Brace yourselves, X-Men fans, one of X-Men ‘97 Season 1’s most divisive storylines is coming back for Season 2. The next outing of the vintage-now-modern television show is expected to stream on Disney+ sometime this Summer, and with it, the whole gang of classic characters is returning. And with those characters come their (sometimes controversial) relationships.
Marvel Animation head Brad Winderbaum confirmed in an interview with Collider that Rogue and Magneto will continue their romance in X-Men '97 Season 2, and many X-Men fans might be making faces of disgust as they read this. When asked about the state of the pairing in Season 2, Winderbaum said, "Rogue and Magneto are stuck in the past together. They are kind of our past team… There’s a lot of romance to go around."
The Rogue-Magneto romance was arguably the most debated element of Season 1, and it’s back, with the two now stranded in an earlier era of time. They even have more time and privacy to be all lovey-dovey with fewer eyes judging them.
The backlash to Rogue and Magneto’s relationship in Season 1 came down to the age gap and the power dynamic, which is problematic, to say the least.
In the show, Magneto is a significantly older figure who spends much of his screen time in a leadership and mentor role. The former villain inherited everything that Charles Xavier had built and fought for: his fortune, ideology, and his school, making him the de facto leader of the team. This twist is revealed at the end of the first episode. It turned out Charles had left everything to Magneto in his last will.
Rogue, on the other hand, is introduced in the show as a young impressionable mutant, a student of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. Despite the rest of the team being wary of Magneto, given his history, Rogue doesn’t hide her fondness for him. From the very second the Master of Magnetism lands, she encourages the other mutants to give him a chance.
The lovebirds already had a history, and this is properly detailed in episode 5, "Remember It." Through flashbacks, we get to know that Magneto is the one who helps Rogue understand her mutant powers and what it means to be a mutant. Conveniently, Magneto is the only one capable of physically holding her, which plays a key role in their love affair. Rogue longs to be touched by another, something even Gambit admits in earlier parts of the episode.
For many people, the pairing leaned too heavily on the imbalance between them. One was the leader of the X-Men, and the other was a student. In real-world dynamics, such a ship would raise a lot of eyebrows, so it's no surprise many fans didn’t feel too comfortable watching that play out on their screens. Gambit fans didn’t like watching their boy's heart get shattered into a million pieces either.
However, a section of the crowd saw nothing wrong with it. After all, the two were consenting adults. This side of the argument views Rogue as a brave young woman making a bold choice, and more importantly, the dynamic is canon in Marvel Comics.
Rogue & Magneto's History in Marvel Comics
For folks who watched the show and didn’t know much about their comic history, yes, Rogue and Magneto were lovers in Marvel Comics. These two complex characters first crossed paths during the original Secret Wars in 1984. At that point, Rogue had only recently joined the X-Men after seeking Professor X’s help to control her power-absorbing abilities. Magneto was also rethinking his path at the time, and the two ended up on the same side. This turn of events planted the first seeds of mutual admiration.
The relationship deepened years later in the Savage Land, a prehistoric wilderness hidden in Antarctica. Both characters had found themselves adrift. Magneto had left the X-Men, and Rogue had been separated from the team after falling through a mystical portal called the Siege Perilous.
When they reunited there, Magneto saved Rogue during a fight, and the two spent extended time together, even battling a Savage Land villain named Zaladane. Sounds romantic, right? Not for long, that closeness fractured when a restored Magneto killed Zaladane and left Rogue behind, declaring that mutantkind would not be saved by a kinder, gentler version of him. Typical Magneto.
Their most fully realized romance came in the Age of Apocalypse, an alternate timeline in which Magneto led the X-Men rather than Professor X. In that world, Rogue permanently absorbed the powers of Polaris and fought alongside Magneto from the start.
She eventually became his second-in-command, and Magneto discovered he could generate a biomagnetic field around his body that neutralized her absorption ability, finally allowing them to actually touch. They married in that timeline and had a son named Charles. The relationship only ended when Weapon X, that world’s Wolverine, attacked and took their lives. Season 2 promises to develop this affair alongside a number of interesting relationships.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
