Origin
Not much is known about Joelle. She encountered the X-Man Gambit on two occasions. Once as a guest during a fundraiser of a dirty businessman. It was there that Gambit stole a priceless artifact, and Joelle helped him cover the crime. It later turned out that she was also after the same artifact that Gambit had stolen that night. Not a day later, she encountered Gambit a second time, this time when both of them had broken into the Museum of Americas to find a mysterious map that would locate another similar artifact.
What Joelle wants with it remained unrevealed for some time. Later after she freed Gambit from the police they went to Guatemala to return the artifact but she got it from Remy and opened a mystical portal from which came out a dragon with a lot of heads, the god of Guatemala. She was caught by them and they returned into the portal but when she was ready to die, Remy saved her. A little bit later she thanked him, kissed him and gave him her name, Joelle. After that she punched Gambit and disappeared.
Creation
Joelle was created for the Marvel published 2012 Gambit series by James Asmus and Clay Mann. She appears in the first issue of that series and appears in heavily in the series first and third arcs. James Asmus has detailed the creative process behind Joelle’s character “My editor Daniel Ketchum had liked the idea of bringing in a thieving lady counterpart to Gambit. I was particularly interested in capturing the energy that made me so intrigued with Gambit in his early years: the fact that you weren’t really sure if you trusted his motivations, or even what he said, but he was able to charm and disarm those around him. We’ve learned a lot about Gambit since then, but I thought that creating that push-pull attraction and question of trust with another character would let me revive part of what I loved in early Gambit stories. From there, the actual character of Joelle has evolved some as we’ve gone, for a lot of reasons. But the core idea behind her and the answers to her major mysteries haven’t change.“
Character Evolution
Joelle acted primarily as a supporting character in the X-Men Gambit’s fifth solo series. She was created primarily to echo and mirror Gambit’s own mysterious and ambiguous nature that he displayed in early X-Men stories. As issues progressed Joelle’s character was slowly revealed with both Gambit and the reader getting more glimpses into her motivation and goals.
Major Story Arcs
A Man Walks into a Bar…
Joelle is spotted again at a criminal club in an attempt to do a deal with Tombstone. Joelle is met by Remy in the club where he causes a commotion and forces the two to run. Joelle reveals her daughter is dying and Remy agrees to help her get a special compound that Joelle needs. The two invade an old HYDRA base and get past the security and retrieve it. The two end up camping in the woods only to be met up by Rogue. Joelle has a brief fight with Rogue, but eventually stopped as the group are soon attacked by Tombstone’s hired guns. Joelle ends up taking Rogue’s jet to get to her daughter at the hospital. Joelle’s daughter is shown as very sickly and old. Tombstone shows up at the hospital and manages to take the compound. The compound is revealed to separate the carbon bonds of a person or object, thus breaking them down.
Joelle helps Gambit fight Tombstone and upon his defeat she reveals that she was going to die during child birth, but a strange being offered her immortality and she took it. Her daughter, Olivia, ended up growing old while she remained the same. Her daughter passed during the battle with Tombstone. After the battle, Joelle says goodbye to Remy and takes to compound to be with her daughter and is successful in killing herself as she dissolves in front of Gambit.
Powers and Abilities
Joelle was an immortal and cannot die as she tried to end her life numerous times. She was an excellent thief and a capable combatant as she was able to fight on a close terms with Gambit.