Raven Darkholme

Of an unknown origin and age, Mystique has gone through a lot, at one point working as a spy.

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Table of Contents:

1. Spec’s
2. Details/History
3. 2nd Profile
4. Powers and Abilities
5. Paraphernalia
6. Notes
7. 2022 Update
8. 2023 Update
9. Images

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Spec’s:

She stands

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Details:

Mystique (Raven Darkhölme)^[5] is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by artist David Cockrum and writer Chris Claremont, she first appeared in the comic book Ms. Marvel #16, published in 1978.^[6]

Mystique is a member of a subspecies of humanity known as mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. Mystique is a shapeshifter who can mimic the appearance and voice of any person with exquisite precision, and her natural appearance includes blue skin and yellow eyes. She is typically portrayed as a foe of the X-Men.

Throughout most of her history, Mystique has been a supervillain, founding her own Brotherhood of Mutants and assassinating several important people involved in mutant affairs. She has commented that she is over 100 years old.^[7] Mystique is the mother of the villain Graydon Creed, the X-Men hero Nightcrawler,^[8] and adoptive mother of the heroine Rogue.^[5] She is forced to abandon Nightcrawler, but raises Rogue for a number of years, and the two women have mixed feelings towards each other.^[5]

Publication History

Mystique was created by artist David Cockrum. Chris Claremont saw Cockrum’s design, dubbed the character “Mystique”, and, with Cockrum’s permission, set her in Ms. Marvel #16 (May 1978).^[13][14]

Claremont, a former X-Men writer, has said that he originally intended Mystique and Destiny to be Nightcrawler‘s biological parents (with Mystique having morphed into a male body for the act of conception),^[15] but Marvel didn’t agree, because at that time the Comics Code Authority prohibited the explicit portrayal of gay or bisexual characters.^[16][17]

Biography

Mystique’s exact age remains unknown. Her earliest meeting with her lover, Destiny (Irene Adler), occurred around “the dawn of the 20th century”.^[18]

Sabretooth

While in her Raven persona, Mystique adopts the identity of deceased German secret agent Leni Zauber. Both Leni and Victor Creed, a.k.a. Sabretooth, had been assigned with the assassination of a scientist in East Berlin. Mystique completes the mission in place of Leni, and then she and Victor have to hide in a safe location for a while. They become lovers, but she soon fakes her death in order to leave him.^[19]

The result of this short-lived affair is reportedly the birth of Graydon Creed. A number of stories report that soon after his birth, Mystique gives him up for adoption. Others depict Mystique making arrangements for him from a distance. Raven keeps track of his activities until he reaches adolescence. Despite being the child of two mutants, Graydon is not a mutant himself. Mystique is disappointed and soon abandons him. Graydon grows to hate his parents, and eventually extends his hatred to all mutants. He becomes leader of the mutant-hating organization Friends of Humanity, and then a politician. At the height of his political ascension, Graydon is assassinated by an unknown shooter.^[20] The shooter is later revealed to be a time traveling version of Mystique as part of a convoluted time paradox involving Jean Grey, Iceman, Toad, and Juggernaut.^[21]

Nightcrawler

Still masquerading as Raven, Mystique is married to Baron Christian Wagner; older sources give his name as Count Eric Wagner, an affluent member of the German nobility. He proves to be a loving husband, but disappointing as a lover. His infertility adds to their marital problems. Mystique starts using her shapeshifting powers in order to secretly have sexual encounters with others. She is eventually seduced by fellow mutant Azazel. Azazel states that he is ruler of “an island nation off the coast of Bermuda: La Isla des Demonas”, The Island of Demons.^{[volume & issue needed]} He is later revealed to also have the power of immortality and to be the father of an ancient race of mutants known as the Neyaphem, active since at least 2000 BC.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Mystique becomes pregnant, but her husband becomes suspicious and his own father suggests a blood test to verify whether the child is his. Mystique uses a dagger to murder him and then buries him. She gives birth to a baby with black hair, yellow eyes, blue skin, and a pointed tail. The locals consider the mother and child to be demons and attempt to kill them. Mystique escapes but abandons her son. He is found and raised by Gypsy sorceress Margali Szardos and named Kurt Wagner.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Rogue

Mystique becomes the adoptive mother of the four-year-old girl Rogue. Rogue had run away from her home in rural Caldecott County, Mississippi. The girl was living alone in a wooded area, brandishing a shotgun and trusting no one, when Mystique found her. Destiny foresees that Rogue will be important to them and Mystique seeks her out, gains her trust, and takes her in. She and Destiny raise the girl, and Mystique grows to be very protective of her.

Mystique, as Raven Darkhölme, rises 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 gives her access to military secrets and advanced weaponry, both of which she uses for her own criminal and subversive purposes. In this position, she attempts the theft of the Centurion weaponry from S.H.I.E.L.D.^[22] As Destiny had predicted that Ms. Marvel was a danger to Rogue, she spied on Carol Danvers and Ms. Marvel for some time prior to beating her lover Michael Barnett to death, and sought to kill Ms. Marvel.^[23]

To help her in her criminal activities, Mystique organizes her own incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, consisting of herself, Avalanche, the Blob, Destiny, and Pyro. The Brotherhood attempts to assassinate Senator Robert Kelly, a notoriously anti-mutant politician. The X-Men thwart the assassination attempt, and all of the Brotherhood save Mystique herself are incarcerated.^[24]

Rogue is trained by Mystique and eventually joins the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Her mutant power is the ability to absorb the memories, personality, and skills or powers of whomever she touches. To free the other members of the Brotherhood, Mystique concocts a plan involving Rogue absorbing the powers of Ms. Marvel and the Avengers. Though the plan is successful, the Avengers ultimately defeat the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, capturing all of them except Rogue and Mystique. Moreover, Rogue finds that she has absorbed Ms. Marvel’s memories, personality, and powers permanently.^[25] In a further humiliation, a confrontation at the Pentagon ends with Mystique being defeated and turned over to the authorities by a powerless Ms. Marvel.^[26]

The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants eventually escape, and battle against Dazzler.^[27] In an act of revenge against Mystique, Mastermind unbalances Rogue’s psyche with the one she absorbed from Ms. Marvel, which prompts her to defect to the X-Men.^[28] Because Rogue left without a word, Mystique assumes that Professor X, the X-Men’s mentor, brainwashed her. The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants accordingly launches an attempt to kill Professor X. Rogue stops Mystique, and explains that she joined the X-Men because Professor X, as the world’s most powerful telepath, is her best hope of healing for her fragmented psyche. Mystique reluctantly relinquishes her guardianship of Rogue.^[29]

Freedom Force

Anti-mutant sentiment rises and the federal government launches its own covert anti-mutant program, Project Wideawake. Believing that the times have become too dangerous for the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants to continue, Mystique goes to Doctor Valerie Cooper, special assistant to the head of the National Security Council, and offers the Brotherhood’s services to the government. In return for entering government service, Mystique and her team receive a presidential pardon for all criminal charges, to be revoked if any member of Freedom Force is found committing a crime. Cooper agrees to convey the offer to the President on the condition that the Brotherhood arrests their founder, Magneto. The Brotherhood, now reincarnated as Freedom Force, are defeated by Magneto and the X-Men. When Magneto learns that Freedom Force are official federal agents, he voluntarily surrenders to them.^[30]

Mystique leads Freedom Force in capturing the Avengers on behalf of the federal government.^[31] She clashes with X-Factor in seeking to arrest Rusty Collins.^[32] With Freedom Force, she fights the X-Men in Dallas, and witnesses her foster daughter’s apparent demise.^[33] With Freedom Force, she battles Cyclops and Marvel Girl.^[34]With Freedom Force she seeks to arrest Rusty Collins again, and battles the New Mutants.^[35] She finally succeeds in capturing Collins as well as Skids.^[36] She leads Freedom Force against the Reavers on Muir Island. On this particularly disastrous mission, Freedom Force loses two of its members, Stonewall and Mystique’s lover Destiny.^[37] The death of her lover leaves Mystique psychologically scarred.

Mystique is later nearly killed by Dr. Valerie Cooper, who is under the Shadow King‘s mental control.^[38] She then impersonates Dr. Valerie Cooper.^[39] Mystique is eventually discovered impersonating Dr. Cooper, and saves Xavier’s life by killing the Shadow King’s human host, Jacob Reisz.^[40] She finally reconciles with Rogue.^[41] In time, she comes to terms with Destiny’s death.^[42] She teams with Spiral and Wolverine in thwarting Mojo‘s near-destruction of the universe.^[43] Mystique later briefly stays as a guest at Xavier’s mansion. She begins going insane, and leaves the mansion under the care of Forge.^[44]

X-Factor

Mystique resurfaces several months later, in a failed attempt to kill Legion for his murdering of Destiny.^[45] Mystique has an implant put in her skull by Forge in order for the government to be able to keep track of her. She is then forced to become a member of the government-sponsored team X-Factor after being arrested for trying to blow up a dam.^[46] In truth, Mystique had been trying to save the dam, which the U.S. Government wanted to destroy so that they could blame it on mutants. Her membership leads to tension with her teammates when Sabretooth is added to the team months later as a sleeper agent^[47], for the main purpose of killing Mystique before she can uncover the truth about the conspiracy. She slowly develops a romantic relationship with team-leader Forge (though he later thought that she was just using him).^[48]

Part of the conspiracy involves Mystique’s son Graydon Creed running for President, under an anti-mutant platform.^[49]

At the same time, both Graydon and Mystique learn that Destiny married and had children during one of the couple’s separations. Destiny/Irene’s children are now adults with their own children, one of which is a mutant. Graydon has the mutant teen savagely beaten by members of the Friends of Humanity, as a warning towards his mother. Mystique is furious and wants to kill her son, but stops when she is given a message that Graydon’s backers want her to kill him and turn her son into a martyr.^[50]

Mystique then seeks to save her son from being betrayed by his backers, but fails. Graydon’s death ushers in a new wave of anti-mutant violence. Sabretooth acts on his orders to kill the members of X-Factor as “Operation Zero Tolerance” is activated. Mystique distracts Sabretooth long enough to keep him from finishing off the team.^[51] Mystique then flees the scene after arranging for X-Factor to receive medical treatment for the wounds Sabretooth inflicted.

Mystique goes into hiding, taking the identity of the senator’s wife Mallory Brickman, using her husband’s influence to set the FBI on Sabretooth. She prevents Rogue from giving up her mutant powers and continues her investigation of the U.S. Government over her son’s death, leading to her aiding Toad and his most recent incarnation of the Brotherhood of Mutants on a mission to raid a government base. The mission fails thanks to Machine Man, who fights the Brotherhood and forces the team to flee. Mystique flees to Europe. While taking the form of a blonde haired woman, Mystique is confronted by a famous photographer who proposes to make her a big fashion model.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Amused, Mystique accepts and quickly becomes the fashion industry’s newest top model. Using her money, Mystique moves back to New York and into an expensive penthouse apartment. There, Skrulls staying in a nearby building frame Mystique for the murder of a Japanese diplomat. With help from Shadowcat and Rogue, Mystique is cleared and leaves town. Before she leaves, Shadowcat finds one of Destiny’s diaries, left there by Destiny herself before she died.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Breakdown

While gaining critical intelligence on the identity of those who were involved in her son’s death and the attempt to kill her using Sabretooth, Mystique suddenly loses her powers while pretending to be a man in a busy office workplace.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Mystique is arrested. The U.S. Government acts on their intelligence regarding Mystique, and destroys all of the alternate identities that she established over the years and confiscate the money she and Destiny had hidden away. The loss of her powers and her freedom causes her to lash out at everyone around her. Rogue has no sympathy for Mystique’s plight. The relationship sours when Rogue refuses to tell Mystique that the X-Men are going to fight the High Evolutionary, who was responsible for depowering all mutants, in order to restore everyone’s powers. The X-Men defeat the High Evolutionary and restore everyone’s powers, allowing Mystique to escape jail.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Mystique is sent back in time by the original X-Factor’s sentient ship. Raven finds that she is destined to be part of a great time paradox, where she finds herself with a time delay weapon, which she is about to program to kill Graydon. After some deliberation, she decides to activate the weapon to kill Graydon. Mystique’s sanity is further damaged by the revelation that Destiny was one of the founding members of the anti-mutant conspiracy Mystique had dedicated countless years to fighting, and had willfully withheld medical treatment to mutant children that would have resulted in them not growing up deformed due to their mutations.^{[volume & issue needed]}

This leads to Raven again going mad. She reforms the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants for another assassination attempt on Senator Kelly, and kidnaps Moira MacTaggertand impersonates her in order to access her research on the Legacy Virus. Mystique uses samples of the Legacy Virus to create a biological weapon that would infect humans and not mutants, and develops a cure for the Legacy Virus.^{[volume & issue needed]}

The assassination attempt on Kelly ends in failure when Pyro betrays his teammates. Mystique blows up MacTaggert’s research facility, fatally injuring the doctor. Mystique then shoots Moira’s foster daughter Wolfsbane with a prototype of Forge’s neutralizer gun, depowering her. The X-Men confront Mystique and she is seriously wounded. She tells the X-Men that Destiny had predicted a dark future for mutant-kind, and that the future Destiny foretold kept on unfolding despite all that Mystique had done to prevent it. She believes that the only way to save them is to eradicate all humans.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Mystique is sent to prison, but quickly escapes. She allies herself with Martinique Jason in an attempt to wrest control of the X-Corps from its founder, Banshee. Outfitted with a device that gives her the ability to generate an electrical charge, Mystique creates the identity of a supervillain named Surge and joins the X-Corps. While Jason mind-controls the other members of the organization, Mystique brings Banshee’s organization down and slits his throat, leaving him in critical condition.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Double Agent

Professor X is forced to make Mystique his secret agent, as his previous one, Prudence Leighton, has died and Mystique is the only one suitable to complete the missions. Xavier poses as Magneto to rescue Mystique from the Department of Homeland Security and from execution at the hands of Johny Kitano, Special Magistrate for Homo Superior crimes against humanity, and a mutant himself.^[52] At this time, Mystique claims that there is 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). As long as Mystique completes the missions without killing anybody, Xavier, working with Forge, keeps her safe from the authorities, who are out to execute her.

One of Xavier’s enemies, the Quiet Man, who is actually Prudence Leighton inhabiting the body of her assassin,^[53] contacts Mystique and offers to give her an interference transmitter which would keep her safe from the authorities if she kills Xavier. Creating a plan that would free her from both men, Mystique pretends to try killing Xavier while secretly working with the mutant thief Fantomex, after alerting Forge to stop her at the last moment. Her plan is to have the Quiet Man see this and believe that she really has attempted to kill Xavier and is still working for him. The other X-Men believe that Mystique has tried killing Xavier and seek her out.^[54]

Rogue tracks her down. Distraught with rage, she attacks her foster mother. Mystique escapes by blowing up the house and going through the window, changing her form to shield her fall.^[54]

Mystique goes to the Quiet Man, who is planning on having her killed. After a battle, Mystique kills the Quiet Man, saves her former field-handler Shortpack, and discovers the Quiet Man’s interference transmitter was a fake. She tries to steal Forge’s interference transmitter but is caught. After some angry words, he smashes it and tells her he never wants to see her again. The two share a sad goodbye kiss and Mystique leaves. After Mystique is gone, Forge realizes that she had already switched his transmitter for the fake one.^[53]

Joining the X-Men

Mystique later infiltrates the X-Men, posing as a young girl named Foxx and joining Gambit‘s training squad, the Chevaliers.^[55] She attempts to seduce Rogue’s boyfriend Gambit to break them up so she can set her daughter up with a young mutant named Augustus,^[56] but Gambit resists. Mystique ultimately reveals herself to him, telling him that she is trying to relieve the tension between him and Rogue (because of the two being unable to touch due to her ability to absorb someone’s essence upon skin-to-skin contact). Mystique then metamorphoses into Rogue and tells Gambit that he would not be cheating on Rogue if he had sex with her in Rogue’s form.^[57]

When the telepath Emma Frost discovers who Foxx really is, the X-Men confront Mystique. Mystique tells them that she had been lonely and wants to join the X-Men. Mystique uses Rogue’s doubts about what happened between her and Gambit to sow further discord in Rogue’s relationship with Gambit.^[58]

The X-Men vote and decide to have Mystique join them on a probationary status (though Rogue is one of the ones who vote against her joining). Nightcrawler asks her to leave for a while regardless of the vote, saying that he needs more time adjusting to the idea of her being a member. Mystique agrees and leaves.^[59] After M-Day, she joins the X-Men and brings Augustus (Pulse) along with her. Both have been crucial in the downfall of Apocalypse.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Marauders

After the Hecatomb battle on Providence, Rogue’s team returns to Rogue’s childhood home in Caldecott County, Mississippi, which Mystique owns for some downtime. Mystique alerts the X-Men, who come to treat Rogue’s illness, that there are intruders in the area. Only after Lady Mastermind drops her illusions do the X-Men realize that it is an all-out attack, and that both Lady Mastermind and Omega Sentinel (the latter being possessed by Malice) have defected sides. During the Marauders’ initial ambush, Mystique prevents Scalphunter from shooting Rogue. She then reveals herself as a traitor as well, shoots her adopted daughter, and orders the remaining Marauders to kill the X-Men.

Mystique remains with the Marauders during the hunt for the first new mutant baby, but is revealed to have murdered Mister Sinister in a plot involving the baby and Rogue’s killing touch. She also appears to be working with Gambit, who, like her, has ulterior motives to want to betray Mister Sinister. When Sinister approaches Mystique as she is with the comatose Rogue, Mystique shoves Sinister onto Rogue, killing him through fatal skin-to-skin contact. Then, in keeping with the words of the Destiny Diaries, she touches the baby’s face to Rogue’s. The baby’s touch purges her of the Strain 88 virus and all the residual psyches she had absorbed over her life, including Hecatomb. Rogue is sickened by Mystique’s manipulations, and leaves.

Wolverine tracks Mystique to the Middle East and then into Afghanistan.^[60] It is hinted at that Mystique’s recent betrayal is not the only reason Logan is out to kill her, as they have a common history of friendship, love, and ultimately, betrayal.^[61] After a heated fight, Wolverine wounds Mystique, but denies her the Coup de grâce.^[62]

Manifest Destiny

Mystique shows up again, posing as Bobby Drake’s ex-girlfriend Opal Tanaka. She sets off a bomb inside of Bobby’s Blackbird before shooting him and kicking him out of the plane.^[63] Later, she follows Iceman to the hospital and injects him with a fatal dose of a toxin created by Mister Sinister. Hospital staff try to get to Iceman, but they are held back by Mystique while Iceman expels the toxin from his system. Afterward, Mystique attacks Iceman in a truck and sets the truck ablaze with Iceman in it. Iceman steps out of the fire unharmed and disarms and immobilizes Mystique, but she escapes after turning her body into her child form. Mystique impersonates Iceman and stands on top of the Golden Gate bridge threatening to blow it up. Iceman arrives and discovers the reason for Mystique doing this is Wolverine telling her that she will die alone. After a heated conversation, Iceman freezes the bomb. Mystique jumps off the bridge into the water. Iceman tells Cyclops and Hank McCoy that he knows that she is not dead and thanks her for what she did for him.^[64]

Dark X-Men

Mystique joins Norman Osborn‘s Dark X-Men, posing as Professor Charles Xavier for P.R. purposes. Osborn has her injected with nanites and kept on a short leash; should she try anything, Osborn would turn her into a human bomb.^[65] After the defection of Emma Frost, Namor, and Cloak and Dagger, Mystique leads the remaining members of the team under the public guise of Jean Grey, as no one could prove Jean had actually died, but mainly to hurt those who had caused her great harm.^[66]

Wolverine, having returned from hell and retrieved his possessed body from a demonic force, targets Mystique after finding out she was responsible for sending his soul there at the behest of The Red Right Hand.^{[volume & issue needed]} Mystique is shot by a hit-man named Lord Deathstrike. Badly wounded, Mystique patches herself and escapes on a motorcycle. Wolverine and Lord Deathstrike are in hot pursuit of Mystique throughout the San Francisco streets simultaneously.^{[volume & issue needed]}Mystique ultimately confronts Wolverine, who stabs her with his claws, killing her.^{[volume & issue needed]} Lord Deathstrike collects Mystique’s body and auctions it off. Her corpse is sold for 5 million to group of ninjas. It is implied these are agents of The Hand.^[67]

Revival

Mystique is seen alive again posing as Sabretooth at Los Angeles International Airport.^[68] In the form of Sabretooth she has agreed to assist the Hellfire Club in their destruction of the Jean Grey School.^{[volume & issue needed]} Mystique, as Sabretooth, was a faculty member of The Hellfire Academy.^{[volume & issue needed]} When the Hand revived Mystique, her powers were enhanced and she is now capable of changing her scent to match the forms she takes.^[69]

Receiving word that the original X-Men are in the present day, Mystique seeks out young Scott Summers to manipulate him into thinking she has his and mutantkind’s best interests at heart.^{[volume & issue needed]} She uses Lady Mastermind and Sabretooth to commit robberies and frame the X-Men.^{[volume & issue needed]} Viper shows up. Mystique explains to her that she wants to buy Madripoor from HYDRA and control the crime in the area. Before this transaction is completed, the X-Men raid the place.^{[volume & issue needed]} Lady Mastermind and Mystique are captured,^{[volume & issue needed]} but Mystique escapes in a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicopter.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Mystique is attacked by Iceman, who is possessed by the Apocalypse fragment.^{[volume & issue needed]} After Iceman is shattered into pieces by Thor, Mystique takes the Apocalypse fragment and swallows it to inherit its powers.^{[volume & issue needed]}

In order to help move her plans along, Mystique drugs and replaces Dazzler, who’s now became SHIELD’s mutant liaison, allowing her to set up her New Brotherhood under Maria Hill’s nose.^{[volume & issue needed]} She sets up operations in Madripoor, allowing her to regularly visit to ‘investigate’ the mutant uprising there, while secretly being the one in charge of it.^{[volume & issue needed]} She offers Magneto a place in her New Brotherhood after he leaves the Uncanny X-Men team, but he rejects it on the grounds of her financing her operation via drug money from Mutant Growth Hormone sales, attacking and defeating her Brotherhood and stealing her chopper in order to find his own place in the new world.^{[volume & issue needed]}

Uncanny Avengers

Mystique appears as a member of Magneto’s unnamed supervillain group during the fight against Red Skull‘s Red Onslaught form.^[70] When the heroes and villains present undergo a moral inversion due to a flawed spell cast by the Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom,^[71] Mystique joins the other inverted villains in the ‘Astonishing Avengers’ as they go up against the inverted X-Men and Avengers,^[72] also working to prevent the inverted Nightcrawler from killing those who were involved in the riot that nearly killed him before his first meeting with Professor X.^[73] During the final fight, Mystique briefly poses as Professor X to try to get through to the ‘reborn’ Apocalypse (Actually the now-adult clone of Apocalypse known as Evan Sabahnur that the X-Men had been trying to raise away from his template’s influence),^[74] but is converted back to her usual villainous attitude at the conclusion of the storyline.^[75]

Powers and Abilities

Mystique is a mutant shapeshifter with the ability to psionically shift the formation of her biological cells at will to change her appearance and thereby assume the form of other humans and animals.^[76][77] She can also alter her voice to duplicate exactly that of another person. Originally, it was clearly stated that Mystique’s powers were limited to appearances only; she could not assume the powers of the people she morphed into or alter her body to adapt to different situations. Additionally she could not change her overall body mass when taking on the appearance of a person larger or smaller, but due to subsequent enhancements she has stated that her body mass is not fixed and can change when she does.^[78]

Her body is not limited to purely organic appearances: She also has the ability to create the appearance of clothes and other materials out of her own body, including items such as glasses, zippers, identity cards, handbags and even test tubes. Mystique is shown in at least one instance transforming a metallic part of her costume into a functioning blaster pistol.^[79] Whether this is a function of her powers or the costume piece itself, is unclear.

As a shape-shifter, Mystique is able to constantly alter and rejuvenate her body’s cells and thereby retain her youthful appearance despite being alive for over one hundred years.

Mystique received her first power enhancement in the X-Men Forever miniseries, in which she was exposed to dangerous levels of radiation in order to save the life of Toad. The process boosted her powers so that she can now morph her body into taking certain desired physical traits depending on her situation at the time. Examples of these new abilities include night vision, wings on her back,^[80] talons in her fingers, and natural body armor.^[76] She can compress into nearly two-dimensional like a sheet of paper to glide on air currents, similar to Mister Fantastic, which she uses to survive an explosion.^[54] She has moved her vital organs out of place in order to survive gunshots to her torso and head,^[81] and can make herself virtually invisible via camouflage. She has even, with strain, given herself two heads and four arms to facilitate a gun fight on two fronts,^[82] as well as shapeshifted into herself as a small child.^[52] She is also now able to hold a shape when knocked unconscious^[83] and can conceal items in shapeshifted pouches under her skin.^[84]

Following her death and resurrection by the Hand, her powers have been further enhanced.^[85] She can now alter and conceal her scent from those with enhanced senses, and is capable of changing her shape to a greater degree, including altering her limbs to form tentacles and bladed weapons,^[86] and compressing herself into a dog.^[77]

Damage to her biological tissue is known to heal at a relatively fast rate and she can form a resistance to poisons upon contacting them. Her enhancements have allowed her to rapidly regrow severed limbs,^[87] and rapidly recover from near fatal injury. Her powers grant her immunity to diseases, enhanced agility and strength, and agelessness.^[4]

Mystique is a cunning strategist in terrorist and commando operations, and adept at martial arts and information technology. She has a talent for finding, stealing, and understanding cutting edge weaponry. She is a talented actress and a polyglot, being fluent in over fourteen languages. Her mind is naturally unreadable owing to changing grey matter and she wears devices to prevent telepathic intrusion. Furthermore, with over a century’s experience in posing as other people she has picked up the unusual skill of being able to identify people posing as others based on body language and changes in behavioral cues.

Having been alive a for at least a century, Mystique has built up considerable resources, one of her aliases being the billionaire B Byron Biggs who owns a number of safehouses around the world which are often protected by sophisticated security systems.^[88] She also controls a variety of weaponry and gadgets, including the Changeling,^[89] a highly advanced stealth ship capable of cloaking and flying at very high speed.^{[volume & issue needed]} The ship had sophisticated weapons and surveillance systems, with an on-board analysis computer and power-suppressing containment cells.

Details here.

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Mystique

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Early Life

Little is known about Mystique’s past. Due to the fact she can eliminate the outward signs of aging with her shapeshifting; it is not known how old she is. Her powers manifested when she was twelve years old and she had to “fight just to survive.”^[24]

First Betrayals

In 1921, Raven found herself in the Mexican Sonoran Desert about to be executed by a firing squad because of her blue skin, which had led the locals to believe she was a witch. As she was blindfolded and tied to a post, she noticed a man tied up beside her. When she asked if he was a murderer. He answered: “… worse, a horse thief.” Raven managed to untie herself just before the firing squad shot and watched as the man was riddled with bullets. ^[15]

However, he managed to somehow survive and kill the guards. After they both escaped, Raven was surprised that he was still alive and asked how he knew she would be able to free herself and escape. He responded: “I didn’t”, and when she asked where he was going to next, he said the nearest bar. Raven introduced herself to the man who said his name was Logan, after which she told him that she had a group of friends in Kansas City, that he would probably like to meet.^[15]

Once in Kansas City, Raven told Logan about her group, who scammed local people. After meeting Raven’s crew, and saving one of them from an angry customer that was scammed, Raven informed Logan that she, along with her crew, were planning a bank heist and she wanted him to take part in it. When Logan expressed his reluctance to get attached to people (likely due to the loss of his parents, Rose, Smitty, Silver Fox, Seraph and Janet), Raven told him that she knew it was hard to trust people, but that they could be a family and to trust her. They kissed and Logan decided to help her. However, Raven betrays Logan and her friends by alerting the police; leaving her crew to take the fall for the heist while she escapes with the stolen money. She encounters Logan in a train later and he questions her about this. Raven tells Logan that each one of them should just start a new life. Once Logan turns his back, she kicks him out of the train.^[25]

Raven and Destiny

Her earliest meeting with her friend Destiny(Irene Adler) occurred at “the dawn of the 20th century.” Irene was an Austrian mutant with precognitive powers. She was most accurate in predicting near-future events concerning her present environment. However, during a period of 12 months in 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. ^{[citation needed]}

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.”

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 Union of Fascists, a likely ally for Nazi Germany. Irene and Raven contacted their old acquaintance, Logan 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.”^[26]

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 motives but apparently trusted her enough not to press for answers.

A Mother

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.^[27]

The result of this short-lived affair was reportedly the birth of Graydon Creed, her earliest known child. 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 a Homo sapiens instead of a Homo superior or Mutant. Raven was disappointed and soon abandoned him. Graydon grew to hate his parents and eventually extended his hatred towards all mutants. He later became leader to the mutant-hating organization Friends of Humanity and then a politician. Graydon, at the height of his political ascension was assassinated by an unknown shooter.^[28] The shooter was later revealed to be a time traveling version of Mystique, as part of a convoluted time paradox involving Jean Grey, Iceman, Toad, and Juggernaut.^[29]

For several years Mystique was also reported being the mother of Nightcrawlerbut the exact events were uncertain. It was eventually ‘revealed’ that the father was Azazel, a demonic-looking mutant from biblical times claiming to be the inspiration for Satan.^[14]

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 shapeshifting 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. Another fellow mutant eventually seduced her.

He called himself Azazel and stated he was the ruler of “an island nation off the coast of Bermuda: La Isla des Demonas,” The Island of Demons. He was apparently a fellow shapeshifter 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 Neyaphem, 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.^[14]

Raven soon became pregnant. Her husband became suspicious and his father suggested a blood test to verify if the child was his. Mystique used a dagger to slay the Baron and then buried him. When she gave birth her concentration on her human form was lost and her natural blue body was revealed. Her child was 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 a man named Kurt Wagner. ^{[citation needed]}

Mystique would later become adoptive mother to the girl Anna Marie, who had run away from her home in rural Caldecott County, Mississippi. 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. While Rogue was under her care, she maintained the false identity of Mallory Brickman, the wife of U.S. Senator Ralph Brickman. It is unknown whether a real Mallory Brickman ever existed and was replaced, but the guise had a daughter, Gloria^[30], either the child of Mystique herself or the real Mallory.

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 DARPA in the United States Department of Defense,^[21] giving her access to military secrets and advanced weaponry, both of which she used for her own criminal and subversive purposes.^[31]

The Brotherhood

Mystique organized the third incarnation of the Brotherhood of Mutants, which originally consisted of herself, Avalanche, the Blob, Destiny, and Pyro. Mystique named her group after the original Brotherhood of Mutants, an organization founded by Magneto. The third incarnation of the Brotherhood first became known when it attempted to intimidate the public by assassinating Senator Robert Kelly, who was investigating what he perceived as the possible danger posed by the existence of any superhuman beings. The X-Men thwarted the assassination attempt.^[32]

Anna Marie was trained by Mystique and eventually joined her Brotherhood team as Rogue. 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.^[33][34]

On a mission with the Avengers, Rogue fought Carol Danvers, better known as the super heroine named Ms. Marvel at that time prior to becoming Captain Marvel. 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.^[33]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 Danvers’ 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.^[35]

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 of 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.^[36]

Mystique grudgingly agreed and let Rogue stay with the X-Men. Though she would remain close to Rogue, coming to help her at times, Mystique came to resent Xavier.

Freedom Force

Anti-mutant sentiment among normal human beings had greatly increased, and the federal government launched its own covert anti-mutant program, Project Wideawake.^[37] Believing that the times had become too dangerous for the Brotherhood to continue its criminal activities, Mystique went to Dr. 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 (only because he voluntarily surrendered to them), and soon afterwards officially entered the government’s employ. In return for entering the government’s employ as Freedom Force‘s leader, Mystique received a presidential pardon for all criminal charges against her, but the pardon would be revoked if any member of Freedom Force was found committing a crime.^[38] During her time with Freedom Force Mystique faced many new opponents such as the Grip, Avengers West Coast, and several other foes.^[39][40][41]

During this stint, her team was sent to Muir Island and were confronted by the Reavers, who killed her teammate Stonewall. During the battle, she charged Forge with the duty of protecting Destiny. Forge managed to protect her until she convinced him that Mystique needed more help. After Forge left to help Mystique, Destiny was slain by a mind controlled Legion. After the battle with the Reavers Mystique discovered Destiny dead and swore vengeance on Forge for her death.^[42] She was then visited by a future version of herself and decided to take some time off to mourn the death of Destiny. During her time off she went on a cruise and scattered Destiny’s ashes into the ocean.^[43]

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 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 Muir Island Saga, 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.^[44][45]

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.^[46][43][47]

Breakdown

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. Template:Sabretooth

When a top ranking U.S. 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.

X-Factor

Mystique resurfaced several months later, in a failed attempt to kill Legion for his murdering of Destiny. Mystique 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 U.S. Government wanted 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 had discovered. She slowly developed a romantic relationship with team-leader Forge (though he later thought that she was just using him). ^{[citation needed]}

Part of the conspiracy involved Mystique’s son Graydon Creed running for President, under an anti-mutant platform.

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. ^{[citation needed]}

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 U.S. 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 blond 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 City. This proved to be a huge mistake, as a nearby building was being used by Skrulls loyal to Apocalypseto 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 found one of Destiny’s diaries, left there by Destiny herself before she died.^[48]

Mystique then reached a breakthrough regarding her investigation of the U.S. conspiracy against mutant-kind, 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.^[49]

Arrested, Mystique’s life was torn apart as the U.S. 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 stepmother’s wrath, as she 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 mutant-kind, so as to restore everyone’s powers. The X-Men defeated Evolutionary and restored everyone’s powers, allowing Mystique to escape jail.Template:Uncanny X-Men

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.

Dream’s End

This led to Raven once again going mad, at the futility 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 MacTaggert 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. ^{[citation needed]}

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 MacTaggert’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. Template:Bishop

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 were not 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. Template:Bishop

Mystique was hospitalized, where she told the X-Men that Destiny had predicted a dark future for mutant-kind 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. Template:Uncanny X-Men

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

Raven made a deal with Professor Charles Xavier. He had to make Mystique his secret agent, as his previous one, Prudence Leighton, had died and Mystique was the only one suitable enough to complete the missions. Xavier posed as Magneto to rescue Mystique from the Department of Homeland Security and from execution at the hands of Johnny Kitano, Special Magistrate for Homo superior crimes against humanity, and a mutant himself. Hunted by many countries for her acts of terrorism, Xavier offered her protection from being detected by them. In exchange, she was to act as Xavier’s secret operative. If she were caught, Xavier would deny ever working with her. Former lover Forge aided her technologically while Shortpack acted as her handler. Template:Mystique Solo Series

At this time, Mystique claimed that there was an impostor 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. Working with Xavier was Forge, whom Mystique had had a brief romance with while she was in X-Factor. Template:X-Factor

One of Xavier’s enemies, the Quiet Man, who was actually Prudence Leighton inhabiting the body of her assassin, contacted Mystique and offered to give her an interference transmitter which would keep her safe from the authorities, the same type of device Xavier was using, if she killed Xavier. Creating a plan that would free her from both men, Mystique pretended to try killing Xavier while 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 and sought her out.

Rogue managed to track her down. She disowned her adoptive 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 usefulness. After a battle, Mystique killed the Quiet Man, saved her former field-handler Shortpack, and discovered the Quiet Man’s 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. Template:Mystique

Joining the X-Men

Mystique ended her working relationship with Xavier and infiltrated the Institute under the guise of Foxx, a student put in The Chevaliers, in order to ruin Gambit’s relationship with Rogue. Gambit continuously resisted her attempts at seduction until she revealed herself to him. She explained she was trying to relieve tension between him and her daughter. She promised that he would not be cheating if she turned into Rogue and had sex now. Her true identity revealed by Emma Frost, Raven claims to want to join the X-Men and have a better relationship with her foster daughter. She has since gone working with a new associate, Pulse, who she thought was a better fit for Rogue. Mystique’s true motives, and who she was communicating with while inside the Xavier Institute, remain a mystery.

Mystique was of great assistance in the battle against the Children of the Vault, killing Sangre by pumping thermite bullets into his aquatic body. However, during the Marauders attack on the Mystique’s house, she shot Rogue, revealing herself as a traitor. As Iceman tried to save Rogue, Mystique activated a Neural Inhibitor and defeated him. When the Marauders searched for Destiny’s Diaries, Mystique was yet again assaulted by Iceman and defeated him, saying next time they met she would kill him. Template:X-Men Vol 2

Messiah Complex

Mystique remained with the Marauders during the hunt for the first new mutant baby, but murdered Sinister in a plot involving the baby and Rogue’s killing touch. She appeared to be working with Gambit, who, like her, had plenty of ulterior motives to want to betray Mister Sinister. Mystique shoved Sinister onto Rogue, killing him through fatal skin-to-skin contact. Then, in keeping with the words of the Destiny Diaries, touched the baby’s face to Rogue’s, believing that this would heal her foster daughter. While the baby was not affected by Rogue’s power, to Mystique’s surprise, Rogue did not awaken as the Destiny Diaries predicted. Believing their plan to have failed, Mystique cried at Rogue’s bedside.^[50]

As they grieved, Rogue finally awoke. After hearing all that Mystique had done, and sick of her manipulations, Rogue said she was tired of people getting hurt whenever Mystique was around, and tried to kill her with her touch. When Mystique was merely rendered unconscious, Rogue discovered that the baby’s powers had restored her own to normal. The baby’s touch purged her of the Strain 88 virus and all the residual psyches she had absorbed over her life, including Hecatomb. However, she now had the consciousness and the memories of the one person she wanted nothing more to do with: Mystique. Sickened by what she has absorbed, Rogue told Gambit that she needed to be alone, and left.^[51]

During the following commotion of the end battle and shooting of Xavier in Messiah Complex, Mystique regained consciousness and escaped from the area. Cyclops asked Wolverine to track down Mystique and permanently take her out. Wolverine tracked her first to Iran, then to Afghanistan.^[15] After a bloody fight she told him to just kill her. Logan told her that he had friends who would always come to get him, while she was alone. He left her in the desert with the pistol telling her she should know what the gun was for.^[25]

Manifest Destiny and the Dark X-Men

Mystique resurfaced posing as Bobby Drake’s ex-girlfriend Opal Tanaka. She set off a bomb inside of Bobby’s Blackbird before shooting him and kicking him out of the plane.^[52] Later, she followed Iceman to the hospital and injected him with a fatal dose of a toxin created by Mister Sinister. Hospital staff tried to get to Iceman, but they were held back by Mystique while Iceman expelled the toxin from his system. Afterward, Mystique attacked Iceman in a truck and set the truck ablaze with Iceman in it. Iceman stepped out of the fire unharmed then disarmed and immobilized Mystique, but she escaped moments later after turning her body into her child form.

Later Mystique impersonated Iceman and stood on top of the Golden Gate bridge threatening to blow it up. Iceman arrived and discovered the reason for Mystique doing this was Wolverine telling her that she would die alone. After a heated conversation, Iceman froze the bomb, Mystique punched him and jumped off of the bridge into the water. Her body was not found.^[53]

Mystique joined Norman Osborn’s Dark X-Men, posing as Professor Charles Xavier for P.R. purposes. Osborn injected her with nanites and kept her on a short leash and should she try anything, Osborn would turn her into a human bomb.^[54]

Death and Return

Mystique played a part in sending Wolverine’s soul to Hell. Upon regaining possession of his body, he resolved to hunt her down; despite the fact that she helped return him from hell and tried to warn him that the Red Right Hand were setting him up. He killed her, and her body was later sold at auction to the Hand.^[55]

Mystique apparently was resurrected by the Hand as she was seen taking the appearance of Victor Creed and took a suitcase full of money in his place before walking away and reverting to her real shape.^[56] It was revealed the she and the newly resurrected Sabretooth were lovers and were working for the Japanese branch of the Hand under Azuma Goda. After Sabretooth betrayed Azuma Goda and left him to be killed by Wolverine, he declared himself the invisible King of Asian crime with Mystique by his side.^[57]

The New Brotherhood of Evil Mutants

Mystique joined the new incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in their plan to expose and destroy Wolverine X-Force and claim Genesis as their own Apocalypse. She used the form of Psylocke to seduce Fantomex but she was discovered and a fight start.^[58] Mystique told Fantomex about the toxin that she poisoned him with it and that someone was after Psylocke just like she was sent after him which lead him leave the fight. Also, she was present with the rest of the brotherhood watching as Ultimaton exploded to kill the X-Force.^[59] Mystique, however, had her own plan to use Evan to kill the Shadow King and claim leadership of the Brotherhood. Unfortunately for her, X-Force were alive and tricked her into leaving the Brotherhood base so they can have more information.^[60]

After Professor X’s Death

In the aftermath of the conflict between the Avengers and the X-Men, Mystique gathered Sabretooth and Lady Mastermind with the purpose of reforming the Brotherhood,^[61] committing numerous heists, and using Lady Mastermind’s illusions to incriminate the original five X-Men,^[62]which were recently brought to the present by Beast.^[63] Mystique also met with the young version of Cyclops in an attempt to sow distrust for the X-Men (both Wolverine’s and adult Cyclops’) in him. After her plot was discovered and stopped by the X-Men, Mystique incapacitated and stole the identity of Dazzler and usurped her position at S.H.I.E.L.D. by posing as her.

With the money they robbed in the heists, Mystique acquired Madripoor from Hydraand attempted to turn it into a mutant sanctuary. Raven, posing as Dazzler, attracted Magneto to the island, and showed him her plans. However, Magneto reacted violently to the plan, believing that Mystique and the others were traitors to their species, in part due to allowing the use of Mutant Growth Hormone to run rampant in the streets to fund their operations. He heavily injured Mystique and the Brotherhood, and left after making their base collapse.^[64]

It was revealed later during the reading of Xavier’s will, that he and Mystique had gotten married in secret.^{[citation needed]}

AXIS

Mystique is among the villains recruited by Magneto to help fight Red Onslaught in Genosha.^[65] The inversion spell Doctor Doom and the Scarlet Witch cast to defeat the Red Skull affected not only the villain but everyone in the island, inverting the moral axis of the heroes and villains present there.^[66] Mystique became heroic, and tried to make the inverted X-Men reason and stop their attempt to take over New York City. She failed, but was recruited by Steve Rogers to be part of the Astonishing Avengers, the group of now-good villains to stop both the conquering X-Men and the fascist Avengers.^[67] When a reinversion spell was cast, Mystique became evil once again.^[68]

The Wolverines

Mystique found herself kidnapped by a group comprised of Daken, Sabretooth , Lady Deathstrike and X-23 (Laura Kinney). Moments before she was kidnapped, Mystique went to an auction in Madripoor that was selling the remains of Wolverine. During the auction Daken, infuriated by this display, killed everybody that was in the auction except for her, Viper, and Agent Kim.^[69]

While being kidnapped Mystique finds herself a part of a team dubbed the “Wolverines”. Threatening them with the “control words” (that manipulate, sedate or even kill each of them), Shogun, Neuro, Endo, Junk and Skel ally them to find the adamantium-petrified body of Wolverine in the burnt-down Paradise facility, when they encountered and fought the Wrecking Crew, hired by Mr. Sinister (Nathaniel Essex), who were looking for the same. When X-23 and Daken found the body, Mr. Sinister appeared, took Wolverine’s body, plus an eye and arm from Daken, and left. Apparently, Daken lost his healing factor.^[70]

After they failed in their mission to retrieve Wolverine’s body, Mystique then declared herself as the leader of the team, and makes Sharp help her retrieve the zhulong, or sun dragon, on Taipei, and told Shogun, that Lady Deathstrike is interested in him, but Sharp thinks she doesn’t because as he holds her secret words, she wants to kill him. Then, before they leave, Mystique creates a complex trap where she makes him reveal her secret words. Then, while Ogun tells Shogun, to return to Sinister, Deathstrike appears and attacks him. After a short fight, they kiss. Suddenly, a mysterious figure appears from a meteor crash and demands to know who killed Logan.^[71]

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Powers and Abilities

Powers

Metamorph: Mystique can psionically alter the formation of her biological cells at will. As a result, she can cause herself to look and sound like an exact duplicate of any human, humanoid, or semi-humanoid being of either sex, wearing virtually any kind of clothing. Her control is so exact that she can precisely duplicate another person’s retina pattern in her own eyes, finger, palm and skin-pore patterns on her own hands and skin, smell to overlap the original being, and vocal cords to match voices to the point of corresponding voice prints.

Mystique was once exposed to dangerous levels of radiation in order to save the life of Toad. The process dramatically morphed Mystique’s appearance, causing her skin to become reptilian, 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 (note: this reptilian form was quickly discarded, whether it was because of retcon or if she simply shape-shifted back to her previous form remains to be seen).

Examples of this new ability included: night vision, wings on her back, talons in her fingers, sharp fanged teeth, natural body armor, mermaid-like tail, and she could even compress into a nearly two-dimensional state to glide on air currents (similar to Mr. Fantastic), which she used to survive an explosion.

Since her resurrection by The Hand, her powers have been enhanced to a higher level than they were before, to the degree that she could fool super-humanly acute senses such as Wolverine’s sense of smell, something she couldn’t do before her death. Other new facets of these abilities include tentacle generation^[72][73], animal shifting^[74][75] and partial liquefaction.^[76]

• Metamorphic Adaptation: After her first enhancement Mystique showed the ability to adapt her body depending on her situation at the time. She was able to camouflage her body according to her surroundings, shift her organs into her lower extremities, and mimic the textures of metals (when she took on the form of Magneto and his helmet). She also clearly stated that she was always naked and simply made her skin look and feel like other materials to fool others.^[77]
• Enhanced Physical Attributes: Able to enhance her strength, speed, agility, durability, reflexes, and senses.
• Accelerated Healing: Mystique’s nature allows her to repair wounds and regenerate herself from minor to near death injuries in a short span of time, much faster than an ordinary human. She is capable of retaining a mimicked form even when drugged^[78] or knocked unconscious.^[79]
• Toxin & Disease Resistance: She is also able to develop resistance and immunities to toxins and diseases.
• Retarded Aging: Her metamorphic powers have retarded the degenerative effects of aging. She has always had this ability even before her enhancement; she is either close to or over one hundred years old.
• Psychic Defense: Mystique’s nature also provides her with a natural defense against telepathic intrusion.

Nick Fury‘s intel classified her as power level 8,^[80] while the O*N*E stated that she was a Severe Threat.^[81]According to Prosh, her Comparative Mutagenic Power Register was of 8.3.^[12]

Abilities

Master Martial Artist: Mystique is a highly skilled combatant. Her skills rival those of Black Widow and Captain America.

Trained Actress

Expert Marksman

Multilingual: Mystique has stated that she knows at least eleven languages; besides her presumably native German and English, she has demonstrated fluency in Spanish^[77], Portuguese^[82], French, Farsi^[83], Korean^[84], Swedish^[85], and Czech.^[86]

Covert Operative: Strategist in terrorist and commando operations.

Strength level

Mystique possesses the normal human strength of a woman of her physical age, height, and build who engages in intensive regular exercise.^[87] She can enhance her strength using her powers for brief periods by redistributing mass.^[88]

Weaknesses

Appearance Limitation: Originally, it was clearly stated that Mystique’s powers were limited to appearances only; she could not assume the powers of the people she morphed into or alter her body to adapt to different situations. Although Mystique’s powers were enhanced, Mystique could never duplicate the powers of other superhumans, and she still cannot duplicate the powers of the person she imitates: for example, when she turned herself into a duplicate of Nightcrawler, she did not gain the ability to teleport. However, she can use her powers to mimic the powers of others; such as assuming the form of Sabretooth, and then using her powers to enhance her senses, strength, speed, agility, and of course naturally heal at an accelerated rate.

Unchangeable Body Mass: While she can make herself look exactly like a person who is physically bigger than herself, she will not weigh as much as the real person does.^[89] Although she can maintain the form of a person of her own height, weight, and build indefinitely, the longer that she maintains the form of a person physically bigger than herself, the greater the strain she feels.

Schizophrenia (formerly): Mystique’s shape-changing physiology causes her brain to suffer from constant and subtle shifts in her brain tissue that manifested in the form of schizophrenia. Her personality constantly changed, making her volatile and unpredictable. Psylocke has since stabilized her mind.^[90]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

She has used experimental weaponry and devices, including a power-drainer that disabled Iron Man. Nanotech capable of fooling Cerebro and related tech.^[91]

Transportation

Seen in Wolverines, Mystique’s vessel The Changeling was a highly advanced stealth ship capable of cloaking and flying at very high speed. The ship had sophisticated weapons and surveillance systems, with an on-board analysis computer and power-suppressing containment cells. The ship was destroyed^[92] and it is currently unknown if it has been replaced.

Weapons

Conventional firearms and an energy beam pistol. Various skull-shaped explosives usually carried on her belt. In early appearances Mystique demonstrated the ability to alter the shape of items stored as skulls on her belt.^[93]

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Notes

• Mystique has stated that she wasn’t born in the last century^[86] and that she is “over 100 years old”.^[24] Her earliest meeting with her friend Destiny was stated to have occurred at “the dawn of the 20th century”.^[94] In 1921 she met Logan in Kansas City,^[15] and they all later worked together in Scotland, shortly before the World War II.^[5] (However, in an early appearance in Uncanny X-Men #170, Mystique dreams that she is in the year 1783, which is specified as being 170 years before her birth. As the comic was published in 1983, this would make her 30 years old at the time of the story. This has since been retconned.)
• Despite the fact that it is unknown when she was born, it can be assumed that she was born in the month of September – she was once given a sapphire necklace, because apparently it was her birthstone (traditionally associated with being born in September), to which she replied ‘How did you know when I was born?’^[88]
• Her powers manifested when she was twelve years old.^[24]
• She never wears true clothing. Due to the nature of her powers she can simply create clothes from or over her skin, thus eliminating the need for regular clothing or those made from unstable molecules. Because of this she is always naked as she admitted to Shortpack. (though this is subject to interpretation)^[77]
• Mystique cannot stand her own appearance, and therefore never wants to look at her reflection in a mirror.

Trivia

• Contrary to what is shown in most other incarnations of her in film and television, 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.

Details here.

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2022 Update:

“Mystique” was met by King Auz and his entourage at the place of her choosing after ‘first contact’ was made.  She was deemed not a threat by them, as their kind can identify her by her biological signature, no matter which person she has shapeshifted to appear and sound as.  Still, they chose to show “strength in numbers” (albeit very politely) during her initial moments with the man who was about to change her life.

Offering this woman age-regression or age-locking opportunities probably wouldn’t have meant much to her; she didn’t seem to age, as it was.  Invincibility, on the other hand, and political asylum at a moment’s notice in Inisfree, were interesting to her, however.  She sat up a little more on her chair when those were said.

Fast-forward several meetings later, and Auz’s effect has now run its course through her; she greets him the way his people greet each other, and trusts him with her life.  Being regarded as an actual goddess has helped, though his presence would have achieved this bond between them on its own.  Raven is now one with Inisfree.

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2023 Update:

Now an honored guest of Inisfree, and fast taking a liking to all of the people worthy of being there, she has happily agreed to marry into their family, accepting High King Auz’s offer.  They will wed in 2026.  (Why another few years from now?  Only because of how busy their schedules are, both respecting the other’s previous commitments.)

In the meantime, she has been doing some espionage for them, always making use of her amazing ‘disguises’ superpower.  (They can sense who she is, by the way, so no one in Inisfree is worried about her being a double-agent against them –which she herself is aware of and appreciates.)

…

Her shapeshifting is not based on little blue stretchy skin-flaps like in that idiotic Hollywood movie; she shapeshifts fluidly/seamlessly via mental superpower, her skin changes only based on smoothly blending/shifting/transitioning from one body / external appearance to the next.

Since she adores Auz, she lets him pick out who she will fuck, shapeshifting into the body-type that person desires most and will certainly “go for”, and she always shifts back into her prime (as per my; Auz’s standard) when she fucks him (Auz; me).

It will always be one of her most-favorite games/pass-times, shifting into different female appearances/exteriors in order to trick others into fucking her, and she is as thrilled as can be that Auz supports this and likes to sneak around with her to watch.

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