Content Warning: There is no way to talk about Carol Danvers and Anna Marie LeBeau without discussing The Marcus Story from Avengers #200, which involved gaslighting and rape. You can read Carol Strickland’s famous essay on the issue here, information on the relationship between Carol and Rogue here, and the long-term effects of all of these things here.
Of all of Marvel’s many long-suffering heroes, Carol Danvers (Captain Marvel) and Anna Marie LeBeau (Rogue) are two that have undergone decades of growing pains to get to where they’re at today. Carol survived a troubled home life, a disastrous military career, amnesia, rape, having her powers and memories stolen from her, years in deep space battling the Brood… the list goes on. Meanwhile, Rogue hospitalized and ultimately killed the first person she kissed, fled a troubled home to be raised by a supervillain power couple before fleeing to the Xavier Institute to gain control over her wildly traumatic powerset. They share one event in common: the same issue where Carol was attacked, Rogue was the one doing the attacking, and both of their lives changed forever.
It might go without saying that these are two characters that would have been better off if they had never met, but as it stands, their first encounter gave us one of the most complicated stories of redemption vs. revenge in mainstream superhero comics: Captain Marvel vs. Rogue.
Collects: AVENGERS ANNUAL #10; UNCANNY X-MEN (1981) #158, #171 and #269; MS. MARVEL (2006) #9-10; X-MEN LEGACY (2008) #269-270; CAPTAIN MARVEL (2019) #4-5 and material from MARVEL SUPER-HEROES (1990) #11 [Read more…] about The Complicated Redemption Arcs of Carol Danvers vs. Rogue