Vhen vill the children learn? No von escapes the reach of Madame Rouge!
- ―Madame Rouge[src]
Madame Rouge is a core member of the Brotherhood of Evil and one of Beast Boy's archenemies. She is a major antagonist in Season 5.
Character history[]
Nothing is known of Madame Rouge's past before she joined the Brotherhood of Evil as their co-leader and master spy. Although according to DC records, she is a former actress/teacher. As the most conventionally super powered of the core Brotherhood, the Brain viewed Rouge as one of his most valuable agents and sent her out on special missions. She soon gained a widespread reputation for being one of the most ruthless and relentless villainesses around.
After the Teen Titans and the Doom Patrol had defeated the Brotherhood's latest scheme, the Brain decided that the Titans, with their youthful unpredictability, were now their most dangerous enemies. To facilitate his plan to eliminate the next generation of young superheroes, he sent out Rouge to capture the Titans Communicator from Honorary Titan Wildebeest; however, Rouge failed when Wildebeest dropped his communicator off a cliff. She targeted Hot Spot next, and after much effort, aided considerably by her shapeshifting abilities, she was given a new communicator by Robin after she had posed as Hot Spot. Madame Rouge took the defeated Wildebeest and Hot Spot to the Brotherhood of Evil's base to be flash-frozen as victory trophies.
Sometime later, the H.I.V.E. Five captured Kid Flash. Their leader Jinx had been idolizing Madame Rouge, and she contacted her to deliver Kid Flash in order to rise into the Brotherhood's ranks and gain Rouge's respect. Before Rouge arrived at the H.I.V.E. Five's hideout, Kid Flash managed to escape, and derisively dismissing the villainous youths, Jinx included, as incompetent children, Rouge went after Kid Flash herself. Kid Flash just barely managed to get away from her, only to be captured by Jinx; but as Jinx prepared to surrender him to Madam Rouge, the villainess struck her down and demeaned her efforts and idolizing. Fed up with this treatment and touched by Kid Flash's efforts to make her renounce her life of crime, Jinx allowed the young hero to get away and struck Rouge down as she attempted to hit her again. Ironically, this made Rouge willing to reevaluate Jinx, but it was too late: Jinx left the H.I.V.E. Five and her life as a villainess behind and joined Kid Flash.
When the Brotherhood executed the world-wide strike against the Titans and their allies, Rouge took on Robin, while taunting him on his giving her the communicator instead of Hot Spot. They fought and she overpowered him but could not stop him from setting the communicators to self-destruct, preventing any further attempts by the Brain to track their movements. When the remaining Titans under Beast Boy's leadership attacked the Brotherhood's base, Rouge was seen battling Pantha. She started to tease the Brain about his plan failing, and when Mas y Menos unfroze the captured Titans, Madame Rouge decided to do things her way and was instantly tackled by Starfire. As the Brotherhood's members dwindled, Madame Rouge seemed confident that she could take all of them, but Hot Spot and Wildebeest tackled her. Jinx showed up and trapped Madame Rouge's legs in the ground and Wildebeest and Hot Spot threw her straight into the freeze ray, earning their payback for being captured and ending her acts of cruelty. She was frozen alongside the other frozen villains and her teammates of the Brotherhood of Evil.
Teen Titans Go![]
Rouge also appears in the Teen Titans Go! comic series, first in a flashback in issue #28. She has also turned up in Justice League Adventures, more closely resembling her mainstream comics appearance.
Disguised as Wildfire
She appeared again in issue #46 Wildfire. Starfire was wondering what had happened to her brother a long time ago, but she saw him come out of a pod that shot towards Earth. After a heartwarming reunion, she introduced him to the other Titans and they had a party at Titans Tower. However, after everybody went to bed, Wildfire started attacking the Titans (Raven and Cyborg). Starfire confronted him, and she discovered that her "brother" was, in fact, Madame Rouge in disguise. It turns out that Blackfire, Starfire's evil sister, had hired Madame Rouge to kill Starfire. Afterward, Blackfire was thrown in jail once again, and Starfire denounces her as a sister and vows to find Wildfire one day.
Physical appearance[]
Though her physical appearance can be changed entirely at will, Madame Rouge is generally a tall and slender woman with a black A-Line Bob haircut, piercing blue eyes, large red lips, and a narrow face while her body is mainly an hourglass figure with slender arms and tall legs.
Her attire resembles a red latex bodysuit with a skirt at the bottom and two large black belts around the waist and a tall black collar around the neck. She also wears long black latex gloves that stop in metal bands around her upper arms and tall black latex high-heel boots that end in metal bands at her upper thighs, though her clothing in more than likely only a product of her shapeshifting abilities.
Personality[]
Madame Rouge's Signature Appearance
Madame Rouge is one of the most ruthless and sadistic characters in the animated series. She is very arrogant and believes herself to be superior over most of her opponents. A prime example of this is at the end of "Titans Together" when she was one of the last villains standing.
She seemed very confident that she could take on the Titans by herself, though this led to her downfall. Rouge also has a bit of a rebellious streak, as she doubts the Brain's plans from Trust to Titans Together, and she finally says that she will do things "her way" after the captured Titans were released. Rouge despises children as well and thinks that they are quite useless (shown in 'Lightspeed') and thinks that only she and the Brotherhood leaders are worthy of being "true villains". Due to her extreme arrogance, she is snotty and quite a snob which matches her stereotypical French accent.
In her case, actions speak louder than words. The only way her arrogant attitude can be subsided is by experiencing her being wrong for herself. In Lightspeed, Jinx proves this all too well when she finally severs any respect she had for Rouge and casted a hex that forced her to take a punch. When Jinx declared that regardless of who or what Madam Rouge is, Jinx is not somebody to be trifled with, Rouge finds herself impressed with her ruthlessness and declares that there may be a future for her in the Brotherhood of Evil.
Powers and abilities[]
I am whatever I wish to be.- ―Madame Rouge[src]
Madame Rouge is an archetypal stretcher, a villain whose entire body is fluid on a molecular level. Specifically, her superhuman elasticity and malleability speaks for itself. She possesses total control over her body structure, enabling her to change her shape and appearance at will. She is a master of disguise, able to assimilate even the voice of the persons she imitates and may stretch her limbs across long distances. She appears to be able to stretch very fast, even faster than Kid Flash can run, as shown in the episode "Lightspeed" when she stopped him in his tracks many times just by stretching her arms. Rouge is also able to stretch her torso in such a way that she can physically absorb an enemy, as demonstrated in "Trust".
Rouge also possesses enhanced strength, endurance, and speed, and is capable of regeneration of vast physical damage to herself, including total dismemberment. While not technically being the strongest villain ever, she is able to punch holes in brick walls with little effort, and she was able to knock over an entire building with one kick. Due to her body's malleability, however, Rouge is vulnerable to drastic temperature changes, which made her vulnerable to Hot Spot and let him last against her as long as he did as well as Robin when he was able to stun her with a cryo disk long enough to send out an emergency killcode to all the Titan communicators when he realized the Brotherhood of Evil's sinister tactics.
As for more mundane skills, Madame Rouge is a master spy and infiltrator, and a dangerous hand-to-hand combatant. Her ruthlessness has granted her the power of intimidation. Almost every Titan she's fought has shown signs of fear when confronted by her.
Weaknesses[]
- While Madam Rouge's fully malleable body makes her virtually invulnerable, her only known weakness appears to be extreme temperature.
- For instance, being near Hot Spot can stun her by making her malleability uncontrollable to the point where she literally melts, which also could ruin her disguise if in one if she's not careful. Plus, his pyrokinesis can make him virtually untouchable to her. This also goes the same for friction, as demonstrated with Kid Flash. Her body can also be refrigerated, which can effectively neutralize her powers by completely immobilizing her. This was proven with one of Robin's cryo disks and then ultimately her ultimate defeat by the Brain's petrifyer.
- Madam Rouge's shapeshifting abilities do have their limits. Specifically, she can imitate a person's superficial appearance and voice, but not their powers or weapons. For instance, when posing as Hot Spot to trick Robin into handing her the communicator, she had to do so in Hot Spot's normal state because she can't imitate his pyrokinesis or the fiery luminescence his body emanates while powered up. Also, Robin's birderangs have proven that she cannot imitate the functionality of any given weapon, namely blades.
Appearances[]
Teen Titans[]
Season 5[]
- "Homecoming - Part 2"
- "Trust"
- "Kole"
- "Hide and Seek" (Mentioned)
- "Lightspeed"
- "Calling All Titans!"
- "Titans Together"
- "Things Change" (Mentioned)
Teen Titans Go![]
- Surprises (Flashback)
- Wildfire
- Wrong Place, Wrong Time
Trivia[]
- Even though she was a member of the Brotherhood of Evil, she does not appear as a boss in Teen Titans 2 for the Game Boy Advance.
- While Rouge is the French word for red and also the French word for cosmetic blush (all in all, her name being French), her accent in the show is more Eastern European than French.
- The television show's version of Madame Rouge is unlike the original comics incarnation, in that she is not depicted within its encompassing episodes her morally dual personality, that the Madame Rouge from the DC Comics is known for.
Gallery[]
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