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The One Mutant Tougher Than Wolverine Confirmed By Professor X
For as long as he has been a member, Wolverine has often been viewed as the toughest member of the X-Men under Professor X's tutelage. His savage outbursts and devil may care, fearless attitude is enough to keep that reputation alive to this day. However, as far as Professor X is concerned, there is at least one X-Man who is even tougher than Wolverine: Rogue.
Rogue is a mutant who has struggled in everyday activities due to her ability to, well, steal abilities. With just one touch, Rogue is capable of sucking away someone's life force, along with their memories, personality traits, and temporarily, their powers. While it often gives her an edge in combat, most notably in her most famous fight in the comics, Rogue's squabble with Captain Marvel that defines her character, it makes building a life outside the X-Men much more difficult.
This is why Professor X names Rogue tougher than Wolverine. Not necessarily stronger (although that argument arguably can be made), but as far as Xavier is concerned, Rogue's toughness is derived from everything she's forced to endure on a daily basis. In Astonishing X-Men #1 (2017) by Charlie Soule and Jim Cheung, Professor X praises just how tough Wolverine is in a narration, calling him "metal and stone. The world breaks against him." However, mere moments later in the same breath, Professor X calls Rogue "even stronger than Logan." Again, not in terms of physical strength, but in this context, emotional and mental. "If he is stone, she is water," Xavier says. "She changes constantly with everyone she touches. It is a confusing way to live."
Why Rogue is Tougher than Wolverine, According to Professor X
Beyond just having to force herself to adapt to being deprived of a normal life, she essentially has to adapt to herself every time she touches someone. With each touch, her personality changes to whomever she touches, and with each touch, her original personality either gets twisted into someone else's or completely gets lost in the shuffle. To call that confusing would have to be an understatement. In fact, to say Rogue's abilities make for a hard life would be an understatement, but she continues to endure it whilst protecting a planet that hates her as a mutant.
Wolverine and Rogue are very similar, in that they both faced enough adversity to have a hard edge or make basic life functions harder than imaginable. However, it's in noticing and acknowledging their similarities that make it understandable as to why Professor X views Rogue as the toughest of the two. After everything he's experienced in his life, Wolverine wears his toughness on his sleeve, whereas Rogue doesn't show off her hardships so easily, or at least she doesn't make it obvious she's struggling. Wolverine is rough, rugged, and has a history of isolating isolates himself from others in pursuit of solo adventures as a result. Meanwhile, the fact that Rogue often bottles up whatever pain or struggles she has with a smile and a comparably cheery demeanor showcases just how well she's taken those same struggles on the chin.
If nothing else, everyone should be able to agree with Professor X that Wolverine and Rogue are, by far, the toughest members of the X-Men.
