Rogue Just Let Out Her Inner Cyclops on One of the New X-Men

“X-Manhunt” is Marvel’s latest X-Men epic, kicking off with Uncanny X-Men #11, by writer Gail Simone and artist Javier Garron. The issue lays out the basics of this new story — the X-Men teaming up with their enemies in Graymalkin Prison to apprehend Professor X after he escapes to save his daughter Xandra — but one of the strengths of Simone’s Uncanny X-Men is the way it’s able to mix the epic and the mundane, and this issue does that with a training session. Rogue has seized the reins of the X-Men in this series, taking on a group of young mutants to train in a world where mutants are constantly under attack. This issue shows that Rogue is serious about being a leader, to the point that she ends up taking a page right out of Cyclops’s book.

It’s a very ironic series of events: Rogue and Cyclops’s rivalry is one of the key parts of “From the Ashes”, the latest X-Men status quo reboot. Rogue’s team is more of an X-Men family — the main team consists of classic X-Men members like Gambit, Wolverine, Jubilee, and Nightcrawler — while Cyclops’s team is more of a military strike unit. Rogue has constantly judged Cyclops’s stewardship of his team in “From the Ashes”, but her actions in Uncanny X-Men #11 show that deep down she understands that Cyclops may be right.

Rogue Needs Her New X-Men to Learn a Painful Lesson

The Outliers are one of the most unique groups of new mutants in years. These four young mutants — Calico and her horse Ember, Ransom, Deathdream, and Jitter — appeared in Uncanny X-Men #1 and have since become the students of Rogue’s team. Since then, they’ve helped in the battle against Sarah Gaunt, started to gel as a unit and bond with the X-Men, and even were able to mostly hold their own against the Sentinel Hounds. Rogue’s team of X-Men is definitely the most well-suited group to train four young mutants, and Uncanny X-Men has featured several training sequences, with Rogue’s team using what little resources they have to create their own Danger Room.

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Uncanny X-Men #11 features a game of what is essentially tag — the Outliers are in a circle and they can’t leave it. The adult X-Men’s job is to get them out of the circle. Rogue quickly realizes that one of the problems with this exercise is that it can be rather easy on the students and feel like a fun game. So, Rogue decides that someone has to get hurt to show the kids how dangerous things can really be. She tells Gambit to pick one of them and hurt them, badly. Gambit picks Jitter — a mutant who can use the abilities and skills of anyone near her for a minute — and hits her with a fully-charged card. The explosion sends her flying out of the circle, and the kids realize that while training can be fun, it’s never a game. Jubilee goes berserk, but Wolverine and Nightcrawler both understand the reasoning behind it, even if they didn’t want it to happen. Rogue is readying these kids for a rough world and they need to always be ready for the worst.

Rogue’s Inner Cyclops Is Floating Much Closer to the Surface Than She Wants To Admit

The world of “From the Ashes” is more dangerous for mutants than ever. Orchis may be dead, but the fires of anti-mutant hatred still burn. The X-Mansion is now a prison for mutants, run by a private organization employed by the government. The anti-mutant propaganda against Krakoa still influences human society. On top of all that, Krakoa’s end fractured the union between good and evil mutants; old enemies are going to show up again and it will be bloody. If the Outliers are going to survive to become X-Men, they are going to need to be as hard as possible. And Rogue knows that.

Cyclops has taken a more militant stance with mutants since the events of House of M, and it’s a stance that Rogue hasn’t always been a fan of. In fact, Rogue was one of the first to break away from Cyclops and Utopia, even joining the Avengers Unity Squad full-time rather than join with Scott. Rogue hates that a whole generation of young mutants grew up as Cyclops’s mutant soldiers. However, Rogue also knows that while the X-Men are a family, they are also an army. So, sometimes, she’s going to have to dip into Cyclops’s bag of tricks in order to make sure her young charges have what it takes. Rogue doesn’t like Cyclops, and never wants to be him, but she’s smart enough to know what works.

Uncanny X-Men #11 is on sale now at Marvel our your local comic shop.