The Children of the X-Men Part 3: Rogue and Gambit

By Phillip Pratt

·May 13, 2020

Last time, we learned about the alternate reality children of the X-Men Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Havok. Today we’re moving to two X-Men with a bit more history and a lot of lore both inside and out of the main universe – fan favorites Rogue and Gambit.

To cover the pair’s progeny, we’ll have to revisit Claremont’s X-Men: The End, take a stroll over to X-Men 2099, and even glimpse the war-torn Age of Apocalypse continuity. Without further ado, let’s get ‘er done.

While most would say Cyclops and Jean are the premier “it couple” of the X-Men – I’d argue that honor belongs to Rogue and Gambit. Though their romance only dates back to about 1992 – as opposed to just about the beginning of time for Cyclops and Jean (1963) – the southern couple has become arguably the most popular.

With popularity comes usage and panel time. Over the years their ‘will they’/ ‘won’t they’ status has produced no less than three future children across the same number of timelines. We’ll start with a timeline that we’ve covered here a couple of times this series; X-Men: The End.

Oliver Raven Lebeau

In Claremont’s story, Rogue and Gambit are married with two children. The eldest, a boy named Oliver, and a girl, Rebecca. During the story, the kids are kidnapped by Mister Sinister as part of a larger plan orchestrated by the X-Treme X-Men villain Khan.

Rogue rescued their kids (along with Cyclops and Emma’s) but was ultimately murdered by Mister Sinister. Oliver, bitter over the loss of his mother, blamed Gambit for her death which created tension between the two as he grew.

Gambit – in depression – returned to a life of thieving and left his children under the care of their grandmother, Mystique.

While Becca chose to join her father upon coming into young adulthood – Oliver, now using the last name “Raven” instead of “Lebeau” – held onto his resentment and joined the X-Men as part of the GenNext title.

Oliver’s powers are very much like his mother’s – he can absorb the powers, energy, skills, and memories of people – except he was able to control them. Again, as Rogue did with Ms. Marvel’s flight and strength – Oliver permanently adopted telepathy from an outside source. Presumably from his girlfriend – Megan Summers. He can also fly.

Rebecca Lebeau

Rogue’s genes seem to be dominant here. She and Gambit’s baby girl, Rebecca (or Becca, for short), developed the “flying brick” power set. Becca can fly but is also super durable and equally strong. Sadly, neither of the kids inherited Gambit’s signature red and black eyes.

Irene Lebeau

To find those signature red and black eyes, we’ll have to travel to a book that’s premiered more recently than any we’ll talk about during this series. In Captain Marvel: The End one-shot, author Kelly Thompson was able to revisit her two favorite X-Men twenty-some-odd years in the future.

Having become something of a space-sheriff, Captain Marvel returned to a frozen-over Earth after she received a distress call. Upon arriving she’s greeted by a cadre of superhero descendants including the daughter of Gambit and Rogue.

Named after Rogue’s foster-mother, Irene, the young woman looked astonishingly like Rogue. So much so, Danvers at first glance mistook Irene for her mom. A dead giveaway is Irene’s red and black eyes – something she confirmed that she inherited from her father.

Arcadian

The last entry is something of a tossup. There’s a character from the 90s’ book X-Men 2099 (Earth-928) called Arcadian. Not much is known about the shadowy, scorched, skeletal character – outside of confirming that he’s from NOLA. There are other factors to take into account.

He speaks with an accent, wore a long trench coat, chain-smoked cigarettes, hurled cards charged with kinetic energy, had brown hair, red eyes, and occasionally called people “shugah” and “chere.”

He does say that he’s ‘cold as the grave.’ No telling how long he’s been dead. Perhaps he’s a zombie-fied Gambit? You make the call.

Charles Lensherr

Rogue does have at least one more child separate from Gambit – that being from the Age of Apocalypse timeline (Earth-295). In that world, Xavier was accidentally murdered by his time-traveling son, Legion, before his formation of the X-Men. In his absence, Apocalypse dominated the planet.

Even without the X-Men, Rogue and Gambit found each other. However, after Gambit sought-out the help of Magneto to assist in controlling Rogue’s powers – Rogue and Magneto sort of became a thing. To be honest, it was kind of a misunderstanding. Heartbroken, Gambit left Magneto’s company.

In the meantime, Magneto developed a technique that allowed him and Rogue to touch. The two eventually married and their union produced a son they named Charles. By the end of the story, Charles was still a kid, so he didn’t demonstrate any powers. But he demonstrated some latent telepathic ability.

Rogue and Gambit may not have the most big-time stories centered around them like Cyclops and Jean – but they are the most embraced couple of the modern era. Next time we’ll be looking at Wolverine and his many, many… many children.