Although Rogue's list of powers includes such assets as flight, superstrength, and near-invulnerability, the only superpower that was originally her own was her power of absorption. Upon the slightest skin-to-skin contact, she absorbs the psyche, memories, strengths, and any powers of the other being. But this original mutant power isn't perfect! From time to time, Rogue has had trouble absorbing certain beings.
On this page, you'll find a list of characters who have shown complete or partial immunity to Rogue's mutant absorption power along with some footnotes giving more details on the incidents involved.
These individuals are completely immune to Rogue's absorption power (meaning Rogue can not absorb anything from the individual):
Footnote 1: Leech got knocked out when Rogue touched him but was immune to Rogue's absorption power. Rogue absorbed nothing.
Footnote 2: Rogue is unable to absorb anything from Mephisto against his will. Mephisto can let her have specific thoughts if he wants to. As he is in complete control, he is immune.
Footnote 3: This was a case of competing powers where Selene's life draining power worked and Rogue's absorption power did not have any effect.
These individuals are partially immune to Rogue's absorption power or are questionable cases:
Footnote 4: Landslide made definite skin to skin contact, but this was a punch. See uncertainties about punches in Footnote 9. In addition, a possible interpretation is that Grey King dampened Rogue's powers before the punch, thus her absorption power was not operating at full strength, or at all, when the punch occurred.
Footnote 5: Jason may be fully immune, but Rogue may have got a "sense" similar to the Silver Surfer case (Footnote 10). Possibly, she absorbed his thoughts. Very little is known about Jason or his powers.
Footnote 6: When Kali grabbed Rogue's face, exactly what happened is very uncertain. Hopefully future issues will give more information about this.
Footnote 7: Rogue got both hands on Mojo's arm. She started
absorbing him and became gruesome. She thought, "There's no end to him! Ah take an' take -- more than ah've ever absorbed, from anybody -- so sick an' foul an' awful, he's an abomination that goes on forever!" She passed out and fell off before getting all of him.
Footnote 8: Rogue absorbed a kind of decency from Rom, and they shared an emotional empathy. She did not seem to absorb much else.
Footnote 9: In Uncanny X-Men #182, Michael Rossi appeared to hit Rogue's face with a bare hand. No absorption happened; however, skin to skin contact can not be proven because no panel shows that instant of time. No sound effect is given in the panel with the apparent hit. Conceivably, Rogue whipped her head back in order to avoid skin to skin contact. If skin to skin contact did occur, the time of contact may be such a small fraction of a second that the reader sees no effect from one panel to the next panel. Rossi could have been knocked out for such a short time that he did not even lose his balance or realize what happened. See also Rogue's quick touch of Mystique in Marvel Fanfare #60. Also, because Carol Danvers was recently in control of Rogue's mind, Rogue may have controlled her power in this case.
Footnote 10: Rogue's own words explained best, "Mah powers may not have been able to absorb his thoughts like they should have -- but they did let me sense that he is on our side!"
Footnote 11: Thor was not immune in Avengers Annual #10 and in Mephisto vs. the Avengers #4. Later, in Avengers #401, Rogue was not wearing gloves throughout the issue and then hit Thor in the face with an ungloved hand {unless she put on flesh colored gloves; yet, earlier in the issue, a character comments on her "pretty li'l nails"}, and no absorption occurred. As for footnote 9, Thor could have been unconscious for such a short time that he never noticed or lost his position in the air.
Footnote 12: Rogue tried to absorb Death's Head but got so many personalities that she was unable to absorb all of him.
Footnote 13: Rogue usually has no trouble absorbing Magneto, as in Heroes for Hope #1 and Magneto Rex #2, although in the latter Magneto stayed conscious after a kiss with Rogue. Only when Magneto was at an extreme power level in Uncanny X-Men #304, did he display a partial immunity. Rogue absorbed some power and memories, but Rogue realized that her attempt had failed. Magneto stated that he was stronger than ever and that Rogue only got a bit of his power.
These groups have a general tendency to be immune to Rogue's absorption power: