Rogue the inconvenient
i want more people to talk about how much, fucking hell, in the fandom (especially the english-speaking one) Rogue from '97 (and both of these things separately too) is VERY overhated
ever since '24 i keep running into biased criticism of Rogue, which is also filled with misogynistic slurs or arguments, ONLY because in the series she chooses her need (let me remind you that her whole life, before she got to the X-Men, she was reduced to one function where her power was emphasized and exploited, and Mystique herself criticized her desire to learn to control herself, again constantly shifting attention from her need to the impossibility of achieving it) and the wellbeing of the mutants of Genosha, since Erik primarily pressured her with exactly this argument
but it's easier to call a character a whore, of course, than to watch the series and read the comics with your eyes and not your ass
on top of that Remy himself suggested they draw a clear boundary between them and stay friends, because he, unlike the external fandom, fucking understands her position, wow! and even considering that Rogue and Erik's interactions in the series were shown beautifully in terms of giving a push to both characters' development, considering that Rogue later publicly rejected Magneto after reflecting on her feelings and Gambit's words, the fandom STILL pushes new viewers away from the series, saying the narrative focus there is shifted from romy, that 1992 was better because "they are canon"
Rogue as a character has always, throughout her entire existence in mass culture, been subjected to misogynistic criticism, erasure of her specificity and identity (for example the film trilogy), but as soon as she's properly explored in media, shown as a multifaceted character with morally fucking grey morality, the hate from the fandom immediately starts
this also includes the fact that against the backdrop of all this bullshit criticism of episode 5, people simply close their eyes to other important components of the character, even though those are exactly what should be discussed and criticized.
Rogue, by the way, literally killed people out of personal dislike or under someone else's pressure, put people into comas, inflicted other injuries, and this is obviously a very important part of the character but such people ABSOLUTELY DON'T GIVE A SHIT why analyze amoral actions when you can just latch onto one factor and call her a whore?
the fandom rages at Rogue not because she allegedly committed an amoral act (then they'd be discussing her other bad actions too), but because she dared to make a choice that is inconvenient for the male character they pair her with
