Welcome to Comic Book Legends Revealed! This is the six hundred and twenty-sixth week where we examine comic book legends and whether they are true or false.

Just like the last few months, one legend today, one tomorrow and one Sunday.

Let's begin!

COMIC LEGEND:

Rogue was originally going to be revealed to be Mystique's actual daughter.

STATUS:

True

When Rogue debuted in "Avengers Annual" #10 (by Chris Claremont, Michael Golden and Armando Gil), she just seemed like a new member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants...

However, eventually we learned that Rogue was the adopted daughter of Mystique when Mystique wanted to get Rogue back from the X-Men...

But eventually she gave up Rogue to the X-Men when she realized that Rogue wanted to be with the X-Men...

Chris Claremont, though, originally intended on eventually revealing that Mystique was Rogue's ACTUAL mother, making Rogue siblings with Nightcrawler, who was also Mystique's kid.

Claremont explained it to a Mississippi newspaper last year:

Claremont said that had he not left Marvel in 1991, Mystique would have turned out to be Rogue’s mother. It’s a storyline that appeared in a 2009 run of the series "X-Men Forever."

“Rogue and Nightcrawler are siblings, children of Mystique. Mississippi is very Gothic and antebellum in that regard,” Claremont said. “That storyline is shades of Dickens.”

The decision to make Rogue a Mississippian was rooted in the fact that Claremont had already used characters and storylines in New Orleans.

“I felt, why should Louisiana get all the fun? … (Mississippi) was a place where the racial divisions and relationships were viewed in perhaps more stark terms than in and around New Orleans,” Claremont said, noting that the X-Men’s tension between humans and mutants was an allegory for racial tension in the United States.

That would have been interested. Honestly, though, they could still retcon this, I imagine.


Check out some legends from Legends Revealed:

Did Johnny Carson Copy the Famous “Pretend to Eat a Potato Chip from a Potato Chip Collector” Gag from David Letterman?

Is Sheryl Crow's “Everyday is a Winding Road” About Suicide?

Did Michael Bay Really Apologize for Armageddon?

Were Dr. McCoy’s Medical Instruments Really Just Fancy Salt Shakers?

Check back Saturday for part 2 of this week's legends!

And remember, if you have a legend that you're curious about, drop me a line at either brianc@cbr.com or cronb01@aol.com!