Warning: The following contains spoilers for Excalibur #5 by Tini Howard, Marcus To, Erick Arciniega & VC's Cory Petit, on sale now
Rogue of the X-Men has a long history of taking the powers of various heroes and villains from across the Marvel Universe. Sometimes it's only for small periods of time, and sometimes for much longer stretches. It usually depends on her level of control at the time, and what kind of being she is dealing with.
Rogue may have earned some serious power boosts in the past, but her latest effort to take powers in Excalibur #5 may be the most extreme boost she's ever gotten - and the most dangerous. She's absorbed the life energy of Apocalypse, to the point where she's even taken on his distinct blue and black skin.
ROGUE'S POWER STEAL
Rogue has been out of commission ever since a group of X-Men followed Captain Britain to the United Kingdom to try and help save her brother, Brian Braddock. That continues through Excalibur #5, at least until Rogue is able to finally wake up thanks to some psychic help from Rachel Summers. This coincides with Apocalypse trying to use the crystals containing the energies mutants from the long past. The villain had hoped to complete the ritual needed to close the gate between Otherworld and Earth using the crystals, but the magical energies were drained before he ever got ahold of them, having been used by Rictor to help save Gambit's life when he fell into a newly formed crack in the Earth.
For a moment, Apocalypse suspects that the necessary magical power is somewhere still in Gambit, but he doesn't get the chance to find out for sure. Instead, Rogue is able to finally awaken and attack Apocalypse, saving her husband in the process. Apocalypse reveals that Rogue was put into the coma as a result of the effects of Otherworld and Krakoa, with the energies naturally drawn to her mutant ability to absorb energies. On top of that power, Rogue starts to drain Apocalypse of his power. But the villain realizes that his own cosmic power might be even more powerful than the sources, and necessary to close the gate allowing monsters through from Otherworld. He tells Rogue to drain the entirety of his being, allowing her to finish the ritual. The act protects the Earth and closes the gate. But it also has some unexpected side-effects.
THE POWER OF APOCALYPSE
The gate was sealed closed, and the world was saved in the process. But Apocalypse's body is left a smoldering husk, with no sign of life. Although Apocalypse can likely be restored to life by Krakoa's five chosen mutants, his schemes to take "the throne" are also revealed to Rogue and the rest of the X-Men. But even with Rogue awakened, there are some complications -- namely, that the hero has apparently absorbed a great deal of his energy and gained the physical attributes of Apocalypse in the process.
This gives Rogue a huge power boost, considering the Celestial origins of Apocalypse's powers in the first place. Apocalypse is one of the most powerful mutants in existence, and if Rogue retains his powers like she once stole away the powers of Carol Danvers, she may have become an entirely new powerhouse for the X-Men. Although, it remains to be seen how permanent this power boost is. In the past, when Rogue has absorbed too much energy from someone she also ended up with a copy of their personality stuck in her head. This could be a very bad result if one of the most dedicated X-Men like Rogue keeps having to deal with the impulses and influence of Apocalypse on her psyche. This event could even give Apocalypse another unexpected ally in his plans, making it easier for him to become the "king" that Rogue learned about while connected to his mind.