The REAL Reason The X-Men Franchise Forgot About Rogue 

Rogue deserved better.

At least Rogue got a slow fade to obscurity in the movies. Nightcrawler plays a huge part in X2, then just disappears, and Gambit didn't even make the cut.

Rogue's powers are pretty scary, but her getting over her fear and learning to accept herself is what made her a great character, both in the comics and cartoons. To see Rogue Not grow past her fear to the point where she got herself cured was a gigantic downgrade.

"How could she end up with less screen time than Mystique?" There's nothing like showing up to a party & getting outshined by your own mother.

Rogue was the reason I fell in love with X men animated series. Rogue can do so much even without Ms America. Imagine, she absorbs powers, and masters it, tuning. the powers by herself. Healing of Wolverine, mixed with Professor X's capabilities. She can be unbeatable.

Rogue should have been in the role Mystique had in DOFP. Mystique can alter her appearance, but is unable to copy the powers of another mutant. The sentinels needed Rogue's DNA to be what they were in the movie. It didn't make sense that just copying an appearance was enough to defeat the X-Men with their own powers.

Rogue really does deserve better. I grew up on the 80s/90s comics. Rogue was and is still my favorite X-Men. Thank you for giving her a little spotlight. Even if it is about how she was loosing hers.

Scheduling issues was another reason Rogues role was reduced. The actress Anna Paquin was doing her True Blood series and other projects and they only had her for a very short period for shooting.

Rogue was always my favorite Mutant because of the potential in her powers. She can be a threat in almost any situation. Like is said in one of the X-Men animated series "My power is your power, and I can have more than one". The potential combinations of powers and how they might interact always fascinated me. Also how would she deal with the almost uncontrollable powers of a mutant like Cyclops when even over a lifetime the best he can do is control it with mechanical help. So much missed potential in the movies with Rogue.

What about Cyclops, the leader of the X-Men? He has very few to say and do in the movies, gets killed of in X3 within the first 15 minutes while wining. No arc but 'in love with Jean Grey'.

Rogue was such an interesting character. Like, she had a villianous powers but still tried to be a hero

I didn't care that she couldn't have Ms. Marvel's powers, but she could have done a WHOLE LOT more in the X-2 and 3 films. They could have had her absorb Jean Grey's powers, or somehow help Mystique and reveal that storyline. So much was available, and as a admirer of Anna Paquin, having watched her act when I was a child, I was ecstatic to see her in there! I feel like they could have brought up the rivalry between her and Shadowcat, resulting in some power switching or getting lost in the astral plane, but I honestly feel like they let Shadowcat be her replacement, which made me unhappy.

Making her pretty much Kitty Pyrde in both personality and character arch, but with Rogue's power set that is what killed it for me.

The fact that they could have just let Rogue absorb even just a fraction of Phoenix's powers to give her that flight ability and drain Juggernaut to a pulp so she can gain her super strength. But FOX was really focusing more on Wolverine cos he's popular among the masses. They also nerfed Storm so much just to make sure that Wolverine and Mystique are the main stars of the movie.

Rogue callin people "suga" and "darlin" is just too powerful

I didn't even know she had a cameo in days of future past i must have blinked at that part

Thank you, I've always wondered this ever since I watched the 2000s X-Men franchise. I mean it just felt like there's so much more Rouge for us to see. I mean the ending with Rouge getting the cure is like killing her character forever.

A tiny change to X3 could've had Rogue refuse the cure, join the team for the Last Stand, save Kitty from Juggernaut by holding onto him for a little too long. Absorbing his powers permanently. Character growth AND super strength!

They couldn't handle Rogue but they didn't have to make her look almost completely useless in the movies

I can't imagine her being missing from Days of Future Past wasn't influenced by the actress being busy wrapping up "True Blood" around the same time. It probably was why her role was so 'self contained' and didn't contribute to the main action, to quote articles describing why it was cut - she was only available on a limited basis, so they had to design her role around her availability, and it ended up getting cut.

I love these kind of vids man, short and sweet, keep it up!

And I've always had to say to people it was NEVER Anna Paquin's fault. This video confirms it. She's a phenomenal actress, but unfortunately was given so little to work with. Would've loved to see how better writers - NOT obsessed with Jackman's Wolverine - would've worked with her.

"How could she end up with less screentime than Mystique?" - Mystique is naked.

THIS WAS SO WELL DONE. I am so happy I ran into your video, ace quality work!

Rouge is underrated in general. She was a minor villain of limited power who gained a classic Superman-style powerset by almost destroying a major heroine, and she _turned good in the process._ That is an amazing character arc. You could base an entire storyline on just that.

Rogue and Gambit have always been my two favorite X-Men, and I just can't get into the movies without them.

I was a teenager reader of the X-Men when Rogue debuted. Though I stopped collecting comics in my early 20s, I wanted to see how my Marvel favorites portrayed in film with contemporary special effects. I kept expecting Rogue to be a major character in the films. And I was expecting her to have a strong Southern accent like the comics too.

I remember a book based on Rogue with her thinking about the stories future Kitty told about the reality of Days of Future Past. She commented that she wasn't even mentioned and could have been dead in an alley somewhere for all she knew. At least that was an attempt to retcon a story made before she was on the team.

An X-Men movie that focuses on origin stories of Rogue and Gambit, and they're special bond, would be epic. Loved when Gambit used to call Rogue "Cheré"...

RIP Rogue and Gambit. 2 of my faves from the comic and the X Men cartoon.

X-men 2000, X2 and the last stand are my favorite x-men movies. It wasn't the same anymore without all of the original cast.

Recently started watching the x men animated series due to x men 97 being released. It’s such a shame about rogue, she very quickly became my favourite character.

I always felt that Last Stand had set up the perfect opportunity for Rogue to be the secret weapon that defeats Dark Phoenix & in so doing gains her additional powers. When it was revealed that she’s gone through with the treatment I felt so let down.

The X-men movies should have been called 'Wolverine and Friends' parts 1 through 6.

I was soooooo pissed at how they treated Rogue- the story arc where Rogue gets her super strength and ability to fly would have made a great movie with real depth of character.

They always could have made up a character so Rogue could get her powers, like "Miss Schmarvel"

You know how we could solve that? They could've made her absorb the Phoenix's powers on X3. She'd be a main plot point on saving Jean Gray and could finally get her super abilities.

I grew up on the animated series. Rogue was awesome on there with her accent, sassy comebacks, and impulsive smarts. Quite a contrast to the more seemingly level headed leader-types who always seem to get in their own way.

Maybe if Rogue was more of the sassy southern belle bombshell she was in the comics that would have compelled them to do more with her. As it were, Anna Paquin portrayed Rogue as more Kitty Pryde, through both looks and demeanor, than Rogue.

One of my favorite characters of all time, sucks that they didn't do more with her. I always loved her voice on the animated series

Man, those X-Men comic covers made me nostalgic. I grew up in the 80s and 90s, and I loved the X-Men comics of that time period.

The thing is, there are mutants that have the powers Rogue would need to become the Rogue we all know and love. Carol Danvers wouldn't really be needed. Heck you can have her absorb the powers of multiple mutants as a solution for a movie big bad and say it over loaded her system and now she's stuck with them.

Rogue is one of my favorite characters from the comics. I've been absolutely appalled by what they've done to her the entire time.

Rogue was one of my favorite characters, both in the comics and in the 90s tv show, as well as the movies. I was so disheartened to see her completely cut from the new films. But shout out to her cameo in the Deadpool game. Absolutely nailed her character.

I was so disappointed we never saw rogue get her super strength and flying ability. Hopefully Marvel will do her justice.

They made mystique the character rogue should’ve been

The reason why rogue didn’t work in the movies was because she was not the powerhouse character from the comics that everyone loved. She was just a water down regular hero with the ability to absorb someone’s power for a short period of time and not the captain Marvel, like power.

Part of her fade from xmen was also do to Anna playing the main character Sookie in true blood until 2014,that probably kept her really busy and limited the time she could give to xmen

I always thought that you could explain her powers after Last Stand. The cure did not react long term and actually made their mutation wilder. Explains how Magneto got his powers back and suddenly Rogue needs to cope with new abilites.

It's almost like X-Men would function better as a serialized show (like a Disney + series) instead of a movie series.

I have never read the comics but Rogue movie trajectory felt very realistic... She always saw her "power" as more of a curse than a blessing and she wanted to be normal again. Considering her power robbed her of normalcy is only natural she would strive for it again.

I have another theory about why Rogue got diminished and Wolverine got promoted. A flying Rogue would require a lot more CGI. Wolverine requires very little CGI. It always seemed to me like the X-Men movies were avoiding characters that would require a ton of CGI and promoting Wolverine because he didn't require CGI. Plus if the movies had the real flying super Rogue she probably would have been so popular that they would have had to really ramp up the CGI scenes to accommodate her. Definitely should have been more Rogue and Gambit.

I kind of like the idea of allowing different characters to take the spotlight in each movie... but that's not what they did. They pretty much did Wolverine and the X-Men. I really like Hugh Jackmans performance as Wolverine, but giving him 3 solo movies and make 2 of the team movies revolve mostly around him is too much for a franchise that was actually meant to be about a team of mutants.

Rogue (Anna Paquin) in the movies was like that of Jubilee in the 90s animated series. They introduced us to the X-Men, only to later have not much to do in future stories

My thought process for what they could have done with Rogue is still go down the path of having her become strong BUT as they didn’t have Captain Marvel, they go with another option and arguably a better option narratively to give the X-Men a happier ending than what they got in Last Stand: Jean Grey. Now, I’m not too great on the whole deal with the Phoenix Force and Dark Phoenix Force, but it would’ve been cool to have a plot around Rogue trying to help Logan out with what was going on and using her powers to try and save Jean.

As a male, Rogue is one of my favorite fictional characters of all-time. There is no other female fictional character that comes close. I think she needed better casting too. I think of Rogue the way the cartoon series portrayed her, with a southern accent, hot, and tough as hell. Like a female rodeo rider.

They really wasted Anna Paquin’s potential as the Rogue from the 90’s animated series. I can literally see her doing justice to it.

I disagree. I don't think the problem with Rogue was a result of Hugh Jackman's Wolverine eclipsing the other characters around him. Xavier and Magneto were able to hold their own just fine. It also doesn't make sense that Wolverine's popularity as a character would have damaged Rogue - the Logan and Marie dynamic established in the first film was actually a favourite of many fans. Some were shipping it, but most simply liked seeing these two characters together. They played well off each other. The runaway and the man running from himself. They were both, to a degree, afraid of themselves, and helped each other work through those fears. We could have had some really great character stuff between them. The issue is that the X-Men movies didn't know how to handle their female characters. They have all these incredible strong women, and over the course of the three movies, pretty much every one of them gets whittled down and diminished, if they ever get the chance to shine at all. Storm is practically set dressing. (Another waste of an Oscar-winning actress, and a character who has so much more to offer in the comics.) Kitty Pryde's role basically amounts to babysitting and boyfriend drama. Rogue gives up her powers for a high school boy who had his head turned once already - which is such a poor place to take her character, compared to the comics, that it almost feels like Singer had a personal vendetta against her. Mystique ALSO becomes this sad, powerless version of herself (why does it feel like I'm sensing a theme here?) and Jean is pretty much the epitome of this trope. Trapped in another love triangle, loses all sense of herself, and eventually needs to be put down by Logan for the greater good. We could have had a storyline about Jean learning how to retake control from the Phoenix. We could have actually seen her grapple with the aftermath of having killed the man she loves. We could have had something like Wandavision. It's possible the experience would even have changed Jean, and taken her relationship with Logan in new and interesting directions. But we didn't get any of that, because the X franchise just didn't care that much about its female characters. In the end, that's also what doomed Rogue. What makes it frustrating is how easy it was to fix. A better ending for all these characters was right there for the taking, but it seems like no-one even cared to try. So what if Miss Marvel granted Rogue her powers in the comics? The movies were already playing fast and loose with canon anyway. Why not have Rogue take on some of the Phoenix's powers? This would have saved Jean and given Rogue (our intro character from movie one) a hero moment in the big finale of movie three. Imagine a scene where she tells the struggling Jean that she gets it. She understands how it feels to be afraid of yourself. To hate yourself for what you've done to the people you care about. But you can't shut yourself off from the world. You can't give up. A good friend taught her that. * looks at Logan * Sometimes you have to let other people in, and let them help you. She holds out her hand, and Jean takes it. The transfer of power is too overwhelming and almost kills her, but Logan steps in to pull them apart. How could he not? They're the two people he loves most in the world. The excess energy gets channelled into Logan, killing him and saving them. He resurrects, after a long period of seeming almost dead for real, and Jean and Marie are left with a version of the Phoenix powers they can live with. Moral of the story: the X-Men need each other, and life is always worth choosing over death, even when life feels unbearable. This would have been much closer to the mission statement of the first movie, and would have been a much more satisfying outcome for the characters, compared to the bullshit misery of The Last Stand. (Lol. How does thinking about The Last Stand still piss me off so much, even now?)

After rewatching the 90s FOX animated show, while getting prepared to watch X-Men 97, I found myself wondering why Jubilee's role in the animated got shifted to Rogue.

For the record X-Men legacy and the preceding Supanovas story (both written by Mike Carey) absolutely slap. The whole story centres on Rogue and her growth from livewire to mentor. Also she lead the Avengers once. The movies really didn't do justice for the best X-Man

He makes a great point about the difference between Movies and Tv adaptations. That is why I'd love to see X-Men go to Disney+. With such a large cast the only way to do them justice is to give them more time to develop more characters.

If I'm remembering correctly, Halle Berry wanted Storm to have a larger role in the 3rd and pushed hard for it and I believe that is actually the reason why Rogue's character was sort of tossed to the side. She's always been my favorite x-men, so it kills me how she was treated. I even got the Rogue cut because all I wanted was to see more of Rogue and Anna Paquin.

I was also excited about Leech but then there was just nothing more except his very few scenes in X3. They reduced great characters to simply plot devices.

I really hoped that Rogue would have become closer to her comic counterpart at one point where she permanently gains super strength, toughness and flight after nearly killing Captain Marvel. Maybe in the future MCU versions of the X-men it would happen.

A small part of me, still in love with the first X-Men movie, is somehow still waiting for the sequel that focuses on Rogue's character arc alongside Wolverine's... :-(

It's a shame because rogue had one of the most complex powers in X-men and I really wanted to see how she used them

If they really wanted to "Power Up" Rogue; all they had to do was create a mutant (or use an existing one) that can fly (Northstar), or has super strength (Colossus), etc and Have Rogue graph off of them. It's a simple solution that producers had to have been aware of, and chose not to do for whatever reason.

@7:13 *Which was the great Wolverine movie, & which were the other two? Ranks, please.*

Her role as "the character who introduces use to the X-Men" is a good explanation of want happened to the character. Once the audience knew the cast and their abilities, her job was done.

The "Miss Marvel" copyright issues are honestly a cop-out if there ever was one. They're making a movie, they have complete artistic freedom - invent an evil mutant named "Wonderous" who can fly and is super strong. Let Rogue sap her powers to protect a loved one (maybe Wolverine) -> badabang badaboom, comic book Rogue. The other reasons you gave are completely valid, and maybe they had reasons to be apprehensive about a move like the one I proposed, but it is certainly not impossible to do so.

Still say in days of future's past that part of the experiments they were doing on Rogue was allowing her to absorb other mutants powers that would have given her the super strength and flight, kind would have been cool to see her using it when they escaped the facility they were holding her in

This concept that you talk about at the end is exactly the issue I have with shows like Arrow and Outlander. Both shows start good, but way too many characters are added and it water's down the original core of the story.

They just made her Jubilee for a movie then trashed her I never read the comics much but I do know the Brother-sister relationship of Jubilee and Wolverine which seems like what they did here

Rogue doesn’t even work as the entry character in the first film because she’s not the one asking the question “what is this place?” That’s Wolverine, and it is to and through him that Xavier explains everything. Rogue is only the macguffin of the first film, an object Magneto needs to complete his plan and who the X-Men have to rescue.

Rogue in Evolution was the way to go. Not overpowered but with insane potential.

Man I can't imagine how hard it is to juggle ALL of these characters. I think everyone involved did the best they could. And they delivered some good movies.

That was not the "blink and you'll miss it" Rogue scene, that was from the Rogue Cut. The "blink and you'll miss it scene" was after Wolverine wakes up in the new timeline, walks out of his room and briefly sees Rogue with Bobby just befire the camra turns to reveal Kelsey Grammer as Beast

They made Rogue's character basically have Jubilee's arc, because in the cartoons Jubilee was the new X-Men and was invited to the school and everything.

Funny how it wasn't even mentioned that Rogue is adopted daughter of Mystique. And how Nightcrawler is Mystique's son from her affair with Azazel. And how Mystique and Sabretooth actually have human son, Graydon Creed. ALL of that could've been explored, but one movie just isn't enough.

They could've given her the powers without Danvers. Each movie she could've stole a power from someone else. Rouge was my favorite during the xmen chartoons as I was growing up so I would've loved to have seen her get a bigger role on the movies

I desperately wanted Rouge to be the person who ran the haven for mutants at the end of Logan. I felt like that would have put a perfect bow on the end of that storyline.

They could have still had rogue get stronger by having her overcome her fears. Rogue having full control of her powers is just as great than getting super strength and flight. Oh well.

I think they could of made Rogue a prominent character in Days of future past. If I remember correctly, the sentinels were able to absorb or copy powers like Rogue’s ability. But they explained the sentinels can adapt because they got a sample of Mystique’s blood. It seemed like the writers pivoted to Mystique for the prequel films. If you’re gonna focus on mystique, I think it’s a missed opportunity not to include Rogue. Because in the comics Rogue’s adoptive mother is Mystique.

Even without Ms Marvel’s powers, they could have done so much more with Rogue’s absorption power. It would have been so awesome if she had a power stealing sequence from multiple mutants. If there wasn’t scheduling conflicts for Anna Paquin with “True Blood”, the last stand on Alcatraz Island was the perfect opportunity for Rogue to do this.

Clairmont’s catalyst for seeing the X-men through the eyes of a younger mutant was originally giving to the character Ariel, aka Sprite, aka Shadowcat, otherwise known as Kitty Pride. The character played by the Juno breakout star, Ellen Paige. Who was also the main focus in the story, Days of Future Past. It was Kitty Pride not Logan who actually went back in time from the future to the past to rewrite history. It was also a missed opportunity to see one of the most iconic scenes of that story, which was the total obliteration of all Wolverines flesh from a blast by a Sentinel. The first ever depiction for the death of Wolverine in a future that will obviously be eradicated by a new timeline once Kitty succeeds... One of main reasons the X-men movie franchise did not become bigger than the Avengers franchise is because they did not focus on the right character’s and did not utilize Wolverine the way Clairmont did in the comics. Also, they focused too much time on a character like Mystique, who was not actually an X-men in the first place… The cliché, the comics were better than the films definitely applies here… …

Anna Paquin had limited time to film in the third movie because she was filming her Vampire series. They only gave her two weeks off where she could film the third Xmen movie.

She's got cool powers,but only useful in proximity to other mutants. Most people associate rogue with powers of Strength and flight but only accessible via post Marvel, Animated continuity.

7:54 that should be "Hicks", played by Michael Biehn. "Reese" is Biehn's character in Terminator (also directed by James Cameron and with Bill Paxton) i guess the equivalent mistake from more recent era would be mistaking christopher lee as saruman vs. as count dooku

Imagine if one day we get an amazing live action Rogue flying around and punching things and when the heroes seem defeated she absorbs all their powers and saves the day. Honestly you could just say flight and strength are also her mutant powers. Or she absorbs another character's flight and strength.

Had no idea there was a Rogue cut out there. I love that movie and definitely need to see that extended version

The first X-Men movie started a huge crush on Anna Paquin for me, so needless to say I was bummed when she was repeatedly so under used.

I love how he referred to Michael Biehn's character Hicks from Aliens as Reese from The Terminator.

Could you please do a video on how Chris Evans got his second chance to star in another Marvel film.

I think if Anna Paquin level is same with Halle Barry, she probably can get more role in upcoming sequel, if I remember, Halle demand wants more in third sequel (X3) or she out and the studio/producer agree, and Storm have more scene in X3 and DFoP or probably Anna Paquin lack of persistence because Mystique actress, Rebecca Romijn level was below Anna but somehow she can play pivotal role and less dialogue.

They had nowhere to go? They didn't even discuss her relationship with Gambit. They have plenty of story to tell. Don't make excuses for them!

Man, this one was a disappointment. Rogue was my favorite character, and I was super excited to see her as thenmain character in the first movie. But there were so many red flags in the script. Her personality was completely destroyed in the writing, it didn't even feel like rogue. But I let it go thinking her character would grow more into herself as she connects with everyone in later films... but she was almost completely erased. Then the franchise simply became Wolverine and nothing more. Scott is my least favorite character, and even I felt upset at the level of disrespect the writers gave him. I mean.. killed? In the first 5 minutes?! Why?! I never had much of an opinion of Wolverine before, but after seeing the franchise put him in a pedestal, I am sick of him. I don't even bother with X-Men anymore. I roll my eyes with every cameo that character makes in marvel movies. I stopped watching after the Jean became Phoenix. Producers need to stop making artistic decisions. They ruin their money banks so much.

What movie is the person fighting the vecna looking guy at the beginning from

I miss Rogue and Gambit, they did her wrong big time and they didn't even give Gambit a chance. I would have loved to see Rogue come across Danvers and take those powers for her own. Who knows maybe there might be chance of that happening either on screen or in a game.

Rogue was one of my favorite and most memorable characters in the Saturday morning X-Men cartoons. It’s a shame they only focused on her initially and left her behind. WHY??? She’s the most badass mutant along with Gambit.

Rogue and Gambit were sadly cut off. They were my favorite characters growing up.