Mystique may have made her first appearance in only 1978 (Ms. Marvel #16), but she’s a very popular villain and appears in many X-Men comic books. She’s a mutant with shape-shifting abilities. Luckily for her, Mystique’s shape-shifting rejuvenates her cells and stops her from aging. She’s also a highly trained terrorist and spy.
Mystique
Mystique has a long and sordid history fighting with various versions of Magento’s Brotherhood of Mutants against both anti-mutant human organizations and the X-Men. Though through everything she’s done, Mystique seems to believe that she’s doing it for the good of mutant kind. She wants them to survive as a species.
Mystique is portrayed as having male and female lovers. She also shape-shifts into male and female forms. Though her own body is a blue-skinned woman with red hair. She often goes by the name of Raven Darkholme.
Mystique has three children, Graydon (with Sabretooth), Nightcrawler (with Azazel), and Rogue (adopted and raised with Destiny). Originally, Nightcrawler was supposed to be the son of Mystique and Destiny. However, the Comics Code Authority wouldn’t allow the portrayal of gay or bisexual characters so Nightcrawler’s parentage was left up in the air for many years. That said, writer Chris Claremont did sneak by the CCA and have Destiny and Mystique raise Rogue together.
Mystique claims that Destiny was her soul mate and love of her life. The two women had a long relationship that spanned at least 60 years. When Destiny died, Mystique went a little crazy and her more insane villainous plot-lines happened during this time. Destiny was a seer, and after her death, she left behind diaries filled with the terrible fate which awaited mutant kind. Mystique has made it her life’s mission to stop those terrible things from happening to mutants and to use Destiny’s prophecies to her and her family’s advantage. However, Mystique has not always been able to stop fate, including Graydon’s death.
Lately, Mystique’s plots have centered around her troubled relationship with Rogue and Rogue’s contraction of a deadly illness and resurrection. But I have a feeling that Mystique will soon be back to doing what she does so well, which is be a master of disguise and cause some havoc.
Become a rock star by supporting me and this blog via my Patreon. Shine bright!