Rouge

Her parents, Owen and Priscilla, married early in their relationship and lived in a back-to-nature hippie commune in Caldecott County, Mississippi. Born as Anna Marie, she also enjoyed the attentions of her Aunt Carrie, on her mother's side. Anna Marie was raised speaking colloquial English and French, common to the Mississippi bayou area. The commune's failed attempt to use Native American mysticism to reach the 'Far Banks' resulted in Priscilla's disappearance. Carrie took over Anna's care, and in her grief at the loss of her sister, was a strict and authoritarian guardian. Anna Marie was a rebellious child and at some point, the exact event or reasons still unclear, she ran away from home as a young teenager.

At some point, Rogue grew close to a boy named Cody Robbins. During their flirtation, she impulsively kissed Cody, at which point her latent mutant power to absorb the life energy and psyche of others with skin-to-skin contact emerged. Rogue was traumatized by the experience, and Cody was left in a permanent coma. Hence, Rogue wore body-concealing clothing that eliminated the possibility of accidental skin contact. She wished she "did not have to cover up so much around folks," to protect them from her. She thought her power was a curse.

Not long after, she was approached by Mystique, who sought her out on the advice of her precognitive partner Destiny. Mystique ultimately takes Rogue in as a daughter. In time, however, Mystique turned Rogue's loneliness, envy, bitterness, and despair into anger, thus recruiting her into the Brotherhood of Mutants.