Rogue’s mutant power consists of absorbing the mind and powers of the being she touches, if the contact is skin to skin. She usually wears clothes that cover her whole body, so she has to take off a glove to make the contact, but she prefers a kiss to have her power working. She has proven able to absorb alien beings as well as humans and mutants. Another important thing about her powers is the fact that the longer the contact with the victim longs, the longer the stolen psyche remains in her. A curious effect occurred when she absorbed Colossus powers while he was deadly injured. She also absorbed those injures, not only his power and mind.
She discovered her mutant abilities the hard way, when her best friend Cody went catatonic after kissing her. Then, she ran away to be alone, being recruited by Mystique for The Evil Mutants Brotherhood. Although it may appear that Mystique just wanted her as a pawn, she and Destiny always treated her as mothers, and she even preferred her joining the X Men after she permanently absorbed Ms Marvel rather than watching her suffer. Rogue absorbed Ms Marvel’s powers and mind during a fight because she accidentally kept the contact too long. Though the effects of her powers are usually temporal, in this case they were absolute and permanent and the mind of Carol Danvers went into her head.
Since there were three personalities -Rogue, Danvers and her alien side, fighting for control into her mind, she decided to ask Charles Xavier for help and he invited her to join the X Men. Ever since, she has been on the good guys’ side. Curiously, the first x men to trust her was Wolverine, a close friend to Carol. Added to her uncontrolled powers of absorption, she has invulnerability, super strengh and flying, stolen from Ms Marvel. Rogue prefers not to use her own powers, but the ones she “borrowed” from Ms. Marvel.
Since Rogue can’t control her power, she is virtually untouchable. The first time she seemed to be free from that load is when she was jailed in Genosha, during the mutants’ first visit to the island. Since the experience of being helpless to the magistrates was pretty shocking, she let her Ms Marvel part in control. For a while since then, both sides of her mind fought for control of the body, changing her eyes from green to blue when Ms Marvel was there. She finally got rid of her borrowed personalities, but nevertheless kept the powers.
Rogue fell deeply in love with Gambit, and eventually she even trusted him. Then, she realized that he was married and in the middle of a Romeo&Juliet like conflict. When Belladonna (Gambit’s wife) went catatonic during a fight, she unwillingly absorbed her mind. The worst part of it was that she had now memories of her intimacy with Gambit, a feeling she would never experience herself.
Rogue had a brief romance with Magneto in the Savage Land, and when Joseph appeared at the mansion, to Gambit’s jealousy, she flirted with him. Joseph even managed to develop a method to touch her, but their relationship didn’t go any further. Finally, fearing that the world was coming to an end, she kissed Gambit and absorbed his memories. Rogue found out about his dark secrets and decided to leave the mansion and the X Men. The Iceman went with her to keep an eye on the girl. Eventually, she forgave Gambit and even shared some intimacy with him after having her powers temporarily nullified. However, she learnt Gambit’s best kept secret: he had been hired by Mr. Sinister to lead the mutant massacre. Rogue saved him from the rest of the team, but just to tell him to go and never return to her life. Gambit eventually returned to the X Men, but Rogue is not certain about her feelings to him anymore.
Name: Rogue
Group: X Men
Origin: Caldecott County Mississippi (USA)
First appearance: The Avengers Annual#10
Known Relatives:
Mystique (foster mother)
Kurt Wagner(foster brother)
