Rogue and Gambit are (arguably) the most popular X-Couple in Marvel Comics. Numerous series are dedicated to this famous pairing and thousands of readers call Rogue and Gambit their favorite comic couple. If you’re a fan of fan-fiction, you’ve probably seen one or two stories about them, and Marvel even makes Rogue and Gambit merchandise. It’s official -- they’re solidified as a couple in the comic canon. But why is this? If you’ve ever read one of their stories, this is probably obvious. Both Rogue and Gambit have tragic origin stories that naturally bring them together. They’re both from the Southern part of the United States, so they share a similar culture (and the same overdone dialect). Even their personalities --- flirty, witty, and emotional -- make them the perfect couple. Or, at least, so it seems.

As hard as it may be for diehard fans to admit, Rogue and Gambit have a strange relationship. Part of that comes from being X-Men. Chances are, if you’re wearing the X, your life is going to be far from normal. Rogue and Gambit have to go through a lot of things that the normal human couple would never encounter. Still, even if Rogue and Gambit weren’t X-Men, their relationship would still be a weird one. For whatever reason (i.e. most likely money) writers have given these characters some volatile personality traits that lead to arcs full of drama. CBR is counting down 20 things about Rogue and Gambit’s relationship that are weird, uncalled for, and, in some cases, just plain wrong. If you have a suggestion for the list, feel free to comment!

20 HE ISN'T ALWAYS A HERO

Rogue and Gambit Painting

You can call it charm if you want to, but Gambit’s so-called romantic punchlines aren’t really always all that romantic. Gambit is a great member of the X-Men who’s proven to be smart and quick in battle. We are, by no means, trying to hate on Gambit’s character, but someone needs to say something about how he acts around Rogue because it can sometimes be suspicious.

Back in the ‘90s, when writers were trying to build up Gambit and Rogue’s relationship, Gambit’s flirting frequently bordered on inappropriate. Unfortunately, that’s become a part of his character, with modern writers still making him out to be more of a weirdo than a heartthrob.

19 HE BLAMED HER FOR HIS BLINDNESS

Gambit blind Salvador Larocca

In a very strange arc that Marvel abandoned shortly after creating it, one of Gambit’s charged cards blows up in his face during an intense battle. The result is, unfortunately, blindness. Weirdly enough, no one seems to really care about the accident and the damage to Remy’s eyes except for Rogue.

In typical Gambit fashion, the thieving Cajun takes his anger out on the only person who actually cares about him. While in the infirmary, Gambit vehemently argued that, were it not for Rogue’s actions, he wouldn’t be blind. While there might be a shred of truth in there somewhere, his claims were mostly false. Rogue didn’t really have anything to do with it. Gambit is just a jerk.

18 THEY TOUCH A LOT

Rogue and Gambit’s relationship is a tragedy. Two people, clearly in love, who aren’t able to touch each other -- it’s the perfect story... except it’s not entirely true. Each writer seems to decide to what degree Rogue and Gambit can’t touch. In some arcs, they kiss pretty frequently. In others, the shortest moment of contact is catastrophic. Sometimes, Rogue loses her powers or finds a way to control them -- it all just depends on who’s writing.

This can make things very complicated. After all, Rogue and Gambit’s relationship is supposed to always be on the rocks because of their lack of openness. But, in stories where they can touch, it becomes clear that there are a thousand reasons why they’re always arguing.

17 HE WAS MARRIED BEFORE HE MET HER

Gambit’s tumultuous past doesn’t just include a casual career as young street thief. Before meeting and joining the X-Men, Gambit wed his childhood sweetheart Bella Donna Boudreaux. The two were from rival guilds in New Orleans and their marriage was an effort to soothe the animosity between the gangs. Although Remy did seemingly have some feelings for Bella, their marriage didn’t last long. Realizing that he wanted to make his own life choices, Gambit left New Orleans and Bella as well.

Since then, Bella has become a prominent assassin with psychic abilities. Occasionally, she runs into the X-Men but she never tries to hurt Gambit. According to her, she’s still in love with him. Understandably, Rogue and Gambit don’t talk about her much.

16 HE DIDN'T ALWAYS KNOW HER REAL NAME

Rogue and Gambit #2

From their first meeting to their marriage, Rogue and Gambit are rarely completely honest with each other. Both have rough pasts, which is partly why they’re attracted to one another. But, this also means they’re both naturally guarded and don’t trust people very easily. When Rogue and Gambit first met, they kept their identities concealed for the most part. As their relationship grew from casual flirting to real attraction, Rogue continued to keep her real name undisclosed.

Eventually, when she felt close enough to Gambit, she offered to reveal her name to him. In typical Gambit fashion, he declined, saying he didn’t need to know in order to have a relationship with her.

15 THEIR MARRIAGE WAS RANDOM

Gambit marries Rogue in Marvel Comics

In X-Men Gold #30, Peter and Kitty were supposed to get married. Instead, by the end of the issue, Rogue and Gambit had taken their place. Tons of fans were overjoyed by the change of plans, but we weren’t quite as ecstatic. Yes, the surprise was fun and entertaining, but it was also completely random and a little strange.

When you take a look at how rocky Rogue and Gambit’s relationship has been in the past, marriage shouldn’t even be on the table. Plus, when Gambit proposed, he and Rogue had only been officially “dating” again for a few months. Before that, they had hated each other for years. Even for a comic book, their marriage was too outlandish for us.

14 THEY HAVE TWO KIDS IN X-MEN: THE END

GeNext Kids

The series X-Men: The End, written by Chris Claremont, ventures years into the future where the X-Men have (mostly) moved on from saving the world and are trying to raise families. In this timeline, Rogue and Gambit are married and have two kids: Oli and Becka. Rogue finally got her powers fully under control, which is how she was able to have children. Rogue is a presumably doting mother until her unfortunate demise later in the series.

We don’t see a ton of interaction between Rogue and Gambit and their kids in X-Men: The End. However, if you’d like to see more of Gambit playing dad, check out the GeNext series, which shows Oli and Becka in their teens.

13 HER "MOM" MADE A PLAY FOR HIM

Foxx Gambit and Rogue

During a rough patch in Gambit and Rogue’s relationship, a new mutant student named Foxx joined Gambit’s class in X-Men #171. Immediately, Gambit was intensely attracted to her, but he refused to cheat on Rogue, even if Foxx assured him that it would only be a physical relationship. She attempted to lure him by catching him alone in the shower and he very nearly succumbed.

It’s a little unclear what exactly happened between Foxx and Gambit. Still, when Rogue found out, she was furious. She was even angrier when she found out that “Foxx” was really Mystique, her adopted mother. Apparently, Mystique wanted to remove Gambit from Rogue’s life, since she thought he was bad news. And humans think they have bad in-laws.

12 EMMA FROST WAS THEIR COUNSELOR

In Grant Morrison’s run on New X-Men, Emma Frost and Cyclops had a hidden psychic affair behind Scott’s wife, Jean. Emma was able to telepathically transport their minds to somewhere else without moving their bodies at all. They could be physically miles apart but together telepathically.

For those who understand Rogue and Gambit’s plight, this telepathic touching sounds like the perfect plan. Emma helps the two by using her telepathy skills and, at first, it seems to work. But, soon enough, Rogue’s powers reappear, forcing Gambit into a coma. By the time Emma quits working with them, she’s done more damage to their relationship than good.

11 THEY (RARELY) LIKE EACH OTHER

You would think a couple as famous as Rogue and Gambit would get along reasonably well -- after all, the other most famous X-Couple, Marvel Girl and Cyclops, spent decades together in a blissful, idyllic relationship. When you’re in love with someone, you should probably like them too. Yet, with Rogue and Gambit that isn’t always the case. Actually, it’s rarely the case.

These two are always at each other's necks. Rogue hates Gambit’s dishonesty and Gambit hates Rogue’s powers. There’s so much frustration and anger in their relationship that it’s a wonder they ever truly “dated” at all. We wouldn’t even call these two friends, let alone soulmates.

10 HE HAS HYPNOTIC CHARM

Gambit and Rogue

No one ever talks about Gambit’s strangest and most elusive power: hypnotic charm. Why does no one talk about it? Probably because it makes every bizarre thing he’s ever done that much weirder. Along with his molecular acceleration ability, Gambit can subliminally “encourage” people to do what he says. This isn’t an exceptionally strong ability, and it can be easily rebuked by strong telepaths and those aware of what he’s doing.

Still, this complicates his and Rogue’s first meeting. Nowadays, we can assume Gambit (most likely) doesn’t use this “talent” on Rogue, but he certainly might’ve when they first met. Who knows, if he hadn’t used his hypnotic charm on Rogue, we might not even be writing this article.

9 SHE ALMOST MARRIED MAGNETO

Rogue and Magneto

One of the most controversial relationships in Marvel comics is the romance between Magneto and Rogue. The age gap and the whole “Magneto is a supervillain” thing makes a lot of fans rebuke the pairing. Still, it lasted for a while -- long enough for Magneto to propose to Rogue in X-Men: Legacy #274.

Rogue says no, but it isn’t an instantaneous reply. As much as readers try to ignore it, the two have serious feelings for each other. Is that a good thing? For the most part, no. We wouldn’t be surprised if Magneto showed up again, with plans of ruining Rogue’s marriage and taking her for himself. Honestly, Rogue has pretty terrible taste in men.

8 THE SHADOW KING STARTED THEIR RELATIONSHIP

When Rogue first met Gambit, neither were in their right mind. Actually, more accurately, neither of them were in their mind at all. The villainous Shadow King had taken control of both Rogue and Gambit when they meet for the first time in the woods on Muir Island and, pretty spontaneously begin making out after a few minutes of intense flirting and witty banter.

This isn’t something either of them would have ordinarily done (we’re hoping) but when infected by the Shadow King’s presence, their morality was lax. After gaining control of her body again, Rogue forgot all about the incident, but, ironically enough, Gambit didn’t.

7 THEY'RE ALWAYS BREAKING UP

Rogue and Gambit seem like they’re always together, thanks to some romantic variant covers and the massive amount of fan-fiction fans write about them. They seem like a steady pair who are truly in love. However, in reality, this couple has broken up more times than we can count. Both Rogue and Gambit tend to be pretty emotional and volatile people, so the second something goes wrong, they’re quick to call the whole relationship off.

Out of all the X-Couples, Gambit and Rogue probably have the most complicated relationship. They do clearly love each other, but they don’t love everything about each other. Plus, it always seems like the universe is out to get them. Well, not the universe, really -- just Marvel writers.

6 HE'S TAKEN HER (MORE THAN ONCE)

Gambit one took Rogue in the animated show X-Men: Evolution and in the alternate Ultimate Universe. In both scenarios, Gambit turns out to be the relative “good guy” but we’re still pretty weirded out by his actions, especially in the Ultimate comics. After Rogue lived a terrible life (much worse than her Earth-616 life) Gambit captures her and takes her to the evil twins Andreas and Andrea von Strucker.

At the time, Gambit knew what he was doing was questionable at best, yet he continued to do it. This Gambit may not be “our” Gambit, but it does kind of sound like him. Only after falling in love with Rogue does Ultimate Gambit try to escape the Struckers.

5 SHE KEPT HIM FROM (FULLY) BECOMING A HORSEMAN

Gambit as Horseman of Death

Apocalypse has transformed many X-Men members into his famous Horseman of the Apocalypse, but few have been as willing as Gambit. Unlike his friends, Gambit willingly became Death because he believed Apocalypse could help the mutant cause. Obviously, he was wrong. The event leaves him in a strange state, living both as himself and as Death.

The only thing that keeps him from totally succumbing to his Death persona is, ironically, the memory of Rogue. As many problems he and Rogue have in their relationship, they really do love each other. Frequently, it’s not the healthiest kind of love, but in this case, it was.

4 THEY SPEND A LOT OF TIME APART

Rogue and Gambit Fried Pie Variant

Something that a lot of readers don’t always notice is how often Rogue and Gambit are apart. The recent Rogue & Gambit and Mr. and Mrs. X series are unique in that they actually show this “famous” couple on panel together. For most of the 21st century, Rogue has been on her own, working with the Avengers, the X-Men, or both.

Gambit appears every once in a while, but Rogue’s character (and impressive powers) are too important for writers to use as just a romantic prop. She’s one of the most well-known characters in the Marvel universe, which means she has to spend a large amount of time on-panel -- more so than Gambit. We can’t imagine this separation leads to a happy relationship.

3 THEY CAN'T DECIDE ON WHEN OR HOW THEY MET

Rogue and Gambit Kris Anka

Although Shadow King may have kickstarted Rogue and Gambit’s relationship, he also created one of their biggest disagreements. Rogue lost her memories of her and Gambit meeting on Muir Island for the first time, but, for whatever reason, Gambit didn’t. He remembered and he immediately started talking to Rogue about it, thinking she remembered too.

This caused a pretty big wedge in their relationship that lasts all the way up to Kelly Thompson’s recent Rogue & Gambit series. In the comic, Rogue and Gambit have a fury-fueled argument over where and how they met. They eventually get over it, but we can assume it’s still an occasional point of contention between the two lovers.

2 HIS MEMORIES FORCED HER TO LEAVE HIM

Rogue and Gambit Trial

Gambit being dishonest with Rogue begins to be a trope after we see it happen again and again throughout the pages of Uncanny X-Men. Gambit lies, Rogue becomes mad, and they break up again. In Uncanny X-Men #348, Rogue and Gambit find themselves trapped in Antarctica.

Gambit is on trial for the actions of his past -- none of which Rogue is fully aware of. Issues before, they had shared a kiss which transferred some of Gambit’s memories to Rogue. Alone and isolated in the wilderness, Rogue learns about Gambit’s dark past and becomes furious. Without a second thought, she abandons him in the icy tundra to fend for himself. Of course, they get back together later but that’s a whole other story.

1 THEY (PROBABLY) SHOULDN'T BE TOGETHER

Rogue and Gambit Clones

The thing that makes Rogue and Gambit such an interesting character for readers is how, against all odds, they somehow always end up together -- even if they probably shouldn't. These two are a volatile mix who, in the real world, would never get along half as swimmingly as they do in the comics (which, considering they don’t get along well in the comics, is saying something).

Their relationship is tumultuous, full of dishonesty, verbal abuse, and just general dislike. Can these characters get past these things to create a reasonable and realistic romance? Absolutely. Has that happened yet in the comics? From what we’ve seen in Mr. and Mrs. X, Marvel may be working on it.