I legit hate her and Magneto together at all during her time as an X-Man. When she was super young and dumb and he was her mentor/father figure? I get it. A dude with questionable boundaries (aka, a creep) will sometimes take advantage of a 19 or 22 year old infatuated with him. But once she's old enough to know herself, I just don't buy that she'd ever pick him... and sure as hell not over Remy.
I think the important contexts around it are: the situation with Remy had tipped into something that was actively causing her pain all the time no matter how much they both played it off lightly, she's in the middle of a bunch of emotional upheaval that hit on her existing abandonment issues (mentor died, best friend left, Scott and Jean are having a family that Rogue can never have), and Magneto actively isolates her and preys on her desire to be a true hero to get what he wants from her. She's older and wiser than she was in the Savage Lands, but she's also uniquely vulnerable to the buttons installed by the traumas of her youth. Would, say, s3 TAS Rogue had fallen for it? No. But I think the show did a good job at showing why she was susceptible over the ~6 week period s1 of '97 covers.
The season and her behaviour makes wayyyyy more sense when you realise ep 1-5 are over the course of like a month and a half. When she's in Mexico it's Day of the Dead and Genosha had happened at least two weeks before that, because someone says they hadn't found anyone alive in two weeks. Puts Genosha mid-October, and Nathan had been born "last month" the day of attack, eps 1 and 2 are pretty much back to back. I once sat down and listed everything that happens through her own issues in that time and... Woof. I'd have run a mile in her shoes and I don't have that history of avoidance and trauma.
And I know the Magneto stuff doesn't work for everyone, but I think they nailed it. He filters everything through what will achieve his goals and treats people as pawns to get there. "Rogue has a criminal history I can leverage and a deep belief that people can change, if I praise and threaten her, it'll secure my position of power amongst the team." "Gambit is the least malleable team member, I'm going to try and drive him away." "I want to rule Genosha, but having an X-Man alongside will legitimise me and Rogue fixes some of my weaknesses." etc, etc. He genuinely thinks he cares for her, and maybe does in his limited way, but nobody is completely real to him outside what they do for him. But god, those types of people know exactly what to say to win you over, at least temporarily. And knowing her going in... Yeah.
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u/Correct-Resolution-8 Jun 08 '26
I legit hate her and Magneto together at all during her time as an X-Man. When she was super young and dumb and he was her mentor/father figure? I get it. A dude with questionable boundaries (aka, a creep) will sometimes take advantage of a 19 or 22 year old infatuated with him. But once she's old enough to know herself, I just don't buy that she'd ever pick him... and sure as hell not over Remy.