―Rogue
History[]
Early Years[]
Rogue's 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. 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 her equally poor relationship with her father and Aunt prompted her to run away from home as a young teenager, as well as gaining her the nickname "Rogue".
Mutant Powers[]
At some point, Rogue grew close to a boy named Cody Robbins. During their flirtation, Rogue 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. Cody was left in a coma from which he would not awaken. Rogue was traumatized by the experience, and she wore body-concealing clothing that eliminated the possibility of accidental skin contact. Rogue was not able to control her absorption power at first; any skin-to-skin contact activated it, and she sometimes retained residual memories of the people she touched. Rogue wished she did not have to cover up so much around folks, to protect them from her.
Brotherhood of Evil Mutants[]
Not long after, Rogue was approached by Mystique, who sought her out on the advice of her precognitive partner, Destiny. The couple ultimately took Rogue in as a daughter. In time Mystique turned Rogue's loneliness, envy, bitterness, and despair into anger, thus recruiting her into the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
Rogue fought alongside the Brotherhood against many superheroes, including the X-Men, ROM, Dazzler, and the Avengers and was a devastating enemy to them all. For her first mission, Rogue encountered the super heroine Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel). Rogue and Ms. Marvel fought and, through prolonged contact during which Ms. Marvel fought valiantly to retain her consciousness, Rogue absorbed Ms. Marvel's alien-based powers and memories permanently. Rogue gained Ms. Marvel's incredible strength, near-invulnerability, the power of flight, and a rarely used mild form of ESP referred to as a "seventh sense" (though this last ability has been largely forgotten). After absorbing Ms. Marvel, Rogue was ordered to defeat the Avengers and attacked them at their mansion headquarters. Rogue was able to absorb Captain America and Thor but was forced to retreat. After regrouping with the Brotherhood, Rogue and the Brotherhood attacked Ryker's Island, to release Destiny, but the Avengers defeated them and only Rogue and Mystique escaped.
Next, Rogue and Mystique were seen at the Pentagon, where they battled Storm, Wolverine, and depowered Carol. Rogue was able to absorb Wolverine and Storm's powers, but Storm sent Rogue out of the Pentagon with a cyclone. Later, Rogue and Mystique liberated the Brotherhood from Windust Prison and battled ROM. During the battle, the Brotherhood was again captured, and only Rogue, Mystique, and Destiny escaped. Renaming themselves the Sisterhood of Evil Mutants, Rogue, Mystique, and Destiny sought revenge on the X-Men and decided that Angel would be an appropriate source of information. When the trio attacked Angel, Dazzler defeated them. Rogue vowed revenge on Dazzler, becoming increasingly jealous of her popular and attractive lifestyle. Going against Mystique, Rogue attacked Dazzler, but the Heroes for Hire drove her off. After Dazzler's sister, Lois London, killed a homeless man in self-defense, Dazzler and her sister fled New York to California, where Rogue continued her vendetta against Dazzler. Dazzler was able to eventually defeat Rogue, who returned to Mystique.
X-Men[]
Rogue began to suffer more acutely from having Carol Danvers' memories in her head. Desperate, Rogue turned to Professor Charles Xavier and the X-Men, where Carol, now powered again and called Binary, attacked her on sight. Professor Xavier's charity towards all mutants led him to welcome her into his School for Gifted Youngsters, regardless of his team having previously fought Rogue, and in spite of the X-Men's own strong disagreements. Professor X psychically examined Rogue and invited her to join the X-Men and live at the mansion, with the team even threatening to leave if she was allowed to stay. Professor Xavier reminded them of their ideals as X-Men, and they gave her a chance.
With the X-Men, Rogue traveled to Japan to attend the wedding of their team member Wolverine with Mariko Yashida. At first, enraged at seeing Rogue had joined the X-Men, she earned his trust by saving the life of his fiancée while Viper and Silver Samurai poisoned the X-Men and battled him. Over time, Rogue eventually earned the respect of all the X-Men and became a valued, trusted member of the team. After a quick battle with Mastermind, Mystique attempted to "rescue" Rogue from the X-Men, thinking Professor Xavier forced her to leave the Brotherhood, only to have Rogue tell her that she joined of her own freewill.
After finding out that Michael Rossi was in danger, Carol's residual personality took over and Rogue attacked a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier which prompted Nick Fury to send out an all-points bulletin on her. In an attempt to take Rogue down, Henry Gyrich and Valerie Cooper had Forge create a neutralizing gun, and while Gyrich fired at Rogue, Storm was hit with the gun on maximum setting. As a result, Storm was stripped of all her powers.
The X-Men battled the Juggernaut and Nimrod. Rogue absorbed the powers of most of her teammates to defeat Nimrod.
When Mojo regressed the X-Men to X-Babies, Rogue was among those de-aged and brainwashed alongside Longshot, Psylocke, Colossus, Shadowcat, Wolverine, Storm, Nightcrawler and Magneto. Ultimately, however, the team was saved by the New Mutants.
Dazzler joined the X-Men and fought Juggernaut by herself and was defeated. Rogue led her small team of X-Men to rescue Dazzler and defeat Juggernaut. Rogue was forced to confront and cooperate with Dazzler, a one-time adversary who she attempted to kill.
Rogue was approached by Mystique and informed that Destiny had foreseen that the X-Men would die in Dallas. Tracking Storm, the X-Men arrived at Forge's Eagle Plaza, in Dallas, Texas, where they were attacked by the Freedom Force and Rogue was captured. After the initial battle, a rift opened in the sky of Dallas and chaos ensued of different weather patterns right next to each other and beings and creatures from the past appeared and attacked. The X-Men and Freedom Force formed a temporary alliance with each other to save the citizens of Dallas until Colossus decided to enter Eagle Plaza. After gaining access into the Starlight Citadel, the X-Men battled the Adversary and, after Rogue absorbed his power and opened a portal to seal him in, gave their lives to imprison the Adversary, with a spell cast by Forge; however, the Omniversal Guardian, named Roma, restored the X-Men to life and freed the Adversary under the notion that there could be no order without chaos. The events had been broadcast over a live television news feed and the world believed the heroes to be dead. After being resurrected, the X-Men decided to use the opportunity to go underground and keep their rebirth secret.
The X-Men resurfaced in Australia, where they defeated the Reavers. They claimed their base and teleporter, Gateway, a mute, mutant Aborigine with the ability to create gates with his bull roarer. Roma appeared and presented them with the Siege Perilous, a gem that created a portal which granted any person who walked through its judgment and a new chance at life, with a new career, home, and so forth and had magically made them invisible to any sort of mechanical perception.
After Madelyne went missing, the X-Men battled the Press Gang and Genoshan Magistrates, where Rogue and Wolverine were captured and taken to Genosha. While in captivity, Rogue and Wolverine were stripped of their powers by Wipeout and contained where the guards "took a few liberties" with Rogue. Embarrassed, Rogue allowed the Carol Danvers personality to take-over and escaped, rescuing Wolverine. Rogue, still under Danvers's influence, and Wolverine followed Phillip Moreau to the Mutates' camp, until they were attacked and the X-Men arrived to rescue them.
At times when Rogue would become unconscious, or in extreme stress, Danvers' personality would take-over. Rogue and Dazzler formed a tepid friendship, which was tested several times as Rogue envied Dazzler's relationship with teammate Longshot. Rogue even dressed and posed as Dazzler to court the man's attention.
Rogue was taken-back to the guards of Genosha molesting her and she began to shut-out the Carol personality completely. After destroying her room, because the Carol personality remodeled, Dazzler recommended that the women of the X-Men had a social outing. The X-Women went to a mall in Beverly Hills and, after they indulged in a day of shopping and frivolity, rescued Jubilee from the M-Squad.
After the Carol personality visited the Wall and her old apartment, Rogue reasserted herself just-in-time to battle Master Mold and Nimrod, while wearing Carol's old Ms. Marvel uniform. While battling, Master Mold absorbed Nimrod, killed Senator Kelly's wife, and continued to reconstruct all of the X-Men's damage. Dazzler threw the Siege Perilous at the Master Mold's decapitated head and Rogue sacrificed herself, to ensure the Sentinel would go through, and disappeared.
Rogue was stripped of her powers for a time, as well as the remaining portions of Carol's personality that had haunted her. Rogue ended up powerless in the Savage Land, where she was taken in by Magneto. Rogue ultimately saw through Magneto's noble facade when he killed the high priestess Zaladane, who had amassed an army of Savage Land natives, so she left.
Rogue traveled to Muir Island, where she fell under the control of the Shadow King. As her powers returned, she and the X-Men defeated the Shadow King, and she rejoined the team. During this conflict, she had her first encounter with the new X-Man called Gambit, while they were both under the Shadow King's influence. The uninhibited and corrupting influence of Farouk led to them making out. When the mind control ended, Gambit remembered their encounter, but Rogue did not, leading to an awkward encounter afterwards.
Despite the circumstances of their first meeting, Rogue and Gambit were immediately attracted to each other and quickly began dating. Rogue and Gambit's relationship was often strained, much thanks to her inability to control her absorption power and his dishonesty. Around this time, Cody Robbins, the first person to fall victim to Rogue's powers, passed away after being used as a pawn by Gambit's ex-wife, Bella Donna, and ex-lover Candra.
It was eventually discovered that Mystique had two sons: the now-deceased anti-mutant politician Graydon Creed and Rogue's long-time teammate, Nightcrawler. Rogue and Nightcrawler considered themselves to be siblings, although the revelation did not particularly alter their friendship.
When the Galactic Council transformed Earth into a maximum-security penal colony for hundreds of extraterrestrial criminals, Rogue absorbed the attributes of Z'Cann -- a telepathic alien shapeshifter who had joined Cadre K, Xavier's Skrull equivalent to the X-Men. Z'Cann purposely touched Rogue to activate the mutant's abilities as the two evaded bounty hunters. Z'Cann used her telepathy to amplify Rogue's capacity to assimilate memories, causing her powers to mutate.
During an invasion of aliens from another dimension, Rogue begged Sage to use her jump-starting powers to evolve Rogue to a point where she could control all of the various powers inside of her. Sage agreed, and Rogue became a one-woman army, able to use the powers of anyone she had absorbed in the past, exhibiting a multitude of powers at once.
In that same invasion, Rogue was confronted by Vargas who was said to be "a new species all together". Vargas wanted to kill her to preserve his own life; he showed her a page from one of Destiny's diaries that indicated Rogue would kill him. Rogue fought Vargas off and sped to rescue Gambit from the machine that used him to power a trans-dimensional gate. The power beam trapped her with him, and they were both stabbed by Vargas. Wounded but still alive, Rogue pursued Vargas, ambushing him by replacing his statue of Psylocke and eventually using all her abilities to defeat him (and perhaps kill him, though the exact outcome of their fight is still uncertain). Both Gambit and Rogue survived by a near margin, though Rogue had to enter the Astral Plane to force Gambit to live.
Following the repulsion of the invasion, Rogue realized that the Destiny 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, and the X-Men retired there to recuperate. Rogue soon left the team with Gambit, since they both emerged powerless from their ordeals and wanted to further explore their relationship.
While on the road, Rogue and Gambit met some mutants who hated normal humans. Rogue asked them to leave, but they provoked a fight, and Gambit and Rogue (both powerless) fought them. They lost, and their opponents destroyed Rogue's bike. Shortly thereafter, Rogue and Gambit met a young mutant going by the name of Paint, who possessed the power to "paint" tattoos by touch alone. Rogue complimented Paint on her tattoos and in return, Paint gave Rogue some tattoos of her own.
Rogue ended up staying at a beach house in Valle Soleada, a town wherein 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 stop Sage's enemy and former boss Elias Bogan. After the battle Rogue asked Sage to restore Gambit's abilities, which she did.
Rogue and Gambit returned to the X-Men. Over time, Rogue's own abilities returned naturally; however, she no longer possessed the abilities she had absorbed from Ms. Marvel. Rogue and Gambit were both put on Havok's team. On their first mission back, the X-Men battled against a Chinese mutant team to rescue Xorn. They succeeded and brought Xorn back to the X-Mansion with them.
The X-Men then faced a new Brotherhood in Philadelphia. The Brotherhood followed them back to the Mansion and attacked them at home. Rogue notably fought Black Tom Cassidy, while the other X-Men fought off the rest of the Brotherhood. Black Tom almost killed Rogue, but she was saved by Northstar.
Rogue then traveled down south to save a young mutant girl from her powers. While there, she met Campbell Sainte-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 had to fight against the monstrous Golgotha, large creatures with limited telepathic abilities. During this ordeal, Rogue and Gambit got into a fight, and he left. While recovering from Logan's mind, Rogue received a call from Emma Frost, who tried to kill Havok, mistakenly thinking Havok to be Cyclops. Rogue absorbed both Havok and Polaris' powers when the X-Men fought a herd of Golgotha in space.
She later gained Sunfire's powers after absorbing them when he was dying, subsequent to his battle with Lady Deathstrike, who amputated both his legs.
Rogue returned to the Mansion and led the Advocates Squad in the school's new squad system. She soon found that Gambit was being seduced by latest X-Kid and Chevaliers Squad member Foxx. Foxx was actually Mystique in disguise, who sought to break up Gambit and Rogue. She believed she had found someone better for Rogue and was not particularly fond of Gambit. The X-Men voted, and Mystique was allowed to be a probationary member of the X-Men, a decision neither Rogue nor Gambit liked.
Rogue was given command of an X-Men team by Cyclops. She also dealt with Gambit's transformation into Death. To face the Children of the Vault she chose Mystique, Iceman, Cannonball, Omega Sentinel, Cable, Lady Mastermind, and an unwilling Sabretooth as her squad.
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 her team would be leaving 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 Destiny's Diaries. As part of the attack, it was discovered 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 tried to get her to wake up after she had fallen into a trance overcome by the minds she absorbed and expresses his apologies for what he had done before rejoining Sinister. Rogue had flashes of memories, both of her 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 briefly waking up and recognizing 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 first mutant baby born since M-Day; however, the baby eventually took precedence, and the X-Men did not recover, nor even see, Rogue.
Mr. Sinister, in possession of the mutant baby, relocated the Marauders to Muir Island. While standing by Rogue's bedside, Mystique was visited by Mr. Sinister who told her that there would be no cure for Rogue, and she would 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 awakened shortly after. Realizing what Mystique had done at the risk of killing the baby, Rogue said she was tired of people's lives being destroyed by Mystique and grabbed Mystique's face barehanded, fully absorbing her powers and consciousness. Mystique was left on the floor incapacitated as Rogue told Gambit that when the baby touched her, it removed all the psyches of everybody she had ever touched and that only herself and Mystique were left in her mind. She told Gambit she needed to be alone and told him not to follow her.
X-Men Legacy[]
Rogue travelled around the Australian outback on a motorcycle. Rogue returned to the X-Men's former headquarters in Maynards Plains, Australia. She spoke to Mystique (who was in fact a copy of the real Mystique's mind, residing in Rogue's psyche) telling her that no one else could help her with her powers and that it was down to her to figure out how to control them.
One day, a woman appeared in town claiming to be an anthropologist from Melbourne University. Rogue made it clear she could stay as long as she wanted, but to keep out of her way. The anthropologist approached Rogue with questions about some of the remains she had found in the town. Rogue said she didn't know and to leave her alone. The anthropologist followed her and explained she had a different identity. The anthropologist was then targeted by a low flying Shi'ar spaceship and revealed that she was really Danger and informed Rogue she was going to get her revenge on Professor Xavier for using her as a conduit. Danger was damaged by the Shi'ar and 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 take control and save her as the fake Scalphunter shot at her. Mystique took over Rogue's body to save her and fought off the Marauders, returning Rogue's control over her body.
Rogue then made her way to the top of a holographic Tokyo Tower and tried to use its height to find the Institute, deducing that the projections were changing at ten-minute intervals, altering the environment around her; however, Rogue didn't get far as she ended up in Antarctica, witnessing the moment she abandoned Gambit after his trial. She regretted her decision, telling Mystique that she really hadn't moved on. It was at this point that Cody Robbins, the first person to fall victim to Rogue's powers appeared before her, repeating his greeting from the night her powers manifested, leaving her speechless.
Rogue continued travelling through areas connected to her past, speaking with and fighting Ms. Marvel, Mystique and Magneto until eventually the Professor, Gambit, and a group of Shi'ar pirates managed to shut down Danger; however, the Professor reactivated her, and she and Rogue 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 they 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), as well as removing the mental echo of Mystique. Finally Rogue kissed Gambit, with no ill side effect, revealing that she was in control of her absorption power.
Utopia[]
Rogue, Gambit, and Danger decided to go to San Francisco in order to regroup with the other X-Men. On their way there they were intercepted by Pixie who teleported them into the city, which was in a state of chaos due to the anti-mutant and pro-mutant movements. Cyclops sent all three out in order to locate several missing students and brought them home. During their mission Rogue faced off against the new Ms Marvel. Finding that she couldn't touch her opponent, Rogue resorted to a trick and fled the site.
Later on, she joined Gambit, who had been injured by Ares, along with Danger. Ares did not take her seriously and dismissed her both as an opponent and her attempts to calm things down. Rogue grabbed Ares and absorbed his powers. Ares was dismissive of her attempt and claimed that she couldn't absorb him, a boast that proved wrong as she weakened him enough for Gambit to blast him bloody and stunned. Having for the moment absorbed some of Ares' power, she easily dispatched a small group of H.A.M.M.E.R. agents with superhuman strength and proceeded to steal their tank, along with Gambit and Danger, in order to find the rest of the students.
Rogue found Trance as her powers flared out of control, creating powerful uncontrollable bio-electric blasts. Rogue tried to help calm Trance and help her gain control when Ms. Marvel appeared. After taking out Gambit and Danger, Rogue and Ms. Marvel fought; Rogue was losing until Trance regained control and jumped in to help Rogue. Trance learned that her astral form was able to punch Ms. Marvel when they were both intangible. After Gambit stunned Ms. Marvel, they teleported back to base where Trance received medical attention.
Nation-X[]
When Emplate returned to find mutants to feed on, Rogue volunteered to enter his base and try to stop him, despite Gambits protests. Rogue finally managed to defeat him and saved Bling! who had been taken captive by Emplate.
Post "Age of X"[]
After the events of "Age of X" Rogue became torn between her feelings for Gambit and Magneto. Gambit stated that she had to be ready for him for good before he could be with her again, and that he would be waiting for her when she was ready. After Rogue confronted Magneto about his past, she spent a night with him, promising nothing else. Afterwards, Rogue joined 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 resulted 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.
Regenesis[]
After the Schism between Wolverine and Cyclops, Rogue had great trouble deciding whether to stay on Utopia or follow Wolverine to Westchester. She went around Utopia getting the opinions of various different people to help her decide, but finally decided to go to Westchester due to her love of helping and teaching the children.
Avengers vs. X-Men[]
Rogue was reluctant to join the fight against the Avengers, despite being urged to do so by both her students and fellow X-Men. She refused to do so, due to it reminding her of the bad person she used to be, even after She-Hulk, Falcon, and Moon Knight came to monitor the school on behalf of the Avengers. After She-Hulk injured kids whom she mistook for monsters, however, Rogue finally attacked them. The Avengers were all defeated, and Rogue realized that she couldn't stay on the sidelines of the fight and decided to join the battle, together with several other members of staff.
After the Phoenix chose Cyclops, Colossus, Emma Frost, Magik, and Namor as its hosts and they began fixing the world, Rogue assisted them, using her powers to replenish natural resources and aid people. She was approached by Ms. Marvel who wanted to talk to her. Rogue distrusted her, however, and attacked her. Ms. Marvel was captured by Magik who transported her to a prison she had built in a volcano. Here the Avengers were imprisoned in a piece of Limbo where demons kept them imprisoned by making them fight their worst fears in their minds. Rogue was horrified and attempted to break Carol free. Magik noticed, however, and sent Rogue away to an alien planet.
While on the alien planet Rogue found herself in the middle of a battle between two races and in an act of self-defense, she attracted the attention of both races and fled the battlefield. While trying to find food she almost ate something toxic, if not for Chahr who warned her of the effect of the fruit. Chahr asked for Rogue's help to defeat the other race, called The Swarm, and in return they would do all they could to help her return to her world. That night the Swarm attacked her shelter and while fighting them she used up all Ms. Marvel's powers. The Swarm attempted to assimilate her, but due to Rogue's experience fighting off foreign control and maintaining her state of mind, they failed and resolved to bring her before the Swarm's Queen. The Queen also attempted to assimilate Rogue but in doing so, Rogue was able to access a locked away memory in the Swarm's Hive Mind. This memory showed the Queen meeting with the king of Chahr's people. The two monarchs agreed to make war in order to make sure that their populations stayed thin enough for them to able to continue living off the planet.
The Queen was enraged and attempted to kill Rogue, as well as exiling the Swarm member that had brought her there. Rogue and the exiled Swarm managed to escape and bonded together in an effort to survive. In the end, Rogue brought peace to both of the two races by showing the conspiracy between the King and the Queen. As promised, Chahr gave Rogue an item which brought Rogue back to Earth.
Finally arriving on Earth, Cyclops had gone mad from possessing the Phoenix Force all by himself. Rogue tried to save civilians trapped under the rubble made by Cyclops' attack. With the help of Magneto and several normal people willingly to help, Rogue saved most of the civilians but one who was injured too much. In the middle of the rescue mission, Magneto surprisingly proposed to Rogue. After the rescue mission, Rogue turned down Magneto's proposal.
Avengers Unity Division[]
During Charles Xavier's funeral, Rogue encountered the Scarlet Witch at Xavier's grave. Rogue took offense to seeing Wanda there, and the two began fighting. Their battle was interrupted by the arrival of the Red Skull and his team of altered humans. Rogue and Wanda were both captured and taken to the Red Skull's base. Rogue managed to escape from her captors and encountered Wanda, who was now being mind-controlled by the Red Skull, who immediately attacked her. The two fought their way into Skull's laboratory where they found the now brainless corpse of Charles Xavier. This was enough to snap Wanda out of her mind control and Rogue vowed that she would kill the Red Skull for desecrating Xavier's corpse and taking his brain; however, they were immediately attacked by the Red Skull and his team. Scarlet Witch and Rogue were mentally controlled into allowing their execution by the mentally controlled mutant-hating crowd Red Skull gathered but snapped back once the Avengers Unity Division appeared to fight Shmidt. After Red Skull and his S-Men escaped, Rogue joined the Avengers Unity Division.
In a divergent universe, the Apocalypse Twins' machinations led to the death of both Rogue and the Scarlet Witch and the destruction of Earth, with the only remaining human being the Wasp. The remaining members of the Avengers Unity Division from that dire future transported their consciousness to the present and informed about what would happen if they didn't act different. By absorbing the powers of almost every Avenger and X-Men, Rogue prevented the Celestial Exitar (who had been tricked by the Apocalypse Twins into punishing Earth) from literally stepping on Earth and destroying it, while Thor slayed him with the Jarnbjorn, his old magical axe which was in the possession of the Twins. The Avengers also destroyed the Twin's Tachyon Dam, a device which prevented any physical time-travel. By doing this, they accidentally allowed Kang (who had helped the future remaining Avengers to travel to the present) to arrive, along with his Chronos Corps, and absorb Exitar's blood, gaining enormous power.
As the Infinity Watch arrived to help the Avengers fight the Chronos Corps, Havok and Sunfire confronted and ultimately defeated Kang, who was forced to flee along with his soldiers. After the crisis was over, Rogue was in the process of being driven mad by all the heroes she had absorbed. 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 had also lost her ability to freely touch others. During the events of World War Hate, Rogue left the Avengers Unity Division and fought with the inverted X-Men against the Avengers and humanity. After the reinversion spell was cast, almost all returned to their normal state and Rogue rejoined the Unity Division as the team's new leader. Their first adventure took them to Counter-Earth to look for Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. They were unexpectedly captured by the citizens of Counter-Earth and Rogue was stripped of Wonder Man's consciousness, but not his powers, by the Master Scientist.
Following Steve Rogers' retirement, Rogue became the field leader of the Avengers Unity Division, although she accepted Steve Rogers' official oversight and recommendations for membership, such as Deadpool. After flying through a Terrigen Cloud to rescue some mutants, Rogue began to suffer from Terrigen poisoning. She required regular injections to stop herself becoming ill or dying. Later on, the Red Skull attempted to mount a new attack on the team, but Deadpool was able to resist the telepathic attack long enough to get Magneto's old helmet on Rogue so that she could resist the Skull's telepathy. Rogue subsequently took the Skull to a new facility where Beast was able to extract the uniquely Xavier elements from the Skull's brain, depriving him of Xavier's telepathy, while Rogue and Human Torch incinerated the brain.
Marriage[]
Following the disbandment of the Avengers Unity Division, Rogue was called in together with Iceman to lead the X-Men and the Xavier Institute after Kitty Pryde had been arrested due to the machinations of anti-mutant activist Lydia Nance. During this time, Rogue's romance with Gambit reignited when Kitty sent them undercover to couples' therapy, at the Paraíso Island Retreat Center, where Charmaine's powers forced them to confront the events of their past from each other's point of view.
Not long afterwards, Kitty and Colossus held a wedding ceremony after becoming engaged; however, Kitty backed down at the last second and left Piotr at the altar. During the would-be reception, Gambit became inspired by Storm's words on marriage, and decided to propose to Rogue on the spot. She accepted, and they were married shortly afterwards by the rabbi hired to officiate the marriage that was originally planned for that day.
During their honeymoon in space, they were interrupted by a call from Kitty Pride, who told them that they needed to find a secret package which involved the Shi'ar. They discovered that the package was an egg and contained Xandra, the bio-engineered daughter of Xavier and Lilandra, who could change her appearance and others at will. Grateful for their help, Xandra offered to fix Rogue's powers. Rogue however refused, explaining to Remy that the last time it happened, it didn't last since she herself wasn't able to control it before losing the ability to touch. The group was interrupted by the Imperial Guard and Deathbird and a fight ensued.
Realizing they were losing the fight; Xandra used her abilities to make everyone think she and Rogue were killed. After the Imperial Guard and Deathbird left, they reappeared, only to have Rogue's ability become uncontrollable as she could now absorb memories without touching anyone. Xandra explained that her powers had evolved, and Rogue would have to learn to control it on her own. Shortly after Gambit and Rogue returned to Earth.
Opening an unknown gift during the holidays, Gambit and Rogue were teleported to the Mojoverse, but before they were able to figure out what was going on, Mojo reset their lives to a noir setting called "Honey Moonlighting". However, since Rogue's abilities had evolved, she became aware of what was going on, destroying the fake reality and killing Remy by absorbing him. Mojo reset their lives several times to different genres, but they all ended with Rogue killing Gambit. Discussing their relationship on a reality TV show, Gambit left for a bar where he met a strange brunette woman whom he quickly brushed off. The woman revealed herself to be Spiral and restored his memories.
She explained to Gambit that she brought them there since Mojo wanted a famous superhero couple for his newest programming, but Spiral needed a great thief to steal something for her, but she was unaware that Rogue's abilities had changed. Spiral wouldn't tell Gambit what she wanted stolen, but if he helped her, she promised to help Rogue with her powers and the couple's escape.
In her mind Rogue goes over the important events in her life, when she kissed Cody, fighting Ms. Marvel, her relationship with Gambit and her time on Genosha. She comes to the conclusion that she had been unknowingly limiting her own abilities out of personal fear, which also perverted her from having a relationship with Gambit. Waking-up Rogue tells Gambit that she's regain full control of her abilities. After defeating Mojo, Gambit gives Spiral the Coeur Enroulé, after merging with it, she sends them back to Earth. Not realizing that they've been gone for months and the events with the X-Men, but before Rogue can check to see what's happen, Gambit doesn't want to take any chances before something else interrupts them and the two spend the next few hours in bed together. Rogue then checks her phone to see that she has several messages from Carol Danvers and goes to her aid.
Attributes[]
Powers[]
Rogue is a mutant.
Power Absorption: Rogue can absorb the powers, energies, memories, knowledge, talents, personality, and physical abilities (whether superhuman or not) of another human being (or members of some sentient alien races) through physical contact of her skin with the skin of the other person. She is not limited to absorbing superhuman abilities: for example, she has absorbed the strength, agility, and sharp reflexes of an enhanced human. She can also absorb psionic abilities. In absorbing another person's memories Rogue also gains the emotional responses connected to them. For the transfer of abilities to be accomplished, Rogue’s skin must contact the skin of her victim. Rogue can only absorb abilities and memories from living organic beings. She can possess the powers of several superhuman persons at once. No upper limit has yet been determined for the number of superhuman beings whose power she can maintain simultaneously, or for the amount of power that she can absorb. Rogue can even absorb gross physical characteristics from a victim. Her physical appearance does not change when she absorbs abilities and memories from a normal looking human being. The victim's abilities and memories are absorbed for a time sixty times longer than the period of time Rogue was in physical contact with that person. Those touched are rendered unconscious by contact with her, though some beings, including Juggernaut and Mojo have resisted this effect. While for most of her life, her use of this power was involuntary, Rogue gained full control over it due to Xavier purging her barriers in her subconscious.
This transfer is usually temporary, lasting for a period of time relative to how long contact is maintained, but the transfer may become permanent in certain cases. For example, she absorbed Ms. Marvel's powers permanently due to unknown reasons (Ms. Marvel's strange mix of human and Kree DNA may have had something to do with it) and she absorbed Sunfire's powers permanently when she absorbed the last of his life force by accident. Most often the process happens instantly when Rogue touches someone, but in certain instances where a being has possessed an extraordinary level of power, they are able to resist her, and she may only share part of their memories and power.
Her power is potentially lethal. Her flirtation, Cody Robbins, was in a comatose state for roughly a decade after her powers first manifested when they touched. He never fully awakened, and finally passed on instead of remaining on life support; however, Rogue has never actually killed with her powers; even under the influence of Strain 88, she only sent victims into a permanent vegetative state.
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, including Spiral and Mr. Sinister who both proved to be the dominant personality. It has also been shown that even though Rogue forgets the memories she has absorbed when a psyche returns to its body, 'echoes' of their personalities remain buried in her mind.
Rogue is able to absorb psyches and abilities of several beings at once, though the experience can be confusing and disorienting for her.
Robotic beings are mostly immune to her power. Depending on the number of organics left, she can usually affect cyborgs. She seems able to affect techno-organic beings. Powerful enough beings can withstand her touch and attempt to impose their own will on her or cause a feedback loop. Rogue's power has grown over time. Initially she was unable to absorb the powers of Wonder Man, a being a living ionic energy; however, now she can absorb him.
Although she is capable of absorbing his powers, Colossus in metal form was able to make physical contact with her with no ill effects; however, Rogue has shown the ability to absorb him while he was in metal form at various other times.
Power Enhancements[]
Rogue's powers were greatly enhanced by Pandemic via Strain 88, making the effects of her touch instantly permanent and all-consuming. Her powers returned to their normal levels after the mutant baby touches her in X-Men: Messiah Complex. This also returned her mental status to normal, as the baby purged all previous templates and mental impressions from her being. It appears after the events in X-Men: Legacy #224 that Rogue is now able to voluntarily use her powers, now kissing Gambit and not hurting him or absorbing his powers. This appears to be because, before Professor Xavier helped her break them down, her power had formed many mental walls within her mind every time she used her abilities. As such her powers were crippled in their development freezing them in their nascent stage which severely limited Rogue's control. Yet when she, Gambit and Danger fought Ares in Utopia, her power absorption was still strong enough to weaken Ares to some level for Gambit to give the final blow, hinting that she can finally control her touch to be very deadly for enemies without hurting her friends. She later uses the much more debilitating version of her powers against the Avengers during her fight with the Avengers to defend Jean Grey School from Avengers' invasion, even making Falcon and She-Hulk immediately unconscious without any negative feedback on herself (besides the green skin from She-Hulk), stealing their powers and rendering them unconscious for quite a long time as she stated herself as "so it's time to get old school."
A new twist in Rogue's powers consists of prompting her victims of 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, and also when quenching a riot in a prison of mutants absorbing the existence of some mutant-volunteers.
Rogue now retains the powers and very essence of Wonder Man meaning that she and can no longer freely touch others with her power. While she originally retained the consciousness of Simon Williams, the Master Scientist later removed it.
Wonder Man's Powers: Currently, Rogue seemingly still retains some of Wonder Man powers and abilities even though he has been released from her body, possibly permanently. Assuming a 1:1 comparison between their two power levels, she may possess the following:
- Ionic Energy Form: The tissue and bones of her entire body presumably have now been augmented in strength and to a certain extent. She is now composed of organic matter that is permeated with this form of energy.
- Superhuman Strength: Presumably possesses vast superhuman strength, the limits of which aren't known, and she is listed as Class 100.
- Superhuman Speed: She can presumably run and move at speeds that are beyond the physical limits of the finest human athletes.
- Superhuman Stamina: Her ionic body presumably grants her unlimited stamina and is therefore immune to fatigue.
- Superhuman Durability: Her bodily tissues are presumably much harder and far more resistant to physical injury than the bodily tissues of a normal human. Rogue is thus presumably highly resistant to penetration wounds, even from high caliber machine gun shells. She can also presumably withstand tremendous impact forces, such as falling from great heights or being repeatedly struck by superhumanly strong opponents, without being hurt. She is also presumably resistant to extremes in temperature.
- Superhuman Agility: Her agility, balance, and bodily coordination are all presumably enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of even the finest human athletes.
- Superhuman Reflexes: Rogue reflexes are presumably similarly enhanced and are superior to those of the finest human athletes.
- Flight: Rogue is able to fly through the air at great speeds, the exact limit of which isn't known; however, she can presumably now fly at speeds in excess of 700 mph.
- Immortality: Rogue is now presumably functionally immortal. Because of the ionic energy that empowers her, she presumably no longer ages and is immune to disease and infection. This same energy presumably sustains Rogue's physical vitality far more efficiently than the biochemical process that sustain ordinary human life. As a result, she presumably no longer requires food, water, or oxygen.
After her marriage to Remy in place of Kitty and Colossus' aborted wedding, Anna had her powers jump started again by the daughter of Shi'ar Empress Lilandra and mutant activist Professor X Xandra via telepathy.
She now has the power to leech away both the abilities and life energy of others from a good distance away, eliminating the need to touch enemies to swipe their abilities and memories.
Much like her regular abilities, these new powers were beyond her control. Rogue would randomly absorb raw energy from everyone around her with no real means of reining it in. At their most unfocused, the absorption would kill anyone she got too close to, leaving them a withered husk before reducing them to ashes in the wind.
With the help of Spiral's Mojoworld device taking Anna Marie into her own subconscious, she discovered that she'd been inhibiting control of her own abilities in the back of her mind out of fear. After realizing this, Rogue learned to turn her siphoning abilities, both tactile and remote, on and off at will once again.
Abilities[]
Rogue has displayed acrobatic skills she apparently learned from Gambit while they both recovered from fighting Vargas. Rogue can also speak fluent French, and while on an alien world, proved to be an excellent swordsman, having been taught by her brother Nightcrawler. Rogue's skills also depend on who she has recently absorbed. Rogue could formerly draw upon the combat and espionage training of Carol Danvers by granting control of her body to her alternate personality, a duplicate of Danvers'.
Paraphernalia[]
Equipment[]
Rogue formerly wore a pair of ruby quartz sunglasses to avoid accidentally harming anyone with optic blasts when she absorbed Cyclops' power.
Transportation[]
Formerly X-Men Blackbird, Gateway.
Notes[]
- According to Operation Zero Tolerance's Rogue sub-file 100349, at the time Anna Marie was twelve years old, she was attacked by a monster calling itself "Rogue", who absorbed her then took her appearance. A hologram of this event was witnessed by the Gambit in Bastion's fortress, but as other holograms witnessed by the X-Men, it was decided to stand on the belief that they were nothing else than ways to disturb them.
- Steve Rogers considered that Rogue would be a great asset to any team as leader or second-in-command and would benefit teams of new generation heroes like the Runaways or the Young Masters, and that she would be the perfect candidate to lead the Thunderbolts if Luke Cage was to step down from that position. He would later make her leader of the Avengers Unity Division.
Trivia[]
- The issue in which Rogue joins the X-Men Uncanny X-Men #171 was voted the 49th greatest Marvel Comic of all time.
- Rogue was #5 on IGN's Top Twenty-Five X-Men list, and #4 on their Top Ten X-Babes list and #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.
- Depending on the writer, Rogue's dialogue usually has 'I' replaced with 'Ah' to emphasize her southern accent. This is not the case all the time, however.
- Rogue reflects the stereotype of a southern belle, a woman in the South who is beautiful, flirtatious, yet chaste.
- Rogue's absorption of Genis-Vell's cosmic powers during House of M #7 was meant to be a long-lasting consequence of House of M; however, the X-Men-related books weren't interested in following this plot point, so the power upgrade only lasted as long as House of M.