Rogue Fact — October 23, 2026

Today's Fact

Verified against multiple independent sources. Issues cited below.

ROGUE'S DEBUT WAS CANCELLED — SHE WAITED 13 YEARS TO STEAL CAROL DANVERS' POWERS!

The Featured Fact

Rogue is famous for permanently stealing Carol Danvers' powers — but that theft was supposed to happen two years earlier, in a comic that never came out. Writer Chris Claremont created Rogue for Ms. Marvel #25 (1979), where the young Brotherhood recruit would absorb Danvers' powers and dump her in San Francisco Bay. Half the artwork was finished — then Marvel abruptly cancelled Ms. Marvel after #23, and Rogue's debut went into a drawer.

Claremont salvaged the character in Avengers Annual #10 (1981), drawn by Michael Golden — Rogue's first published appearance, where she single-handedly mauls the Avengers and the Danvers theft is revealed in flashback. Readers met the finished crime before they ever saw it committed.

The original crime scene finally saw print 13 years later: Marvel Super Heroes vol. 2 #11 (1992) completed the abandoned 1979 story, making it Rogue's first chronological appearance — a debut published more than a decade after the sequel. Claremont's only design note to Golden, by the way: model her on Grace Jones, white streaks included. Golden didn't know who Grace Jones was — so he drew someone else entirely.

Why It's Obscure

Rogue's debut in Avengers Annual #10 is famous. Her actual first story sat half-drawn in a drawer for 13 years — killed when Ms. Marvel was cancelled under it, and printed long after she had already become an X-Man.

1979

Ms. Marvel #25, “Cry Vengeance” — Rogue's intended debut is half-pencilled when the series is cancelled after #23. The story sits unpublished for 13 years.

1981

Avengers Annual #10 — Rogue debuts in print as a conscience-free Brotherhood villain raised by Mystique, having already stolen Danvers' powers off-panel.

1982

Rom #31 & Uncanny X-Men #158 — Rogue's second appearances and first covers, still a villain, a year before joining the X-Men in #171 (1983).

1992

Marvel Super Heroes vol. 2 #11 — The lost 1979 pages are completed and printed at last, retroactively becoming Rogue's earliest appearance in continuity order.

Gallery

Art from Rogue's Uncanny Avengers era — no AI imagery, nothing mislabeled.

Comic art of Rogue in her green costume — **Rogue, Green & Gold**Rogue in her classic green costume — the look Michael Golden gave her after the Grace Jones brief went sideways.

Comic cover art featuring Rogue — **The Villain Who Became an X-Man**Rogue began as Mystique's weapon against the Avengers; within two years of her rescued debut she was begging the X-Men for help — and joining them.

Sources

Every claim above is verified against at least two of these independent sources.

Bullpen Bulletins

Rogue — WikipediaVerifies: Rogue was first slated for Ms. Marvel #25 in 1979, artwork half-completed, cancelled, printed in Marvel Super Heroes vol. 2 #11 in 1992; first published appearance Avengers Annual #10 (1981); Grace Jones design note.
Rogue's Lost Supervillain Past — CBRVerifies: Claremont rethought the debut after cancellation; the 1992 Marvel Super-Heroes #10–11 completed the abandoned Ms. Marvel #24–25 inventory story.
Going Rogue — GoCollectVerifies: Marvel Super Heroes #11 (1992) is Rogue's first chronological appearance, from the unpublished 1979 Ms. Marvel story.