What is Rogue’s Relationship Like With Captain America in the Marvel Comics?

Comic Book Questions Answered is a feature where I answer whatever questions you folks might have about comic books (feel free to e-mail questions to me at brianc@cbr.com). Today, I explain what Rogue and Captain America’s relationship is like in the Marvel comic book universe after they had a major scene together on X-Men ’97.

One of the coolest things about X-Men ’97 is that it has gotten a lot of lapsed fans interested in X-Men characters and stories that they probably haven’t thought about for DECADES, and one such lapsed fan, Neil F., wrote in to ask about the scene in a recent episode where Rogue and Captain America shared a scene, and Rogue seemed to be pretty familiar with the Star Spangled Avenger. Neil hadn’t really read comics since the 1990s, and he was wondering if the scene referenced anything specifically in the comics, or, more generally, what was Rogue and Cap’s relationship like in the comics.

It’s an interesting question, Neil, and it’s actually pretty funny considering that the first time we ever saw Rogue in action in her comic book debut in Avengers Annual #10 (by Chris Claremont, Michael Golden and Armando Gil), she is throwing Captain America through a park bench in Central Park!

So that’s not exactly the best start of their working relationship in the comics, but don’t worry, things improved a LOT over the years, and nowadays, I think Rogue might be the member of the X-Men that Captain America actually IS closest to (not counting Wolverine, I guess). Here is how they got there together.

How much did Captain America and Rogue interact with each other in Rogue’s early years?

As you can see, Captain America and Rogue’s first interaction went poorly, as Rogue was originally a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, but eventually, she grew so tired of not being able to control her mutant powers that she turned to the X-Men for help, and Professor X agreed to help her, and let her join the X-Men while trying to prove herself. Soon after she joined the team, the X-Men were among the heroes who were transported to the mysterious Battleworld by the Beyonder for the first Secret Wars, and so she and Captain America were both there…

They did not interact with each other during the series, however (amusingly, there was a notable What If…? where they did more than just interact with each other on Battleworld. I’ll discuss that in the future. It’s not really relevant to this specific topic, as it wasn’t something that happened within the Marvel Universe proper), so it would be sometime before they had a real interaction. They were both part of the giant team of superheroes that fought off the Dire Wraiths in Rom #65 (by Bill Mantlo, Steve Ditko and P. Craig Russell)…

(Rogue isn’t visible, but she WAS there).

They fought AGAINST each other in the X-Men vs. the Avengers miniseries in 1987 (by Roger Stern, Marc Silvestri and Joe Rubinstein)…

but again, no direct interactions with each other. I’m not going to waste anyone’s time by going through the various comic book stories where the X-Men and Avengers were both present, just to note that Cap and Rogue didn’t interact, but suffice it to say that there were a lot of examples.

They at least TALKED to each other in Avengers #401 (by Mark Waid, Mike Deodato and Tom Palmer)…

but it would be many years before they really had a connection.

Following the Avengers vs. X-Men crossover event, Captain America decided that they needed to do a new superhero team that showed mutants working with the Avengers very publicly, so he came up with the idea for the Avengers: Unity Squad, a team consisting of a mixture of X-Men and Avengers on the same team together. Rogue was an original member of the team, along with Captain America….

However, even on a TEAM together, the barely interacted, and when they did, like this sequence in Uncanny Avengers #9 (by Remender and Daniel Acuña), they were at odds with each other….

However, when they were in a desperate situation in Uncanny Avengers #21 (by Remender, Daniel Acuña, and Dean White), Captain America trusted Rogue to absorb his powers, along with every other Avenger, to save the day…

So therefore, when Captain America lost his powers, and thus couldn’t lead a newly reformed Uncanny Avengers after the second Secret Wars, he specifically recruited Rogue in Uncanny Avengers #1 (by Gerry Duggan, Ryan Stegman and Richard Isanove), and they even talked about the fact that she DID attack them in their first meeting with each other…

Cap was then “restored” to his youthful appearance, but in reality, he had been replaced by an evil cosmically-created clone of Cap. This Cap did some awful things, and when the REAL Cap returned, the real Captain America thanked Rogue in Uncanny Avengers #30 (by Jim Zub, Sean Izaakse, and Tamra Bonvillain) for keeping the team together in his absence (and apparent turn to evil), and it is such a lovely scene between the two of them that speaks to how much they have come to be close to one another, and respect each other…

Naturally, then, when Orchis took down the X-Men during the Fall of X, Captain America wouldn’t stand for it, so he decided to put together the Avengers: Unity Squad again in the Uncanny Avengers miniseries by Gerry Duggan, Javier Garron and Morry Hollowell, and, of course, he made sure to get Rogue on this team…

So yeah, Captain America and Rogue are actually really close in the comics, so the scene in X-Men ’97 matched the comic books well.

Thanks for the question, Neil! If anyone else has a comic book question they’d like to see answered, drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com!