Aside from CyclopsOpens in a new tab and Jean GreyOpens in a new tab and Kitty PrydeOpens in a new tab and ColossusOpens in a new tab, the longest and most written about love affair in X-MenOpens in a new tab history has been RogueOpens in a new tab and GambitOpens in a new tab. So it’s no surprise that Marvel ComicsOpens in a new tab has just announced, via CBROpens in a new tab, that the pair are getting a series of their own at last. The two have had series separately before, but it makes complete sense to put these two in a book together.
All we have right now is a cover and a January launch date. However, more details are expected to be revealed at upcoming Marvel Legacy panels at New York Comic-ConOpens in a new tab. You can check out the cover image for Rogue & Gambit below:
So why are Rogue and Gambit so beloved a couple, especially to millennials? It really all boils down to the early ’90s X-Men: The Animated SeriesOpens in a new tab, which heavily featured the ups and downs of their relationship. However, the Rogue and Gambit romance didn’t originate in the cartoon series; it started about a year earlier in the pages of the comics, which were undergoing a sales boom. Chris ClaremontOpens in a new tab and Jim Lee’Opens in a new tabs X-Men #1 had sold eight million copies, and the flirtation between the two characters began in earnest in its pages.
Rogue was introduced in the pages of AvengersOpens in a new tab, before becoming a regular member of Uncanny X-MenOpens in a new tab in 1983, and was the first new recruit to the team after Kitty Pryde. Back then, adding a new team member was a big deal–it didn’t happen every few months. Rogue was originally a villain and a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants, but she came to the team to learn to control her powers. Visually, she was a very different character back then. Because of her inability to touch people, since she’d drain them of their life force if she did, she was covered head to toe in her costume. The X-Men didn’t trust her at first, but she slowly became a part of the family.
Gambit, on the other hand, was introduced some seven years later in Uncanny X-Men, in the summer of 1990. During this time, he had met an amnesiac (and de-aged) StormOpens in a new tab, and the two became partners in crime, quite literally, in New Orleans, as both of them became high end thieves. When Storm got her memory back, she convinced Gambit to follow her to the X-Men, where he eventually met Rogue. By this point in time, Rogue was a much sassier, more confident character, and because artists like Jim Lee and Marc SilvestriOpens in a new tab were drawing her, she was also way more objectified.
The early ’90s saw issue after issue of a scantily clad Rogue in Daisy Dukes telling Gambit she couldn’t be with him, because her touch would drain him of his powers and she’d hurt him. Then he’d argue back that she was worth the risk, etc. Since both characters were from the south, the constant arguing between the two was written in over-the-top Southern accents, and it read like a mutant version of Rhett Butler and Scarlett O’Hara arguing in Gone with the Wind. Opens in a new tabThis was the basis for their relationship on the X-Men animated show, which is what millions of kids grew up watching.
Eventually Rogue and Gambit did kiss–once when they thought the world was going to end. But she absorbed Gambit’s memories and learned about some bad stuff he’d done years before, causing several more years of drama. At one point, both Rogue and Gambit lost their powers and were able to be together, but more drama ensued when their powers returned. Eventually, Professor XOpens in a new tab was able to help Rogue control her powers, and for a time, she and Gambit had a real relationship. The duo parted ways after that for various reasons, but it seems that these two characters are destined to always be linked together in the minds of fans.
What do you think of Rogue and Gambit finally sharing a series together? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Images: Marvel Comics / Saban Entertainment
Make yours Marvel with these stories!
- Will Silk appearOpens in a new tab in Avengers: Infinity War?
- Read some Venom casting speculationOpens in a new tab.
- Learn about Marvel’s Old Man Hawkeye seriesOpens in a new tab.
[brightcove video_id=”5588359983001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=”rJs2ZD8x”]
