Since the series first hit shelves back in the early '60s, the X-Men has featured hundreds of Mutants, but few are as beloved and celebrated as Rogue. The character was first introduced in 1981's Avengers Annual #10, but it wasn't long before she became an X-Franchise series regular. Throughout her tenure in the Marvel Universe, she has been a member of just about any team dealing with the X-Gene including the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, X-Men, X-Treme X-Men and many more. She has been a villain, a superhero and everything in-between, but her various affiliations are far less interesting than the powers she has absorbed over the years. Rogue's principal superpower is the ability to absorb the powers of other people.
She doesn't go about this in some benign manner seeing as she has to make physical contact with a person to do it. Not only that, the act tends to leave her willing (or, more often, unwilling) benefactor drained and weakened. This has led Rogue to become somewhat detached from her fellow team members as she must always wear gloves and make sure she limits her physical contact with the people she cares about. Over the years, Rogue has pulled some impressive powers from the various teammates and villains she has come in contact with, but that only means there are plenty fans have forgotten. This list details some of the more interesting powers Rogue has taken with a little coverage of some of the ones fans either forgot about, or didn't realize she always had.
20 ABSORPTION OF PERSONALITY
Most people who know anything about Rogue know she can absorb the superpowers of other Mutants and powered individuals, but that isn't all she takes from them. Depending on how long she holds on for, she can take a person's personality and memories along for the ride, and the results have been devastating or even annoying at times.
When she permanently takes someone's powers, their personality can remain in her head forever. That's what happened when Rogue took Carol Danvers' powers. The Danvers personality remained dormant for years, but it eventually grew strong enough to cause Rogue to redecorate her room and even put on her old costume at one point. Eventually, the personality was purged, but it remained with her for a long time.
19 NIGHTCRAWLER'S POWERS
Of all the X-Men, Kurt Wagner, aka Nightcrawler, may have the most interesting and desirable powers. Being able to teleport to any place he can see certainly has its advantages, which is one of the reasons Rogue has borrowed them from time-to-time. Usually, this was done with his permission, but there has been a time or two where she needed to take them by force.
In X-Men: Legacy #232, Nightcrawler was under the influence of Proteus, which put him in direct opposition to the rest of the X-Men. In order to defeat him, Rogue was forced to grab his face and drain his powers from him. She then successfully teleported to safety, but that was a rare example of a time she took her teammate's powers without permission.
18 STORM'S POWERS
When Rogue first came onto the scene, she wasn't exactly a hero. Thanks to her upbringing and the distance her powers force upon her and those close to her, she took some time and a little convincing before she truly came around to become a proper member of the team. When it comes to Storm, the two fought the first time they met, but they eventually became friends.
That happened around the time of Uncanny X-Men #185, when Storm willingly gave her powers to Rogue. She immediately saw how amazing it was to be in tune with the Earth and saw the world the way Storm sees it every day. This helped her to see the world in an entirely new way, which helped open up her ability to trust and made her a better member of the team.
17 SHADOWCAT'S POWERS
There have been several occasions where Rogue has absorbed the phasing abilities of one Kitty Pryde, aka Shadowcat. The first such instance came in Uncanny X-Men #194 when she took not only Kitty's powers, but also Colossus and Nightcrawlers at the same time. She needed the extra boost so she could take on Nimrod who was making things difficult for the X-Men at the time.
That wasn't the only time Rogue grabbed Kitty's powers though. There have been several occasions where life was made much easier by phasing through solid matter. She has taken her powers as they were offered to her, but also accidentally when they touched by mistake. Whatever the reason she has taken the phasing ability, there's no arguing how useful it is in the right hands.
16 PSYLOCKE'S POWERS
Psylocke is one of those characters whose power set is relatively vast. Not only can she perform various telekinetic abilities, she also has telepathy, can project images into peoples' minds, and can form her telekinetic energy into powerful swords of energetic light. Rogue has borrowed these powers for one reason or another over the years.
In X-Men: Legacy #232, Betsy Braddock, aka Psylocke, was lying unconscious on the battlefield while Proteus was still a pretty big threat. Seeing her teammate down on the ground, Rogue went forth and took her powers, which she then used to craft a sword she used to cut directly into Proteus' spirit. It didn't exactly finish things for good, but it was a pretty smart move on Rogue's part.
15 PROFESSOR X'S POWERS
Professor Xavier has what is arguably the most powerful psychic mind on the planet. It's not usually safe for someone like Rogue to take his powers, but it has happened on occasion depending on the threat the team was facing. When the X-Men were up against Mastermind in Uncanny X-Men #175, it was definitely necessary.
Mastermind had convinced the team that Cyclops was Dark Phoenix and just about everyone was knocked out for a bit. After Rogue takes an unscheduled nap, Cyclops wakes her up and forces her to take an unconscious Professor X's powers so she can use them to convince the rest of the team that Cyclops isn't the real threat so Mastermind could be properly taken care of instead.
14 FLIGHT
Most people know that Rogue can fly seeing as she did so pretty much everywhere she went in the X-Men: The Animated Series cartoon in the '90s. Seeing as it isn't one of her normal powers, we decided to lump it into the ones folks may have forgotten since some people aren't aware of just how she acquired this useful ability.
When she was still a relatively young Mutant, Rogue permanently absorbed the powers of Carol Danvers, aka Ms. Marvel, which resulted in putting her into a coma for several years. When Rogue holds on for long enough, the transfer of superpowers is permanent, which is why she can still fly after all these years. She also gained superhuman speed, increased reflexes and an ability to repel bullets.
13 HUMAN TORCH'S POWERS
Rogue isn't limited to the superpowers of her fellow Mutants, she can absorb the talents of anyone she touches, even the Human Torch. Back in Fantastic Four vs. The X-Men #4, Rogue grabs the Torch's powers without permission and immediately enjoys the idea of flaming on, but it doesn't work out too well for her. Almost immediately, Susan Storm traps her in a forcefield, snuffing out the flame.
This left Rogue naked and unable to reignite, but it wasn't the only time she took something from the Fantastic Four. In the second issue of that same series, Rogue snagged the Thing's powers via a kiss. This helped the two realize they had more in common as they previously thought thanks to both of them feeling as if they were trapped within their own bodies.
12 ICEMAN'S POWERS
You can't take the Human Torch's powers and not go about grabbing his polar opposite at least one time in your life. Granted, Rogue has alleviated Bobby Drake, aka Iceman, of his powers on more than one occasion, but seeing as Iceman is one of the most powerful Mutants in the Marvel Universe, her taking his power should probably have been a bigger deal than it was.
When Rogue takes Bobby's powers, it's usually with his permission, and like the original X-Man, she tends to have fun with it. She hasn't mastered his abilities in the same way he has, but at least she doesn't appear as a walking, talking snowman when she takes his ice powers out for a ride.
11 HULK'S POWERS
When a serious enough threat comes along, sometimes, it's best to go at it with a single person instead of a team. When Exitar posed a threat in Uncanny Avengers #21, Rogue borrows the powers of every member of the Avengers and the X-Men all at once. One of the people who offered their abilities was none other than Bruce Banner, aka The Incredible Hulk.
Granted, in order to use those powers, Rogue had to get pretty peeved, but it worked. She has also taken the powers of Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk. Rogue has taken the powers of a lot of superheroes and villains over the years, but probably none as powerful as the two green monsters.
10 MAGNETO'S POWERS
Magneto presents an interesting conundrum for the likes of Rogue seeing as she cannot take his powers... at least in the comics. When she kissed him in the comics, she wasn't able to take his powers as they proved too overwhelming for her to handle. That wasn't the case in the original X-Men film when Sir Ian Ian McKellen placed his hands around Anna Paquin's face to transfer his abilities to her.
His intent was to transfer his abilities to her for a brief period of time so she could unwillingly use his machine to mutate a populace of world leaders. The plan failed to work since Magneto was too weak to stop Wolverine from destroying the machine at the last moment.
9 SUPERHUMAN STRENGTH
When Rogue took Carol Danvers' powers, she wasn't limited to her ability to fly or her invulnerability, she was also given immense levels of superhuman strength. This strength attached permanently to Rogue and it became one of her signature characteristics for years in the comics and in the various animated series. Ultimately, it turned out this power and the others taken from Danvers weren't truly permanent.
After they faded, she acquired a lot of Sunfire's powers, which were somewhat similar to those she lost. Eventually, she acquired Wonder Man's abilities, which further supplemented the ones she lost with remarkably similar powers. Generally speaking, superhuman strength isn't one of Rogue's powers, but she takes it and keeps it so often, it might as well be.
8 MYSTIQUE'S POWERS
Rogue and Mystique have something of a complicated past, which is putting it lightly. Mystique raised Rogue, but she did it so she could raise a daughter in her own image, which was evil. Eventually, Rogue left Mystique's influence, but there were a number of occasions when she took her foster mother's powers for one reason or another.
The best representation of this came in an episode of X-Men: The Animated Series when Carol Danvers' personality was becoming dominant. She took over Mystique's powers when she was in control of Rogue's body and use them to shapeshift into herself once more. In most other cases, Rogue used the power to try and better understand Mystique, but there's no denying her powers are useful in an of themselves.
7 DESTINY'S POWERS
Speaking of Mystique, she wasn't the only woman who helped raise Rogue. Mystique and Destiny were lovers, which meant that Destiny was around for much of her childhood. Sometime during her childhood, she must have touched Irene Adler, aka Destiny, and taken her powers because they manifested once more many years later.
In an issue of X-Treme X-Men, Rogue's powers were boosted by Sage, which enabled her to call upon long dormant powers she previously absorbed. One such power gave her a precognitive sense allowing her to see into the future, which is one of those "blessing and curse" situations. While we never got to see her "take" Destiny's powers, she clearly had contact with her at one point in their history.
6 THOR'S POWERS
Taking the superpowers of someone like the Hulk may seem like a massive power grab, but then there was the time Rogue snagged the superpowers of a god. Back during her first appearance in Avengers Annual #10, Rogue was still working for the side of villainy, which is why she had no constraints grabbing the Thunder God and taking his powers.
She then used his abilities (and those of the rest of the Avengers) to basically kick each and every one of their butts. She may not have absorbed his worthiness to carry Mjolnir, but taking his power and weakening him made Thor more than a match for Thor. Wonder Man even exclaimed, "Thor's being thrashed... by a woman!?!," which resulted in his own pounding at the hands of said woman.
5 ABSORPTION OF PHYSICAL TRAITS
Another of Rogue's powers most people may not consider is her ability to recreate the physical traits of the people she comes into contact with. This has manifested in a number of different ways over the years, but it always makes a good amount of sense. When she takes on the powers of the Human Torch, for instance, she bursts into flame just like him. In some other cases, it can be a little weirder.
When she takes the powers of the Hulk, she turns green, but she really doesn't have to. She has also taken Colossus' ability to cover her body with organic metal, has popped Wolverine's bone claws on more than one occasion and she even grew two additional arms after snagging the powers of Spiral in Uncanny X-Men #206.
4 WOLVERINE'S POWERS
When you sit down and think about it, Wolverine's ability to heal himself from any injury sustained throughout his entire body in a very short period of time is a power most people would like to possess. For Rogue, she has taken this skill out for a ride on several occasions, but usually with Logan's permission. It happened a few times in the movies including the scene pictured above.
When Rogue appears to have succumbed to Magneto's machine's attack, Logan holds her close to his body trying to transfer his powers into her. It doesn't work at first, but after a moment, his face opens up with large gashes appearing all over. Rogue, though still unconscious, manages to completely heal and come back to life, albeit with a streak of grey in her hair.
3 SCARLET WITCH'S POWERS
In terms of power, you can't get much bigger and badder than the likes of Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch. Like very few others in the Marvel Universe, Wanda has the ability to warp and recreate reality as she sees fit. She has recreated the universe on several occasions even going so far as to almost wipe out all mutations in an event known as M-Day.
Whenever Rogue has taken her powers in the past, it has usually resulted in her inability to properly use them. When it happened in Uncanny Avengers #2, she tried to use Wanda's most feared and awesome power, but literally, nothing happened. She had the powers, but not the ability to use them. Wanda even said she "lacked the imagination" to use them properly.
2 Z'CANN'S INDUCED MUTATION
One of Rogue's biggest drawbacks is that she can acquire a person's powers, but only for a limited time. Granted, she could hold on long enough to put someone into a coma to keep them for longer, but in most cases, the powers fade. This limits Rogue, but Marvel wouldn't be doing its job if it didn't shake things up once in a while. When Rogue touched a Skrull, things changed quite a bit.
After touching Z'cann, Rogue's powers mutated further to enable her to recall and activate powers she previously absorbed. Initially, this resulted in powers coming to the surface at random, but over time, she learned to control them and call forth any power she chose at will. The powers were still only temporary, but they made her a far more efficient superhero than she had previously been.
1 ABSORPTION OF LIFE
Rogue's greatest power is, in many ways, her biggest weakness. When she touches someone, she can borrow their memories, personality, health, and superpowers, but only for a short period of time. If she feels the need or desire to hold on for longer than normal, she can put someone into the hospital and even put them into a coma. This is exactly what happened to Carol Danvers, but in the case of a normal human, it's far more dangerous.
When Rogue touches a regular person, she saps their strength much faster than she would if they had something like invulnerability or super strength. Without powers, these people would succumb to her touch far faster than her usual targets, which would easily result in a coma or, in a worst-case scenario, their passing.