The Rogue Symbiote
by David Knight is a fanfic depicting a particular alternate world in the Marvel Multiverse. In this reality, when Rogue was nearly killed by Vargas, her near-death experience activated a dormant symbiote that had been planted in her by the symbiote known as ‘Scream’, with this new symbiote demonstrating a greater stability and sanity compared to the likes of Venom or Carnage. With her old ‘rolodex’ of powers now lost and now possessing only the strength, speed, and other abilities of the average symbiote as her ‘default’ state, Rogue decides to ask Spider-Man for help with her new abilities, which causes significant changes in both of their lives.
The Rogue Symbiote contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Rogue, as always, along with the other female X-Men.
- Brought Down to Badass: Rogue has essentially lost her original ‘rolodex’ of the powers she had absorbed from others over the years, but Jade gives her a new range of powers similar to the standard symbiote, and she has the potential to acquire a new ‘rolodex’ as the storyline unfolds.
- Closest Thing We Got: Since Rogue isn’t comfortable trying to get training in using her new powers from another symbiote host, she approaches Spider-Man for help instead.
- Fire-Forged Friends: Spider-Man is initially uncertain about working with a symbiote despite his relatively friendly history with the X-Men, but he accepts the need to work with Rogue after she helps him stop Shathra.
- In Spite of a Nail: Spider-Man is still facing the same foes as he did in canon, and the lives of the X-Men as a whole won’t be significantly affected whether Rogue ‘retires’ for a time because her powers burned out (canon) or because she chose to get training in her new ones.
- Mama Bear: Scream for Jade, in her own strange way.
- The Mentor: Ezekial takes on this role as he helps Peter and Rogue fight Shathra.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: As in canon, the entity known as ‘Digger’ is a victim of this (Justified as ‘he’ has technically been dead for the last few decades).
- Put on the Bus: As in canon, Mary Jane is absent from Peter’s life at this point due to her personal issues about her place in Peter's life, staying away for longer than she did in the comics because she has further issues after seeing Peter fighting alongside ‘Jade Widow’.
- Second Super-Identity: After bonding with a symbiote, Rogue adopts the new codename of ‘Jade Widow’- the symbiote’s name mixed with the Black Widow- to ensure that she doesn’t draw any attention from the X-Mens’ enemies while fighting alongside Spider-Man.
- Shipping Torpedo: At least temporarily; Jade's presence makes Gambit uncomfortable, prompting him and Rogue to take a break from their relationship while Gambit works on recovering and Rogue learns her new limitations.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Basically applies; 'Jade Widow' pauses while helping Spidey with Shathra to assure any other heroes watching Shathra's broadcast that everything her human identity said about him was a lie.
