Raven Darkhölme (Earth-10005)

Raven Darkhölme, also known as Mystique, is a mutant who possesses shapeshifting, superhuman strength, speed, agility, an accelerated healing factor and longevity. She is also a former member of the X-Men and a former member the Brotherhood of Mutants.

Biography[]

X-Men: First Class[]

"Mutant and proud."

―Mystique^[src]

Raven Darkhölme met a young Charles Xavier when she broke into his family's Westchester mansion to steal food. She took the form of his mother to try and fool the boy, but he saw past the ruse. Thrilled at the fact that he wasn't the only one who was "different" in the world, he offered to let Raven stay and live with him and his family, which she happily accepted.

Years later, Raven followed Charles to England (posing as his sister) and worked as a waitress while he studied genetics at Oxford. She constantly had to hide her true appearance, which began to put a strain on their relationship.

When Charles was approached by Moira MacTaggert to assist in apprehending mutant terrorist Sebastian Shaw, Raven accompanied him to CIA headquarters where they displayed their abilities to a group of government agents, among them the Man in Black. Gathering a group of other mutants, including Erik Lehnsherr, Sean Cassidy, Alex Summers, Armando Muñoz, and Hank McCoy, they formed the early version of the team that would become the X-Men.

Henry McCoy became instantly smitten with her, and a budding attraction was evident between them. Hank revealed that he had been working on a serum to cure his physical mutation but leave his abilities intact. He believed that Raven's ability to alter her appearance would hold the key to perfecting it. He requested a sample of her blood,during which they shared each others' wish to appear "normal", as well as a kiss. However, Erik's constant validation of her true beauty and self overturned her opinion, and when Hank finished the serum she refused to take it. Hank injected himself and underwent a radical transformation, which resulted in him taking on a more bestial appearance. The serum had the opposite effect he'd intended: it enhanced his mutation instead of dampening it.

The team was instrumental in stopping the Cuban Missile Crisis and foiling the Hellfire Club's bid for world domination. However, it was eventually split when Lehnsherr began to believe that humans would never accept mutants and opted to assert rule over them instead of waiting to be interred and executed. Raven, who had become something of a protégé to Lehnsherr, opted to join him and helped form the Brotherhood of Mutants.

X-Men: Days of Future Past[]

Following Erik's arrest for his involvement in the assassination of John F. Kennedy and Charle's self-imposed isolation after his students were drafted into the Vietnam War, Raven was left on her own. She traveled to Vietnam and helped Alex, Mortimer Toynbee and Eric Gitter escape a military facility from Major William Stryker.

In 1973, Mystique murdered scientist Bolivar Trask in retaliation for the fatal experiments he conducted on mutants (among them Azazel, Emma Frost, Banshee and Angel). Unbeknownst to Raven, her actions inadvertently doomed the mutant race; Trask's death led to the government approving his Sentinel project and her subsequent capture allowed the government to access her DNA and use it to give Sentinels the ability to adapt to the mutants' powers. Furthermore, killing for the first time, as well as being subjugated to torturous experiments, caused Raven to embrace a new identity as a ruthless assassin.

X-Men[]

"You know, people like you are the reason I was afraid to go to school as a child."

―Mystique^[src]

Mystique impersonates Henry Gyrich, aide to Senator Kelly, as part of a plan to kidnap Kelly and turn him into a mutant, thereby ending his support of the Mutant Registration Act. However, Magneto's mutation machine causes Senator Kelly to die. During the battle at the Statue of Liberty to stop Magneto from using the device on the UN Summit, she has an extended fight with Wolverine, proving to be too nimble for him to hit. Wolverine wins when she tries to impersonate Storm to distract him. As she cannot mask her scent, he sees through the ruse and stabs her (notably, she is depicted with yellow-green blood). She survives, however, and morphs into the form of a fallen police officer. As a result, she is able to slip past the police that descend on the building. At the end of the film, she is seen on television, impersonating Senator Robert Kelly in order to withdraw his support of the Mutant Registration Act.

X2: X-Men United[]

"No one's left a scar quite like you."

―Mystique^[src]

Mystique uses her impersonation of Kelly as a means to free Magneto from his plastic prison. She infiltrates William Stryker's office by impersonating Stryker's aide, Lady Deathstrike, gaining details about the prison as well as several of Stryker's plans (most important of which are the plans to "Dark Cerebro"). She frees Magneto by using her human form in order to seduce a guard and inject him with enough iron for Magneto to work with. After helping Magneto escape from prison, she joins Magneto's brief alliance with the X-Men.Prior to this, she is approached by Nightcrawler, who asks her why she doesn't use her shapeshifting powers to blend in with normal people, to which Mystique replies, "Because we shouldn't have to." While camped in an unknown forest area, Mystique attempts to seduce Wolverine in the guise of Jean Grey, but the scar from their previous battle gives her away. She then shifts through several forms (Storm, Rogue, then Stryker), asking him what he really wants. She later impersonates Wolverine in order to gain entry to the Alkali Lake base. The disguise doesn't fool Stryker, but gains her access to the control room. From there she aids in the rescue of several captured mutants and leads the group to Dark Cerebro. She then impersonates Stryker to aid in Magneto's plan to kill every human in the world, though it is ultimately foiled.

X-Men: The Last Stand[]

"You saved me."
"Erik."
"I'm sorry, my dear. You're not one of us anymore."

―Magneto and Raven Darkhölme^[src]

Mystique was apprehended by the government after trying breaking into the FDA to get files about the cure for mutation developed at Worthington Labs. It is here that her name is revealed to be Raven Darkhölme.

Magneto comes to save her, but during the attempt, she is struck in the chest by a cure dart (manufactured using Leech's DNA) while protecting Magneto. As she lies on the ground naked in her normal human form, Magneto regretfully abandons her, stating "you're not one of us anymore". He adds wistfully, "It's such a shame. She was so beautiful".

Bitter over his betrayal, Mystique goes to the government and gives the location of his base. However, when they raid the camp, they find it populated entirely with duplicates of Multiple Man. It is unclear whether or not the cure wore off and Mystique's mutant powers returned, as it is suggested Magneto's did at the end of the film – as was revealed when he may have moved a metallic chess piece without touching it.

Character traits[]

Raven was seen as Erik's closest ally in the in the original timeline. As his protégé and second-in-command, she was essentially the perfect assassin and terrorist. She was exceedingly knowledgeable, being able to program and operate whole military computer systems, and fluent in several languages, as she is seen speaking in the native language of just about every country she visits, and her ability to perfectly disguise herself only adds to her mastery of deception and infiltration. In addition to being intelligent and cunning, she is also a formidable fighter, and can get past groups of over 50 soldiers without a weapon. Magneto has effectively educated her to survive and learn virtually anything she needs for any given task, and like Erik, she is also highly dangerous, ruthless, vindictive, and would not hesitate to kill whomever she has to, including innocent mutants, to accomplish her goals.

However, Raven's earlier history revealed that she was not always a cold-hearted killer. As expected of someone with such a nonhuman appearance, as a child, Raven was scared and lonely, and in her youth, she was impressionable and sensitive. Despite finding solace in her foster brother Charles Xavier, finding friendship with her fellow X-Men as a founding member, as well as romance with Hank McCoy, she remained conflicted with her appearance, and unsatisfied that she still had to hide her true self from the rest of the world. This frustration lead to her leaving Charles and the X-Men and joining Erik Lehnsherr, the young Magneto.

Under Erik's tutelage, Raven became stronger and more independent, but also more aggressive and vindictive. She was captured by Trask Industries and experimented on, leading her to develop a deep hatred of humanity on-par with Magneto's.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

Shapeshifting: Mystique could manipulate her biological make up to alter and transform her own body, hair, skin, voice, muscles, tissues, nails, organs, appearance , etc, any and all physical traits anyway she wishes. She could take on the appearance of other humans or even objects (she once disguised herself as a replica of The Statue of Liberty).
Superhuman Strength: Mystique's physical strength is notably stronger than normal humans; she has been able to overpower and defeat any normal human she has faced, even those of greater mass and size. Her physical condition and impressive combat abilities has allowed her to contend with vicious opponents such as Wolverine; able to stun, and for the most part maintain the upper hand in combat with him, however he was able to eventually overpower her.
Superhuman Speed: Mystique is able to move and react faster than normal humans, however it is her combat speeds that have been most notably enhanced. She has been able to quickly and easily combat and overpower multiple opponents at once, her combat speed is also significantly complemented by her tremendous agility and flexibility.
Superhuman Agility: Mystique possesses tremendous superhuman agility, flexibility and dexterity. She is able to quickly and easily coordinate her body to perform complex martial and acrobatic manoeuvres, allowing her to rapidly and effectively take down her opponents.
Accelerated Healing Factor: Possibly a result of her innate ability to cause her cells to go through metamorphosis, Mystique's body is able to heal from wounds at a faster rate than humanly possible. It also seems that her enhanced ability to heal allows her to recover from normally fatal wounds, such as when she was stabbed in the gut by Wolverine's claws, and at a much faster rate.
Superhuman Longevity: Mystique's metamorphic powers have greatly slowed her ageing process. She can make herself look older or younger, but she herself has been stated to age at a rate roughly slower than a normal human's.

Abilities[]

Raven is an expert in espionage and hand to hand combat. She is also extremely flexible, able to move her handcuffed arms from behind her to her front, and unlock clamps on her hands with her feet.

Master of Subterfuge: Mystique has perfected the art of deception, showing no physiological sign when lying.
Master of Manipulation: Mystique possesses incredible and innate understanding/knowledge of psychology, she can see, understand, predict and manipulate personal behavior. She can spot another's deepest secret and inherent flaws with short conversation. These abilities allows her to detect lies, make allies, and be able to apply subtle mental pressure enabling the easy manipulation of any individuals. She always knows what to do or say.
Master Spy: Mystique is a master of stealth and disguise, capable of breaching any facility without being detected.
Expert Martial Artist: Mystique is an expert in the field of martial arts. She has mastered karate, judo, aikido, savate, boxing, lucha-libre style wrestling and multiple styles of kung fu. Combined with her strength, speed and agility, she is able to take down multiple opponents without being hit.
Master of Investigation: Mystique is capable of observation, investigation, intuition, and inductive and deductive reasoning of the highest caliber. Human intuition is an intuitive trait and one of her most effective tools. Given any problem, she can arrive at the correct conclusions with a fraction of the data.
Master of Interrogation: Mystique is adept in interrogation techniques, capable of law enforcement methods as well as torture. She is capable of tricking people into revealing what she wants to know, and can always detect lies.
Social Intuition: Mystique intuitively determines and knows how to interact with others. She could tell exactly what to say to interact with certain people, or tell the rank of a person within a group. She is very beautiful, has a great voice, eloquence and charisma. She has near irresistible level of charm that can be used to influence many.
Seduction Intuition: Mystique possesses intuitive seductive, sexual skills, and charming allure which she can use to easily and efficiently seduce and manipulate anyone. She is able to always provide sexual pleasure to anyone including oneself.
Multilingualism: Mystique is fluent in an unconfirmed number of languages. She has shown to be able to speak in English, Spanish, French, Vietnamese, and German. She was essentially demonstrated fluency in the native language of every country she visited and every ethnicity she has disguised.

Weaknesses[]

Limited Replication: Mystique cannot copy any abilities or skills of another person. For example, when she fought Wolverine, she assumed his form and fought him claw to claw, only to have her claws hacked off (they were made of flesh). While her outward appearance may change, Mystique is unable to hide her scent or mental presence, meaning that enhanced detection methods (such as Wolverine's nose) or psychic mutants are able to tell her apart. Although she can change her appearance, but she can't change her body scent. During her fight against Wolverine, Mystique attempted to fool him by sneaking up on him while disguised as his teammate Storm. However, Wolverine's acute nose recognized Mystique's scent, catching her completely off guard to win. Trask built a handheld device that was able to detect those who possess the X-Gene, it detected Mystique when she was disguised in the room. Mystique also can not copy memories of the person she turns into. She can only partially imitate someone's personality and attitude, allowing perceptive enemies to see through her disguises.

Relationships[]

Mangeto - Former leader.
Sabretooth - Former teammate.
Toad - Former teammate turned rescuee.
Pyro - Former teammate.
Havok - Former teammate turned rescuee.
Banshee - Former teammate; deceased.
Angel Salvadore - Friend turned enemy turned teammate; deceased.
Armando Muñoz - Friend; deceased.
Moira MacTaggert - Friend turned teammate.
Azazel - Enemy turned teammate; deceased.
Emma Frost - Enemy turned teammate; deceased.
Riptide - Enemy turned teammate; deceased.
Storm - Enemy.
Cyclops - Enemy.
Jean Grey - Enemy.
Nightcrawler - Enemy.
Charles Xavier - Foster brother and enemy.
Robert Kelly - Enemy.
Hank McCoy/Beast - Love interest.
Logan/Wolverine - Former enemy.
Sebastian Shaw - Enemy; deceased.
Bolivar Trask - Enemy and victim; deceased.

Appearances/Actresses[]

Earth-10005 (5 films)
- X-Men: First Class - Jennifer Lawrence, Morgan Lily and Rebecca Romijn
- X-Men (First appearance) - Rebecca Romijn
- X2: X-Men United - Rebecca Romijn
- X-Men: The Last Stand - Rebecca Romijn
- X-Men: Days of Future Past - Jennifer Lawrence
Earth-10005 (1 comic)
- X-Men: The Movie Prequel: Magneto
Non-canon (1 video game):
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Anna Graves (voice)

Behind the scenes[]

In the first film, Romijn wore colored contacts to make her eyes yellow. In the second and third films, her eyes were changed digitally.
Romijn went through an extensive make-up and body-paint process as Mystique. Once Lawrence went through the same process in X-Men: First Class, she suffered through skin irritations and blisters due to a sensitivity to the body paint. As a result, from X-Men: Days of Future Past onward Mystique's make-up was only from the neck-up, with a bodysuit that has small keratin scales used for the rest of the body.
- Morgan Lily, who played Raven as a child in First Class, wore a slip-on bodysuit and facial appliances which only took one hour and a half to apply, as subjecting a child actor to the extensive make-up was impractical.

Trivia[]

In the movies, Mystique is portrayed as a nudist and appears naked throughout the course of the original quadrilogy. In X-Men: First Class it is shown that even as a child she was a nudist until she was convinced to wear clothing by Charles Xavier; later on, however, she was persuaded by Magneto not to, as he called her an "exquisite creature". The reason for Mystique's nudism supposedly lies in clothing limiting her ability to morph. But in X-Men: First Class, she is seen morphing whilst wearing clothing on two separate occasions, with her clothes seemingly changing as she does. It is yet to be explained how this occurred or whether she was in fact naked and creating the appearance of clothing with her powers (as in the comics). It is possible that clothing limits her powers, but not to the extent that it makes them unusable.
While Mystique is technically a Metamorph in the films. meaning she is limited to only replicating humanoid appearances, in the comics and cartoons, she is better-known as a full shapeshifter, able to change herself into nearly anything.
The films do not suggest that Mystique is Nightcrawler's mother, even though they had a brief conversation in X2.
- The video game for X-Men Origins: Wolverine features a pregnant Mystique, who is told by John Wraith (who also has teleporting powers) that the son is his, and Raven says she wants to call the baby Kurt.
Mystique is bisexual in the comics, this has not been explored in the movies although she has often flirted with Magneto and Wolverine in the films.
Mystique was the one who originally came up with Lehnsherr's code-name, "Magneto".
Raven seems to display an attraction to Wolverine, despite the fact that he stabbed her in the first movie and rejected her in the second.
Wolverine and Stryker are the only people in the movies to see through Mystique's disguise without the tell-tale yellow eyes. Wolverine does so in the first movie by using his sense of smell, and Stryker in the second when she imitates Wolverine, stating that he knows his own creations and that Mystique wasn't one of them.
In the comics, Mystique has blue skin instead of the scaly appearance she has in the films.
A scene from Days of Future Past featuring Mystique was featured in the credits of The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Mystique appears in every X-Men film not including the Wolverine spinoffs.
It is implied, though never outright stated, that Mystique had a small crush on Charles Xavier in her youth; however, he only ever saw her as a sister and she left him partly to force herself to move past him.