Mystique (character): Difference between revisions
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*In [[X-Men: Evolution]], Mystique is portrayed as a ruthless and feared character, a master of [[martial arts]] and an unscrupulous manipulator. She gotten her way by disguising herself as the principal of Bayville High - under her human "Raven Darkholme" identity, [[Rogue (comics)|Rogue]]'s friend Risty Wilde and several others along the way including [[Professor X]]. However, as cold and ruthless she appears, she has one thing she holds dear: the well-being of her two children, Rogue and [[Nightcrawler (comics)|Nightcrawler]]. Whereas the latter seems to return the love, Rogue deeply despises her and even attempted to kill her at one point. |
*In [[X-Men: Evolution]], Mystique is portrayed as a ruthless and feared character, a master of [[martial arts]] and an unscrupulous manipulator. She gotten her way by disguising herself as the principal of Bayville High - under her human "Raven Darkholme" identity, [[Rogue (comics)|Rogue]]'s friend Risty Wilde and several others along the way including [[Professor X]]. However, as cold and ruthless she appears, she has one thing she holds dear: the well-being of her two children, Rogue and [[Nightcrawler (comics)|Nightcrawler]]. Whereas the latter seems to return the love, Rogue deeply despises her and even attempted to kill her at one point. |
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She then had her powers greatly enhanced by Apocalypse when she |
She then had her powers greatly enhanced by Apocalypse when she became an involuntary horseman. |
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She gained the ability to transform into multiple animals and regenerate lost limbs in combat but lost these powers when Apocalypse was thwarted. |
She gained the ability to transform into multiple animals and regenerate lost limbs in combat but lost these powers when Apocalypse was thwarted. |
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Revision as of 08:17, 27 February 2006
| Mystique | |
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| File:Mystique11.png Cover to Mystique #11 Mike Mayhew, artist | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First appearance | (cameo) Ms. Marvel #17 (May 1978); (first full appearance) Ms. Marvel #18 (June 1978) |
| Created by | Chris Claremont Dave Cockrum |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Raven Darkholme |
| Team affiliations | Brotherhood of Evil Mutants III, Freedom Force, X-Factor, X-Corps |
| Notable aliases | Raven Wagner, Leni Zauber, Valerie Cooper, Mallory Brickman, Holt Adler, Surge (of X-Corps), Foxx |
| Abilities | Metamorphic shapeshifter able to adapt any humanoid form or genetic trait (except superhuman abilities), heal surface tissue damage, withstand all pathogens and poisons, and suppress her natural aging |
Mystique (Raven Darkholme) is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. She has run several incarnations of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and is a foe of the X-Men.
Character history
Destiny
Mystique's exact age remains unknown. However her earliest meeting with her friend Destiny (Irene Adler) is stated to have occurred at "the dawn of the 20th century." Because a Sherlock Holmes character named Irene Adler from the same time period is romantically linked to Holmes, this can be interpreted to mean either that she was Holmes or that Holmes' apparent death in The Adventure of the Final Problem was real and that she replaced him afterwards; however, no comics story has yet confirmed this.
Irene was an Austrian mutant with precognitive powers. She was more accurate in predicting near-future events concerning her present environment. But in a period of 12 months during her adolescence, Irene had produced 13 volumes of prophecies concerning the late 20th and early 21st centuries. When that period ended, Irene was left physically blind and haunted by disturbing images of uncertain meaning. She enlisted Raven's services in pursuit of two goals: the deciphering of her recorded prophecies and a mission to prevent the most terrifying of them from ever being fulfilled.
The two women would soon become life-long friends and lovers. But they both discovered that their set goals were difficult to achieve. Their abilities would easily allow them to achieve personal success but to shape the future was stated to be "next to impossible" as it would require "social engineering."
Early espionage activities and contacts
Their decades-long quest apparently required them to constantly travel. They encountered Shadowcat and Rachel Summers, who had time traveled from the future and sought to prevent a plot by Nazi agents Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and Geist, "Ghost", a member of Nazi intelligence and their ally Amahl Farouk, Shadow King. The three had conspired to question the rights of the British Monarch to the throne and then to replace him with Oswald Mosely of the British Fascist Party, a likely ally for Nazi Germany. Irene and Raven contacted an acquaintance of theirs, called Logan, Wolverine, to help the time travelers. Irene and Raven advised Shadowcat and Logan against proceeding in their contemplated assassination of Adolf Hitler and other prominent leaders and officials of the Nazi party. Raven was laconic in only stating: "All of us have learned to kill, Logan. But more importantly, we have learned not to kill. And to know the difference."
At some point Raven reportedly lost contact with Irene. She managed to locate her working as an archivist in the Alamogordo nuclear research facilities in New Mexico. Raven was uncertain of Irene's motivation but apparently trusted her enough not to press for answers.
Sabretooth
Raven would meet Victor Creed, the man known as Sabretooth. At the time she used the identity of deceased German secret agent Leni Zauber. Both Leni and Victor had been assigned with the assassination of a scientist in East Berlin. Raven completed the mission in place of Leni. Then she and Victor had to hide in a safe location for a while. They became lovers but she soon faked her death in order to leave him.
The result of this short-lived affair was reportedly the birth of Graydon Creed, her earliest known descendant. A number of stories have reported that soon after his birth, Raven gave him up for adoption. Others depict Mystique making arrangements for him from a distance. Graydon reportedly spent most of his childhood in a boarding school. Raven kept track of his activities until he reached adolescence. Graydon was the son of two mutants and as a result likely to be a mutant himself. However, he eventually proved to be Homo sapiens instead of a Homo Superior or mutant. Raven was disappointed and soon abandoned him. Graydon would grow to hate his parents and eventually extend his hatred towards all mutants. He later became leader to the mutant-hating organization Friends of Humanity and then a politician.
Nightcrawler
For several years Mystique was also reported being the mother of Nightcrawler but the exact events were uncertain. Much later another writer, Chuck Austen, eventually ‘revealed’ that the father was Azazel, a demonic-looking mutant from biblical times claiming to be the inspiration for Satan.
At the time Raven was married to Baron Christian Wagner; older sources give his name as Count Eric Wagner, an affluent member of German nobility. He would prove to be a loving husband but rather disappointing as a lover. His infertility added to their marital problems. Raven started using her shape-shifting powers in order to secretly have sexual encounters with others. She particularly seemed to seek men who somewhat resembled Victor Creed. She was apparently both seeking sexual satisfaction and attempting to conceive another child. She was eventually seduced by another fellow mutant.
He called himself Azazel and stated he was ruler of "an island nation of the coast of Bermuda: La Isla des Demonas," The Island of Demons. He was apparently a fellow shape-shifter and also had the powers of teleportation. He was later revealed to also have the power of Immortality and to be the father of an ancient race of mutants known as the Nephilim, active since at least 9000 BC. His natural form was that of a young man with black hair, yellow eyes, red skin and a pointed tail. He later claimed to have been posing as a demon and to have used many aliases: "Because I am Azazel, Semihazah, Duma, Keriel, Mastema, Beliar, Gadreel and Beelzebub. And most commonly called Satan." Many of these aliases have also been claimed by several notable demons of the Marvel Universe.
Raven soon became pregnant. Her husband became suspicious and his own father suggested a blood test to verify if the child was his. Mystique used a dagger to slay him and then buried him. She eventually gave birth to a young boy with black hair, yellow eyes, blue skin and a pointed tail. The locals considered both the mother and the child to be demons and attempted to slay them. Mystique managed to escape but abandoned her second known son. He was found and raised by Gypsy sorceress Margali Szardos and named Kurt Wagner.
Rogue and the Brotherhood
Mystique would later become surrogate mother to the girl Rogue, who had run away from her home in a small town. The girl was living alone in a wooded area, brandishing a shotgun and trusting no one when Mystique found her. Destiny foresaw that Rogue would be important to them and Mystique sought her out, gained her trust and took her in. She and Destiny would raise the girl over approximately a decade and Mystique would grow to be very protective of her.
Mystique had concealed her superhuman powers and criminal intentions so well over the years that, as Darkholme, she was able to rise rapidly through the United States Civil Service to the trusted position of Deputy Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the United States Department of Defense. This position gave her access to military secrets and to advanced weaponry, both of which she used for her own criminal and subversive purposes.
To help her in her criminal activities, Mystique organized her own incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, which originally consisted of herself, Avalanche, the Blob, Destiny and Pyro. This incarnation of the Brotherhood first became notorious when it attempted to intimidate the public by assassinating Senator Robert Kelly, a notoriously anti-mutant politician. The X-Men thwarted the assassination attempt and the Brotherhood later clashed with the X-Men on other occasions.
Rogue was trained by Mystique and eventually joined her Brotherhood team. Her mutant power was the ability to absorb the psyche, memories, personality, strengths and any skills or powers of whoever she touched. Rogue proved to be a powerful member of the team. She went on many missions with the Brotherhood and with her help the team was almost able to defeat the Avengers.
On a mission with the Avengers, Rogue fought Carol Danvers, better known as the superheroine named Ms. Marvel at that time. Rogue tried stealing Carol's powers, but Carol fought too hard and Rogue ended up absorbing Carol's memories and powers, while Carol was left an empty shell. Professor Xavier later restored Carol's memories, but not the emotions that went with them. Rogue, meanwhile, felt like she was losing her mind, grappling with Danver's psyche and at times not knowing which memories were really hers. Feeling like she was in danger of losing control of herself, Rogue ran away from home and sought help from the X-Men, hoping that Professor X would be able to treat her. While the other X-Men were very hesitant of accepting their former enemy at first, Xavier welcomed her and gave her a spot on the team.
Worried that Rogue had left because Xavier had brainwashed her, Mystique went to rescue her leading an attack on the X-Men. Rogue stopped her, saying how she had left on her own free will. Mystique was doubtful and hurt, but Rogue ultimately convinced her by saying that Xavier was probably the only person who could help with her powers and give her a chance at a normal life, as she feared the absorbed personality of Carol Danvers would otherwise drive her insane.
Mystique grudgingly agreed and let Rogue stay with X-Men. Though she would remain close to Rogue coming to help her at times, she came to resent Xavier.
Freedom Force
Later, anti-mutant sentiment among normal human beings greatly increased and the federal government launched its own covert anti-mutant program, Project Wide-awake. Believing that the times had thus become too dangerous for the Brotherhood to continue its criminal activities, Mystique went to Doctor Valerie Cooper, special assistant to the head of the National Security Council and offered the Brotherhood's services to the government. Cooper agreed to convey the offer to the President, on the condition that the Brotherhood pass a test she imposed: the capture of Magneto. The Brotherhood, now renamed Freedom Force, succeeded in bringing Magneto to the authorities though only because he voluntarily surrendered to them so he could go on trial for his crimes and soon afterwards officially entered the government's employ.
In return for entering government service as Freedom Force's leader, Mystique and her team received a presidential pardon for all criminal charges against them, but the pardon would be revoked if any member of Freedom Force were found committing a crime.
On one particular disastrous mission, Freedom Force lost two of his members, Stonewall and Mystique's lover Destiny. The death of her lover left Mystique psychologically scarred and she never truly recovered.
Conspiracies
With Destiny dead, a tired and depressed Mystique was marked for death by the villainous Shadow King. The Shadow King saw Mystique as a threat to his plans on using the FBI to track down the X-Man Storm and used his powers to enslave Raven's government handler Val Cooper and ordered her to kill Raven. Val broke free at the last minute and shot herself, allowing Raven to contact Nick Fury and arrange a desperate endgame to oust the Shadow King. Mystique allowed herself to be brainwashed into thinking she was Val, so that the Shadow King would not suspect that she was alive and rejoined the Shadow King's side. During the Shadow King's final gambit to destroy the X-Men and Professor Xavier, Mystique was given the trigger word "Rogue" that caused her to return to normal and help save Xavier from being murdered by the Shadow King.
During this time, Freedom Force's remaining members were sent to Kuwait during the Gulf War. This mission proved to be another disaster, members were either killed, wounded or captured and Freedom Force officially disbanded.
Mystique's mental condition worsened when she was marked for death by her former Freedom Force teammate, Spiral. Spiral stalked Raven across the globe, further adding to Raven's mental instability. She was saved by Wolverine, who took her to the X-Mansion in hope that Xavier could help the wayward mutant. In the end, Raven apparently had a complete breakdown (though later stories implied she was faking it) and was taken to Dallas by Forge. While with Forge, Mystique was horrified when she found out that her son Graydon Creed had formed a successful anti-mutant hate group. Shortly afterwards Graydon hired Sabretooth to kill Mystique, but Mystique told Sabretooth about their son and he decided to go after Graydon instead. When a top ranking US General who had ties to Graydon turned up dead, Forge realized that Mystique was to blame as she made her move to kill her son. This led to Rogue and Nightcrawler trying to stop Raven and led to Nightcrawler learning that Mystique indeed was his mother. Raven failed to kill Creed and was presumed dead after saving Nightcrawler from Creed's attempt to murder his newly discovered brother.
Mystique resurfaced several months later, in a failed attempt to kill Legion for his murdering of Destiny. Mystiqe had an implant put in her skull by Forge in order for the government to be able to keep track of her. She was then forced to become a member of the government-sponsored team X-Factor after being arrested for trying to blow up a dam. In truth, Mystique was trying to save the dam, which the US Government was wanting to destroy so that they could blame it on mutants. She joined coincidentally to the departure of X-Factor member Wolfsbane. Her membership led to tension with her teammates when Sabretooth was added to the team months later as a sleeper agent, for the main purpose of killing Mystique before she could uncover the truth about the conspiracy she uncovered. She slowly developed a romantic relationship with team-leader Forge (though he later thought that she was just using him).
Part of the conspiracy involved Mystique's son Graydon Creed running for President, under an anti-mutant platform.
Breakdown
At the same time, both Graydon and Mystique learned that her lover Destiny had married and had children during one of the couple's separations. Irene's children were now adults with their own children, one of which was a mutant. Graydon had the mutant teen savagely beaten by members of the Friends of Humanity, as a warning towards his mother. Mystique was furious and wanted to kill her son, but stopped when she was given a message that Graydon's backers wanted her to kill him and turn her son into a martyr.
Mystique then sought to save her son from being betrayed by his backers, but failed miserably. Graydon died and his death ushered in a new wave of anti-mutant violence. Ultimately, Sabretooth acted on his orders to kill the members of X-Factor as "Operation Zero Tolerance" was activated. Even though she could have left her teammates to die, Mystique attacked Sabretooth, an act of intervention that distracted Sabretooth long enough to keep him from finishing off the already injured team. Mystique then fled the scene after arranging for the members of X-Factor to receive emergency medical treatment for the wounds Sabretooth inflicted onto them.
Mystique went into hiding, taking the identity of senator's wife Mallory Brickman, using her husband's influence to set the FBI on Sabretooth. She prevented Rogue from giving up her mutant powers and she continued her investigation of the US Government over her son's death, leading to her aiding the Toad and his most recent incarnation of the "Brotherhood of Evil Mutants" on a mission to raid a government base. The mission failed thanks to Machine Man, who fought the Brotherhood and forced the team to flee. Mystique fled to Europe, at which point her life changed dramatically. While taking the form of a blonde haired woman during a trip to the beach, Mystique was confronted by a famous photographer who told the mutant that he wanted to make her the next big fashion model.
Amused, Mystique accepted and quickly became the fashion industry's newest top model. Using her money, Mystique moved back to New York and into an expensive penthouse apartment. At peace, Mystique bought a telescope and used it to take in her penthouse's view of New York. This proved to be a huge mistake, as a nearby building was being used by Skrulls loyal to Apocalypse to build the machinery needed for an upcoming scheme of the villains. When one of the Skrulls caught Mystique by her window with her telescope, they assumed the worst and framed Mystique for the murder of a Japanese diplomat. With help from Shadowcat and Rogue, Mystique was cleared and left town. However, before she left, Shadowcat, who spent the night at Raven's place found one of Destiny's diaries left by Destiny for Kitty to find and take with her.
Mystique then reached a breakthrough regarding her investigation of the US conspiracy against mutantkind, but fate caused Mystique to suffer a massive blow. While gaining the critical intel on the identity of those who were involved in her son's death and the attempt to kill her via Sabretooth, Mystique suddenly lost her powers while pretending to be a man in a busy office workplace.
Arrested, Mystique's life was torn apart as the US Government acted on their intel regarding Mystique and used it to destroy all of the alternate identities that Mystique had established over the years and arranging for Mystique to be unable to access any of the money she and Destiny had hidden away over the years. This caused Mystique to lose any self-control she might once have had, as the loss of her powers and the loss of her freedom caused her to lash out at everyone around her. Most notably, Rogue felt the brunt of her step-mother's wrath as Rogue had no sympathy for Mystique's plight. The relationship soured most notably when Rogue refused to tell Mystique that the X-Men were going to fight the High Evolutionary, who was responsible for depowering all of mutantkind, so as to restore everyone's powers. The X-Men defeated Evolutionary and restored everyone's powers, allowing Mystique to escape jail.
Mystique however, would soon face her biggest fears realized in the worst way possible. Raven was sent back in time by the original X-Factor's sentient ship. Raven found that she was destined to be part of a great time paradox, where she found herself with a time delay weapon, which she was about to program to kill Graydon. Mystique was confused, because she remembered that she set up the weapon, but never got around to program it. After some deliberation, she decides to activate the weapon to kill Graydon. Mystique's sanity was further damaged by the revelation that her lover and soulmate Destiny was one of the founding members of the anti-mutant conspiracy Mystique had dedicated countless years fighting and had willfully withheld medical treatment to mutant children that would have resulted in them not growing up deformed due to their mutations.
This led to Raven once again going mad, at the futility of of her mission to change the world for the better. Raven became nihilistically obsessed with death and genocide, as she reformed the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants for another assassination attempt on Senator Kelly as well as Mystique kidnapping Moira McTaggart and impersonating her in order to access her research on the Legacy Virus. While not the gifted scientist that Moira was, Mystique's insanity and experience with bio-terrorism allowed her not only to use samples of Moira's Legacy Virus infected blood to create a biological weapon that would infect humans as opposed to mutants, but most importantly, allowed her to come up with a cure for the Legacy Virus after repeated readings of all of the doctor's research which, when filtered through Mystique's insane mind, resulted in her being able to pick up on insights that Moira had missed when researching.
The assassination attempt on Kelly ended in failure, when the mutant villain Pyro betrayed his teammates to save Kelly's life. Mystique blew up Moira McTaggart’s research facility, fatally injuring the doctor. Mystique then shot Moira's foster daughter Wolfsbane with a prototype of Forge's neutralizer gun, depowering her.
Rogue arrived and confronted her mother. When Mystique revealed her plan to Rogue on using a modified form of the Legacy Virus on the humans, Rogue realized that she was ill and tried to help her. Mystique pretended to accept Rogue's help before stabbing her in the gut. If it weren’t for Rogue having absorbed Wolverine’s healing factor she would have most likely died.
As Mystique confronted the other X-Men, Rogue's healing factor revived her. Sneaking behind Mystique, Rogue used the bone claws she had absorbed from Wolverine and stabbed her in the back.
Mystique was hospitalized, where she told the X-Men that Destiny had predicted a dark future for mutantkind and that the future Destiny foretold kept on unfolding despite all that Mystique had done to prevent it. She believed that the only way to save them was to get rid of the humans, for a planet of mutants might survive, while mutants divided against each other and with humanity shunning them as outcasts would be doomed.
Mystique was sent to prison but quickly escaped. She then allied herself with the daughter of the original Mastermind in an attempt to wrest control of the military organization known as the X-Corps from its founder, Banshee. Outfitted with a device that gave her the ability to generate an electrical charge, Mystique created the identity of a super-villain and joined the X-Corps. While Mastermind's daughter mind-controlled the other members of the organization, Mystique brought Banshee’s organization down and slit his throat, leaving him in critical condition.
Double agent
Charles Xavier was later forced to make Mystique his double agent, as his previous one had died and Mystique was the only one suitable enough to complete the missions. At this time, Mystique claimed that there was an imposter out to frame her, taking control over the Brotherhood and sending them on their recent missions (the assassination of Moira and the infiltration of X-corps). Whether she was speaking the truth remains to be seen. The two never truly trusted each other, but as long as Mystique completed the missions without killing anybody, Xavier would keep her safe from the authorities, who were out to execute her. Working with Xavier was Forge, whom Mystique had had a brief romance with while she was in X-Factor.
One of Xavier's enemies, the Quiet Man contacted Mystique and offered to give her an interference transmitter, the same type of device Xavier was using, which would keep her safe from the authorities if she killed Xavier. Creating a plan that would free her from both the men, Mystique pretended to try killing Xavier secretly working with the mutant thief Fantomex, who she had alert Forge to stopping her at the last moment. Her plan was on having the Quiet Man see this and believe that she really had attempted to kill Xavier and was still working for him. However, the other X-Men also believed that Mystique had tried killing Xavier.
Rogue managed to track her down. She disowned her surrogate mother, saying she had tried to forgive Mystique for stabbing her but that this was too much. She went on to say that Mystique wasn’t her mother, that she was a monster. Mystique tried apologizing to Rogue for how she had hurt her but Rogue was distraught with rage and attacked her foster mother. Mystique managed to escape by blowing up the house and going through the window, changing her form to shield her fall.
Mystique went to the Quiet Man, who was planning on having her killed due to outliving her usefullness. After a battle Mystique killed the Quiet Man, saved her former field-handler Shortpack, and discovered his interference transmitter had been a fake all along. Later, Forge caught Mystique trying to steal his interference transmitter. After some angry words, he smashed it and told her he never wanted to see her again. The two shared a sad good-bye kiss and Mystique left. After Mystique was gone, Forge realized that she had already switched his transmitter for the fake one.
Matchmaker
Mystique later inflitrated the X-Men, posing as a young girl named Foxx. She attempted to seduce Rogue's boyfriend Gambit to break them up so she could set her daughter up with a young mutant named Augustus, a man she believed Rogue could be the happiest with.
Though severely tempted by "Foxx"'s advances, Gambit resisted. Mystique ultimately revealed herself to him, telling him that she was trying to relieve the tension between him and Rogue (because of the two being unable to have sex due to her ability to absorb someone's essence upon skin-to-skin contact). Mystique then morphed into Rogue and told Gambit that he wouldn't be cheating on Rogue if they had sex now.
When the telepath Emma Frost discovered who Foxx really was, the X-Men confronted Mystique. Mystique told them that she had been lonely and wanted to join the X-Men. Emma also discovered that Gambit had known who Foxx really was all along, and a furious Rogue believed the two had been having an affair. Mystique wouldn't reveal if she and Gambit did anything, but told Rogue that if he truly loved her he wouldn't have been tempted, and that she deserved better than him. Gambit denied anything had happened.
Later, the X-Men voted and decided to have Mystique join them on a probationary status (though Rogue was one of the ones who had voted against her joining). Meanwhile, Nightcrawler asked her to leave for a while regardless of the vote, saying that he needed more time adjusting to the idea of her being a member first. Mystique ultimately agreed and left.
However, after Decimation, she has joined the X-Men-and brought Augustus along with her...
Powers and abilities
Mystique is a mutant, a shape-shifter able to alter the formation of her biological cells at will and thereby assume the form of other humans. Originally, it was clearly stated that Mystique's powers were limited to appearances only, as she could not assume the powers of the people she morphed into or alter her body to adapt to different situations.
This changed in 2001's X-Men Forever mini-series, in which Mystique was exposed to dangerous levels of radiation in order to save the life of Toad. The process morphed Mystique's appearance to match her more reptilian physique from the movies, and boosted her powers so that she could now morph her body into taking certain desired physical traits depending on her situation at the time. Examples of this new ability include: night vision, wings on her back, talons in her fingers and natural body armour. In addition, damages to her biological tissue are known to heal at a relatively fast rate and she can form a resistance to poisons upon contacting them. While she retained her advanced powers, the new look wore off quickly and she regained her normal appearance.
Her constantly rearranging the formation of her cellular structure seems to have suppressed her natural aging process and she has retained her youthful figure despite being alive for over a hundred years. Her natural form is that of a young woman with red hair, yellow eyes and dark blue skin.
It should be noted that in the X-Men movie, Mystique was shown changing her shape into a statue and in the animated X-Men: Evolution TV series, Mystique could change shape into animals - particularly ravens - eventually gaining the ability to morph into multiple animals when her powers were enhanced by Apocalypse.
Ultimate Mystique
In the Ultimate Marvel Universe, Mystique was the former lover of Charles Xavier. However, during their stay in the Savage Land with Magneto, the young Emma Frost came under the tutelage of Xavier, and shortly after he dumped Mystique for "prissy schoolmarm" Frost. Ever since then, Mystique has held great resentment towards Xavier, which inturn makes her undyingly loyal to Magneto. She recently teamed up with Forge and helped Magneto escape the Triskelion by taking his place in the prison cell. She is hinted to be one of the few who actually knows how Xavier's darker side operates stating "We all bought into Xavier's dream until we got a look at the sick brain behind it." Ironically though, Xavier has named his cat after Mystique.
Appearances in other media
- The X-Men sidescrolling beat-em-up arcade game, the televised X-Men and X-Men: Evolution animated series and the movies X-Men and X2 depicted Mystique primarily as a close ally and sometime lieutenant of the powerful mutant Magneto and a key figure in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
- In X-Men: Evolution, Mystique is portrayed as a ruthless and feared character, a master of martial arts and an unscrupulous manipulator. She gotten her way by disguising herself as the principal of Bayville High - under her human "Raven Darkholme" identity, Rogue's friend Risty Wilde and several others along the way including Professor X. However, as cold and ruthless she appears, she has one thing she holds dear: the well-being of her two children, Rogue and Nightcrawler. Whereas the latter seems to return the love, Rogue deeply despises her and even attempted to kill her at one point.
She then had her powers greatly enhanced by Apocalypse when she became an involuntary horseman. She gained the ability to transform into multiple animals and regenerate lost limbs in combat but lost these powers when Apocalypse was thwarted.
- In the movies X-Men, X2 and "X3", Mystique is played by Rebecca Romijn. In the movies Mystique does not wear clothing but is naked and covered in scales. She is a member of Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants. She also seems to have some sort of feelings towards Wolverine, even as he cut her in the stomach.
Trivia
- Mystique - who is hinted to be about 100 years old - is one of the oldest major mutants.
- Contrary to what is shown in most other incarnations of her in film and tv, the comics' version of Mystique is not Magneto's second-in-command. In fact, the two have only had a handful of encounters together and barely even know each other.
- Veteran X-Men writer Chris Claremont has stated in interviews that he originally intended for Mystique and Destiny to be Nightcrawler's biological parents (Mystique having morphed into a man for the conception), but Marvel nixed the idea for being too controversial, due to it being a point in time where writers were prevented from having a character be gay or bisexual.
- Mystique may be the most well-known bisexual character in the Marvel Universe. There has not been a great negative reaction to this, due to the lesser stigma being attached to bisexual (especially female) characters than the few of those who are male homosexual.
- a short-range telepath, named Shortpack, was Mystique's field-handler during her last series.
External links
- MDP: Mystique - Marvel Database Project
- Spotlight On... Mystique at UncannyXmen.Net
- A detailed chronology of her published appearances