Rogue is one of the most popular members of the X-Men. She is familiar to casual fans, having appeared in several X-Men cartoons and the 20th Century Fox movies. However, most of the adaptations have barely scratched the surface of her powers, which go beyond stealing the powers and skills of others. Now, Marvel has finally offered a frankly brilliant explanation for one often ignored part of her power set.
The discussion of this power and the explanation came in Captain Marvel: Dark Past #2 by Paul Jenkins and Lucas Werneck. The series centers around Carol Danvers, who began having strange visions of her past. This was a matter of some concern, given Carol’s past problems with amnesia.
Captain Marvel was uncertain if she was remembering something she’d forgotten. Another possibility was that the precognitive powers she had once had returned and were giving her a warning tied to her past. The search for answers led her to Rogue, who was one of Carol’s greatest enemies before she reformed and joined the X-Men.
Back in the days when Carol still went by Ms. Marvel, Rogue drained a considerable amount of power from her. She seemingly absorbed Carol’s flight, invulnerability, and super strength permanently. However, she also accidentally absorbed some of Carol’s memories and mind. This storyline was so definitive it was later adapted into the 1992 X-Men animated series.
However, this incident also highlights an overlooked aspect of Rogue and her powers. Beyond stealing powers, she can also steal memories. This would seem to be a form of telepathy, yet it was never explained just why her Mutant power let her steal memories along with abilities.
Why Rogue’s powers let her steal memories
Rogue agrees to meet with Captain Marvel alongside the telepathic White Queen. While sympathetic given her own memory issues, she explains that she doesn’t have any control over what memories she copies. Even if she did have Carol’s lost memories somewhere in her subconscious, she has no way of accessing them.
Emma Frost offers a further explanation and why Rogue’s memory stealing ability is not truly telepathic in nature. Indeed, the White Queen is loathe to call it a power as it is a side-effect of Rogue’s power rather than an additional power. Emma explains that Rogue’s power functions by using the memories of those she drains to bind their power to her psyche. Generally, the memories fade once the power takes root, but sometimes they linger. In essence, Rogue’s memory theft “power” is a bug – not a feature.
This is a brilliant technical explanation for how Rogue’s power functions. Beyond that, it also offers an additional explanation for why she rarely tried to specifically steal memories in addition to power and skills. Ignoring that this could have been lethal before she gained fine control of her power, she also had no way of accessing the information once she had it.
Captain Marvel: Dark Past #2 is now available at comic shops everywhere.
