerable characters – some going on to be popularized through their own films and franchises, while others fall through the cracks of obscurity. Still, even within characters that are well-known, the sheer number of iterations and different perspectives that have been lent toward them over the years can lead to fresh ideas taking form.


Sometimes, this takes the form of hobbies and pastimes that expand on the character’s personality. Gambling is something that is sometimes incorporated into the design of the character themselves, but other times it’s just a simple pastime, as it would be with anyone else.



Gambit

This might not come as too much of a shock, given the name. For a lot of people, their main exposure to Gambit would have been through X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which wasn’t to the liking of many fans, partly due to the depiction of certain characters (like Deadpool). Playing cards are part of Gambit’s whole ‘thing’; throwing, exploding, playing, you name it. With that in mind, those who think they know everything about Gambit should look to other material to get a better sense of who he is. Using playing cards might not be the same as playing online blackjack, but with other games available to keep you in the comic book mood, such as The Dark Knight slots, playing online might get you properly into the mindset of these comic book characters.


Two Face

The style of gambling that Harvey Dent (a.k.a Two Face) is a bit more extreme than what others might get up to, and this character’s depiction by Aaron Eckhart in Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed The Dark Knight showcases his preferred method. The amount of emphasis placed on the outcome of the coin toss is something that plays into the physical and emotional duality of the character and goes a long way to unifying the character overall.


The Penguin

Batman’s arch-nemeses seem to be following a particular theme. However, unlike with Two Face, the Penguin’s penchant for gambling is less integrated into his character. Instead, the Penguin chose to make it simply one of his many criminal schemes, setting up an illegal operation at some point that was ripe and ready for Batman and Robin to knock back down into oblivion. Unlike with Two Face, this is something that you probably won’t see integrated into many of the Penguin’s multimedia appearances.


Roulette

Once again, names can sometimes be the biggest giveaway when trying to tell how a comic book character spends their free time. Roulette is a supervillain who might not be known for much, but her name can give you the gist of the character – instead of superpowers, Roulette is a genius when it comes to calculating betting and gambling odds. As you can imagine, this is something that would be incredibly useful in a wide variety of situations, but you might find it difficult to imagine how it would fare in the lineup of other superheroes with seeing those powers in action for yourself. This isn’t something that you can do through comics alone, as the character has been adapted into animated and non-animated shows.

 
 
  • Youtube
  • Patreon
  • Bluesky_Logo.svg

©2025 The Comic Book Yeti

bottom of page