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One of the main characteristics of Rogue is her lack of control of her mutant power - unless she wears a full-body suit and gloves, she can't touch anyone without hurting them. With even brief physical contact, she begins to drain a person, absorbing some of their essence (personality, memories, etc). With mutants (and other superpowered beings) this extends to their powers. The longer she holds on, the longer the effect lasts.

We've seen a few characters or situations where Rogue has had her powers turned off. Notably, there was a time when she was strongly considering a 'mutant cure' that would permanently remove them, but which ended up being a front for Apocalypse. These moments have usually been used for drama - will Rogue be selfish and choose to abandon her superheroism, or will duty overrule and force her to self-sacrafice?

That changed with Genosha - on Genosha, they utilized collars which suppressed the abilities of mutants. These collars could not be removed, were packed with high explosive, and a slavemaster could turn on or off the suppressing ability with the push of a button.

This technology was mass-produced - dozens of mutants 'worked' on Genosha. It seems very unusual to me that Rogue would fail to see the utility of such a thing. She obviously wasn't a fan of the whole 'slavery' thing, or the 'packed with C4' thing, but surely one of the many engineers she knows (Forge, Beast, and even Xavier) could have taken out the C4, removed the lock, given her a button to turn it off/on, and turned a bulky slave collar into a necklace or armband.

This was my first though years ago when I was a kid watching the X-Men animated series on Fox, and I freely admit that the show changed details of the comic stories it presented when it had to. I also haven't kept up with the comics since the 90s.

So has Rogue ever (in any media) made use of the available power suppression technologies voluntarily?

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    That would actually be a really cool development for her character: from this point on she can touch people, but if you remove the necklace she's wearing, her powers return. An interesting complication, sort of like Cyclops's glasses.
    – Nerrolken
    Sep 25, 2015 at 14:29
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    @Nerrolken: heck, Cyclops could use the same thing! I'm sure he'd love to be able to take the glasses off now and then.
    – Jeff
    Sep 25, 2015 at 15:44
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    I wonder if this has even been thought about at Marvel, and if so, why it (presumably) hasn't been implemented. In universe, I can imagine some rationalization of the dangers of propagating such technology, but surely Rogue would warrant an exception.
    – Politank-Z
    Sep 25, 2015 at 16:42
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    Beast might like it too. Or Jean Gray/Phoenix. Hulk might like it too. Curt Connors? It isn't invasive in the body, so it could be mounted as a beam weapon. Any evil madboy with a mutant-power-neutralizing beam-weapon might cause complications, especially with the mutants battling something serious like the Chitauri invasion during the Avengers. I wonder if a technology like that could super-charge a mutant power? If badbracelet + phoenix = 0, then could goodbracelet + phoenix = 2*phoenix or phoenix^2? Galactus^2 perhaps? Rogue^2 takes powers from Galactus^2? Sep 27, 2015 at 0:20
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    @EngrStudent: Hulk and Curt aren't mutants, so there's no reason to expect a mutant power suppressor would work on them. Also, there's no reason to expect a physical suppressor could work as a beam weapon...or that it could be reversed to supercharge them.
    – Jeff
    Sep 27, 2015 at 17:56

1 Answer 1

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...surely one of the many engineers she knows (Forge, Beast, and even Xavier) could have taken out the C4, removed the lock, given her a button to turn it off/on, and turned a bulky slave collar into a necklace or armband.

Well... That's essentially what happened in Mr. and Mrs. X. She's using an inhibitor collar (one that can be removed and doesn't have explosives) and then she's given a bracelet version by Beast (in #6):

Hank gives Rogue a bracelet and they hug

Transcript:

Beast: For you. I went with your "tennis bracelet" design, so I sincerely hope that wasn't a joke. After our conversation at your wedding, I moved "developing a better power inhibitor collar" up my to-do list. When I heard what happened to you in space...with your powers...I moved it to the top of the list. It's not perfect by any means. It will still give you a headache if worn for long periods, but they should be less intense at least.

Rogue: Thank you, Hank.

Beast: I wish I could do more, Rogue.

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    And it only took a couple of decades! Thanks for the source, the image, and the answer!
    – Jeff
    Feb 25, 2019 at 14:25

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