Madame Rouge

Madame Rouge
Madame Rouge
	Madame Rouge as depicted in Who's Who: The Definitive Directory of the DC Universe #14 (April 1986). Art by John Byrne.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Doom Patrol #86 (March 1964)
Created by	Arnold Drake
In-story information
Alter ego	Laura De Mille
Team affiliations	Brotherhood of Evil; Black Lantern Corps
Abilities	Shapeshifting; Elasticity; Disguise intuition;

Madame Rouge is a supervillain appearing in DC Comics, first appearing in Doom Patrol #86 (March 1964).^[1] The character was created by Arnold Drake.^[2]

Michelle Gomez portrays the live-action version of the character in the third season of the HBO Max series Doom Patrol.

Fictional character biography

Laura De Mille was originally a French stage actress. After an automobile accident, she developed a dual good/evil split personality. At this point, she attracted the notice of The Brain and his associate Monsieur Mallah. With Mallah's help, the Brain performed surgery on De Mille that was, from his perspective, successful, sublimating her good personality and allowing her evil personality to remain dominant. As Madame Rouge, De Mille became the only female member of the Brotherhood of Evil, and assisted the Brotherhood in its continuing conflicts against the Doom Patrol. At first, Madame Rouge was simply a master of disguise; subsequent surgery by the Brain eventually gave her the ability to alter her appearance and stretch her limbs.

Later, Rouge's split personality manifested again, with her good personality occasionally appearing. Rouge was romantically linked to the Doom Patrol's leader, Niles Caulder ("The Chief"), who was able to help Rouge overcome her evil side and ally with the Doom Patrol.

Ultimately, Rouge's mind reverted to its evil state, causing her to seek vengeance against both the Brotherhood of Evil and the Doom Patrol for their previous interference. She was apparently successful in murdering both groups.^[3] Years later, Robotman and the Teen Titans tracked down Rouge and her ally, General Zahl. Beast Boy (then Changeling) killed Rouge, although, at the moment of her death, her good side manifested; she forgave Changeling and called to Niles, her apparent true love.

Madame Rouge's daughter, Gemini, also a shapeshifter, appeared years later to seek revenge against Beast Boy.^[4]

In 2004, DC writer John Byrne restarted the Doom Patrol series and declared that the previous history had never happened. Despite this, Madame Rouge was a zombie summoned by Brother Blood to keep the Titans from freeing Kid Eternity in Teen Titans #31 (2006). Since then, Byrne's reboot of the Doom Patrol franchise was overturned as a continuity glitch created by Superboy-Prime. As such, Madame Rouge is still dead and her history has been left intact. However, her daughter Gemini has taken up wearing her mother's costume and is a member of the new Brotherhood of Evil.

In Blackest Night, Madame Rouge has been identified as one of the deceased entombed below the Hall of Justice.^[5] Madame Rouge's corpse is revived as a Black Lantern during the event.^[6]

Powers and abilities

Originally, Madame Rouge was a master of disguise.^[7] Later, the Brain altered Rouge's molecular structure that gave her an amorphous physiology. Now, she can stretch her own body (wholly or partly) to incredible lengths and mimic the appearance of any person at will.^[8]

In the Teen Titans animated series, Madame Rouge retained her superstretching powers, but greater than before. She can reform her body, repair any damage yet seen, "flow" through fences, change color, mimic voices, and has sufficient strength to throw people around like dolls or smash brick walls. Rouge is capable of surrounding and smothering her opponents via stretched body. She could be hurt by elemental-based attacks, as well as having trouble maintaining her undamaged form in extreme temperatures.^[9]

In other media

Television

Madame Rouge appears in the fifth season of Teen Titans, voiced by Hynden Walch.^[10] This version is an arrogant and sadistic member of the Brotherhood of Evil who sports an Eastern European accent, red costume, and expanded shapeshifting abilities. Throughout the season, Rouge helps the Brotherhood in their efforts to eliminate young heroes around the world, only to be thwarted and flash-frozen by the Teen Titans.
Madame Rouge appears in the DC Nation short "The Spy Within the Doom Patrol", voiced by Debra Wilson.
Madame Rouge appears in Teen Titans Go! (2013), voiced again by Hynden Walch.^[10]
Madame Rouge appears in Doom Patrol, portrayed by Michelle Gomez.^[11] This version is a member of the Bureau of Normalcy who becomes amnesiac due to time travel, subsequently allying with the Doom Patrol, the Sisterhood of Dada, and the Brotherhood of Evil at various points in the series.

Miscellaneous

Madame Rouge appears in Justice League Unlimited #31 and Justice League Adventures #6.
Madame Rouge appears in Teen Titans Go! (2004).

References

^ Rovin, Jeff (1987). The Encyclopedia of Supervillains. New York: Facts on File. pp. 197–198. ISBN 0-8160-1356-X.
^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Korte, Steve; Manning, Matt; Wiacek, Win; Wilson, Sven (2016). The DC Comics Encyclopedia: The Definitive Guide to the Characters of the DC Universe. DK Publishing. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-4654-5357-0.
^ Beatty, Scott (2008). "Doom Patrol". In Dougall, Alastair (ed.). The DC Comics Encyclopedia. New York: Dorling Kindersley. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-7566-4119-1. OCLC 213309017.
^ Cowsill, Alan; Irvine, Alex; Manning, Matthew K.; McAvennie, Michael; Wallace, Daniel (2019). DC Comics Year By Year: A Visual Chronicle. DK Publishing. p. 278. ISBN 978-1-4654-8578-6.
^ Blackest Night #1. DC Comics.
^ Blackest Night #3. DC Comics.
^ Doom Patrol (vol. 1) #86. DC Comics.
^ Doom Patrol (vol. 1) #90. DC Comics.
^ Teen Titans (TV Series) "Homecoming Parts 1-2", "Kole", "Trust", "Lightspeed", "Calling All Titans", and "Titans Together".
^ ^a ^b "Madame Rouge Voices (DC Universe)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved December 15, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable sources of information.
^ Del Rosario, Alexandra (September 1, 2021). "'Doom Patrol': Michelle Gomez's Madame Rouge Makes Her Time Travel Grand Entrance In Season 3 Trailer". Deadline. Retrieved September 2, 2021.