Before the X-Men: Rogue's Mysterious Past

The following article is copyright 1993-1997 by Tilman Stieve
(Menshevik@aol.com). It first appeared as 'Before the X-Men: Rogue's
Mysterious Past' in ROGUE SUMMER SPECIAL #1 (published by Marson Fedrick for
MZS-APA, 1993), reprinted in MENSHEVIK ANNUAL #5 (MZS-APA 1996), reprinted
(without Appendix) and updated as Appendix 1 to 'The Rogue Checklist' for THE
MENSHEVIK READER (MZS-APA 1996). This is the latest revision (November 1997).
Do not archive this without this copyright notice or without informing me
beforehand.


From Caldecott County to Salem Center: Rogue's Early Life

Rogue was born in Caldecott County, Mississippi, as divulged by Mystique to
Storm in MARVEL FANFARE (MF) #40. This revelation occurred in a situation
where Raven had no reason to lie about this, but every reason to tell the
truth in order to gain Storm's trust (and because of the erratic behaviour of
Destiny's precognitive powers around before that time, Raven could not be
certain that Rogue had not mentioned her birthplace to the X-Men). 

Rogue grew up in Caldecott County, which according to UNCANNY X-MEN (UXM) #185
is situated on the Mississippi river south of Natchez, i.e. in the extreme
southwest of the state of Mississippi. Neither of her parents has yet been
identified, nor do we know whether they were ever married. (Fans love to
speculate. One of the more inventive theories I've seen mentioned half-
seriously was that Rogue is the mysterious 'third Summers brother'. I myself
once proposed that Logan is her dad, but that was to a large extent because I
found it a bit strange that Colossus had unwittingly fathered a child while
the much more promiscuous Wolverine -- not the most likely person to practice
safe sex -- apparently had no offspring).

Rogue told Mick Rossi (UXM #182) that her father abandoned her mother before
her birth and consequently Rogue "never had any sort'a fam'ly at all" until
Mystique took her under her wing. There is no hard evidence that Rogue comes
from a wealthy family, in fact in the view of this statement that her mother
(who presumably fell into the 'poor white trash' bracket) either had to spend
to much time at work or was too negligent to properly look after her daughter.
However, one cannot at present exclude the possibility that some fine specimen
of Southern gentry committed an 'indiscretion' with Rogue's biological mother
and then callously abandoned her, but again here we enter the realm of
speculation. There is also the possibility that Rogue's mother died shortly
after her birth and that she was then handed around from relative to relative
as the unwanted illegitimate child of the family. 

In ROM #31, when Mystique, Destiny and Rogue enter an abandoned, dilapidated
(and comparatively small) mansion in West Virginia and Rogue says: "Ah grew up
in a place like this -- farther south, o' course!" This is no conclusive proof
that Rogue came from a well-to-do family, as it could also mean that her
mother was a squatter in an abandoned mansion or that she lived in the
servants' quarters of a mansion that was still being used. In any case,
Rogue's appearance in ROM #31-32 has to be taken with a great deal of caution,
as it was written by Bill Mantlo before Chris Claremont had properly fleshed
out her origin etc. (and as Chris Claremont was Rogue's creator I'd say his
version supersedes Mantlo's). Mantlo did not yet know that Mystique and
Destiny had been Rogue's "adoptive" parents for years and has them act in ways
that indicate quite different personal relationships (at one point he has
Rogue adress Raven as "Mysty, honey" and Mystique has to *tell* Rogue that
Destiny is old and infirm). Also, in #32 there is the extremely problematic
occasion when Rogue absorbs Rom's memories.

As Rogue recalled in UXM #178, Mystique adopted her before she manifested her
innate mutant power ("When ah was a kid -- 'fore ah developed mah power -- ah
remember you holdin' me, protectin' me from the badness an' nightmares."). One
can only wonder why the mutant supremacist Raven Darkh"lme then was adopted
the neglected, ostensibly "normal" little girl. It is not inconceivable that
she did it out of the goodness of her heart, a feeling of kinship, or because
of the frustrated desire for a child. But one should not discount the
possibility that she expected Rogue to become a mutant because she knew that
one or both of her parents were mutants or because Destiny foresaw her
potential. We do not know how far Mystique's plans for what was to become the
second Brotherhood of Evil Mutants had developed at that stage, but whatever
use Mystique intended for Rogue's powers soon was eclipsed by the genuine love
she felt for her surrogate daughter. After their parting she would even
seriously consider permitting Rogue's powers to be neutralized so that she
could lead a "normal" life and return to her (UXM #185-MF #40).

Rogue grew up in the household of Mystique and her lover Destiny; apparently
no one used the tomboyish girl's real name anymore. Rogue speaks with a
Southern accent, which would indicate that her speech patterns were already
established when she met Mystique, who did not try to instruct her in a less
regional accent. The fact that she became fluent in French in the Mississippi
Bayou country (as she told Northstar in X-MEN/ALPHA FLIGHT #1) and her cooking
a Cajun meal in X-MEN (2nd series - XM) #8 seem to indicate that she spent a
more than a little time in a Cajun region of Louisiana. Her foster family does
not seem to have strayed far from the lower Mississippi: The onset of puberty
and first appearance of her absorption power found her back in Caldecott
County. In UXM #185 she told Storm how she first found out about it while
necking with a boy called Cody Robbins under a tree by the river: "Ah kissed
him -- an' he keeled over. Ah thought ah'd killed him. Then ah thought ah was
goin' crazy. Ah heard voices in my head -- saw mem'ries -- ah knew weren't
mine. They were Cody's! Ah tried t'shut 'em out, but ah couldn't."

After this upsetting experience, Rogue had to start covering up her entire
body in body stocking etc. to avoid skin-to-skin contact. Mystique also was
somewhat distanced from her foster daughter because her power made much of the
normal intimacy between a mother and her daughter impossible. She tried to
shield Rogue from hurt at first, but that only led to further tension.
Finally, another, if anything even more traumatic experience of her power -
with a boy called Freddy (CLASSIC X-MEN (CXM) #44) - apparently caused Rogue
to abandon her hopes of ever having anything like a normal relationship with
anybody. She now eagerly threw herself into becoming part of Mystique's mutant
brotherhood. 

[NOTE: This sequence of events emerges from the accounts in Chris Claremont's
UXM #178, 182, 185 and MF #40. The back-up story in CXM #44 (written by former
X-Men editor Ann Nocenti) is controversial: some critics regard it as a
botched dramatization of the Cody Robbins account from UXM #185. In the
notorious X-MEN UNLIMITED (XMU) #4, Rogue tells Nightcrawler that she only met
Mystique *after* she had kissed Cody, but that clearly contradicts what she
earlier mentioned to Mystique (UXM #178). She obviously could not have lied to
Raven (who had *been* there), so she must have lied to Kurt. Also Rogue looks
far too little to have reached puberty in the flashback in XMU #4. Another
dubious piece of recent retcon is the ROGUE Limited Series, in which it was
claimed that after *the Kiss* Cody Robbins fell in a coma from which he never
woke. Not only does this contradict the way Rogue's power had up to that story
always worked (even Carol Danvers, whose powers Rogue had permanently
absorbed, was eventually woken from her coma), it also jarrs with the carefree
way Rogue used her power in her early years. Had one short kiss at the first
experience of her power resulted in such lasting damage, she would have
behaved much more cautious and would never have used it on friends (she
playfully used it on Mystique in MF #60!)]

Rogue first participated in "milk runs" like the liberation of a mutant called
Jason from a research lab (MF #60). It seems that around that time, Destiny
foresaw that Ms. Marvel would one day cause Rogue to 'lose her soul', and
Mystique sent two members of the Brotherhood to assassinate her. This was
after she had confirmed her suspicion that Ms. Marvel and Carol Danvers were
one and the same by killing her psychiatrist and lover, Mike Barnett, and
reading his files. However, Carol Danvers, who was investigating a Hellfire
Club arms smuggling operation in Hong Kong, beat off Pyro and Avalanche's
attack (this emerges from material intended for the unpublished Ms. Marvel
#24-26, which was finally printed in MARVEL SUPER-HEROES SPECIAL (MSHS) #10
and 11. See the Appendix for a lengthy, but hopefully conclusive explantion
for my proposed sequence of the following events and why the ending Simon
Furman later added is irreconcilable with established continuity). 

The same operation also brought the Brotherhood into conflict with the
Hellfire club: Coelho, the gun-runner, was in cahoots with Mystique and
attempted to double-cross Sebastian Shaw and his cohorts -- which cost him his
life. In MSHS #11 p.66, Carol dreamed she was dressed as a Hellfire Club Black
Queen and dancing with a shadowy figure who told her that she must kill Rogue
or "she'll strip from you everything you are, everyone you've ever loved." In
the dream, Ms.Marvel unhesitatingly snapped Rogue's neck and it is known that
at their first actual encounter, she almost killed her. All this is almost
identical to the Mastermind's seduction of Phoenix through vivid dreams in the
stories leading up to the Dark Phoenix Saga. It is not improbable that
Mastermind stage-managed the confrontation between Ms.Marvel and the
Brotherhood, and he must have pulled the strings when shortly after Hong Kong
Rogue and Ms.Marvel clashed for the first time (cf. Rogue's account in UXM
#182, according to which this was "a few months" before the events in AVENGERS
ANNUAL #10). Rogue came within an inch losing her life and afterwards was
determined to get even. However, soon after, Carol disappeared to Limbo
(AVENGERS #200). During this interval Rogue had a run-in with Sebastian Shaw
in which the young mutant was nearly killed -- again (cf. references by both
in UXM ANNUAL #7 and UXM #209).

Rogue's injuries possibly prevented her from participating in the attempt on
the life of Senator Kelly, although it may also be that Mystique did not want
her to be involved in a deliberate act of cold-blooded murder. However, thanks
to the X-Men's intervention, this operation became a fiasco, resulting in the
capture of all involved save only the shape-changer Mystique (UXM #141-142).
Raven was now forced to play Rogue as her ace in the hole to try to spring her
comrades. Her plan called for Rogue to steal Ms. Marvel's powers (she possibly
now believed that Destiny's earlier precognitive vision had been faked by
Mastermind). Carol had just then returned from Limbo and retired to San
Francisco; she felt betrayed by the Avengers for not stopping her from
following Marcus, the self-styled "son of Immortus." Rogue ambushed her as she
came home from her shopping and a desperate struggle developed. The finale on
Golden Gate Bridge (flashback in UXM #203) again took Rogue to within an inch
of her life before she overcame her victim. But for as yet undisclosed
reasons, the transfer of Carol's psyche and powers became permanent. This
shock overwhelmed Rogue and, in a desperate insane attempt to silence the
screaming voices in her head, she hurled the unconscious Danvers from the
bridge (Carol luckily was saved by the original Spider-Woman). For a time,
Rogue became more ruthless and vindictive, which made her more suited for
Mystique's purposes. Mystique and Rogue immediately went to New York where
they tore through the Avengers like hot knives through butter. However, as
Iron Man, Wonder Man and the Vision could not be affected by Rogue's
absorption power, their attempt to break out their comrades from Ryker's
Island prison failed.

They hid out in the Pentagon, which Mystique had infiltrated as Raven
Darkh"lme, head of DARPA, until one day Rogue literally bumped into Carol
Danvers and the X-Men, who were sneaking in to erase their government files
(UXM #158). After making their escape, Mystique and Rogue struck again when
their comrades were transferred to a prison in West Virginia. Unfortunately
for them, the Spaceknight Rom happened to intervene, so they only managed to
make off with Destiny. It just wasn't their day -- they immediately ran into
Hybrid, a Dire Wraith agent. With the fortuitous help of Rom the threesome
managed to defeat him_barely (ROM #31-32). Mystique next planned an attack on
the X-Men, for which she intended to extract information from Angel via
Rogue's power. This soon involved Angel's then-girlfriend, Dazzler, against
whom Rogue then pursued a futile vendetta for a time. This was in part because
she was jealous of Dazzler leading a normal life with lovers and everything
(DAZZLER #22-24, 28). Frustrated again and again, Rogue withdrew into herself.

Around that time, Mastermind recovered from his Phoenix-induced coma and set
out to settle old scores. Among other things, he gave Mystique vivid
nightmares and clouded Destiny's perceptions sufficiently for them fail to
realize the Rogue's anguish. Rogue not only had to live with being unable to
control her power, but the personality she had absorbed from Carol Danvers
began to assert "herself," causing additional psychological problems. And so
one night, before her family got up, Rogue boarded a coach and left Washington
(which Mastermind probably intended) for Westchester (which maybe he did not)
(UXM #170). 

Considering her past, it is not surprising that Rogue received a frosty
welcome when she turned up at Xavier's School asking for help to control her
power. Indeed, when Professor X decided to make her a probationary X-Man,
there was a little revolt by the X-Men present against accepting as teammate
the woman who had destroyed their friend's life. Charles Xavier had to muster
all his powers of moral suasion to convince his students give Rogue a chance.
Carol Danvers -- now the cosmically powered Binary -- could understand
Xavier's decision, but not approve it. She left the X-Men and Earth to join
the Starjammers (UXM #171).

Return-Path: <Menshevik@aol.com>
From: Menshevik <Menshevik@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 17:58:07 EST
To: alara@mindspring.com
Subject: Re: Mystique page (2)
Organization: AOL (http://www.aol.com)

Dear Alara,
here's part 2:

Appendix: The "Lost" Stories of 1979

In view of their later link it is ironic that Rogue's printed debut was
delayed by two years when Ms. Marvel's title was cancelled in 1979 after its
23rd issue. Chris Claremont's storyline for MS.MARVEL (MsM) #24 through 26 was
finally published in MSHS #10 and 11 (1992); but it only explains some of the
mysteries and poses a few new questions. The story in MSHS #11 consists of two
parts: the first 20 pages (drawn by Mike Vosburg, apparently in 1979) are what
should have become MsM #25. They end on a cliffhanger with enough space at the
bottom of p.20 (p.69 in MSHS #11) to squeeze in a next-issue blurb. Rogue's
first appearance is on pp.16-17 (pp.65-66). The following 10 pages (written by
Simon Furman with art by Mike Gustovich) seem to have been done later,
probably using Claremont's plot outline for MsM #26 and the knowledge of the
events as chronicled from 1981 on. However, pp.75-79 have to be discounted.
They are set between AVENGERS #200 (published a year after MsM #26 should have
been) and AVENGERS ANNUAL #10 and jibe with events established in the latter.
Most importantly, Destiny could not have played the key role Furman assigns
her, as she actually was in prison at the time. In my attempted reconstruction
of events, I used as much of MSHS #11 as possible. I discarded only what was
rendered impossible by revelations in X-Men stories by Chris Claremont,
notably in Rogue's confession about her two battles with Ms.Marvel to Mick
Rossi (UXM #182) and her flashback and musings on Golden Gate bridge (UXM
#203). One has to start from the following framework of established events:

1. Mystique kills Carol's lover Mike Barnett, causing Ms.Marvel to investigate
her arms smuggling operation ("MS.MARVEL #24-25", should have been June and
August 1979). In Hong Kong, she beats off Avalanche and Pyro, but Shaw kills
Mystique's partner Coelho before Carol can find out anything from him. At that
time, the Hellfire Club is also working on the "Dark Phoenix" operation (e.g.
UXM #125, September 1979).
2. The battle between X-Men and Hellfire Club hurts both sides hard. Shaw is
the only Inner Circle member left in fighting condition (Dark Phoenix Saga,
UXM #129-137, January to September 1980). 
3. Ms.Marvel is impregnated by Marcus and later joins him in Limbo (AVENGERS
#197-200, July to October 1980).
4. The Brotherhood liberates the Blob and attempts to assassinate Senator
Kelly; only Mystique escapes capture by the X-Men (UXM #140-142, December 1980
to February 1981).
5. Rogue's second attack on Carol Danvers (AVENGERS ANNUAL #10), which fits
into continuity just before UXM #150 (October 1981).

Two events have to be placed here: Rogue's first battle with Carol and her
near-fatal fight with Sebastian Shaw. The former could only be placed between
1) and 3) or between 4) and 5). The second scenario is unlikely as it would
call for Carol Danvers to return from Limbo, beat off Rogue's first attack and
then twiddle her thumbs waiting for the second. In view of the tight
continuity and "Marvel time" it would also be hard to squeeze "a few months"
in between Carol's return from Limbo and the second attack. Also the run of
the 1979 story from the outset plainly foreshadows a clash between Ms.Marvel
and Rogue. 

Mastermind pulled the strings at the first fight between Rogue and Ms.Marvel.
Mystique was doing everything she could to prevent such an encounter, in which
she failed despite the help of her precognitive leman (increase your word
power through reading Claremont!), Destiny. In the actual event, Ms.Marvel,
goaded by Mastermind's false visions, almost killed Rogue in putative self-
defense. The shock of realization of what she almost did conceivably would
have stunned her momentarily and provided a break for the gravely wounded
Rogue to escape or be rescued by her teammates. Most likely, Ms.Marvel would
not have learned about the nature of her power. Basically, there are three
possible scenarios leading up to this:

A) Rogue overhears a conversation between Mystique and Destiny about the
threat Carol poses to her future and decides to "deal with her ". Destiny does
not forsee the eavesdropping and/or is unable to give Mystique the help
necessary to prevent the attack. This scenario is closest to the version in
MSH #11.
B) After defeating Avalanche and Pyro in Hong Kong, Carol deliberately allows
one or both to "escape" and follows him/them to the Brotherhood's hideout.
Somehow, she achieves a surprise attack and against everybody's wishes she
runs into Rogue. This scenario is less likely: Would Ms.Marvel risk rushing
into an ambush in which she would be heavily outnumbered? (She did not *know*
the Brotherhood and the Hellfire Club were not allies).
C) An absolute chance encounter somehow engineered by Mastermind.

All three scenarios depend on a temporary clouding of Destiny's powers. If it
happened between 2) and 3), this could be accounted for by Marcus' movements
to and from Limbo (which presumably would have a similar effect as Kate
Pryde's time-travelling did in UXM #141-142). However, the more likely
explanation is direct interference by Mastermind (as in UXM #170), which would
place the first Rogue/Ms.Marvel battle before his incapacitation by Phoenix in
UXM #134. 

Either during or after the first Rogue/Ms.Marvel fight, Mystique must have
learned about Mastermind's and the Hellfire Club's involvement (otherwise, the
later attack on Carol makes _no_ sense, see below). This would have led to a
confrontation with Shaw and the Hellfire Club's goons after UXM #135. It is
most likely that this happened before AvAnn #10, because afterwards Mystique
was preoccupied with new plans to liberate her teammates and the Hellfire Club
concentrated on their revenge on the X-Men which came to fruition in UXM
#151-152.

We know Mystique ordered Rogue's attack on Carol (the aftermath of which was
shown in AVENGERS ANNUAL #10). The aim was to "borrow" Ms. Marvel's powers for
the liberation of the four imprisoned Brotherhood members, not to kill her.
The flashback in UXM #202 shows that Rogue only threw Carol Danvers off the
Golden Gate Bridge when the absorbed persona in her head became unbearable.
Rogue believed that would make the voice go away, i.e. to she then seems to
have thought or hoped an absorption would be cancelled as soon as the
donor/victim's body was killed. Up until then, Mystique had tried to prevent
an encounter between Rogue and Carol, but now she deliberately brought it
about (and it is not as if there were no other superheroes with powers to
steal). The inevitable conclusion is that Raven laboured under the
misapprehension that Destiny's prediction was no longer valid and no danger to
Rogue's well-being existed. The most plausible explanation for this is that
she believed the prediction was a false one fed to Destiny by Mastermind. It
would be normal to assume she learned some details of Mastermind's operation
by infiltrating the Hellfire Club (this probably led to the fight in which
Shaw nearly killed Rogue). Destiny would not have been able to correct
Mystique's misapprehension -- just after Mastermind was turned into a
vegetable, her precognitive power was greatly impaired by Rachel Summers'
projection of the adult Kate Pryde back into the present (UXM #141) and
immediately after that she was imprisoned and separated from Raven.