Mystique (X-Men Movies)

Mystique (real name Raven Darkholme) is a major character of the film series. She is a mutant with the ability to shape-shift into anyone and also copy their voice. In the original timeline, she was a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants who assisted Magneto in his goals. After the timeline was changed, Mystique became a field commander for the X-Men until her accidental death by Jean Grey.
In the first three X-Men movies, she was portrayed by Rebecca Romijn. In the X-Men prequel timeline, she was portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence (who also portrayed Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games franchise and Mother in mother!) as Morgan Lily played the character as a child in X-Men: First Class.
When impersonating specific characters, she was portrayed by Matthew Sharp, Patrick Stewart, Shawn Ashmore, Hugh Jackman, Halle Berry, Bruce Davison, Famke Janssen, Kelly Hu, Beth Goddard, Kevin Bacon, Andreas Apergis, Thai-Hoa Le and Olivia Munn. 
==Biography==
===Early life===
Raven's early life was rather tragic. As a little child, her mutation was so abnormal to others that she feared going to school. Her father seemed like the only person who ever understood her, though he was not a mutant. He showed her how to fight in human form and how to be kind. However, her father grew to fear her powers, and began abusing her. Finally, at the age of 11, Raven ran away from home.
===X-Men: First Class===
One night in 1944, Raven was caught by a young Charles Xavier while going through the cupboards searching for food, and was shape-shifted as his mother when he found her. When he caught her, they both started a friendship and adopted her. In 1962, Raven, along with Xavier, displayed their abilities to a group of CIA agents in order to convince them that mutants really existed, among them The Man in Black and Moira MacTaggert. It was Raven who convinced the government that mutants did exist by demonstrating her shapeshifting abilities.
During a failed attempt to capture Sebastian Shaw, Raven and Xavier met Erik Lehnsherr. Soon, Xavier and Lehnsherr went to find more mutants, who were then sent to Division X. The mutants included were Sean Cassidy, Alex Summers, Armando Muñoz, and Hank McCoy; they formed the original team of X-Men.
Instrumental in stopping the Cuban Missile Crisis and foiling the Hellfire Club's bid for world domination, the team eventually split when Lehnsherr (now known as Magneto) asserted 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 Magneto, opted to join him and helped form the Brotherhood of Mutants with his new team from the Hellfire Club; Azazel, Riptide, Angel Salvadore and Emma Frost.
===Original Timeline===
====X-Men: Days of Future Past====
In 1973, following Magneto's imprisonment at the hands of the Pentagon after the murder of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Mystique was left on her own to carry out his agenda. She traveled to Vietnam, freeing Havok, Toad and several other mutant GIs from the care of Major William Stryker, returning them to America safely. Mystique then traveled back to America, infiltrating Trask's office where she discovers to her grief, files confirming his experimentation and murder of mutants, including Angel Salvadore and Azazel.
She then travels to Paris and poses as a North Vietnamese general, aiming to intercept a meeting with Trask at the Paris Peace Conference and kill him. Mystique reveals her true identity, dispatching the guards and shoots Trask dead. Major William Stryker recovers and tasers Mystique, bringing her in for experimentation, wherein the nature of her powers are distilled and used to enable the Sentinels to adapt to counter mutant abilities. Trask becomes a martyr for the anti-mutant movement.
====X-Men====
Years later, Raven (now known as Mystique) impersonated Henry Guyrich, (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 also causes the senator 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 defeated her when she tried to impersonate Storm to distract him. As she cannot mask her scent, he saw through the ruse and stabbed her. 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 Kelly in order to withdraw his support of the Mutant Registration Act.
====X2: X-Men United====
Mystique uses her impersonation of Senator Kelly as a means to free Magneto from his plastic prison. She infiltrates Colonel William Stryker's office by impersonating Stryker's aid, 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 seducing a guard and injecting him with enough iron for Magneto to work with. After helping him escape from prison, she joins his brief alliance with the X-Men. While camped in an unknown forest area, she discovers that Jean chooses Scott over Logan; then she attempts to seduce Wolverine while disguised as Jean Grey, but the scar from their previous battle gives it away. She then shifts through several forms (Storm, Rogue, then Stryker), asking him what he really wants. 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 she replies, "Because we shouldn't have to."
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 this is ultimately foiled.
====X-Men: The Last Stand====
Sometime following the events of the previous film, Mystique is captured by the government. Magneto comes to save her, but during the attempt a guard shoots a cure dart at him, prompting Mystique to save him by taking the cure (manufactured using Leech's DNA).
===Revised Timeline===
====X-Men: Apocalypse====
10 years after the events of X-Men: Days Of Future Past, Mystique is revered honored as a heroine for saving Nixon's life, even though she says she's not a heroine, and checks out an underground fight club and finds two mutants, Angel and Kurt Wagner. She rescues Wagner and gets the services of Caliban to get Wagner to the USA. Then Mystique and Wagner team up with Beast, Moira MacTaggert, Quicksilver, and the other heroes to save Magneto and Professor Charles Xavier and the world from the ancient villain, Apocalypse, and his 4 horsemen henchmen, which Magneto is apart of. After Apocalypse is defeated and destroyed, Mystique and Beast train new recruits, Cyclops, Jean, Storm, Wagner, and Quicksilver at Xavier's School.
== Powers and Abilities ==
* Shape-Shifting: Mystique is a mutant shape-shifter with the ability to change her appearance. Using her morphing powers, she makes parts of her flesh look like clothing when any of the characters she impersonates appear clothed. She can make herself look and sound like an exact duplicate of anyone she chooses. This ability makes her the ultimate spy for Magneto's Brotherhood because she can infiltrate any organization by literally becoming anyone.
== Personality ==
In the original timeline, Mystique was a cold, ruthless and evil woman who would kill without a second thought. This was a result of her being cruelly experimented on. She is very beautiful, seductive and aggressive whenever she disguises herself as someone else. She likes to mess with people's minds or keep her victims company like Senator Kelly and Wolverine while impersonating Henry Gyrich and Jean Grey.
In her childhood, Raven was very solitary, often hiding her true appearance for fear of judgement. When she first met Charles, she was happy that she found a place to live. In First Class, Mystique is shown to never once wavered to the dark side.
Mystique hates it when people try to dictate how she should live her life, as shown when grew bitter at Charles for insisting that she hide her appearance. For this reason, she felt very alone inside. When she met Hank, she at first thought that she had finally found someone who understood her, but when Hank had developed a serum to counter their abilities, she started seeing him as no different than anyone else. When Erik encouraged her to be proud of her abilities and not be afraid of judgement, she had finally found what she was looking for: acceptance. This drove her closer to Erik and further from Charles.
Mystique also appears to value her friendships dearly and appears to be devoted to helping other mutants. Before leaving with Magneto, she kissed Charles on the forehead, showing that she still cares for him. Though she felt guilty for abandoning her brother, she believed that this was the only way to help her fellow mutants.
In 1973, Mystique seems to have adopted an aggressive and violent streak in her personality as a result of her training under Magneto. Though she still had compassion and altruism, demonstrated when she saved Havok and other mutants from Stryker and later when she sheds a few tears after learning that many of her other friends were experimented on and killed. With this knowledge, she planned on killing Trask to avenge her friends.
Mystique also hates being betrayed, as shown when in X-Men: The Last Stand, she was angry that Magneto abandoned her after she was turned into a human. In X-Men: Days of Future Past, she developed a new hatred towards Magneto after he attempted to kill her, shown when she threatened him with a knife.
After her injuries, she started to feel torn between her love for her brother, and her hatred for Trask. When Charles insisted that she has to come home, she sees that he hasn't changed at all and as a result, ignores him completely. This, along with Magneto's betrayal, made Raven feel isolated again as she now felt that no one understood her anymore.
She finally reached a breaking point at the White House when she had a gun pointed at Trask. When Charles makes one last plea with her, she reasons that Erik's actions have already turned humanity against mutants. But when Charles states that she has a chance to show another way, she becomes hesitant. Charles then admits that trying to control her is what brought them to this point and leaves the decision in her hands with complete faith in her. Mystique now knows that Charles finally understands what caused them to become estranged. With this knowledge, she ponders deeply on her next move, knowing that she must decide carefully. After a long silence, she finally realizes her mistake and spares Trask. This not only saves all mutants, but it changes her for the better. Though still on her own, she no longer seems to possess malevolent intentions and seems to have forged a new, better path for herself.
Despite being seen as a heroic figure and role model in the mutant world, Mystique felt responsible for her teammates' deaths and brushes off any praise to her as a hero, seen in her first interaction with Nightcrawler.
==Trivia==
*Jeri Ryan was running for the role before Rebecca Romijn was casted.
*Amber Heard was rumored to play the character before Jennifer Lawrence was casted.
*Her quote in Dark Phoenix “And by the way, the women are always saving the men around here. You might want to think about changing the name to X-Women” became infamous for not only being highly political but also it contradicted the fact that she was saved by Nightcrawler earlier in the movie.
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