Mystique (character)

Mystique is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist David Cockrum, the character first appeared in Ms. Marvel #16 (April 1978). A member of a subspecies of humanity known as mutants who are born with superhuman abilities, Mystique is a shapeshifter who can perfectly mimic the appearance and voice of any person. Her natural appearance includes blue skin, red hair, and yellow eyes.

Typically portrayed as a foe of the X-Men, Mystique has been both a supervillain and an antiheroine, founding her own Brotherhood of Mutants and assassinating several important people involved in mutant affairs. Stated to be over 100 years old, she commonly lives under the assumed name Raven Darkhölme, having previously used Sherlock Holmes. Mystique is the wife of Destiny / Irene Adler, the mother of the villain Graydon Creed, adoptive mother of the X-Men heroine Rogue, and the biological father of the X-Men hero Nightcrawler; conceived with her wife Destiny while in one of her male forms. Mystique has been described as one of Marvel's most notable and powerful female antiheroes.

In live-action, Mystique appears in seven of 20th Century Fox's X-Men films. The character was played by Rebecca Romijn in X-Men (2000), X2: X-Men United (2003), and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), while Jennifer Lawrence played a younger version in X-Men: First Class (2011), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), and X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019). Romijn also cameoed as Mystique in First Class and will reprise the role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film Avengers: Doomsday (2026).