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X-Men ’97’s episode “Remember It” gave audiences the first ever depiction of the Genoshan genocide, the most recognized tragedy within the X-Men’s lore. Until now, we’ve only ever seen this genocide depicted and mentioned within the Marvel comics. Rogue being one of the survivors gives us an up-close point of view of the before and after of Genosha. Here, we get to see the reality of being a mutant in the Marvel Universe firsthand. Genosha’s genocide marks the biggest killing of mutants in the history of Marvel Universe. Though this is the biggest attack on mutants, it’s not the only one.
Mutants have been getting massacred and dealing with numerous war crimes being committed against them throughout the years. Especially in the comic books, mutants don’t ever get peace or a reprieve. Every time mutants try to create a space for themselves away from humans (Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, The Morlock Tunnels, Asteroid M, Genosha, Utopia, Jean Grey’s School for Gifted Youngsters, Krakoa, Arakko) regardless of where they are or how peaceful they are, eventually the status quo always gets set back to “another month, another mutant massacre.”
Charles Xavier’s dream of mutants and humans coexisting peacefully feels hard to believe in when this is the result of mutants existing in their own space (or just existing in general), which brings me back to this iteration of Rogue in X-Men ’97. While the X-Men are grieving the death of their golden-hearted draft pick Gambit, Rogue is healing in her own way… by getting the people responsible for this shit: the creator of the sentinels, Boliver Trask, and the man that funded the sentinel program, Henry Gyrich. Instead of attending the funeral for the man that she loved, Rogue is on a main story mission to get her lick back – not a side quest in sight. Ya Southern Belle is locked-in as she busts into a government bunker with her Marvel vs. Capcom 2 move set to find the man that she needs to put on a t-shirt.
Bulls Rogue On Parade
First and foremost, I wanna make it clear that Rogue’s actions during this entire episode were entirely justified. The only thing she did wrong was not hit someone with her newly invented upside-down piledriver. A beautiful thing about X-Men ’97 is how it can call back to different points in time within the X-men comic books. Even though we’re talking about Genosha in the show, there are certain moments that felt like they were homages to the recent Krakoa era of X-Men comics. Krakoa was the second attempt of an island paradise for mutants, but this time they’d give the world miracle drugs that cured diseases and extended human life. All the mutants asked for in return was the recognition of Krakoa as their own sovereign nation. Long story short, humans showed their entire ass and proceeded to mess with them mutants once again by creating a whole S.H.I.E.L.D.-like organization called Orchis to slander and hinder mutants in any way possible.
When Orchis started legally detaining, exiling, and even killing mutants, this is one of the first times we get to see the X-Men matching their enemy’s energy. If your oppressor knows all they need to do is use violence against you because you’re going to turn the other cheek, then they’re going to use that method to their advantage. The X-Men even saved a member of Orchis (which was dumb as hell to me) following that belief that they must be better than their enemies. I never understood this belief when it pertains to people trying to kill you because they believe you to be “less than” – all you’re doing is giving your oppressors and enemies another chance to kill you. In the comics, Kitty Pryde shows us who the X-Men are when they stop turning the other cheek. Rogue does the exact same thing and when told, “I thought you were one of the good guys” she paraphrases the exact same line Kitty says to her ops.
Honestly, I didn’t expect X-Men ’97 to have this type of energy. They could have gone for an easy cash grab but they said, “nah, we breaking new ground with social commentary, homages and character development.” I wasn’t expecting to see Rogue out here getting it in the mud for the entirety of this episode, however, I am so glad that this is the approach that was taken. Not only is she given her own agency but we see how Rogue’s reaction to the mass killing of her people is put under a microscope by others. We hear about mutants protesting in the streets and riots ensuing. It then gets commented on that sure, they got a right to be angry but “that’s not the way to go about it”. We’ve been seeing mutants and X-Men having to be policed on their reactions to events. How you tone police someone in regards to 33-to-1,000 foot tall robots trying to kill them is wild work to me.
That Five-Sided Fistagon
I find it ironic that when an oppressed group gets attacked, their reaction is the one that gets scrutinized – not the actions of the oppressor. The first thing Captain America tells Rogue is that, “the attack on Genosha wasn’t just an attack on mutants. It shames us all but rampaging across the country dishonors those that died.” That ain’t how you ally, fam. This genocide should shame humans because it was done in their name and it was strictly against one specific group: mutants. Telling this woman, who lost her people and the men that she loved, that her actions disgrace those that died is a wild statement. The problem here is that Captain America is talking to Rogue like she is a fellow superhero. She isn’t. In my eyes? The X-Men are freedom fighters. Not superheroes.
Superheroes go on adventures, go on patrol and stop petty crimes. The X-Men go on missions to stop war crimes. They keep humans from attacking mutants and mutants from attacking humans. They are liaisons and ambassadors to human and mutant relations at best. At the heart of it all, the X-Men are freedom fighters/revolutionaries fighting for equal rights of their people. Captain America is a superhero, who believes in the American court system. Let’s not forget, the X-Men handed Boliver Trask over to the authorities for their court system. Now, all of a sudden, no one knows where he is after this genocide goes off and he’s being moved around. Nah, they tried things the “right” way – now it’s time for a much more direct approach.
For years in comics, Captain America and the Avengers haven’t been seen or heard when it comes to these numerous mutant tragedies. They’ve come to the X-men’s front door sometimes to ask them to get involved in their own issues (Civil War) or to tell the X-Men to hand over one of their own to their custody (Avengers vs X-Men). This has been something finally addressed in more recent comic books where we see Avengers aiding the X-Men and Tony Stark being set up as a huge ally to mutants. That’s all well and good (if not performative), but also Captain America and The Avengers having a blindspot to mutant tragedies over the years is an example of how not every hero is perfect, gets everything right, or can be everything to everyone.
Steve Rogers is supposed to reflect not the American government but the American dream. When America is doing some messed up shit, Steve is ready to be anti-establishment and for the cause. However, we see when it comes down to heading over to Mexico to get Henry Gyrich, politics trump Steve’s allyship. The government been playing in the face of the X-Men for the entire season. The authorities that should be holding Gyrich and Trask responsible aren’t, the President ain’t doing shit for mutants cause it’ll affect his poll numbers, and now Captain America talking about red tape, optics, and politics. Rogue chucking Steve’s shield five states over was the only logical response to the situation. Rogue didn’t launch that b**** outta spite and pettiness (only). She yeeted that ultimate frisbee to show her frustration for a government that should be doing something instead of nothing. Sound familiar?
*Zach Morris pause* Just in case that last part didn’t sound familiar, lemme break the 4th wall to inform you that we are seeing an entire genocide happening over in Palestine. It didn’t just start on October 7th, 2023 – it’s been in effect for nearly 80 years. It’s ironic that Steve Rogers was talking about needing government approval before he could help Rogue out by getting the extradited Henry Gyrich (who funded the sentinel program) from another country because in the real world, America is Henry Gyrich. America been funding the genocide that Israel has been committing. It’s real hard to believe in the system of justice when a reason for the banning of TikTok is because Palestinians have been showing the world the violence being used against them in Gaza, which is directly countering the Israeli propaganda of what’s been happening. My mutie, Senator Pete Ricketts (who is pro ban) said “Pro-Palestine content has more reach than the top US news websites combined.” Translation: “hey, Tiktok helping to push out facts faster than our propaganda can. They gotta go, y’all.” This is the situation we dealing with. The X-Men are an allegory for groups of people facing discrimination. It’s art imitating life. The people of Palestine been showing us the reality of the horror in their day-to-day lives so that what’s being done to them isn’t sugar-coated or swept under the rug. *Unpause*
Here Is Something You Can’t Understand, How I Could Just Kill A Man
Rogue dropping the beat Boliver Trask in front of her team is the most human and logical thing she could have done. There’s no moral high ground taller than the death toll of Genosha. Look at the numbers: the mutant population before the attack was 17,508,236 (25% of earth’s population). The attack killed 16,521,618 mutants (dropping mutants to 14% of Earth’s population). There is no handing Trask back to the authorities because the President already said the optics of this shit too crazy. Trask may even get off for his crimes cause a jury of peers ain’t mutant-friendly. Trask was all too willing to “get his life back” with the help of Mr. Sinister but when he saw that death toll on Genosha, now he wanna grow a conscience? Trask the type of dude to order mad shit at a restaurant then when the bill comes and he sees the prices, all the sudden he get amnesia over what he ate.
All Rogue did was remind this man of the consequences of his actions. Trask doesn’t get to have a change of heart when we all up in the thick of it. He was fine killing mutants when it was in the hundreds but once he went platinum and killing millions, now he wanna find God? Cool, Rogue reschedule that meet-and-greet with his maker then. Looking back, we can see that Xavier’s dream of existence was really steeped in respectability politics. The X-Men went out on dangerous missions to have humanity’s back and to show that mutants can be trusted. They risked their lives to get mutants a seat at the table just to exist. This is how humanity thanked them. You might be saying this is more Sinister’s fault than Trask and that Sinister is a mutant. Nope, Mr. Sinister is a human that experimented on mutants for years then used their genome to make himself one.
Throughout the original X-Men animated series, mutants got discriminated against, rounded up, put into slave labor, and told to leave – so they did and they made something of their own. They couldn’t do that in peace, and when Rogue sought justice revenge a reckoning, she got told that it’s not the right way to go about it. The West/politicians love to talk about proper procedure and paperwork in order to keep things within the system and to keep the wheel turning. We watched Rogue break the spokes on that wheel. Sure, there’s bound to be consequences for her actions. She busted a military base up, but she ain’t hurt anyone. Rogue’s going to get in trouble for damaging property and not working with the system that has continually failed her and mutants.
Wolverine said it besWolverine said it best, Rogue did what they all wanted to do. Maybe it was the shock of the moment but not one X-Man that coulda helped Trask did. Jean caught a whole building and launched that shit like an NFL quarterback over half the city into a nearby ocean. Jean ain’t do nothing when Trask fell. Nightcrawler can teleport (though velocity is an issue when someone is falling). Nightcrawler was church mouse quiet. Morph has turned into mutants that can fly and we saw him not even 5 minutes later change into a speedster. Morph ain’t change nothing about that scenario but he wanna ask, “Is this who we are now?” My mutie, this is who the X-Men have always been, it’s just that this time, your enemies made it impossible for you to turn the other cheek.
In the end, Rogue was right. Remember it.
For more of Rogue’s mental state as an empath check out:
Rogue: Play With Her In the Danger Room But Don’t Play With Her Emotions
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The post Rogue Against The Machine: Superheroes Don’t Kill but Freedom Fighters Do appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
X-Men ’97’s episode “Remember It” gave audiences the first ever depiction of the Genoshan genocide, the most recognized tragedy within the X-Men’s lore. Until now, we’ve only ever seen this genocide depicted and mentioned within the Marvel comics. Rogue being one of the survivors gives us an up-close point of view of the before and after of Genosha. Here, we get to see the reality of being a mutant in the Marvel Universe firsthand. Genosha’s genocide marks the biggest killing of mutants in the history of Marvel Universe. Though this is the biggest attack on mutants, it’s not the only one.
Mutants have been getting massacred and dealing with numerous war crimes being committed against them throughout the years. Especially in the comic books, mutants don’t ever get peace or a reprieve. Every time mutants try to create a space for themselves away from humans (Charles Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, The Morlock Tunnels, Asteroid M, Genosha, Utopia, Jean Grey’s School for Gifted Youngsters, Krakoa, Arakko) regardless of where they are or how peaceful they are, eventually the status quo always gets set back to “another month, another mutant massacre.”
Charles Xavier’s dream of mutants and humans coexisting peacefully feels hard to believe in when this is the result of mutants existing in their own space (or just existing in general), which brings me back to this iteration of Rogue in X-Men ’97. While the X-Men are grieving the death of their golden-hearted draft pick Gambit, Rogue is healing in her own way… by getting the people responsible for this shit: the creator of the sentinels, Boliver Trask, and the man that funded the sentinel program, Henry Gyrich. Instead of attending the funeral for the man that she loved, Rogue is on a main story mission to get her lick back – not a side quest in sight. Ya Southern Belle is locked-in as she busts into a government bunker with her Marvel vs. Capcom 2 move set to find the man that she needs to put on a t-shirt.
Bulls Rogue On Parade
First and foremost, I wanna make it clear that Rogue’s actions during this entire episode were entirely justified. The only thing she did wrong was not hit someone with her newly invented upside-down piledriver. A beautiful thing about X-Men ’97 is how it can call back to different points in time within the X-men comic books. Even though we’re talking about Genosha in the show, there are certain moments that felt like they were homages to the recent Krakoa era of X-Men comics. Krakoa was the second attempt of an island paradise for mutants, but this time they’d give the world miracle drugs that cured diseases and extended human life. All the mutants asked for in return was the recognition of Krakoa as their own sovereign nation. Long story short, humans showed their entire ass and proceeded to mess with them mutants once again by creating a whole S.H.I.E.L.D.-like organization called Orchis to slander and hinder mutants in any way possible.
When Orchis started legally detaining, exiling, and even killing mutants, this is one of the first times we get to see the X-Men matching their enemy’s energy. If your oppressor knows all they need to do is use violence against you because you’re going to turn the other cheek, then they’re going to use that method to their advantage. The X-Men even saved a member of Orchis (which was dumb as hell to me) following that belief that they must be better than their enemies. I never understood this belief when it pertains to people trying to kill you because they believe you to be “less than” – all you’re doing is giving your oppressors and enemies another chance to kill you. In the comics, Kitty Pryde shows us who the X-Men are when they stop turning the other cheek. Rogue does the exact same thing and when told, “I thought you were one of the good guys” she paraphrases the exact same line Kitty says to her ops.
Honestly, I didn’t expect X-Men ’97 to have this type of energy. They could have gone for an easy cash grab but they said, “nah, we breaking new ground with social commentary, homages and character development.” I wasn’t expecting to see Rogue out here getting it in the mud for the entirety of this episode, however, I am so glad that this is the approach that was taken. Not only is she given her own agency but we see how Rogue’s reaction to the mass killing of her people is put under a microscope by others. We hear about mutants protesting in the streets and riots ensuing. It then gets commented on that sure, they got a right to be angry but “that’s not the way to go about it”. We’ve been seeing mutants and X-Men having to be policed on their reactions to events. How you tone police someone in regards to 33-to-1,000 foot tall robots trying to kill them is wild work to me.
That Five-Sided Fistagon
I find it ironic that when an oppressed group gets attacked, their reaction is the one that gets scrutinized – not the actions of the oppressor. The first thing Captain America tells Rogue is that, “the attack on Genosha wasn’t just an attack on mutants. It shames us all but rampaging across the country dishonors those that died.” That ain’t how you ally, fam. This genocide should shame humans because it was done in their name and it was strictly against one specific group: mutants. Telling this woman, who lost her people and the men that she loved, that her actions disgrace those that died is a wild statement. The problem here is that Captain America is talking to Rogue like she is a fellow superhero. She isn’t. In my eyes? The X-Men are freedom fighters. Not superheroes.
Superheroes go on adventures, go on patrol and stop petty crimes. The X-Men go on missions to stop war crimes. They keep humans from attacking mutants and mutants from attacking humans. They are liaisons and ambassadors to human and mutant relations at best. At the heart of it all, the X-Men are freedom fighters/revolutionaries fighting for equal rights of their people. Captain America is a superhero, who believes in the American court system. Let’s not forget, the X-Men handed Boliver Trask over to the authorities for their court system. Now, all of a sudden, no one knows where he is after this genocide goes off and he’s being moved around. Nah, they tried things the “right” way – now it’s time for a much more direct approach.
For years in comics, Captain America and the Avengers haven’t been seen or heard when it comes to these numerous mutant tragedies. They’ve come to the X-men’s front door sometimes to ask them to get involved in their own issues (Civil War) or to tell the X-Men to hand over one of their own to their custody (Avengers vs X-Men). This has been something finally addressed in more recent comic books where we see Avengers aiding the X-Men and Tony Stark being set up as a huge ally to mutants. That’s all well and good (if not performative), but also Captain America and The Avengers having a blindspot to mutant tragedies over the years is an example of how not every hero is perfect, gets everything right, or can be everything to everyone.
Steve Rogers is supposed to reflect not the American government but the American dream. When America is doing some messed up shit, Steve is ready to be anti-establishment and for the cause. However, we see when it comes down to heading over to Mexico to get Henry Gyrich, politics trump Steve’s allyship. The government been playing in the face of the X-Men for the entire season. The authorities that should be holding Gyrich and Trask responsible aren’t, the President ain’t doing shit for mutants cause it’ll affect his poll numbers, and now Captain America talking about red tape, optics, and politics. Rogue chucking Steve’s shield five states over was the only logical response to the situation. Rogue didn’t launch that b**** outta spite and pettiness (only). She yeeted that ultimate frisbee to show her frustration for a government that should be doing something instead of nothing. Sound familiar?
*Zach Morris pause* Just in case that last part didn’t sound familiar, lemme break the 4th wall to inform you that we are seeing an entire genocide happening over in Palestine. It didn’t just start on October 7th, 2023 – it’s been in effect for nearly 80 years. It’s ironic that Steve Rogers was talking about needing government approval before he could help Rogue out by getting the extradited Henry Gyrich (who funded the sentinel program) from another country because in the real world, America is Henry Gyrich. America been funding the genocide that Israel has been committing. It’s real hard to believe in the system of justice when a reason for the banning of TikTok is because Palestinians have been showing the world the violence being used against them in Gaza, which is directly countering the Israeli propaganda of what’s been happening. My mutie, Senator Pete Ricketts (who is pro ban) said “Pro-Palestine content has more reach than the top US news websites combined.” Translation: “hey, Tiktok helping to push out facts faster than our propaganda can. They gotta go, y’all.” This is the situation we dealing with. The X-Men are an allegory for groups of people facing discrimination. It’s art imitating life. The people of Palestine been showing us the reality of the horror in their day-to-day lives so that what’s being done to them isn’t sugar-coated or swept under the rug. *Unpause*
Here Is Something You Can’t Understand, How I Could Just Kill A Man
Rogue dropping the beat Boliver Trask in front of her team is the most human and logical thing she could have done. There’s no moral high ground taller than the death toll of Genosha. Look at the numbers: the mutant population before the attack was 17,508,236 (25% of earth’s population). The attack killed 16,521,618 mutants (dropping mutants to 14% of Earth’s population). There is no handing Trask back to the authorities because the President already said the optics of this shit too crazy. Trask may even get off for his crimes cause a jury of peers ain’t mutant-friendly. Trask was all too willing to “get his life back” with the help of Mr. Sinister but when he saw that death toll on Genosha, now he wanna grow a conscience? Trask the type of dude to order mad shit at a restaurant then when the bill comes and he sees the prices, all the sudden he get amnesia over what he ate.
All Rogue did was remind this man of the consequences of his actions. Trask doesn’t get to have a change of heart when we all up in the thick of it. He was fine killing mutants when it was in the hundreds but once he went platinum and killing millions, now he wanna find God? Cool, Rogue reschedule that meet-and-greet with his maker then. Looking back, we can see that Xavier’s dream of existence was really steeped in respectability politics. The X-Men went out on dangerous missions to have humanity’s back and to show that mutants can be trusted. They risked their lives to get mutants a seat at the table just to exist. This is how humanity thanked them. You might be saying this is more Sinister’s fault than Trask and that Sinister is a mutant. Nope, Mr. Sinister is a human that experimented on mutants for years then used their genome to make himself one.
Throughout the original X-Men animated series, mutants got discriminated against, rounded up, put into slave labor, and told to leave – so they did and they made something of their own. They couldn’t do that in peace, and when Rogue sought justice revenge a reckoning, she got told that it’s not the right way to go about it. The West/politicians love to talk about proper procedure and paperwork in order to keep things within the system and to keep the wheel turning. We watched Rogue break the spokes on that wheel. Sure, there’s bound to be consequences for her actions. She busted a military base up, but she ain’t hurt anyone. Rogue’s going to get in trouble for damaging property and not working with the system that has continually failed her and mutants.
Wolverine said it besWolverine said it best, Rogue did what they all wanted to do. Maybe it was the shock of the moment but not one X-Man that coulda helped Trask did. Jean caught a whole building and launched that shit like an NFL quarterback over half the city into a nearby ocean. Jean ain’t do nothing when Trask fell. Nightcrawler can teleport (though velocity is an issue when someone is falling). Nightcrawler was church mouse quiet. Morph has turned into mutants that can fly and we saw him not even 5 minutes later change into a speedster. Morph ain’t change nothing about that scenario but he wanna ask, “Is this who we are now?” My mutie, this is who the X-Men have always been, it’s just that this time, your enemies made it impossible for you to turn the other cheek.
In the end, Rogue was right. Remember it.
For more of Rogue’s mental state as an empath check out:
Rogue: Play With Her In the Danger Room But Don’t Play With Her Emotions
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The post Rogue Against The Machine: Superheroes Don’t Kill but Freedom Fighters Do appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.
Lucasfilm revealed a new live-action Star Wars television series at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim in spring 2022. The show from MCU Spider-Man trilogy director Jon Watts and writer Chris Ford sounds like a Goonies-style adventure set in a galaxy far, far away.
According to Collider, director Jon Watts shared a release window for the series during a CCXP interview. The director noted that Star Wars: Skeleton Crew would release around Christmas, giving the series a December 2024 release window.
Here’s what we know about Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.
Title
The title of the upcoming Star Wars live-action TV series is Star Wars: Skeleton Crew.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew‘s Plot
We know a few details about the plot of Skeleton Crew. The story will take place in the New Republic era. That’s the same timeline as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka. It centers on a group of children lost in space.
A synopsis for the series shares:
“Skeleton Crew” follows the journey of four kids who make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet, then get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy. Finding their way home—and meeting unlikely allies and enemies—will be a greater adventure than they ever imagined.
Behind the Scenes
Jon Watts directs Skeleton Crew and Chris Ford is writing on the series. The duo created the show. Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau provide producing support. Skeleton Crew was production since at least September 2022, as the creatives shared an image from the set at D23 Expo during that time. The series is now done with production.
Directors include Watts, Ford, David Lowery, the Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Jake Schreier, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Lee Isaac Chung.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew‘s Cast
The first cast member Lucasfilm confirmed for Skeleton Crew was Jude Law. Joining Law on the journey are Ravi Cabot-Conyers, Kyriana Kratter, Robert Timothy Smith, and Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Tunde Adebimpe, and Kerry Condon.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew‘s Release Date
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew doesn’t have a release date yet. However, Disney+ has confirmed that this Star Wars series will arrive in 2024.
Originally published on September 22, 2022.
The post STAR WARS: SKELETON CREW Shares December 2024 Release Window appeared first on Nerdist.
Episode seven, “Bright Eyes,” highlighted the all-might power of the X-Men juggernaut Rogue. She spun kicked her revenge journey into high gear, foregoing the funeral of her beloved to find Boliver Trask and stop the mayhem. It’d be super easy to talk about grief and how we all go through it differently. It’d be a cakewalk to address all the easter eggs and the excitement of Mystique babies working through their issues together. Instead, I’m bringing it from the chest and using my power to talk about what an empath and Rogue have in common…deep trauma and the long journey to controlling your powers.
Before I continue, one disclaimer. I am a Saturday morning cartoons baby who grew up watching the X-Men animated series weekly and on every rerun. I KNOW the comics go HARD. I have not had the pleasure of experiencing the comics outside of what my friends and the internet have told me. For this reason, I can only speak to my knowledge of the 90s X-Men cartoon and the new X-Men ‘97 series. The way my brain and life are set up – if I could get a motion comic for every issue and graphic novel – I’d be diamond (wink face). I hope you are still in it to take this journey into my connection to this character and how she shapes my existence.
“All Ah See Is Love, Such As Ah Never Had”
Picture it. You are arguing with your partner, and emotions begin to escalate. You’re normally someone who goes to anxiety, nervousness, and sadness before getting straight to anger. You don’t even know why you are angry. It doesn’t make any sense! You look at your partner, and they are fuming. You realize – it’s not me, it’s you! That is the simplest form of empath energy that I could describe. It’s overwhelming and uncontrollable. So, the first time I watched Rogue cry on X-Men as a kid, it hit me through the screen. The overwhelming nature of everyone else’s powers surging through your body and not knowing how to focus on one or the other. What are your powers? Who are you really? On top of all of the questions, not being able to touch! Imagine your love language is physical touch, and you can even have that skin-to-skin. I know We all know this is Rogue’s journey and always has been. So when we see her with no reservations – it’s a whole new b-ball game.
At the beginning of the X-Men ‘97 series, Rogue looked bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. She and Gambit were giving homecoming king and queen, serving powdered sugar on beignets kind of love. Like they’ve been risking it all and holding hands with no gloves. Putting Gambit to bed. I find myself living vicariously through Rogue at these moments. I remember back in the day, her lamenting over a “normal” life. Oh, what a life it’d be just to kiss a boy and him not fall into a coma or touch someone’s hand without taking on their energy. For an empath, this all comes too close to home.
“I can’t turn it off but maybe I can control it.”
For anyone who is new to the idea of an empath, it is what it sounds like. Someone with a high level of empathy. Although the level of empathy is plus ultra, people with this unique power can (as the wellness site Healthline puts it) “actually sense and feel emotions as if they’re part of your own experience. In other words, someone else’s pain and happiness become your pain and happiness.” I don’t quite know how one develops this ability, but hey, mutants don’t get to choose their power, do they. I know as a small child, I experienced immense levels of loss in my family. Combined with my Virgo sense of inner analysis and the desire to understand feelings rather than feel them, it gave me a strong level of common sense and emotional intelligence. Maybe this unlocked my mutant gene because I could also be overwhelmed by them and not know why. Until I saw Rogue, I watched her be afflicted with the powers of so many she had touched and unable to control it. I said – I think that’s me! I can feel exactly what you are feeling, as if they are my own emotions as if it is physically happening to me. What does this bring? Anxiety and being easily overwhelmed just to exist with the desire just to sit quietly and not feel what everyone else is feeling.
As Rogue struggled in the original 90’s series to control her abilities and use them for good, I, too, was learning what it all meant. I began to “therapize” my friends and my family. I became an experiential learner and built up a tolerance to feelings as I did as a young child with grief and loss. I make it make sense for myself and everyone. But inside, it builds and is a cycle of overwhelming emotions. So what happens to an empath when the levy of emotions and powers breaks? Well, sugah, I hope you were watching episode seven.
“I’ve been lookin’ a long time for this”
Rogue’s journey to control and accept her powers took a different path. Craving a life with the gloves off, she even ventured to remove the mutant gene from her body and found her way to acceptance and beautiful pride. But that overwhelming pool of power is always brimming. When Magneto came into the picture, she felt true touch for the first time. When he showed up in his most cunty attire with a silver fox stare – I can’t blame Rogue for reserving a few sessions in the danger room, you know, just to stay sharp. But lest we forget that feeling of content. A much-needed moment of quiet and stillness where the waters of overwhelming emotions and powers sitting in your chest are calm. There is no confusion or need to be present in someone else’s power. That is what Gambit presents. Dare I say, the best of both worlds? So, one fated night in Genosha was not all that it was. It was a damn of undeniable power being blasted open, and you know there was no need to slow the overwhelming flood any longer.
“Got some real power behind that one”
Magneto had said Rogue, be my queen, and Gambit had taken the toxic masculinity of the world and burned it up in a plasma-burst joker card. We were watching it all but not paying attention cuz we were looking at the woman in the red dress. She floated in, ready to tell Magneto that D-magnetism is unforgettable, but there’s nothing like my sugah satisfying me from the inside out. Watching her loves sacrifice themselves for the good of all those she cares for – nah we ain’t saying goodbye.
Rogue telling Captain American to respectively F off and kick in the door, waving the four four – fingers, that is. She was ready to kiss Cyclops on the cheek and open her eyes to Trask and whoever the hell in the OZT because why not? We saw exactly what happens when all the knowledge acquired through all those she has touched or touched her was given controlled focus yet no boundaries. When her friends found her, they knew Rogue was on her phoenix saga—birthing herself from the ashes. Nightcrawler said I feel you sis and there was her moment of zen. Those tears…I’ve felt those tears. The grief and power and acknowledgment that what you have to do to carry on will be difficult for everyone else to witness.
“Ah made mah choice, and ah’ll live with it.”
The hard part about being an empath is releasing your genuine emotions. They can overwhelm anyone in their path. Tears can affect any person on a cellular level; they’ll do anything to stop you crying. I learned this quickly. One of the first times I felt overwhelmed, I saw in people’s eyes how much they were in pain seeing me. It was a vicious cycle. I then felt their pain that was not my own and had to stop it in its tracks. It means you cannot release your power. You cannot let it be in its full form for fear that those around you will not understand and unable to withstand it all. There comes a time when none of that matters. Rogue took Trask by the collar and, with no hesitation, not a second thought. She dropped him, and I slow clapped. Morph said, “Is this who we are?” That’s my secret Morph, I’ve always been this.
They say that when someone transitions, their energy is spread infinitely through the earth and cosmos. You better believe Rogue felt that ish.
The capacity has always been within her, and now the world has seen the beginning of what she is capable of. This isn’t to say empaths are sitting with the wrath of all emotions, waiting to be freed. No. But they can turn real emotions into actual power. Tell them you see them, learn how to speak their language and give them the opportunities of zen and places of clarity. They are holding a lot—especially these days.
For more of Rogue’s revenge check out Rogue Against The Machine: Superheroes Don’t Kill But Freedom Fighters Do.
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The post Rogue: Play With Her In the Danger Room But Don’t Play With Her Emotions appeared first on Black Nerd Problems.