Rogue (comics)
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Rogue is a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics universe, and a member of the X-Men. She first appeared in The Avengers Annual #10 (1981).
Rogue is a mutant with the ability to temporarily absorb the memories and abilities of others, including superhuman abilities, via skin-to-skin contact. This transference usually causes the victim to fall unconscious and become weakened. The duration of this drain varies according to the length of time that the contact is maintained.
Rogue does not know her biological parents, although this is recently being explored in the comics. She was a "new kid" in the area of the fictional county of Caldecott in Mississippi when Rogue's childhood friend, Cody Robbins, impulsively kissed her and, at that moment, Rogue's powers first emerged. Upon skin-to-skin contact, Rogue had fully absorbed Cody's consciousness, memories, and strengths and Cody fell into a coma from which he never awoke. Rogue was so confused and overwhelmed by the experience that she, too, collapsed. The two were found days later by a group of locals looking for the two. Rogue was revealed to be a mutant and was exiled by her community.
Rogue, was found — still a child, but an indeterminate amount of time later — living alone in a remote, wooded area by another mutant, Mystique, who had come looking for Rogue because Mystique's partner, Destiny, a psychic, had foreseen that she would be important. Rogue was wielding a shotgun, apparently having been chased and/or threatened by at least a few people because of her mutant status. She had, by then, also been given the name of "Rogue" by the nearby villagers who now considered Rogue a threat. Mystique managed to approach Rogue, explained they were both mutants, and gained Rogue's trust. Mystique soon became Rogue's unofficial foster mother.
Mystique and Destiny, professional criminals, raised Rogue for "close to a decade" and trained her to be a member of their villainous team, the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants III. Rogue fought with that team for a while, fighting many superheroes including the X-Men, ROM, and the Avengers and was a devastating enemy to them all. During this time she encountered the superhero, Ms. Marvel (a.k.a. Carol Danvers). Rogue and Ms Marvel fought and, through prolonged contact throughout which Carol fought valiantly to retain her consciousness, Rogue absorbed Carol's alien-based powers and memories permanently. As a result, Rogue gained incredible strength, near-invulnerability, the power of flight, and a rarely-used "seventh sense" power that worked as a very mild sense of ESP, although this last ability has been largely forgotten.
Rogue had never been able to control her natural mutant absorbing power. Any skin-to-skin contact would activate her mutant power, whether she wanted it to or not. She also found she had residual memories of some of the people she had absorbed. After having absorbed Ms. Marvel and gaining her personality and powers permanently, she began to go through a life-changing period. While she was now "remembering" the more normal childhood Carol Danvers had lived and seeing the wrong-doings of Mystique and her team for what they were, she was also feeling as though she was losing her own personality in the mix of residual memories, among which Carol's would sometimes take over. She began to more and more dislike the life she was leading, yet feared losing herself forever in the memories of others she had absorbed.
Desperate, she turned to Professor Charles Xavier and the X-Men (X-Men #171). Xavier's charity towards all mutants led him to welcome her into his home, regardless of his team having previously fought Rogue and in spite of the X-Men's own strong disagreements. He psychically examined her and immediately invited her to join the X-Men and live there at the mansion.
Her initial months with the team were rough and some of the team even threatened to leave if she was allowed to stay, but Professor Xavier reminded them of their ideals as X-Men and they gave her a chance. She first earned Wolverine's trust by saving the life of his fiance and, over time, eventually earned the respect of all the X-Men and became a trusted member of the team.
As an X-Man, Rogue's life improved, but she continued to struggle with Carol Danver's residual personality and this continued until Rogue was pulled through a device called the "Seige Perilous," where she was stripped of her powers for a time and the device helped her to strip the remaining portions of Carol's personality that haunted her. Rogue ended up powerless in the Savage Land, where she was taken in by Magneto. The two briefly toyed with romantic implications, but nothing came of the relationship and, when Rogue's powers returned, she returned to the X-Men.
While she was gone, a new member had joined the X-Men. Rogue and Gambit were immediately attracted to each other and quickly fell in love. Cody Robbins, the first person to fall victim to Rogue's powers, was later killed by Gambit's ex-wife Belladonna.
Rogue and Gambit's relationship has been strained, much thanks to her powers, but they have regardless remained one of the great romantic couples of the X-books.
Rogue's name
Rogue is one the few comic book characters whose real name has never been revealed. This has been an increasingly controversial topic, especially in recent months. In the film X-Men, Rogue tells Wolverine that her real name is Marie. She appears to be living a typical teenager's lifestyle with a couple that are credited with the last name of D'Ancanto, but the last name is not confirmed as Rogue's in the film itself and no history of the couple is provided, so no information is known for sure as to what relationship they are to Rogue or what her "real" name is in that history. Rogue is simply called "Rogue" throughout the movie, even by Wolverine, as she had always been in the comic books.
After the movies, X-Men writer Chris Claremont introduced a non-super-powered human character named Marie D'Ancanto in the series X-Treme X-Men, in which Rogue also appears. In this series, Rogue and Gambit had both lost their powers for a while after a battle in which Rogue saved Gambit's life. They had left the X-Men and Rogue was found by some fellow team members living a "normal" life and having taken up the alias of "Anna Raven." A movie poster of Anna Paquin's Oscar-winning film, "The Piano," filled an entire wall of Rogue's home and she tells her friends she is "going by" the name of "Anna." Later, a solo Rogue series provided a story where, in a kind of dream state, Rogue sees a ghost image of her mother from a different reality who calls her "Anna Marie." In yet another alternate X-reality, the comic Ultimate X-Men has Rogue giving her real name as "Marianne" in issue #53. For now, Marvel still officially lists Rogue's real name as "unrevealed".
Appearances in other media
She was voiced by Lenore Zann in the original animated series X-Men.
She was voiced by Meghan Black in the X-Men: Evolution animated series.
Rogue was depicted by Anna Paquin in the 2000 film X-Men and its sequel X2: X-Men United.
In TV and film, because of the unique nature of her powers, Rogue was key to both the plans and the downfall of Magneto (in the X-Men movie) and Apocalypse (in X-Men: Evolution).
External links
Categories: X-Men members | Brotherhood of Evil Mutants members | Marvel Comics titles