Ultimate Rogue
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Rogue | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Rogue, real name Marian, is a comic book superhero in the Marvel Comics Ultimate Universe and a member of the Ultimate X-Men. Created by Mark Millar and Adam Kubert, she first appeared in Ultimate X-Men #7 (2001).
Contents |
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Character history
Rogue was first introduced in the story arc Return to Weapon X (Ultimate X-Men #7-12) as a prisoner of Weapon X. Her powers are exploited to steal sensitive information on the location and layout of The Xavier Institute for Gifted Children. Using this information, agents of Weapon X storm the school and capture all of the X-Men, except for Wolverine who is away at the time. She is released along with the X-Men, Juggernaut and Nightcrawler, when a combination of the Brotherhood of Mutant Supremacy and S.H.I.E.L.D rescues them and destroys Weapon X's facility. Though offered a place on the X-Men, she joins the Brotherhood. She later joins the X-Men in the Return of the King arc (Ultimate X-Men #27-33).
In the Tempest arc (Ultimate X-Men #46-49) , Rogue begins dating Iceman. She has a steady relationship with him until, in the Cry Wolf story arc (Ultimate X-Men #50-53), she catches him kissing Shadowcat. The X-Men are immediately attacked by Gambit who kidnaps Rogue and takes her to his employers, Andreas and Andrea von Strucker. They hope to use her powers for "corporate espionage." In exchange for her help, they promise her they will help her control her powers through a power-dampening material they had developed. She turns them down feeling that her powers are her penance. Rebuked, they attack her and Gambit. She touches both of them and uses their powers to fend off their guards. The X-Men arrive to take her back, but she turns them down and leaves with Gambit.
Rogue does not appear again until Ultimate X-Men Annual #1, in which she and Gambit fight Juggernaut. Gambit sacrifices himself to save Rogue, and she kisses him as he dies. With this kiss, she steals his powers and seemingly overwrites her own. In the subsequent story arc "Date Night" (Ultimate X-Men #66-69) she rejoins the X-Men and rekindles her romance with Iceman, no longer unable to touch people without hurting them.
During Ultimate X-Men Annual #2, Rogue speaks to Professor Xavier about her concerns regarding Gambit's powers still remaining. Xavier theorises this is only a temporary change, and her powers will return within time. Towards the end of the annual, Rogue touches Nightcrawler & her old powers re-emerge, causing her to randomly start teleporting.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Originally, Rogue's power is to steal the memories and abilities (including mutant powers) from those she touches with her bare flesh. If she touches someone for too long, she can serious harm or even kill them. She has no control over this ability and thus cannot feel intimate with another person. This complicates her relationship with her boyfriend Bobby as he had to limit his affections, and led him to kiss Kitty.
In Ultimate X-Men Annual #1, her power seems to be overwritten by Gambit's powers as a result of kissing him as he dies. She has the ability to convert the potential energy of inorganic matter into explosive kinetic energy by touching it. More simply, she can cause inert objects to explode and the larger the object she charges, the larger the explosion. Most often she uses this power as Gambit did to throw explosive playing cards at her enemies. Also as a result of her new powers, her eyes are now black with red pupils as Gambit's were and she falls into a cajun accent from time to time. She additionally gained Gambit's throwing and acrobatic abilities. However, in X-Men Annual #2, she loses Gambit's powers & regains her own.
In Ultimate Spider-Man #93, Rogue exhibits powers inconsistent with those she has in Ultimate X-Men. In at least one panel, Rogue appears to be flying and is without her relatively newly obtained black eyes with red pupils, but when she first appeared in the issue she did have the red-on-black eyes. Later in the issue she is shown punching a cyborg twice her size and knocking his head back, which would take, at least, greater strength than a teenage girl would have. Additionally, she is never shown throwing an explosive playing card or charging and exploding any other objects.
[edit] Last name
Rogue is the only X-Man whose last name has not been given. In Ultimate X-Men #53, she disclosed to Gambit that her "Christian name is Marian, like Robin Hood's girl." However, her last name is unknown. This is particularly notable as Professor X met her parents (Ultimate X-Men #32) and it is unlikely that they would not have disclosed their last name to him. Moreover, he met her parents at a party where everyone wore nametags and they were the only ones not wearing them.
[edit] Comparison with Earth-616 Rogue
While they share the white-streaked hair and Southern accent, Ultimate Rogue differs in a few notable ways from her Earth-616 counterpart, created by Chris Claremont. However, these differences often parallel events and attributes of Claremont's Rogue.
Ultimate Rogue's name is Marian, Claremont's Rogue's name is still unknown, though she has had numerous aliases, one of which is Marie, which is phonetically similar.
Ultimate Rogue also lacks the ability to fly, superhuman strength and near invulnerability that Claremont's Rogue possesses. However, Claremont's Rogue gained these powers permanently by absorbing too much of Carol Danvers' life force, much the same way that Ultimate Rogue gained Gambit's powers, memories, and eyes. She has recently shown the ability to fly in the Deadpool story arc of Ultimate Spiderman (this may be in error, and the writers of USM may have believed Ultimate Rogue to have the abilities of Claremont's Rogue).
Ultimate Rogue's history also differs from Claremont's Rogue, having joined the X-Men at a younger age. Ultimate Rogue was also affiliated with Weapon X, while Claremont's Rogue never was, and while there Ultimate Rogue had a relationship with Juggernaut which she does not share with Claremont's Rogue. However, both share a similar experience in their past of seriously injuring a boy from their hometown by touching them.
Both versions of Rogue have had relationships with their continuity's Gambit. However, while Claremont's Rogue had a long relationship with him, Ultimate Rogue's relationship with him ended rather quickly with his death and subsequent transferral of his personality into her mind, though it remains to be seen—if at all possible—that the two might rekindle their flame.
