Rogue's career began rather questionably with the Brotherhood Of Evil
Mutants, which was led by her foster mother, Mystique. Her powers took
hold much earlier, manifesting at the time of her first kiss with her
childhood friend Cody. Not knowing the damage it would do, she kissed
him innocently, and drained him of all of his memories, leaving him in a
coma. This first tragic incident caused her much pain as she realized
she could never touch another living being. She later came to realize
that the absorption of memories
was not always permanent, but only occured with prolonged contact.
She also discovered that she could absorb another mutants
powers, as well as their memories, and Mystique put this power to work
by making her part of the Brotherhood.
On her first mission with the Brotherhood,
she fought against a super-hero named Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers),
whom she stole
the powers of flight, super-strength and invulnerability from. After stealing
the powers, she tried to throw Ms. Marvel from the bridge they were fighting on,
but she held on to Rogue's hand trying to take her with her. She
held on too long, and the absorption became permanent, leaving
Rogue with all of Carol Danvers' memories and powers. Rogue
disappeared from public view following that incident.
Meanwhile, Carol Danvers, now powerless and with little to
no memory of her former life tried putting the pieces back together
with no luck. Her quandry eventually led her to the X-Men, seeking
the help of Professor X of putting her mind back together. Elsewhere,
Rogue surfaced, having a brief run-in with Wolverine before escaping.
A short time later, Rogue arrived on the doorstep of the X-Mansion,
also seeking Professor X's help. Her mind was shattered from the
continuing battle between her and Carol Danvers' psyches, and she
asked for his help in piecing her mind back together. He answered
her plea for help, and admitted her as part of the team. Unfortunately,
Carol Danvers was not so forgiving. In the time she had spent with the
X-Men, latent mutant powers had surfaced and she sent Rogue into
orbit, literally, with a punch when she entered the mansion. Rogue
returned to find Carol Danvers in heated discussion with Professor X.
He was convinced that Rogue should be taught to control her powers
so that further incidents such as the one with Carol would not happen.
Carol Danvers, now Binary Star, left the mansion in a huff, never to return.
It was a rough time for Rogue as she was slowly accepted by the team,
the hardest to convince being Wolverine who had been very close to Carol
Danvers during the early days of his career. But eventually, through
much effort and sacrifice, they came to accept her. In the early days
with the team she used her power of absorption often, usually stealing
their powers and memories with the kiss so often denied her in life.
She stole powers from many great beings, including the god-like Beyonder.
She also spent a great deal of time wrestling with Carol Danvers inside
of her head. Anytime Rogue was rendered unconscious, Carol Danvers
persona took over Rogues body. At one point, when Carol Danvers
was in control of Rogues body, she touched Psylocke on the shoulder with
her bare fingers, skin to skin, without triggering the absorption.
Rogue has never learned how to control it to this day.
But, if Carol Danvers knew the secret to controlling Rogue's power,
it was lost forever when Rogue sacrificed herself to the Siege Perilous
to rid the world of MasterMold. The Siege Perilous is a device which
takes each being that enters it, takes them apart to their molecular
level and judges them, placing them at the time and place the will
do the most good with another chance at life. Rogue spent quite
a bit of time in the Siege, finally being dropped by it at the
X-Men's complex in Australia.
Finding herself without Ms. Marvels powers,
and no sign of Carol Danvers psyche or the X-Men, she made her way to the Savage Land,
where she was confronted by a zombie-like Ms. Marvel. The Siege Perilous
had divided them into two beings again. Unfortunately, there was only
enough life force for one of them and they each struggled to possess it.
In the ensuing battle, Rogue was losing and lost consciousness. When
she awoke, she found Magneto as her savior, having finished the battle for her.
She spent a time without any powers at all, and grew very close with Magneto
during the her time in the Savage Land. Her powers did return, slowly,
though now she rarely used her power of absorption. Eventually she was reunited with the X-Men.
By this time, there were many new faces, among them, Remy LeBeau known as
Gambit to the team. He began to persue Rogue with a romantic vengeance,
and their relationship grew despite her inability to be intimate.
They eventually did kiss, when the crystal wave came, bringing with it the
Age of Apocolypse and ending the world as they knew it. When the
world returned to normal, it found Gambit in a coma from the last
desperate kiss, and Rogue with memories she could not decipher.
She discovered that there were many dark secrets in his mind, but
could not puzzle them out. Her confusion at this drove her to leave
the X-Men for a time, and Gambit to follow her. He reached out to her,
offering her all, to let her touch him and know everything, but she
could not and turned away from him.
When she returned to the X-Men, she had a mutant named Joseph in tow,
formerly known as Magneto. She did not stay
with the team long, though,
as she prepared to leave to go visit her childhood love Cody, still
in his coma. Unknown to her, Gambit's wife Belladona had kidnapped
Cody in her plans to be rid of Rogue, believing Rogue had stolen Gambit
from her. Belladona was defeated by both Gambit and Rogue, but
Cody died from the lack of his life support machines. In touching
him though, Rogue felt his happiness and forgiveness, and reconciled
herself with her lifelong pain.
Things remained strained between Gambit and Rogue, her attraction to
Joseph making things even more difficult. Her admission of love for
Gambit gave hope for their romance, as well as Joseph's gift to her; a place where she can touch others without
fear of absorbing their memories and powers. She still has not used it, however, and it seems unlikely that she will in light of recent revelations about Gambit. Revealed as the person who brought together the Marauders, the most deadly group of super-villains the X-Men have ever faced, also responsible for wiping out the Morlocks and the incapacitation and near death of several X-Men, Gambit has been outcast by his team and family. Rogue left him to his own devices on a plain in Antarctica, deserting him and casting him from her heart. Overwhelmed by depression at her abused trust and love, and more hateful of her power than ever before, she decided to see a doctor who claims he can rid her of her mutant genes, but found in the end that she did not wish to be rid of her mutant abilities.
Recent evidence shows that part of Gambits psyche remains merged with her own, though what the consequences of that will be, remains to be seen. And now, with Gambit returned to the team, Rogue seems to have repented for leaving him in Antarctica and is ready to continue their romance, though once again, only time will tell if that will come to pass.
Strength level: Superhuman Class 50
Flight speed: Subsonic
Known superhuman powers: Rogue possesses the
superhuman ability to absorb the 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.
(Sometimes she also duplicates in herself outward
physical characteristics of her victim.) The victim's
abilities and memories are absorbed for a time sixty
times longer than the amount of time Rogue was in
physical contact with that person. The victim loses his or
her abilities and memories for exactly the length of time
that Rogue possesses them. Due to unknown factors
Rogue has permanently absorbed certain superhuman
powers from Ms. Marvel I.
When Rogue possessed a duplicate of Carol
Danvers' psyche, her "double" consciousness gave her
high resistance to telepathic probes; it is not known if
she still possesses this resistance.
Special limitations: Rogue cannot touch another
human being without temporarily absorbing that person's
memories, abilities, and superhuman powers (if any) and
rendering him or her unconscious. Remnants of the
personalities of victims whose memories she has
absorbed remain buried in her subconscious indefinitely.
Certain powerful beings have proven resistant to
Rogue's power.
Updated January 23, 1999
Rogue has had
guests since March 19, 1998
This history was written by Onyx, please do not use without permission. Stats copied from Marvel Comics.