New MCU Rogue star Inde Navarette proved she’s ready to join the X-Men with one perfect line reading in a new video. After starring in 2026’s Obsession, Navarette has ample opportunity to deliver the best live-action Rogue yet, following Anna Paquin’s portrayal in Fox’s X-Men saga and Lenore Zann’s voiceover efforts in X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men ’97. While the movie is still almost two years away, the MCU rookie is already raring to go.
Inde Navarette delivered her first reading of Rogue’s iconic “Sugah” ahead of her MCU debut in the 2028 X-Men movie. Speaking with E-Talk, even admitting that she had not done much practice yet, she offered her first attempt at Rogue’s most memorable line from the comics and the animated X-Men shows. This attempt turned out to be almost perfect, coming before she had had a lot of time to truly dive into her portrayal of the southern-belle mutant.
Navarrette gave another take on the “Sugah” line during a chat with The Hollywood Reporter at Chapman University. After discussing what she wants to do with the role and how excited she is to work with the movie’s writers and directors, she ended her answer with the same line, smiling and clearly enjoying getting into the character.
This line was notably absent from Anna Paquin’s portrayal of Rogue in the original live-action X-Men saga, in which she played the character in all three films from the first trilogy before returning for 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past. In these movies, Rogue barely had any discernible accent, and the story did not lean into her Southern upbringing as part of the character.
On top of that, the only powers those movies gave her were her life-force absorption and temporary power/trait stealing. In the animated series, Rogue has both of those powers, along with abilities such as super strength and flight. Navarrette should have a chance to explore Rogue’s full power capabilities, while giving her the accent and personality fans know and love from the comics and animated shows.
Navarrette will be only the second actor to take on Rogue in live-action after Anna Paquin, and the fifth when including previous animated X-Men shows. She joins a massive cast of stars for the X-Men movie, including Kit Connor (Cyclops), Christopher Abbott (Professor X), Samara Weaving (Emma Frost), Maya Boyd (Storm), Asa Germann (Angel), Sadie Sink (Jean Grey), and Adam Driver (Mr. Sinister). The untitled X-Men movie is set to debut in theaters on May 5, 2028.
Particularly in the Multiverse Saga, Marvel Studios has made it a point to deliver depictions of characters that are as true to the comics as possible. This is especially true with the X-Men, as has already been seen in movies like Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Deadpool & Wolverine. That trend will only continue in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday, as fans have already seen comic-accurate looks and designs for characters like Cyclops, Gambit, Mystique, Professor X, and more.
Looking ahead, the X-Men movie is expected to continue this trend, especially for characters like Rogue. While the only character from this movie with an MCU appearance under their belt is Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey, her debut paid homage to her classic comic look with green and yellow colors in her clothes in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. She and the rest of the mutants are expected to get more comic-accurate costumes in the X-Men movie, which could even be teased earlier in 2026’s Avengers: Secret Wars (in which Sink has reportedly been cast).
Along with the green-and-yellow costume for Rogue, Navarrette and director Jake Schreier seem intent on bringing the best aspects of her character from the comics to live-action. It would be a shock if this did not include her flight and super-strength, along with her most notable power of draining the life out of people by touching them.
While the X-Men movie does not start filming until 2027, anticipation is already building to see what Navarette will get to do with a character who has not had the best depictions in live-action to this point.
