Rogue's Power-Absorbing Abilities, Explained

That's right, sugah, she’s a one-woman army! But what exactly are Rogue’s powers?

With her mutant abilities, Rogue can absorb the powers, skills, and memories of anyone she touches, usually with little control over the process. Over the course of her career as both a hero and villain, Rogue siphoned the abilities and memories of some of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe, from Captain Marvel to Wonder Man.

With the Season 5.5 update, Rogue recently joined the ever-expanding Marvel Rivals roster alongside her partner-in-crime, Gambit! As a Vanguard hero, she charges into enemy lines with powerful melee abilities, opening opportunities for her team with her signature ability: power absorption. During battle, Rogue can take down an enemy hero and absorb abilities from them, gaining a basic buff based on their role. She may even steal a signature ability, like Doctor Strange's Shield of the Seraphim or Loki's Regeneration Domain. 

Read on to find out how Rogue’s powers touched the Marvel Universe and let's take a closer look at the iconic mutant’s abilities and how they have evolved over time in the comics. 

WHAT ARE ROGUE’S POWERS?

Rogue absorbs the memories, skills, personalities, energies, and superhuman abilities of whoever she touches. Depending on how long this contact lasts, Rogue can leave the other person unconscious, powerless, or even dead. Rogue’s powers emerged when she was just a teenager and kissed her friend Cody, accidentally putting him into a lifelong coma. Rogue recounted this fateful tale to Storm in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #185 by Chris Claremont and John Romita, Jr.

Since her powers are based on skin-to-skin contact, Rogue usually covers up to avoid accidentally hurting those around her. For the longest time, she was convinced that her powers took the possibility of serious romance off the table.

ROGUE’S CAPTAIN MARVEL POWERS

While Rogue’s absorption is usually only temporary, there have been instances where she’s taken some powers on a more permanent basis. Enter Captain Marvel.

During her time with the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants alongside Mystique and Destiny, Rogue tried to prove herself to her adoptive parents by absorbing the powers of Carol Danvers (then known as Ms. Marvel). Rogue permanently absorbed Carol’s cosmic powers while battling the Avenger in MARVEL SUPER-HEROES (1990) #11. While Carol lost her powers, her Kree/human genes gave Rogue the powers of flight, superhuman strength and stamina, as well as the ability to subconsciously predict her opponents’ moves.

However, Captain Marvel’s powers weren’t the only thing Rogue siphoned from the Avenger; she also absorbed Carol’s psyche. The influence of the conflicting psyches overwhelmed Rogue and even risked overwriting her personality. As a result, she sought out help from Professor X and joined the X-Men.

While Carol began rebuilding her life elsewhere, a remnant of her psyche lived within Rogue and occasionally took over her body. As the new X-Man went through a mystical portal called the Siege Perilous, this aspect of Carol’s mind took on a human form and faced Rogue in UNCANNY X-MEN (1963) #269 by Claremont and Jim Lee. With help from Magneto, Rogue defeated this version of Carol and continued using her borrowed powers.

On a mission in space, Rogue developed the short-lived ability to absorb the abilities of anyone near her without touching them. She unwillingly used that ability to reabsorb Captain Marvel’s power. Captain Marvel then willingly shared her power with her former nemesis, marking a turning point in their relationship.

ROGUE’S WONDER MAN POWERS

Captain Marvel is not the only high-flying Avenger Rogue has absorbed power from. Although Rogue eventually lost most of Wonder Man’s powers, she did retain the immense ionic energy she drew from him. Rogue even accidentally killed the Grim Reaper with a single punch when she first absorbed Wonder Man’s powers, unaware of just how strong he actually was. When Rogue absorbed all of Wonder Man’s energy to battle the god-like Celestial, the West Coast Avenger disappeared since his body was made from pure ionic energy.

Simon Williams’ mind, however, lived on in Rogue. It was only when the X-Men leader kissed Deadpool and absorbed his healing factor that Wonder Man’s mind broke free and emerged in a new body in UNCANNY AVENGERS (2015) #22 by Gerry Duggan and Pepe Larraz.

ROGUE’S SKRULL POWERS

During the brief period when Earth was used as an intergalactic prison, Rogue went through one of her most dramatic power shifts. In X-MEN (1991) #107 by Claremont and Leinil Francis Yu, Rogue absorbed the powers of Z’Cann, a telepathic mutant Skrull who had worked with Professor X. The mix of her mutant genes with Kree and Skrull biology resulted in Rogue spontaneously manifesting powers she had absorbed in the past, such as Wolverine’s claws and healing factor.

Although Rogue gained some control over her unpredictable new powers through meditation, her teammate Sage used her mutant abilities to “jumpstart” Rogue’s powers in X-TREME X-MEN (2001) #13 by Claremont and Salvador Larroca. With Sage’s help, Rogue could use and control any ability she had ever absorbed. However, when the villainous Vargas impaled Rogue with his sword, he burned out all her powers. She survived, but briefly stepped away from the X-Men.

ROGUE’S SUNFIRE POWERS

When her power-absorbing abilities returned, Rogue borrowed the mutant powers of one of her fellow X-Men, Sunfire. A young Rogue had once gone on a secret mission for Mystique with the plasma-controlling Sunfire and the memory-erasing Blindspot. Lady Deathstrike attacked Rogue and Sunfire when evidence of this mission resurfaced, believing they had stolen her family’s secret adamantium-bonding process. After the two X-Men were captured, Rogue permanently absorbed the seriously wounded Sunfire’s powers in ROGUE (2004) #11. Along with aspects of Sunfire’s hot-headed personality, Rogue gained her teammate’s solar powers.

In the period of time when she wielded Sunfire’s flames, Rogue went through several other short-lived changes. Richard Palance, a mad scientist, used some of Rogue’s genetic samples to create Strain 88. This serum absorbed the life force of other people, and when injected into Rogue, it amped up her mutant powers to a lethal degree. She absorbed billions of minds by touching the Hecatomb, a living alien Shi’ar weapon. Overwhelmed, Rogue fell into a coma. But when the newborn Hope Summers touched the sleeping hero, Rogue’s mind and body recovered – without Sunfire’s powers.

POWER-ABSORPTION CONTROL

At various points in time, Rogue found ways to gain greater control over her abilities. One such instance occurred when she encountered Danger, the sentient being who was once the X-Men’s Danger Room. In X-MEN LEGACY (2008) #224 by Mike Carey and Scot Eaton, Danger joined forces with Professor X to unlock Rogue’s full potential. As the pair explained, Rogue’s traumatic experiences with absorbing Cody and Carol Danvers kept her powers in a state of arrested development. Together, they helped Rogue break down her self-imposed mental walls, giving the mutant hero complete control over her power absorption abilities.

As the X-Men faced several crises, Rogue used her improved control to regularly borrow small amounts of power from her teammates without harming them. She occasionally absorbed several powers at once to take on threats like the mutant-hunting Predator X or Bastion. When Rogue joined the Avengers Unity Squad, she absorbed the abilities of several Avengers and X-Men to take on a Celestial in UNCANNY AVENGERS (2012) #21 by Rick Remender and Daniel Acuna. However, the mental strain became too overbearing on Rogue, so the Scarlet Witch removed most of Rogue’s borrowed abilities.

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