Most people’s familiarity with Rogue comes from the X-Men film franchise, in which she was played by Anna Paquin as a somewhat shy teenager who bonds with Wolverine. The Rogue of the comics couldn’t be more different. Drawn throughout the ‘90s and 2000s as a voluptuous bombshell in tight spandex, she was an intriguing—and haunting—combination of sensuality, attitude, and deep loneliness. Here was this ravishingly beautiful woman from Mississippi whose body was her weapon. Pardon my pun, but that is so loaded. So, pairing her with Remy LeBeau, a reckless “ragin’ Cajun” from New Orleans, was a really bold choice. Here was this lusty, womanizing thief falling for the one person he couldn’t touch—willing to give up all his secrets, even his life, just to be with her. But also willing to wait. Rogue set the boundaries of “no, really, I can’t touch you because it might kill you,” and Gambit understood. The fact that their relationship couldn’t be traditionally physical didn’t deter him one iota. He kept flirting, he kept supporting her. He didn’t give up just because skin-to-skin contact was off the table.
That is the stuff great slow-burn romances are made of, so it’s no wonder that I fell fast and I fell hard—following their every beat of their relationship and practically expiring from bliss when it was addressed on X-Men: the Animated Series as well. The cartoon ran from 1992 to 1997, introducing a whole new audience to Marvel’s mutants and my favorite pairing—albeit in a much more abbreviated form.