Here’s What Happened Between Captain Marvel & Rogue

Rivalries in comics are truly one of the best parts of any story. Over the years, we had some great superheroes dislike each other for one reason or another. The first came to mind are Wolverine and Cyclops, who were always fundamentally different characters – it didn’t help that Jean Grey was the woman they both loved at one point. However, the main topic of this article is the rivalry between current Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, and the member of X-Men, Rogue. This rivalry stems from the 1980s when Carol Danvers and Rouge had their first encounter in Marvel Comics. This article will discuss what happened between Captain Marvel and Rogue.

Carol Danvers and Rogue had their first major encounter in ‘Uncanny X-Men’ in 1981 when Rogue absorbed Ms. Marvel’s powers, psyche, and memories and left Carol powerless. The “beef” between powerful women continued through the 1990s, and 2000s, with ‘Avengers vs. X-Men’ from the 2012 comic book story showcasing the height of their rivalry. However, the Brood Wars storyline saw Rogue and Captain Marvel mending their relationship, with the member of X-Men absorbing Carol’s powers so she doesn’t explode and saving the whole world.

This unlikely rivalry goes back to the 1980s when Rogue first appeared in Marvel Comics as the villain who couldn’t control powers, and Ms. Marvel was still finding her footing as a superhero, Ms. Marvel. Let’s discuss this historic rivalry and see how the powerful women mended their decades-long “beef.”

What happened between Rogue and Captain Marvel in Marvel Comics?

As we already mentioned, rivalries in the comics are significant, especially during the major events that change the current state of the comics. However, these “smaller” rivalries are always extremely interesting, especially if the characters eventually have an encounter during the aforementioned major events. Carol Danvers and Rogue are one of those rivalries, and surprisingly their “beef” goes all the way back to the 1980s.

We all know that initially, a supporting character Carol Danvers took over the mantle of Ms. Marvel in 1977 and became one of the most important Marvel characters. On the other hand, Rogue first appeared in the comics in 1981 as a reluctant supervillain who is still struggling with controlling her powers, including her absorbing powers and the psych of other individuals. She was powerful from the start, so when Carol Danvers and Rogue first encountered it, it was really “spicy.”

During the ‘Uncanny X-Men‘ run from the 1980s, Destiny, one of the adoptive parents of Rogue, has a vision of Ms. Marvel, who will try to ruin her daughter’s life. To protect their daughter, Mystique recruits help from the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and attacks Carol Danvers but fails in their efforts.

After her parents end up in jail, Rogue goes on a solo mission to track down Ms. Marvel and arrives in San Francisco to prove her worth to the Brotherhood. However, Rogue absorbs Ms. Marvel’s powers and memories, seemingly killing Danvers and consequently fracturing her mind.

Spider-Woman saves almost-dead Carol Danvers, but Rogue goes berserk and attacks Avengers after getting the alien powers. Since then, the current Captain Marvel and Rogue have been considered enemies. Carol almost dies, but Spider-Woman saves her by taking her to Professor Xavier, who partially restores Ms. Marvel’s mind.

Carol expresses disappointment regarding Avengers and their passive reaction to her almost death and decides to work more closely with X-Men. Ms. Marvel and Rogue meet again before the former becomes the cosmic entity Binary and before the mutant fully joins X-Men.

The moment Rogue joins X-Men, Carol leaves and joins their cosmic allies, Starjammers. After that, Rogue is seemingly redeemed by becoming a hero in the eyes of her peers, but when she enters a strange portal, Siege Perilous, the leftover aspect of Carol’s mind gains physical form and attacks the mutant.

It was later revealed that despite being enemies, Rogue and evil Ms. Marvel shared the same life force, which led to Magneto stabilizing Rogue’s state and killing Ms. Marvel’s evil doppelganger.

Rogue and Carol Danvers have one more encounter that ends in the death of an evil alternate version of doppelganger (this time Carol Danvers’ Warbird), but the ‘Avengers vs. X-Men’ comic book once again sparks the rivalry between two powerful superheroines.

Once again, Rogue absorbs Ms. Marvel’s powers, leading to Carol being imprisoned and witnessing unspeakable horrors, which humbles Rogue – the mutant decides to save the superheroine.

In this comic book story, Rogue saves Carol, and the two reach an understanding. As Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers even joins forces with Rogue to defeat Nuclear Man, who takes over Roosevelt Island and captures several superheroes.

Nevertheless, the relationship between Captain Marvel and Rogue seems better, but they still consider each other rivals. However, in the recent storyline that happened in ‘Captain Marvel’ comic book run from 2019, we see that two women finally find common ground. How? Let’s find out!

Did Rogue and Captain Marvel mend their relationship?

Over the decades, each encounter and reluctant team-up brought some bad feelings between Captain Marvel and Rogue. However, in the ‘Revenge of Brood’ storyline that was featured in ‘Captain Marvel’ run in 2019, we see the titular heroine creating a new Binary – a sentient creature born from her own powers and energy.

In the story, Captain Marvel simultaneously receives a distress call from Rogue and Binary and teams up with Gambit and other superheroes to investigate this strange occurrence.

It is revealed that Rogue has seemingly transformed into a Brood alien, and the team needs to find a way to save their colleague. The superhero squad is suddenly involved in the Brood civil war, where two factions of the alien race ply their allegiance to two different leaders. One of them, Brood Empress, wants to use Binary’s powers and destroy the Kree. Captain Marvel takes place in the Brood machine instead of Binary, but even that cannot save the sentient, leading to her ultimate death.

Captain Marvel is devastated, and with Binary’s powers, we see her killing the Brood Empress and her powers going insane. Captain Marvel is suddenly a walking nuclear bomb and will detonate her devastating energy any second. This is where Rogue finally uses her powers, not hurting Carol Danvers – she offers herself to absorb the energy to relieve her of uncontrollable powers and save everyone from the potential creation of a black hole.

In an emotional scene, we see Rogue hug Captain Marvel, save her life, and share a heartfelt moment, which saw these two finally (at least for now) “burying the hatchet” that was their relationship and having mutual respect for each other.

A great moment that hardcore fans of the characters will describe as “a full circle moment,” and it truly was. Captain Marvel and Rogue are known as one of the coolest and longstanding rivalries among the most notable Marvel superheroes – who briefly reconciled.

What are your thoughts on the rivalry? Let us know in the comments below!