Rogue’s Complete Family Tree

Rogue began her Marvel career as a villain, working with her foster mothers, Mystique and Destiny, in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Rogue made a huge splash upon her debut, defeating the Avengers and draining the powers of the first Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers. Then Rogue joined the X-Men to help deal with the mental issues her powers gave her, and she soon became one of the team’s most popular members. Rogue’s mutant powers — the ability to drain the life force, powers, and memories from anyone she touched — gave her a lot of interesting stories, as she tried to master her powers and live a normal life.

Rogue’s origin remains one of the interesting aspects of her character. Her birth parents, Owen and Priscilla, abandoned their daughter at an early age. Mystique and Destiny found her, and Rogue joined an extremely robust foster family tree that connected her to the X-Men and the team’s deadliest foes. Rogue’s family tree in the X-Men comics can be looked at as a microcosm of how X-Men relationships work. Like many of her peers, her family tree can be pretty complicated and there’s some alternate universe family in there as well. However, Rogue’s dynamic family tree has endeared her to fans and made her an interesting character. Those interesting entanglements and unfolding stories have rewarded readers who pay attention long term.

Mystique Is a Parent to Multiple X-Men and Their Enemies

Mystique was born in the 19th century, her mutant shapeshifting powers slowing her aging to a crawl. Mystique met Irene Adler, the future Destiny, early in life and fell in love. The two of them made an amazing team. Mystique was a ruthless killer and the muscle of the two. Destiny’s precognitive powers made her the brains of the operation, allowing her to guide the woman she loved.

Mystique used her powers to become a top-notch assassin and spy, as well as using her powers to trick others out of their wealth. She and Destiny became wealthy beyond their wildest dreams, using their resources to fund their ongoing operations. Mystique later began a relationship with Sabretooth in the early 20th century while using the identity of deceased German spy Leni Zauber, and the two ended up having a child, Graydon Creed.

Later, Mystique would decide to make Destiny a mother, using her mutant powers to impregnate Irene. Nightcrawler was born and Mystique hid the truth of his parenthood, marrying a German baron and cheating him constantly to cover up who Nightcrawler’s actual parents were. Mystique eventually tricked the ancient mutant Azazel into thinking he was Nightcrawler’s father.

Mystique abandoned Nightcrawler and her German life and got back with Destiny, at which point the two of them found young Anne-Marie, the future Rogue. The two of them took the girl in and raised her, bringing her into the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Mystique allowed Rogue to join the X-Men to help with the strain of draining Carol Danvers’ memories, and would be an infrequent presence in her foster daughter’s life over the years.

Destiny’s Precognitive Powers Made Her an Extremely Important Mutant

Irene Adler was born blind to a wealthy Bavarian family in the 19th century. Her powers manifested as a teenager, and while she was still blind, she could see more than anyone else. Irene Adler was precognitive, her powers showing her multiple destinies of the burgeoning mutant race. Stepping into her role as Destiny, Irene found herself beginning two of the most important relationships in her life: that with the woman she would call wife, Mystique, and the clone of Nathaniel Essex named Mister Sinister.

Mystique made the perfect partner for Destiny, her powers allowing Destiny to manipulate all kinds of events. Meanwhile, Destiny and Mister Sinister would meet and talk about mutant affairs. Mystique and Destiny’s relationship was quite open, and Mystique often had romantic dalliances with Sabretooth, which led to her having a child with the villain. She and Destiny reunited back together, and the two decided to have a child of their own. Mystique altered her biology and impregnated Destiny, and Nightcrawler was born.

Amid these events, Destiny kept journals for years, writing down her visions of the future. She and Mystique eventually found the young Rogue and took her in. The couple began their own Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which would eventually become a government task force. Destiny was killed at Muir Island by the Reavers. However, Destiny was at peace because her future visions had revealed that letting herself die would ensure the existence of Krakoa at some point in the future. Destiny stayed dead for years until Mystique finally resurrected her on Krakoa. The two became their own power block on the island, and Destiny became even more important to the affairs of the mutant race than ever.

Graydon Creed Was Mystique’s First Biological Child

Mystique’s relationship with Destiny is the most important in her life, but there’s one that nears it in importance. She and Sabretooth found themselves working together often in the Cold War and while they weren’t in love in any conventional sense, there was a strong attraction between them. Mystique and Sabretooth had a child together, a son they named Graydon.

Graydon Creed wasn’t a mutant, despite both of his parents being genetically gifted, and he learned to hate the children of the atom because of his parents’ neglect. Graydon joined the Friends of Humanity, his charisma allowing him to run for public office. However, Creed was assassinated before he could be elected to any office. That wasn’t the end for Graydon, though.

Graydon came back from the dead several times, always trying to destroy mutants. Creed’s latest resurrection involved him becoming a private contractor for Orchis, traveling the multiverse and killing alternate universe versions of his father in order to transform them into a drone army that he controlled. Graydon was able to imprison Sabretooth, but his father broke out with the help of the Krakoan team of Exiles, and Sabretooth killed him once again. Graydon and Rogue had very few interactions. He rarely spent time with his mother and only battled the X-Men a few times.

Nightcrawler Became an Extremely Important Member of the X-Men

Nightcrawler is the son of Mystique and Destiny, something he only recently learned. Before that, Mystique tricked him into thinking the demonic mutant Azazel was his father, and before that he thought he was the scion of the Wagner family, who abandoned him because of monstrous looks. Nightcrawler became an outcast, although he was adopted by the witch Margali Szardos, performing in a carnival.

Due to his mutant nature, Nightcrawler caught the blame him for crimes he never committed, and he was eventually rescued by Charles Xavier. Nightcrawler joined the X-Men, forging strong relationships with Wolverine, Colossus, and Storm. It was on the X-Men that he met his foster sister Rogue after her successful battle against the Avengers. Nightcrawler and Rogue became friends, working together several times over the years.

Nightcrawler later founded Excalibur alongside Captain Britain, Phoenix II, Kitty Pryde, and Meggan, spending years fighting evil in the British Isles. He returned to the X-Men and has been a member ever since, barring a short time where he was dead. Nightcrawler is a deeply religious man, and even served as a Catholic priest for a time. On Krakoa, Nightcrawler joined the Quiet Council, helped defeat Onslaught, formed the Legionaries, and was integral to the battle against the Progenitor. Orchis transformed Nightcrawler into a demon, but was cured, and spent a short time as the Uncanny Spider-Man before rejoining his fellow X-Men.

Rogue Has Grown Into an Amazing Hero

Anne Marie’s early life was full of pain and abandonment, her mother leaving her with her domineering aunt. Anne Marie ended up running away and her mutant powers manifested. She was found by Mystique and Destiny, who realized that her unique powers could be extremely useful. Anne Marie had taken to calling herself Rogue and joined her foster mothers’ new Brotherhood of Evil Mutant team, laying waste to the Avengers all by herself.

However, Rogue held onto Carol Danvers too long and absorbed her super strength, invulnerability, and flight, as well as many of Carol’s memories. The resulting psychic anguish drove her to look to the X-Men for help, and Rogue left the Brotherhood to join the X-Men, where Charles Xavier promised to help her master her powers and sort out her mind. This was the beginning of Rogue’s amazing superhero career, one that involved her becoming a leader of the X-Men and the Avengers Unity Squad.

Rogue met the love of her life with the X-Men, Gambit, and also began relationships with Magneto and Magneto’s clone Joseph. She eventually mastered her powers, allowing her to touch people and control how much of their powers she drained. Rogue’s abilities made her a powerhouse on any team she was on. Her relationship with Mystique has had its up and downs, but there is genuine love between Rogue and both of her foster mothers, especially since Destiny returned to life. Rogue and Gambit eventually got married, and are currently helping the X-Men battle threats to mutants and humans alike.

The Age of Apocalypse is the X-Men’s most popular alternate universe. Many things were different in this reality, since Xavier was killed back when he had first met Magneto in Israel. Magneto and his new friend had already begun discussing their disparate dreams for mutantkind, and watching Xavier die prompted Magneto to embrace Charles’s dream. However, Apocalypse attacked, sensing weakness in the world, and Magneto formed his own team of X-Men to fight against the ancient mutant.

Apocalypse conquered North and South America, and Magneto moved his X-Men to Xavier’s old mansion to continue their war. Magneto met Rogue, and she became an X-Men member, forming a relationship with Gambit. Magneto promised to figure out a way to allow people to touch her, but only succeeded in allowing himself to get that close with her. This development angered Gambit, and his rage drove Magneto and Rogue together, who had been fighting feelings for each other for a long time.

Magneto married Rogue, and she became a field leader of the X-Men. She and Magneto had a child, who they named Charles after Xavier. She led the battle against Holocaust in the later stages of the war and after Apocalypse captured Magneto, led the fight against evil mutant’s capital. Magneto was able to save New York City from a human nuclear attack, or at least that’s what he told everyone. The Lehnsherr family stayed together, although Magneto’s complicity in allowing Sinister to escape and hiding the existence of the Phoenix Force and its role in saving New York led to his imprisonment him imprisoned. Tragically, Rogue’s son Charles was later killed, a victim of a demon.

Gambit Joined the X-Men and Turned His Life Completely Around

Gambit grew up in New Orleans, eventually joining the Thieves Guild. His mutant powers, which allowed him to charge objects with kinetic energy, were Omega level at first. However, he was never able to access the higher levels of it and eventually had to burn out those powers to defeat an alternate universe version of himself. Gambit got embroiled with Mister Sinister, helping the Marauders find the Morlock Tunnels in New York City. His role in that mutant massacre scarred him, and he tried to save as many mutants as he could.

Eventually, Gambit would encounter Storm and help her get back to the X-Men, upon which he would join the team. Gambit became the X-Men’s resident bad boy for a time, a smooth Cajun ladies’ man who eventually fell for the ultimate forbidden fruit, Rogue. Rogue and Gambit’s will they, won’t they relationship had some ups and downs, especially when the X-Men learned about Gambit’s role in the Morlocks’ demise.

Gambit left the X-Men for a short time, but returned and became a leader of the group, all the while continuing to pursue Rogue. Gambit and Rogue’s relationship had its peaks and valleys, but their love was true, and eventually Rogue mastered her powers. This allowed Gambit and Rogue to finally enjoy a physical relationship. The two ended up getting married and have had several adventures together, all while helping their fellow X-Men defend mutantkind.