What is redemption? What is forgiveness? What does that mean when you’re a former Supervillain? This is a question that has come up in Marvel multiple times, with the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, with Hawkeye and Black Widow, with Magneto, and with Rogue and Gambit. But there’s the question of what the people you’ve hurt in the past think about what you’ve done and if your changes are really enough. That’s what Rogue’s solo book from this year is all about. There will be spoilers below the cut.
The focus of this one is some memories from Rogue’s Brotherhood of Mutants days that have ended up coming to the surface, of a man she’d hurt on a job. She goes on her way to try to find out the truth of what happened, and ultimately who she hurt so she could try to atone.
Now, this is a 5 issue comic, not a one shot, so there are diversions involving the Serpent Society, Rogue’s powers going on the fritz, and why exactly Rogue did it. However, honestly, while those are important to how the story plays out, I think it’s not important to what it’s about. Often, supervillain redemption stories focus on the actions and motivations of the former villain, with them trying to show that they sincerely have changed through their interior monologue, and demonstrating that to the public with their actions. What rarely, if ever comes up, is what the people they wronged in the past think about it.
On the other hand, something I’ve noticed post “#MeToo” is that there has been a growing acceptance in narratives that no matter how sincere a person may be in their desire to change their ways and become a better person. My Hero Academia and Endeavour is a real good recent example of this, with Shoto Todoroki’s siblings not accepting his regrets and apologies – and that being depicted as okay by Shoto, Deku, and Endeavour – and thus to the reader.
The same applies to Rogue. Over the course of the story, we learn that on a job she briefly absorbed Sabertooth’s powers (reminder – Sabertooth and Mystique shacked up for a bit, that’s how Grayson Creed happened). She then couldn’t keep control on Sabertooth’s rage and bloodlust and maimed a guard. Notably – as far as the former guard is concerned now, that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that she wasn’t in control of her actions then, or that she’s in control now, or even that she’s saved the world multiple times and has even been an Avenger. She destroyed his life, so when in the end they have a face-to-face confrontation that’s what matters – and she accepts it.
This is not to say that the ending doesn’t have a little hop. The writer has her victim be a self hating mutant who is also very bigoted against mutants. Now, this isn’t to say that self-hating members of minority populations don’t exist – I’ve encountered more than a few self-hating autistic people who are ableist. That said, it feels like that particular decision was made because someone involved (whether the writer or an editor) didn’t trust the reader to still be on board with Rogue as a protagonist after this – that we would lose trust with her as well.
That’s unfortunate, because forgiveness and atonement are complicated. A person can do bad things to good people, realize they were wrong, change their ways, not be forgiven by the people they wronged, but still be changed, and it’s okay for some people to decide to accept them after they’ve changed and demonstrated their a better person, and it’s also okay if some people don’t accept them.
That said, this is an incredibly good miniseries, and if you missed out on the character minis because maybe you thought Storm’s book wasn’t quite landing for you, then give this another try.
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