Destiny sends Rogue to convince Manifold to come to Krakoa, but he is kidnapped and given a mind-control chip. Find out if Rogue and her husband can save him in Rouge and Gambit #3 by Marvel Comics!

ROGUE AND GAMBIT #3 (OF 5)

Writer: Stephanie Phillips
Artist: Carlos Gomez
Colorist: David Curiel
Letterer: Ariana Maher
Editor: Sarah Brunstad and Mark Basso
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: May 10th, 2023 

Previously in Rogue and Gambit: Rogue and Gambit’s marriage struggled against Rogue’s responsibility to the X-Men. Even when they try to reconcile on vacation, Rogue is caught up in a plot from Destiny, her adoptive mother, for the betterment of Krakoa. Gambit helps Rogue find Manifold, but when Manifold is on his own case, the couple finds themselves in a weird plot with people gathering super-powered humans. Now they are with Forge to see if he has a device to track Manifold before it is too late.

Rogue and Gambit #1 start with the title duo attempting to convince Forge to help them track Manifold, but Forge is resistant. Rogue reveals that she knows Forge built a suit to follow Darwin in the Vault, and she could use that to suit her purposes. Gambit starts a fire and gets kicked out of Forge’s lab. After the incident, Rogue starts to complain about Gambit’s complaining when Gambit reveals that he realized that Forge was lying and recovered the suit. He then says he doesn’t want to be a nuisance and lets Rogue save the world alone.

Tracking Manifold, she finds herself in a trap surrounded by a mind-controlled Vanisher, Juggernaut, Absorbing Man, and Electro. When she removes the mind control device from Vanisher, she accidentally kills him!

I am invested in the marital aspect of Rogue and Gambit #3. I am not convinced about the characters’ decisions from the creative team. In the last issue, we observed Gambit blowing up a bar. I thought stealing from Forge was a decent direction, but then I saw him abandon Rogue on this quest. From a narrative standpoint, I get the plot point; it is more interesting for him to return to help her in her time of need than always being there. But it didn’t feel believable that he would do that. This feels like a marriage storyline that just happened to use this couple in the plot but really could have been intended for anyone. I want to see specific situations that could only apply to these two characters.

The art is run-of-the-mill Marvel stuff, but the character designs are vivid on the page. I sometimes thought the foreground melded into the background in some smaller panels, but the large spreads are exceptionally well done!

I am fascinated by this couple from their publication history. They always felt like a grim forbidden love story due to the nature of Rogue’s powers. However, Rogue and Gambit #3 did not play into the tropes I am familiar with. The story has a lot of promise, but I am unsure if the story can wrap up this storyline in a way that honors the characters. 3 out of 5 stars for this one.