Rogue is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in most of the Marvel Comics X-Men related titles. She debuted in Avengers Annual #10 (November 1981) as a villain. An earlier story intended for Ms. Marvel #25 (June 1979) went unpublished until 1992. Rogue is a mutant. More so than most, Rogue considers her powers a curse: she involuntarily absorbs and sometimes also removes the memories, physical strength, and superpowers of anyone she touches. For most of her life, she limited her physical contact with others, including her on-off love interest, Gambit, but after many years Rogue finally gained full control over her mutant ability.
Hailing from Caldecott County, Mississippi (fictional city), Rogue is the X-Men's self-described southern belle. A runaway, she was adopted by Mystique of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and grew up as a villain. After Rogue permanently absorbs Ms. Marvel's psyche and Kree powers, she reforms and turns to the X-Men, fearing for her sanity. Rogue's real name and early history were not revealed until nearly twenty years after her introduction. Until the back story provided by Robert Rodi in the ongoing Rogue series which began in September 2004 where Rogue's background was only hinted at. Her name was revealed as Anna Marie, although her surname is still unknown. She has sometimes been called Raven which is the first name of her foster mother Mystique.
Rogue has been one of the most popular and consistent members of the X-Men since the 1980s. She was #5 on IGN's Top 25 X-Men list for 2006, #4 on their Top Ten X-Babes list for 2006, #3 on Marvel's list of Top 10 Toughest Females for 2009 and was given title of #1 X-Man on CBR's Top 50 X-Men of All Time for 2008. She was ranked tenth in Comics Buyer's Guide's "100 Sexiest Women in Comics" list. Rogue has been featured in most of the X-Men animated series and various video games. In the X-Men film series, she is portrayed by Academy Award-winning actress Anna Paquin. Her visual cue is often the white streak that runs through her hair.
Publication history
Rogue was first slated to appear in Ms. Marvel #25 (1979) (and artwork for the first half of the story was completed), but the book's abrupt cancellation left her original introduction story unpublished for over a decade, before seeing print in Marvel Super Heroes #11 in 1992. Rogue's first published appearance was in Avengers Annual #10 (1981). She made her first X-Book appearance in Uncanny X-Men #158 (1982) and joined the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #171 (1983). Rogue has also had two miniseries and one ongoing title.
Rogue's real name and early history were not revealed until more than twenty years after her introduction. Until the back story provided by Robert Rodi in the ongoing Rogue series, begun in September 2004, Rogue's background was only hinted at. This resulted in Rodi's version of Rogue's origins inadvertently conflicting with earlier information. In X-Men Unlimited #4, Scott Lobdell indicates that Rogue ran away from her father after her mutant powers manifested, but in Uncanny X-Men #182, Rogue reflects that she never knew her father because he'd left before she was born, and several issues, including Uncanny X-Men #178 and X-Men #93, indicate that Rogue was taken in by Mystique and Destiny before her mutation became active.
Rogue is a regular character in Uncanny Avengers (2012), beginning with issue #1.
Fictional character biography
Early life
Her parents, Owen and Priscilla, married early in their relationship and lived in a back-to-nature hippie commune in Caldecott County, Mississippi. Born as Anna Marie, she also enjoyed the attentions of her Aunt Carrie, on her mother's side. Anna Marie was raised speaking colloquial English and French, common to the Mississippi bayou area. The commune's failed attempt to use Native American mysticism to reach the 'Far Banks' resulted in Priscilla's disappearance. Carrie took over Anna's care, and in her grief at the loss of her sister, was a strict and authoritarian guardian. Anna Marie was a rebellious child and at some point, the exact event or reasons still unclear, she ran away from home as a young teenager.
At some point, Rogue grew close to a boy named Cody Robbins. During their flirtation, she impulsively kissed Cody, at which point her latent mutant power to absorb the life energy and psyche of others with skin-to-skin contact emerged. Rogue was traumatized by the experience, and Cody was left in a permanent coma. Hence, Rogue wore body-concealing clothing that eliminated the possibility of accidental skin contact. She wished she "did not have to cover up so much around folks," to protect them from her. She thought her power was a curse.
Not long after, she was approached by Mystique, who sought her out on the advice of her precognitive partner Destiny. Mystique ultimately takes Rogue in as a daughter. In time, however, Mystique turned Rogue's loneliness, envy, bitterness, and despair into anger, thus recruiting her into the Brotherhood of Mutants.
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
After Rogue's mutation emerges, Mystique begins coaxing Rogue into taking part in her terrorist activities as a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants. Rogue initially wants only a normal life, but after she kisses a boy named Cody, unintentionally rendering him unconscious with her power, she gives up on normality and begins taking part in Mystique's plans.
Rogue and Mystique associate briefly with a mutant named Blindspot, whose power to erase the memories of others by touch somehow counteracts Rogue's mutation enough to allow them to make physical contact safely. Blindspot and Rogue become good friends, but when Mystique decides to sever professional ties with Blindspot, Blindspot erases all memory of her from both Mystique and Rogue.
When Mystique debuts her Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, Destiny advises her to keep Rogue out of the action, advice which proves important when several members of the new Brotherhood are arrested and imprisoned. Mystique concocts a plan to free the other members of the Brotherhood by having Rogue absorb Ms. Marvel's formidable powers. Rogue attacks Ms. Marvel on her front doorstep as she is returning home from grocery shopping. Due to Ms. Marvel's formidable persona, Rogue's struggle to absorb her powers is prolonged, and the transfer of Ms. Marvel's psyche and powers is permanent. Rogue then throws her off the Golden Gate Bridge. She battles the Avengers using her newly acquired powers.
While at the Pentagon, she literally bumps into Ms. Marvel, leading into a fight with Storm and Wolverine of the X-Men. Though Rogue proves more than a match for them, the three of them escape the Pentagon. Later, with Mystique and Destiny, Rogue attacks Angel and Dazzler, but is overpowered by Dazzler. Rogue develops a grudge against Dazzler for her controllable mutation and her relationship with Angel of the X-Men. Rogue is defeated by Dazzler a few times before Dazzler is publicly revealed to be a mutant and goes into hiding. Sometime after this, she, Mystique and Destiny encountered the half-human, half Dire Wraith entity called Hybrid, with whom the three formed an alliance with against the Spaceknight, Rom. However when Rogue seized an opportunity to use her power on him, she experienced both his loneliness and his nobility. This moment had a profound effect on her and served as a crucial turning point in her life.
X-Men
The more Rogue uses her mutant power, the more her mind becomes filled with fragmentary psychic echoes of the people she absorbs. The permanently absorbed Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) is a completely distinct, albeit dormant, personality in her head, and Mastermind subtly exacerbates Rogue's already severe psychological distress as a means of revenge against Mystique. Desperate, Rogue turns to Professor Charles Xavier and the X-Men for help. The Professor is unable to do a psychic scan of her, due to the clashing human and Kree portions of her psyche, but nonetheless decides to not only welcome her into the school, but make her a probationary member of the X-Men. The X-Men threaten to leave the school should Rogue be accepted, even though none of the active members aside from Storm and Nightcrawler had even met Rogue before. However, Xavier is adamant and succeeds in convincing the X-Men to stay.
The team meets up with Wolverine in Tokyo, where his betrothed, Mariko Yashida, greets Rogue with greater warmth than she had received from her own teammates. This kindness later motivates Rogue to take a fatal laser blast in order to shield Mariko. Feeling indebted to her for saving his fiancée, Wolverine offers to transfer his healing power to her in order to save her life. She refuses, arguing that it might kill him, but this only serves to gain his trust, and Wolverine touches her to transfer his power anyway. Soon after, she gains the full trust of the rest of the team by using her power on a severely injured Colossus, willingly leaving herself in the same rigid, melted form as he was to allow Healer to heal his wounds.
Overhearing a frantic message from Carol Danvers' former lover Michael Rossi causes the Danvers persona to become active. Under Danvers' control, Rogue invades the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier to rescue Rossi. Her natural persona begins fighting to regain control, and for several minutes Rogue rapidly switches back and forth between the two personalities. Though she ultimately regains control, the incident leaves the Anna Marie persona wracked with guilt over what she did to Carol Danvers, while the Danvers persona is strengthened and begins looking for opportunities to take control of Rogue permanently.
To defeat the Adversary, the X-Men's physical and spiritual essences are used as fuel for Forge's energy star, which closes the doorway to the Adversary’s plane of existence. Roma, a prisoner of the Adversary and guardian of the multiverse, recreates the fallen X-Men from scratch, making her own minor alterations. Now invisible to cameras and all forms of detection equipment, the X-Men resettle to Australia, defeating the Reavers and claiming their base in the Outback as a new base of operations.
The X-Men use their new status to attack anti-mutant threats around the world. The island nation of Genosha's super powered agents, the Press Gang, capture Rogue and Wolverine, and Wipeout fully cancels their abilities. Rogue is then sexually molested by her guards. She withdraws into her subconscious, and the Carol Danvers persona takes advantage of her distress by assuming control.
The Danvers personality eventually grows so strong that Carol replaces Rogue's standard X-Men costume with Ms. Marvel's uniform during battle, as well as redecorating Rogue's room to her own tastes without her permission.
Return
Sacrificing herself to stop the Master Mold, Rogue is pulled through the Siege Perilous, where she is judged by other-dimensional forces with the promise of a "new life." Rogue is purged of the remaining portions of Carol Danvers's personality, as well as Carol's powers, and teleported back to the X-Men's Outback base. She finds it has been taken over by the Reavers in her absence, and the now physically separate Danvers persona attacks her. Rogue flees, absorbing the powers of the mutant Gateway in order to teleport herself to safety. She ends up in the Savage Land, and spends the ensuing days learning how to survive in the inhospitable land. She is eventually attacked again by Danvers, who is now under the mental enslavement of the Shadow King. There is not enough life-force between the two to sustain both Rogue and Danvers physically as a result of the separation, and Rogue is unwilling to kill Danvers. With Danvers on the verge of draining Rogue's life completely, Magneto intervenes and kills the Ms. Marvel persona.
Rogue and Magneto join forces with Ka-zar and Nick Fury to battle Zaladane, who is trying to conquer the Savage Land. Rogue and Magneto have a brief moment of romantic tension during this war. Once Zaladane is defeated and helpless, Magneto kills her, against Rogue and Fury's protests, parting ways with the X-Men's ideals and methods before flying away. Rogue then flies to Muir Island to rejoin the rest of the X-Men, the powers she absorbed from Ms. Marvel now returned.
The X-Men later divides into two teams to make better use of their large number of active members; Rogue is assigned to the Blue Team, under the leadership of Cyclops and alongside new X-Man Gambit. Upon his arrival, Gambit flirts with each of the female members of the team, however Rogue immediately catches his eye, and he makes no secret of his romantic desire for her. The development of Rogue and Gambit's relationship is slow and rocky, partly as a result of her inability to control her powers and partly as a result of long-term issues with previous relationships on Gambit's part.
As an act of penance, Rogue continues to visit Cody Robbins' hospital bed annually, a decade after she placed him in a coma. He is later killed by assassins sent by Gambit's ex-lover, Bella Donna Boudreaux, as part of a revenge plot against Rogue. Through a spiritual leader, Rogue is able to make amends with Cody's spirit. Cody holds no hard feelings against her, knowing what happened was an accident, and urges her to move on.
It is eventually revealed that Mystique had two sons: the now-deceased anti-mutant politician Graydon Creed and Rogue's long-time teammate, Nightcrawler. Rogue and Nightcrawler consider themselves to be siblings, although the revelation has not particularly altered their friendship.
Following the supposed 'death' of Cyclops, the X-Men team undergoes major changes, amongst them Rogue being made the team's new field commander. Her even temper and years of X-Men service make her an ideal leader and she continues to lead the team until Storm returns.
When the Galactic Council transforms Earth into a maximum-security penal colony for hundreds of extraterrestrial criminals, Rogue absorbs the attributes of Z'Cann; a mutant, telepathic Skrull who had joined Cadre K, Xavier's Skrull equivalent to the X-Men. Z'Cann purposely touches Rogue to activate the mutant's abilities as the two evade bounty hunters. Z'Cann uses her telepathy to amplify Rogue's capacity to assimilate memories, causing her powers to mutate. Henceforth, Rogue is able to "recall" previously absorbed powers, but also finds it increasingly difficult to control which powers manifest when, typically possessing Wolverine's healing factor and claws, and Cyclops' optic blasts along with her usual strength.
X-Treme X-Men team
Rogue was part of the X-Treme X-Men team led by Storm. The team's first mission was in search of Destiny's Diaries (which prophesied future events). During an invasion of Khan (an alien conqueror from another dimension) of the island nation of Madripoor, Rogue requested that Sage use her power of jump-starting abilities to evolve Rogue to a point where she could control all of the various powers that she has ever imprinted. Sage agreed, and Rogue became a one-woman army, able to use the powers of anyone she had absorbed in the past all at once.
During Khan's invasion, Rogue was also confronted by Vargas who was said to be "a new species altogether". Vargas foresaw himself being killed by Rogue in Destiny's diaries and, despite his belief in the prophecies, attempted to stop this occurrence from happening. Thus, in the midst of the invasion battle, Vargas ambushed Rogue as she was trying to rescue Gambit (see X-Treme X-Men), spearing both Rogue and Gambit with his blade before escaping. Rogue survived due to possessing both Wolverine's and Hulk's powers. Returning to the city shortly after the battle to recover his sword, Vargas was surprised in turn by Rogue dressed in Psylocke's costume (Vargas having killed Psylocke earlier for sport). After a lengthy battle, Rogue "fulfilled her destiny" by seemingly finishing Vargas off with his own weapon. Returning to Gambit, Rogue, with the help of Jean Grey, forced him from near death.
Following the repulsion of the invasion, Rogue realized that Destiny's Prophecies were only possibilities and that trying to follow them was more dangerous than ignoring them. She also learned that she had inherited a mansion in New Orleans from Destiny, as well as a sizable fortune, and the X-Treme X-Men team retired there to recuperate. Rogue soon left the team with Gambit, since they both emerged powerless from their ordeals and wanted to explore their relationship further.
After life on the road with Gambit, Rogue ended up living in a beach house in Valle Soleada, a town where mutants and humans coexisted peacefully. She subsequently received a visit from Bishop and Sage and, after a series of events involving an investigation into the murder of a human girl's family, Rogue and Gambit signed up with Bishop and Sage to help Storm's X-Treme X-Men stop Sage's enemy and former boss Elias Bogan. After the battle, Rogue asked Sage to restore Gambit's abilities, which she did. Gambit asked if the same could be done for Rogue's powers, but it was never revisited after Rogue quickly dismissed his comment.
Back to the X-Men
Rogue and Gambit returned to the X-Men as part of Marvel's ReLoad. Over time, Rogue's own abilities returned, although exactly how and when was never revealed or discussed. However, she no longer possessed the abilities she had absorbed from Ms. Marvel. Rogue and Gambit were both put on Havok's team and participated in various missions.
As described in her own miniseries, Rogue then traveled down south to save a young mutant girl from her powers. While there, she met Campbell St. Ange, a young man who was immune to Rogue's lethal touch. Also while there, Rogue forcibly absorbed knowledge from her Aunt Carrie that explained that Rogue's mother had traveled to the Far Banks, a dream-realm, to stop her father from getting there himself. Rogue encountered the incorporeal spirit of her mother therein, and absorbed her memories. After the reunion, her mother's trapped spirit could finally move on. Rogue subsequently went back to her Aunt Carrie and made amends with her.
Rogue then returned to the X-Men and confronted the monstrous Golgotha - large space creatures with telepathic abilities that induce insanity in some by bringing out and, to some extent, amplifying people's emotions. During this ordeal, as the result of Golgotha influence, Rogue and Gambit got into a fight about the reality of their relationship with Rogue's uncontrollable powers and Gambit claimed they would've parted long ago if they were always able to touch, that Rogue would've been "just another one-night stand". Gambit left, and Wolverine, his hidden emotions also coming out amplified under the influence of Golgotha, then revealed to Rogue he desired her in a romantic/sexual way, and that he in fact always had. He and Rogue then started passionately kissing each other until her power began to affect him and Emma Frost telepathically interrupted.
While on a trip to Japan to investigate an incriminating photo of her and Sunfire engaged in criminal activities, both Rogue and Sunfire learned that Rogue's former friend and teammate of the Brotherhood, Blindspot, has erased both their memories of the event. In this storyline, Rogue accidentally and permanently absorbed Sunfire's fire abilities (who has lost his legs to Lady Deathstrike and did not want to live).
Back at the X-Mansion, Emma Frost tried to help Rogue and Gambit by providing telepathic relationship counseling, but their relationship continued to be problematic. Rogue then discovered that Gambit was being seduced by the student called Foxx. It is later revealed, however, that Mystique, displeased with Rogue's choice of lovers, infiltrated the Xavier Institute by shapeshifting into Foxx and joined Gambit's squad in an attempt to ruin his relationship with Rogue. After Gambit resisted her charms, Mystique reverted to her true form and offered Gambit something more difficult to refuse: she transformed into Rogue and offered Gambit a Rogue with whom he could have a physical relationship. Whether or not they actually engaged in a sexual relationship is uncertain (although Gambit insists that nothing happened). Rogue eventually discovered her foster mother's presence in the school and her attempts to seduce Gambit, becoming furious with both parties. Because Gambit failed to tell Rogue of Mystique's presence in the Institute, their relationship developed the exact rift Mystique was hoping for and allowed her to set up her daughter with her accomplice, Pulse. After being discovered, Mystique asked the X-Men for permission to stay at the mansion. The X-Men voted and Mystique was allowed to be a probationary member of the X-Men, a decision neither Rogue nor Gambit were happy with.
Blood of Apocalypse
In the events that followed M-Day, the mutant Apocalypse was reawakened. Gambit, seeking redemption from Rogue and his fellow X-Men, volunteered to be transformed into his horseman, Death. Gambit believed he could control whatever Apocalypse would do to him, in hopes of only gaining more power to protect Rogue and the X-Men from the villain. However, having been brain-washed, Gambit tried to kill Rogue (the only part of Gambit's past life that remains). After Apocalypse's defeat, Sunfire (who was granted new legs and transformed into the horseman Famine) and Gambit left the X-Men.
Endangered Species: Rogue's X-Men
As Professor Xavier went into space with Havok and several other X-Men to go after the villain Vulcan, Cyclops gave Rogue the authority to form her own team, complimenting her inspired improvisation in battle situations. She was hesitant at first because of Gambit's recent disappearance with Sunfire, but accepted the position, saying that when he comes back she'd still be at the school. She chose Iceman, Cannonball, Cable, Sabretooth, Lady Mastermind, Karima Shapandar (Omega Sentinel), and Mystique, a line-up Cyclops did not agree with.
Mystique seemingly tried to repair her relationship with Rogue, but was rebuffed. Rogue's team defeated the group known as the Children of the Vault. Afterward, Rogue declared that her team would leave the X-Mansion. Rogue was hospitalized after a battle with Pandemic. Cable, desiring Rogue's help in defeating the Hecatomb, forced Rogue awake. Pandemic infected Rogue with a virus, Strain 88, altering her powers by amplifying them into an instantaneous death-touch. In defeating Hecatomb, Rogue absorbed psyches of eight billion entities that had been stored inside it.
The team moved to Rogue's hometown of Caldecott for Rogue to recover. As Cyclops and Emma Frost arrived to help Rogue cope with the immensity of the voices in her mind, Marauders arrived, seeking the Destiny diaries. As part of the attack, it was revealed that Mystique was working with the Marauders and for Mister Sinister. Mystique shot Rogue and took her back to Mr. Sinister's base, who only kept Rogue alive because she held all the information of Destiny's Diaries within her mind. Gambit, who had joined the Marauders and Mr. Sinister again, was protective of Rogue and accused Mystique of being too careless in how she captured her. Gambit was shown standing over Rogue trying to get her to wake up (after she had fallen into a trance overcome by the minds she absorbed), and expressed his apologies for what he had done before rejoining Sinister. Rogue had flashes of memories, both of she and Gambit during the time that they had known each other, and of the millions of minds she absorbed, while in her coma-like state before she briefly woke up and recognized Gambit. She told him she had a nightmare, before spouting incoherent words and mysterious coordinates.
Messiah Complex
The X-Men attacked the Marauders' Antarctic base in order to rescue Rogue and the mysterious mutant baby who was at the center of Messiah Complex. However the baby eventually took precedence and the X-Men did not recover (or even see) Rogue.
Mister Sinister, now in possession of the mutant baby, relocated the Marauders to Muir Island. While standing by Rogue's bedside, Mystique was visited by Mister Sinister who told her that there will be no cure for Rogue and she will eventually die. Without warning, Mystique ambushed Sinister and shoved his face onto Rogue's. The instant contact seemingly killed Sinister.
Mystique, in keeping with the words of the Destiny Diaries, placed the baby's face in direct contact with Rogue's, with the understanding that Rogue would awaken from her comatose state. The baby was not affected by Rogue's power, and Rogue awakens shortly after. Realizing what Mystique had done at the risk of killing the baby, Rogue said she's tired of people's lives being destroyed by Mystique and grabbed Mystique's face barehanded, fully absorbing her powers and consciousness and incapacitating her. However, she immediately regrets her action when she realizes that the baby had deleted all the consciousnesses she had previously absorbed, along with Strain 88, so that now Mystique was the only one in her head. She said she needed to be alone and told Gambit not to follow her.
Being cured
Rogue takes some time out from the X-Men and travels around the Australian outback on a motorcycle. She returns to the X-Men's former headquarters in Maynards Plains, Australia. Once there, she has a conversation with Mystique (a part of Rogue's psyche), telling her that no one else can help her with her powers and that it was down to her to figure out how to control them.
One day, a woman appears in town claiming to be an anthropologist from Melbourne University. Rogue made it clear she could stay as long as she wants, but to keep out of her way. The anthropologist approached Rogue with questions about some of the remains she has found in the town. Rogue said she does not know anything about the remains and to leave her alone. The anthropologist follows Rogue and explains she actually has a different identity. The anthropologist was then targeted by a low flying Shi'ar spaceship and revealed that she was actually Danger in disguise. She informs Rogue she planned to get revenge on Professor Xavier by using her as a conduit. Danger created an amalgamation of several past events in the X-Men's history prominently involving Rogue in the town using her hard light capabilities. As Professor Xavier and Gambit searched for her, Rogue evaded old versions of the X-Men and the Marauders that were part of Danger's creation. She was finally cornered by the Marauders, and refused to let Mystique's psyche take control of Rogue's body and save her as the fake Marauder Scalphunter shot at her. Mystique then took over Rogue's body to save her and fought off the Marauders, then returned control of Rogue's body to her.
Rogue then wandered to the fake Tokyo Tower and tried to find the Institute, deducing that the projections around her were changing at ten-minute intervals, altering the environment around her. However, Rogue did not get far as she ended up in Antarctica, witnessing the moment she abandoned Gambit after his trial. She regretted her decisions there, telling Mystique that she really had not moved on. It was at that point that Cody Robbins appeared before Rogue, repeating his greeting from the night her powers manifested. Rogue just stared at him in shock.
Eventually the Professor, Gambit, and a group of Shi'ar pirates managed to shut down Danger. However, the Professor reactivated her and she defeated the pirates in turn. After this, it was revealed that Rogue's powers never truly developed past their initial "nascent" stage, which was the reason why her powers never functioned properly. The Professor, now aware of this fact, used his telepathy to tear down the mental walls that kept Rogue's powers from developing (the walls were created as a side effect every time she absorbed other people starting with Cody, and even more so with Ms. Marvel), and removed the mental echo of Mystique. Finally, Rogue kissed Gambit, with no ill side effect, revealing that she was finally in control of her absorption power.
Utopia
Rogue, Gambit, and Danger decide to go to San Francisco in order to regroup with the other X-Men. On their way there they are intercepted by Pixie who teleports them into the city, which is in a state of chaos due to the anti-mutant and pro-mutant movements. Cyclops sends all three out in order to locate several missing students and bring them home. During their mission Rogue faces off against the new Ms. Marvel; finding that she cannot touch her opponent, Rogue resorts to a trick and flees the site.
Later on she joins Gambit, who has been injured by Ares, along with Danger. Ares does not take her seriously and dismisses her both as an opponent and her attempts to calm things down. Rogue grabs Ares and absorbs his powers. Ares is dismissive of her attempt and claims that she cannot absorb him, a boast that proves wrong as she weakens him enough for Gambit to blast him, leaving him bloody and stunned. Having for the moment absorbed some of Ares' power she easily dispatches a small group of H.A.M.M.E.R. agents with superhuman strength and proceeds to steal their tank, along with Gambit and Danger, in order to find the rest of the students.
Rogue finds Trance as her powers are flaring out of control creating powerful uncontrollable bio-electric blasts. Rogue tries to help calm Trance and help her gain control when Ms. Marvel appears. After taking out Gambit and Danger, Rogue and Ms. Marvel fight; Rogue is losing until Trance regains control and jumps in to help Rogue. Trance learns that her astral form is able to punch Ms. Marvel when they are both intangible. After Gambit stuns Ms. Marvel, they teleport back to base where Trance receives medical attention.
Nation-X
As Utopia has become a safe haven for mutants, the entire population had to be on high alert following an attack on the X-Men by Emplate, who feeds on mutant bone marrow for sustenance. The X-Men instruct everyone to stay close to each other and report anything out of the ordinary. Bling goes to check out an old amphitheatre on her own when Emplate captures her to use as a food source.
Unable to enter Emplate's cross-dimensional base, Rogue absorbs Trance's astral projection ability to save Bling. As she investigates his home for clues to Bling's whereabouts, Rogue was attacked by psychoplasmic ghosts. After fighting them off, she rescues Bling from Emplate.
Rogue also protects the students during an attack by a Predator X herd by absorbing the powers of multiple students.
Necrosha
In an attempt to finally achieve godhood, Selene along with her servant Eli Bard, resurrected many of the X-Men's greatest deceased allies and villains under her control. Among the resurrected is Rogue's foster mother, Destiny, who attempts to contact Rogue but instead contacts Blindfold. However, Proteus had possessed Destiny when she came back. When she makes contact, he leaves her to possess the body of Blindfold, so he can trick her into convincing a team of X-Men to go to Muir Island, where he hopes to kill them. Eventually Rogue and a team of X-Men manage to defeat Proteus and Rogue tearfully says goodbye to her foster mother as Destiny once more dies.
Post-Siege
Following the Siege of Asgard, Rogue was present at the funeral of Robert Reynolds, the Sentry. She stated that Robert was immune to the ill effects of her power, and that a time in her past when she could touch no one else, she had at least one intimate encounter with him. However, between two episodes of psychic blocks that caused Robert to completely forget his life as the Sentry, when he regained those memories for a few days, he contacted Charles Xavier telepathically, and did not recognize Rogue when he "saw" her through that telepathic bond.
Second Coming
During the event in which Cable and Hope return to the present timeline Rogue is able to sense Hope's presence, like Destiny prophesied, although neither she nor Emma Frost can explain it. After a short confrontation with some of Bastion's men, the X-Men and Cable decide for a diversionary tactic. Cable along with some of the X-Men stays behind (since it was him they were tracking) while Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Hope leave in order to protect the girl. To that end, Rogue absorbs the power sets of Colossus, Wolverine, X-23, Archangel, and Psylocke.
For a while their tactic works, leaving Cable along with some of the X-Men to fend off Bastion's troops. In the mean time Kurt, along with Rogue and Hope, teleports across the United States towards Utopia. This, however, exerts him to such a degree that he has to rest for a moment; they are soon confronted by Bastion himself. Seeing no alternative, Rogue attacks him hoping to buy enough time for Kurt and Hope to flee - but Bastion is able to hit Kurt with an energy blast that knocks him out. Channeling Colossus's strength, further enhancing it with Betsy's telekinesis and using the individual claw sets of Logan and X-23 along with their healing factors, Rogue is able to inflict massive damage to Bastion. However, Bastion is able to repair himself and overpower Rogue with an energy discharge which briefly incapacitates her. Unable to do anything, she watches with horror as Bastion fatally impales Kurt with his arm.
Rogue is appointed Hope's protector while on Utopia and allows her to participate in the final battle, where Hope eventually destroys Bastion. Her actions and choices put Hope in danger and ultimately results in Cyclops suspending Rogue from active duty. She will, however, remain as Hope's protector and accompanies her to Alaska in search of her real family.
Post "Age of X"
After the events of Age of X, Rogue becomes torn between her feelings for Gambit and Magneto. Gambit states that she has to be ready for him for good before he could be with her again, and that he would be waiting for her when she is ready. After Rogue confronts Magneto about his past, she spends a night with him, promising nothing else. Afterwards, Rogue joins Professor X, Frenzy, Legion, Magneto, and Gambit on a mission to capture several of Legion's personalities that escaped after Age of X. The final battle with Legion's personality Styx results in Rogue temporarily absorbing many of Legion's powers, which led her to finding the location of Havok, Polaris, and Marvel Girl; the mutants that were left in space after the X-Men's mission to stop Vulcan.
After the events of "SCHISM," Rogue chooses to be on Wolverine's team, noting to Cyclops that he has reached a point where his previous willingness to question his decisions has been replaced by an inability to accept when he might be wrong. She returns to Westchester, New York with Wolverine's team to start the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning.
Avengers vs. X-Men
Although Rogue was initially neutral in the war between the Avengers and the X-Men, when the Jean Grey School was surrounded by She-Hulk, Moon Knight, and Falcon to stop other X-Men from joining Cyclops' team, Rogue was forced into action when some students attacked She-Hulk, declaring her allegiance to Cyclops after Iron Man sent a remote-controlled armor to attack the school. However, Rogue swiftly changed sides again when she witnessed Magik - now empowered by one-fifth of the Phoenix Force - imprison Ms. Marvel in a portion of Limbo that she had brought to Earth. Magik briefly banished Rogue to another world for her defiance, but Rogue was able to return home after helping to resolve a conflict between two alien races. Having returned to Earth, Rogue served as the X-Men's representative when appealing to the Avengers for asylum from the increasingly dictatorial Cyclops. In the aftermath, she helped rescue civilians caught in the crossfire, but finally ended her relationship with Magneto.
Uncanny Avengers
Rogue attends Xavier's funeral alongside Wolverine. Later, after seeing the Scarlet Witch placing flowers on Xavier's grave, Rogue confronts her and orders her to leave, blaming her for his death; the two begin a verbal conflict that results in Rogue punching her in the face, though the Scarlet Witch refuses to fight back. Rogue intends to absorb her powers, but it fails. They are then attacked by five mysterious assailants. During this conflict, the Scarlet Witch is impaled while defending Rogue, and the two are both seemingly defeated.
The team makes their debut as the Avengers Unity Squad (which also contains Sunfire, Wasp, and Wonder Man as the team's latest recruits) during a press conference that debuts them. The press conference is then crashed by a resurrected Grim Reaper who attacks the Avengers Unity Squad while claiming that he is now unable to die. During the fight, Rogue absorbs some of Wonder Man's powers and seemingly punches Grim Reaper harder than normal which apparently kills the Grim Reaper again.
It is later revealed that the instigator behind the attack on Rogue and Scarlet Witch was the Red Skull, who has since fused his and Xavier's brains to give him mental powers. Despite the Skull's attempts to control them, he is eventually defeated by the 'Avengers Unity' team - including Captain America, Thor, Wolverine and Havok - but manages to escape. In the aftermath, Rogue accepts membership of the team, seeing it as the best way to continue Xavier's dream, but notes that she will still not forgive the Scarlet Witch for her actions.
She was later seen fighting alongside Captain America with the Avengers A.I.
Rogue absorbs Wolverine's powers and is told to stop the Scarlet Witch, who is seemingly helping the Apocalypse twins. Wolverine tells her that nobody is to be killed if it can be helped, but upon seeing Wanda, Rogue goes into a berserker rage and murders her. Rogue is then killed by the recently re-resurrected Grim Reaper, who had been revived once again by the Apocalypse Twins to be one of their four horsemen of death. Her death was undone when Havok and the surviving members of the Unity Squad were sent from the future by Kang to stop the twins from destroying Earth, their minds projected back into their past selves so that they could not only warn Rogue what was to come, but then arranged for her to absorb the powers of numerous superheros to give her the strength to hold the Celestial back. After the crisis was over, Rogue was in the process of being driven mad by all the heroes Rogue had absorbed (all of the Avengers and X-Men). The Scarlet Witch cast a spell to return those powers to their owners, although Rogue still retained the powers and the very essence she absorbed from Wonder Man. She has also lost her ability to freely touch others.
X-Men (Volume 4)
In 2013, Marvel revealed a new comic book simply named X-Men. Written by Brian Wood, X-Men features an all-female cast including Storm, Jubilee, Rogue, Kitty Pryde, Rachel Grey, and Psylocke. Rogue was removed from this series' cast after the Battle of the Atom crossover, to avoid contradicting her death in Uncanny Avengers.
Powers and abilities
Due to the nature of her unique mutant powers, Rogue has had several different abilities over the years.
Mutant powers
Rogue possesses the mutant ability to absorb the psyche and abilities of another human being (or members of some sapient alien races) through skin contact. Rogue can absorb the memories, knowledge, talents, personality, and physical abilities (whether superhuman or not) of the person she touches, as well as occasionally duplicating in herself physical characteristics of her victim. The victim's abilities and memories are absorbed for a one to 60 ratio of time of contact. The victim loses those abilities and memories for exactly the amount of time that Rogue possesses them. This absorption usually leaves the victim weakened, and sometimes renders them unconscious. Their powers may also be temporarily weakened or removed. Rogue's power is constantly active, rendering her incapable of touching others without the absorption process taking place. However, evidence suggests that Rogue's inability to control her powers is psychological in nature. During the times when the Ms. Marvel personality would overtake her psyche, she was able to touch people freely. This fact has since been corroborated by the discovery that Rogue's absorption power never developed beyond the stage of its original manifestation. Xavier later rectified this by telepathically removing the psychological barriers stunting it.
The transfer of abilities is usually temporary, lasting for a period of time relative to how long contact is maintained, but if Rogue holds on to her victim for too long, the transfer may become permanent, leaving the victim nearly dead, as was the case with Ms. Marvel. However, it must also be noted that Ms. Marvel fought the transfer process, which Rogue attested to sometime after the incident occurred. Most often this process happens instantly when Rogue touches someone, but certain extraordinarily powerful beings have proven resistant to Rogue's power, and she may only share part of their memories and power, as was the case when Rogue once attempted to absorb power from the alien Magus. However, in the process of doing so she gained an immunity to the Technarch transmode virus.
After coming into contact with the supervillain Pandemic, Rogue's powers were upgraded for a brief time into an instant death touch. Using her upgraded powers, Rogue absorbed the Hecatomb and the psyches within it, putting her into a coma.
As Rogue is absorbing the total psyche of a person, there is a risk of a personality overwhelming her and taking control of her body. It has also been shown that even though the memories she has absorbed eventually fade when a psyche returns to its body, remnants, or 'echoes', of the personalities of victims whose memories she has absorbed remain buried in her subconscious indefinitely, and while there is little to no risk of those personalities overwhelming her like the Ms. Marvel personality could, they can occasionally make their presences known.
Fully developed mutant abilities
Following the conclusion of Messiah Complex, Rogue's slate was wiped clean. The mutant baby's touch mysteriously erased all of the previous memories and abilities Rogue had absorbed, including those of the Hecatomb. It also cured her of the Strain 88 virus. Rogue's touch now simply steals the memories and abilities of individuals with whom she comes in direct skin-to-skin contact. The longer the contact, the longer Rogue retains the absorbed information, powers, and also the abilities of the individuals she absorbs. She can now control her powers, making her touch lethalâ€"or non-lethalâ€"at will.
Following the events of X-Men: Legacy, Rogue appears to be able to activate her powers at will, as opposed to them being constantly active, as demonstrated when she kisses Gambit without incident. Her inability to control her powers stemmed from mental blocks within her mind which formed each time she used her abilities, crippling the development of her powers from their nascent stage. When Professor Xavier removes the blocks, her powers are allowed to develop normally. With this new control, Rogue demonstrates the ability to absorb and collectively utilize all the powers of the New X-Men, in order to defeat a rogue Predator X, with no apparent harm to either them or herself. Her power also affects aliens, such as when she was transferred to a planet in another dimension by Magik, and one of the aliens involuntarily touches her and she gains the ability to communicate in their language, along with their knowledge.
She later uses a more lethal version of her powers against the Avengers during her fight with them, even making Falcon and She-Hulk immediately unconscious without any negative feedback on her physical self (besides She-Hulk's green skin) but she cannot control the minds of the ones she absorbs. She absorbs their powers and renders them unconscious for a long time.
The new twist in Rogue's powers consists of prompting her victims of her skin-to-skin contact, for a consent on the process. Rogue's victim can either resist the absorption and suffer, like originally with Rogue's powers, or instead submit to the absorption, and so the process instead becomes entirely fluent without consequences. Rogue has used this twist extensively in the Legacy series; just two examples of it are when aiding the victims of a subway collapse absorbing all rescuers' abilities in X-Men Legacy 274, and also when quenching a riot in a prison of mutants absorbing the existence of some mutant-volunteers in X-Men Legacy 275.
During Uncanny Avengers, Rogue used her powers to absorb the energies of numerous superheroes to oppose the Celestial Executioner, stating that she'd "been practicing"; she was even able to absorb the ionic energy based powers of Wonder Man (whom she'd been previously unable to absorb). However, apparently due to the scale of the energies she absorbed in the process, Rogue's powers have reverted to their original state, unable to touch anyone without absorbing them automatically, and she retains Wonder Man's psyche and powers.
Ms. Marvel powers
As a young woman, Rogue permanently absorbed the superhuman powers and the psyche of Carol Danvers, the original Ms. Marvel. This provided her with superhuman strength, stamina, durability, reflexes, speed and a 7th sense. She was able to repel bullets and fly at sub-sonic speeds, much like Ms. Marvel could. In addition, she possessed an amalgamated mutant human/Kree physiology that rendered her resistant to most toxins and poisons, with the added effect of making her virtually invulnerable.
Rogue also gained a precognitive "seventh sense" that enables her to predict an enemy's move subconsciously during battle. She used this ability to predict where Nightcrawler would teleport and from which direction Magus of the Technarchy would attack. This ability was not always reliable, however, and would randomly and sporadically activate.
When she possessed Carol Danvers' psyche, her "double" consciousness made her highly resistant to telepathic probes, even those of Charles Xavier, which was said to have been a byproduct of two minds existing in one body and/or Carol Danvers' Kree physiology. Rogue could also draw upon the combat and espionage training of Carol Danvers by allowing her alternate personality, a duplicate of Danvers', to dominate her conscious mind.
X-Treme abilities
During the Maximum Security miniseries, Rogue absorbed an injured Cadre K girl named Z'Cann. The girl held on longer than necessary, using her mind control to boost the process and because of this (perhaps because she had absorbed a fluid Skrull physiology) Rogue mutated further, gaining the ability to 'recall' the powers of anyone she had ever absorbed before, though she could not control when or which of these powers surfaced. For a short time Rogue also had a Skrull appearance, scanned as though she had Skrull DNA, and had their shapeshifting powers, but these soon faded and she returned to her normal appearance.
Through meditation, Rogue learned how to suppress the random manifestations of most of these abilities, but found herself with Wolverine's claws and healing factor, and Cyclops' optic blasts for a time (she had to wear ruby quartz glasses), while also still retaining her mutant and Ms. Marvel powers.
Later, Sage used her own mutant abilities to 'jump-start' Rogue's power, giving her the control to manifest any ability she had ever absorbed, whenever she wished to. It is generally accepted that after regaining her abilities after X-Treme X-Men, she has lost this ability.
Though Z'Cann was a telepath, Rogue never displayed this power (though she did manifest telepathy, it was with the Phoenix energy form, so it was most likely an echo of Jean Grey's powers).
Powerless
For a time Rogue lost all of her powers, including her original mutant ones, after she was fatally injured in a fight with the mysterious warrior Vargas. During this period, she displayed exceptional fighting skills and agility, though it was said these were not superhuman in nature.
She also still possessed a 'fluid genome' that enabled Sage to use her as a conduit through which to channel the mutant powers of the X-Treme X-Men team in a fight against Bogan.
Sunfire powers
In her short-lived ongoing series (2004â€"2005), Rogue absorbed a large portion of the mutant Sunfire's solar-absorption based powers. In addition to her own natural mutant abilities Rogue could then project intense heat and flame, envelop her body in a fiery aura, fly by focusing her power downwards in a tight stream to propel her like a rocket, focus her power inward to increase her strength (though not at her Ms. Marvel levels), exercise immunity to heat and radiation, and see the infra-red spectrum. Rogue was eventually purged of these abilities when she came into contact with Hope Summers.
Wonder Man Powers
Rogue currently possesses Wonder Man's essence, including his powers and psyche. Her organic tissues have been permeated with ionic energy, granting her an array of superhuman abilities. She possesses superhuman strength sufficient enough to lift well over 100 tons, as well as some degree of superhuman speed, agility, and reflexes. In addition, Rogue is virtually invulnerable to damage and is capable of flying at high speeds. Rogue's eyes glow in darkness and her vision extends somewhat into the infrared spectrum, allowing her to see in the dark. Her new ionic physiology also grants her a form of immortality, protecting her from age and disease.
Rogue's real name
In the films X-Men, X2: X-Men United, and X-Men: The Last Stand, Rogue's real name is Marie. In the comics, her chosen name (according to X-Treme X-Men #31) is Anna Raven when her powers are inactive (Raven Darkholme is Mystique's name). In X-Men #24 she tries to reveal it to Gambit on a date, but he stops her.
In the Going Rogue arc of her 2004 ongoing series, Rogue's real name is finally established as Anna Marie. Rogue reaches her childhood home of Caldecott County, where her surviving maternal aunt and the shamanistic incarnation of her mother repeatedly refer to her as "Anna Marie"; Gambit also refers to her as "Anna" instead of "Rogue." Rogue learns her true given name at birth was "Anna Marie" from the absorbed memories of her aunt, who helped raise Rogue with Rogue's father after Rogue's mother vanished from their home. Rogue acknowledges the name uttering: "(Anna Marie) Th-that's my name...," right after a shamanistic doppelgänger of Rogue mentions it, and later she says: "I-It's me. Anna," once after finding Gambit in the dream world.
Throughout the X-Men Legacy series, Rogue is repeatedly called "Anna" by Mystique, in childhood memories of Caldecott County (X-Men 200, August 2007), after healing in Muir Island (X-Men 207, March 2008), and in moments of solitude at the Australian desert (X-Men 215, 220-222, 224). Uncanny X-Men 517 and 526 uses the complete name of "Anna Marie" Rogue repetitively, respectively when describing her fighting against Predator 006 at Utopia and before a mission aboard the X-Jet to Alaska; X-Force 26 also does so, and Secrets of the House of M states for Rogue's file the first name of "Anna Marie" and the last name of Darkholme, although the latter is referring to Mystique's last name, since Mystique is her foster mother since her childhood in Caldecott County. In X-Men Legacy 238, Rogue is identified as "Anna Marie, aka Rogue," overflying Mumbai aboard an airliner together with Magneto, and then Rogue also introduces herself as "Anna Marie" to Indra's parents, whereas in X-Men Legacy 239 Rogue is identified as "Anna Marie" by a squadron of Sentinels. In Uncanny Avengers 4 after fighting Red Skull's clone, Rogue is interrupted in her convalescence again being called "Anna Marie" by Wanda Maximoff. In X-Men 2 (2013), Rogue is referred to as "Anna Marie", while being restrained in the basement of the X-Mansion by the invading Arkea entity.
Her profile in the latest edition of the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe lists her real name as Anna Marie. Chris Claremont has also used the name "Anna-Marie Raven" in reference to Rogue in non-diegetic establishing text in X-Men Forever, although it is not clear whether or not the team knows her name, as they do uniformly refer to her as "Rogue."
Collected editions
- Astonishing X-Men: Rogue Vol. 1 â€" Going Rogue (Rogue Vol. 3 #1â€"6)
- Astonishing X-Men: Rogue Vol. 2 â€" Forget Me Not (Rogue Vol. 3 #7â€"12)
Other versions
In other media
References
External links
- Rogue at the Marvel Universe wiki
- Rogue Shrine Comprehensive appearance list and chronology, etc.
- Rogue at the Marvel Database Project (wiki)
- New Generation X
- UncannyXmen.net Spotlight on Rogue
- Rogue at Comic Vine
