From: UD137927@NDSUVM1.BITNET
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics
Subject: MUTANT:The Complete Rogue-Accept No Substitutes
Date: 15 Apr 92 02:26:04 GMT
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computer Network

PRESENTING:

A Quicke and Lively Trek through the Highlites of the Mutante Rogue---

CONTENTS:  History
           Powers
           Appearances
           The Absorbtion List
           Stupid Moments in Rogue History

<note: all listed history and powers are from actual appearances>

***History***

Rogue is a mutant who was born somewhere in the South of the United
States. Her real family was rich enough to live in a mansion-style house
somewhere "south" of Virginia. Somewhere along in her youth, however,
Mystique (Raven Darkholme) and her live-in friend (lover?) Destiny,
acquired guardianship of Rogue. While we have no evidence that they were
her leagl adoptive guardians, we also have no reason not to believe so.
What happened to Rogue's real parents, their supposed money, and her
real name are not known.

By the time of her early teens Rogue was living in Caldecott County,
Mississippi (a fictional county) with Mystique and Destiny. They most
definitely were not living in a mansion at this time, although Mystique
and Destiny were most certainly engaged in their mutant terrorist activities.
Rogue was already calling herself Rogue by her mid/early teens, and even
more oddly, Mystique was also, casting doubt to whether even Mystique knows
Rogue's real name. Rogue first learned of her powers when kissing Cody
Robbins under her lucky tree by the banks of the Big M (it should be noted
that in Ann Nocenti's version of the story, the boy's name is changed).
Terrified, she fled to her "mother," who responded by inviting her to go
on a terrorist mission to free a captive mutant -- but *didn't* want her
to use her powers. Obviously, since Rogue at that point was not only
emotionally wounded but utterly worthless in a fight until she could get
close to someone, plans were being laid down early to drive her batty.

Sometime after this, Rogue joined the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (or
BOEM -- thanks, Rick). Around the same time, she was introduced (through
Mystique) to the Hellfire Club, and actually took on Sebastian Shaw, then
Black King of said Club. She lost. Also around this time (busy time!), she
had her first run-in with Carol Danvers, absorbing some of her powers.
Contrary to public opinion, Carol escaped the first time, and got her powers
back, too.
Now Rogue's history starts becoming chronological with her appearances
in Marvel Comics. She reambushes Carol Danvers, this time permanently
gaining Ms. Marvel abilities. Then she helps Mystique take out the Avengers
(and would have won, too, if it wasn't for Iron Man).

Following a number of BOEM appearances, Rogue is finally driven insane by
Mastermind, in his revenge plot against the X-Men/Jean Grey. Yeah, I know,
it makes no sense, especially since at this time the X-Men had fought her
a grand total of once, but that's what happened. Rogue flees to the X-Men
for help, and after the usual patented X-Angst, is accepted in with the
merry mutants (probably following the reasoning that anyone who suffers as
much as she can will make a great addition to their speeches). :-)

After that, as Paladin has pointed out, Rogue's history basically follows
the X-Men's. Since Rick Jones is already summarizing the X-Men book, I'll
leave it to him to give you the plots.

***POWERS***

Rogue's only natural super power (her mutant one) is the ability to
(all together now) abosorb the abilities, memories, and powers of people
that she comes into flesh to flesh contact with. Due to unknown circumstances,
she has permanently absorbed the powers of Carol Danvers, Ms. Marvel, which
have given her:
     the ability to lift over 50 tons
     nigh-invulnerability (SPOON!  -- oops, sorry! :-)
     flight, with speed and maneauverability sufficient to defeat
             high-performance jet fighters
     a rarely-used seventh sense that basically functions like Spidey's
             Spider-Sense
     the ability to survive for an undetermined amount of time in outer space
             with no ill effects

She is perfectly capable of absorbing skills, knowledges, languages,
fighting styles, and even mystic knowledge from her victims, and using said
abilities or knowledges to full effect until they fade from her mind. Her
power has been officially set by Marvel as a 1:60 ratio (one second of contact
gives her one minute of powers, for instance), but it's obvious that the
real time she keeps powers is entirely dependant upon the plot needs of the
writer using her.

The maximum number of people she can absorb at once is unknown. She has a limit
-- but at least so far as non-mystic, non-cosmic entities goes, it's pretty
high (she once absorbed a good thirty peoples' memories during one half-naked
barrell roll through a San Fran crowd). It should be noted that she's perfectly
capable of absorbing non-superhuman strength; it's just with her already
inhuman strength any additional 300 pound capacity she picks up won't be
noticed. She has absorbed magical abilities and psionic abilities. She's
even abosorbed machines (more on that in Dumb Moments).

She cannot absorb the powers of something that's not alive (despite the
fact that she has absorbed machines). Energy beings are also, supposedly,
beyond her, as are most forms of non-Terran life (such restrictions, as
ever, dependant on the whim of the writer -- and Chris Claremont had more
whims than a hurricane).

Having Carol Danvers co-inhabit her brain for so long (remember, she
absorbs the memories of her targets as well) drove Rogue even more insane
than Mastermind's meddlings. Having the two of them inside also made Rogue
immensely immune to telepathy -- even the vaunted Charlie X had to basically
ask permission for him to take a telepathic look around. Her recent pass
through the Siege Perilous separated her essence from Carol Danver's --
however, it left both of them dependent upon the other's life force to live.
Carol Danvers was eventually taken over by the Shadow King and murdered
by Magneto, who then helped redeposit the rest of the life force back into
Rogue, who slowly regained her Ms. Marvel powers. What her current mental/
memory situation is, and her resistance to telepathy, is currently unknown.

Ms. Marvel's powers were based on a Kree metabolism, so Rogue shows up
very strongly as a Kree in scanner systems made to detect such a thing.

Her only known natural skills include a talent for hair bleaching, good
thrown weapon skills, the ability to speak French, and a newly observed
skill in cooking boysenberry pies. She has some contacts in the underworld.

***APPEARANCES***

Rogue first appeared in Avengers Annual #10, perhaps more infamous for
the aggravating appearance of the preadolescent Madalyne Pryor.
With gorgeous art work by Mike Golden, it's worth picking up for even
newly arrived Avenger fans.

Her first appearance in the Uncanny X-Man title was #158, where she
fought Storm, Wolverine, Carol Danvers, and Nightcrawler to a standstill.
Her next appearance was in UX-Men #170, where the nagging Mastermind
cameo is given, and then she joins the X-Men in #171.

The complete list of titles that Rogue has appeared in, one way or
another, from Marvel Comics, is:
ALF    Amazing Spider-Man     Avengers     Avengers West Coast
Classic X-Men     Damage Control     Dazzler     Dr. Strange (Volume 3)
Excalibur    Fantastic Four vs. X-men Limited Series     Hulk
Marvel Age     Marvel Comics Presents     Marvel Fanfare     Marvel Team-Up
Marvel Comics Quarterly(or whatever its name is)     New Mutants
New Warriors    Punisher     ROM    Secret Wars Limited Series I & II
What If..? (Volume 2)     What The--?!     Wolverine
X-Men Vs. Avengers Limited Series    X-Men and Alpha Flight Limited Series
X-Men    Uncanny X-Men    X-Factor    X-Force
Nick Fury/Wolverine Graphic Novel
Exalibur Special:  Weird War III

That list was just from memory, but I know she's appeared in all of the
above. Anyone with more titles, please fill me in.

Parodies/tributes/take-offs on Rogue outside of Marvel aren't very well
spread. I'm only aware of Xodius #2 and an issue of Cracked. Does anybody
know of any more?


***AN ABSORBING LIST***

Rogue has had trouble absorbing the following beings, or was incapable
of absorbing them fully:

Juggernaut             Forbush-Man    The Vision   Wonder Man
Mephisto               ROM
Loki                   Michael Rossi (he slapped her, he stayed up, what gives?
Mojo                   N'Astirh
Archangel              the phermone mutant of the new Brood
The Adversary               (forgot her name)
Magus                  Hybrid
The Impossible Man     Selene (Black Queen, Hellfire Club)

There may be more, but, once again, this list is from memory. Notice that most
of the above are either powerful aliens (yes, even the Impossible Man, who's
damn powerful) or or powerful/well-trained mystic beings able to counteract
her powers through magic/psionic means (Selene and Loki spring to mind).
Once upon a day, Rogue could take out a heavy hitter like Thor in two
panels. Now, some robot Madrox can tackle takes her out in one. What happened,
of course, was that when she was a villain her absorbing power had to be
basically unstoppable so that the heroes could prove their worth by taking
her out at super-super powered levels. Now that she's a hero, natch, there
have to be a bunch of exceptions to her once-all-pervasive power so that
she (or, more often, her teammates) can prove *their* bravery by not using
her power. And so the DNA turns....


***EMBARRASSING MOMENTS IN ROGUE HISTORY***
--ROM:  Rogue kisses ROM, the Silver Space Knight, right on the armor.
She then proceeds to *absorb the goodness of his armor* (no, not his
*amor*, you Gambit-philes!), bringing about a moral change so that she
can team up with him and Mystique to defeat Hybrid.
--Dazzler (from #21-30 or so). This whole thing was embarrassing, but
then, hey -- it was Dazzler. High points include Rogue taking out
Power Man and Iron Fist, low points include Dazzler taking out Rogue
(by sucking her through a jet engine). Mmm-hmm. Also interesting in
that Rogue touches Dazzler in one issue, yet only absorbs Dazz's
powers, leaving Dazz fully conscious and with her memories. Some
faint last vestiges of control before she had to go join the X-Men?

--The X-Men in Asgard. While tied up by Loki, Nightcrawler teleports
out of his bonds, wraps his tail around Cyke's mouth, and then kisses
Rogue, thereby somehow transferring both his *and Cyclops'* powers
to Rogue, an incredible scene with absolutely no precedence and no
reference to it later. Guess it was just all that healthy Asgardian
air...

--Marvel Fanfare (around the late 30s, early 40s). The end of a four
issue storyline loosely based on a bad computer game, Rogue gets trapped
by an alien computer and then *absorbs the computer's absorbed powers*
of Spider-Man, Human Torch, and Hulk, with which she gets to beat up
a possessed Magneto. Whee.

--the latest What The--?!.  Rogue kisses Forbush-Man and is transformed
into a duplicate of Colander Girl! Ick!

What If-- The X-Men had Stayed in Asgard?  A totally ludicrous issue
by Jim Valentino, who apparently thought that Loki's one-time immunity
to Rogue's powers meant that all Asgardians are likewise immune (just
ask Thor about that, bucko), so she sticks around in the Celestial City
and actually marries Fandral, of the Warriors Three. I still don't know
which is worse:  Valentino's non-explanation of how Rogue couldn't absorb
any Asgardians, or Fandral actually getting married.

Well, there it is:  the 1040EZ of Rogue's history. Rogue Fan Club members
will eventually see the whole thing (including a canonical breakdown of
all her appearances so far) in an upcoming issue of Stripe, but I thought
the net.interest as a whole in that would be pretty small so I didn't
include it. People interested in the RFC, or just wanting a copy of the
full Complete Rogue, can email me like always. Comments, corrections, and
controversy also gladly accepted -- email away, folks.

"If Ah wanted a growth experience, Ah'd touch the She-Hulk."
               --Rogue, in a long past Richard Darwin issue

>>>>>  CTHULHU IN '92! -- Why vote for the LESSER evil?  <<<<<
In related news:  George Bush is the Anti-Kate. Details at 11.
David Henry/Rogue Fan Club/Chaos Anonymous (ud137927@ndsuvm1.bitnet)
                                          (ud137927@vm1.nodak.edu)
What was your question? --K //Thanks... for the memories. -- Rogue
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics