Roguehas long been one of theX-Men’s heaviest hitters, but unlocking her full powers proved she’s more than a powerful superhero - she’s basically a god.Rogue possesses the ability to absorbthe memories and superpowers of those with who she makes skin-to-skin contact. Usually, she limits herself to briefly borrowing the powers of her fellow heroes and the villains they run up against, but when her powers ran out of control, fans witnessed her staggering full potential.
In 2007’sX-Men #196(from Mike Carey, Humberto Ramos, Carlos Cuevas, Edgar Delgado and Cory Petit) Rogue battles the villainous Pandemic. While the bad guy is quickly taken down, it’s not before he manages to infect Rogue with Strain 88 - a disease which removes all limits on her powers.Rogue’s powers nowinstantlykill anyone who touches her, uploading their entire lifetime of memories into her mind.
However, this was only the beginning of Rogue’s new capabilities. InX-Men #199(Carey, Chris Bachalo, Tim Townsend, Antonio Fabela and Cory Petit), Cable summons Rogue to help the team against the Hecatomb - a living weapon that absorbs the minds of its victims. What happened next removed any sense that Rogue has traditional limits.
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Rogue Can Instantly Absorb and Contain Billions of Minds at the Same Time
While It Was Dangerous for Her, This Feat Showed Rogue’s Godlike Potential
Rogue went up against the Hecatomb, making contact in order to destroy it. In the process, she absorbed literallybillionsof minds that the Hecatomb has claimed since its creation. This feat confirmedthere’s essentially no limit on how many people Rogue’s powers can steal fromorhow quickly she can do so. Of course, using her powers in this way wasn’t exactly great for Rogue. Her personality became one of billions within her own mind, sometimes in control of the mass and sometimes subsumed beneath a larger gestalt personality. Eventually, Rogue lost enough connection to the outside world that she slipped into a coma.
Ultimately, Mystique used thebaby mutant messiah Hopeto purge Rogue’s mind and reset her powers - something that Rogue was outraged by once she awoke, since her mother had risked a child’s life to save her. However, while Rogue ultimately needed saving from this ultimate form of her powers, the fact she was capable of this feat at all shows her godlike abilities. Not only did Rogue absorb billions of minds in mere seconds, but she was capable of continuing to act as a superhero for a significant amount of time afterwards, even with her mind holding a literal planet’s worth of conflicting personalities.
The X-Men have a long tradition of pushing the limits of their powers and discovering new ways to use them, however Rogue of all people has always seen her powers as a curse. She’s always focused on controlling her powers so that she can avoid using them when she needs to. This storyline showed thatthere is avastamount of unexplored potential in what Rogue can do. Not only can she absorb a person’s memories instantly, killing them on the spot, but her mind can house billions of complete people at the same time. While doing this with billions of people gradually damaged her mind, that still suggests that Rogue could absorb hundreds or thousands of people without feeling the strain - an even more impressive feat if she concentrates on absorbing people with superpowers.
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Rogue’s Potential Is Finally Being Realized with Her New Strength Level
Her Multiple Powers Show What Rogue Is Really Capable of
While Rogue isn’t currently on the same level as her powers reached when she was infected with Strain 88, sheisexploring the potential of her powers in Marvel’s ongoingUncanny X-Menseries, from Gail Simone and David Marquez. In the series, Rogue recently revealed that she can draw on the strength of bothCarol Danvers' Captain Marvel and Wonder Man. Rogue has stolen/borrowed from both heroes in the past, but had been keeping it secret that she still has Danvers' abilities.Rogue’s ability to contain the strength of two of the strongest Avengers with no ill effect shows just how powerful she can be.
Rogue has also discovered that she accidentally absorbed the powers of Harvey X, giving her prophetic instincts which allow her to track her friends and enemies, and also receive visions of the future by communing with Harvey’s personality inside her own mind.
Rogue has absorbed dozens of powers at the same time before - inHeroes for Hope: Starring the X-Menshe borrowed the powers of her entire Avengers roster, and inUncanny Avengersshe took the powers of every X-Man and Avenger who could assemble to save the planet from a Celestial. However, these were always short-term loans for a singular task. Strain 88 proved that Rogue’s limits are essentially non-existent, withUncanny X-Mendoubling down on the idea thatRoguecan contain multitudes on a long-term basis, using her natural mutant power to become closer to a god than a regular superhero.
