WARNING: This contains SPOILERS for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
How and when the MCU will properly introduce the X-Men is still a mystery, but the franchise already has the perfect setup to improve a character the Fox films failed. While the X-Men franchise was solid enough to endure for two decades, the movies had their up and downs – especially regarding how certain characters were treated. At the same time that names like Professor X and Magneto were front and center in almost every film, the portrayal of many mutants never lived up to their comic book potential.
Now that the original X-Men franchise has ended with The New Mutants, a movie that was released after Disney's acquisition of Fox, the X-Men will have a new home in the MCU. Although Patrick Stewart reprises his role as Professor X in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it is a variant that was not the same character as the ones in the Fox films, and it is likely that the MCU's X-Men will be a complete reboot. Either way, the question remains of how the concept of mutants will be introduced, and options like the radiation emitted from Thanos' snap activating the X-gene or the X-Men being a result of a multiversal incursion have been speculated.
Whatever option the MCU chooses, the X-Men movie reboot will have the opportunity to avoid the previous' films' mistakes regarding one of the most important X-Men: Rogue. In the X-Men films, Rogue was never able to be part of the action as her mutant powers were not really suitable for battle. Therefore, the character spent the original X-Men trilogy and X-Men: Days of Future Past in the background. The MCU can fix that by adapting a famous comic book moment: Rogue absorbing Captain Marvel's powers. In an event from Avengers Annual #10 that was only properly explained almost 11 years later in Marvel Super-Heroes #11, Rogue fought and absorbed the powers of Carol Danvers, thus gaining abilities such as flying and super strength. That warrior version of the character endured in the comics and was featured in the X-Men: The Animated Series, and now could be the inspiration for the MCU's Rogue.
How Rogue Could Acquire Her Comic Superpowers In The MCU
Even if in completely different circumstances from the comics, Rogue's first moments in the MCU could include her having to fight Captain Marvel. From then on, the MCU's X-Men lineup could feature a much more powerful and ready-for-battle Rogue than the previous X-Men films ever did. The X-Men: The Animated Series and the overall '90s X-Men aesthetic appear to be an inspiration for the MCU, as seen with Doctor Strange 2's Professor X yellow chair, the use of the animated series theme song in the film, and the Disney+'s X-Men 97 revival. In that context, it would make sense for the MCU's Rogue to be portrayed in a similar way. Not only that, but the X-Men and the Avengers are not always on good terms in the comics, and having an incident between Rogue and Captain Marvel in the MCU could sparkle that feud on the big screen.
The MCU has a clean slate for where it can take the X-Men, and it should use that opportunity to better work with characters like Rogue. The power scale in the MCU, with villains like Scarlet Witch and Thanos, has already set the bar high, and necessitates more powerful new heroes. Therefore, it would be much more interesting for future films to feature a Rogue that, besides her regular mutation, could also have Captain Marvel-like flying powers and super strength.
