Mystique (Raven Darkholme) is a fictional character, a comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics universe. She runs an incarnation of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and is a foe of the X-Men.

Abilities

Mystique is a mutant, a shape-shifter able to alter the formation of her biological cells at will, and thereby assume the form of other humanoids as well as adapting certain desired genetic traits. In the past, Mystique has also demonstrated night vision, talons in her fingers and natural body armour. However, she cannot adapt the superhuman powers of others. In addition, damages to her biological tissue are known to heal at a relatively fast rate and she can form a resistance to poisons upon contacting them. Mystique's aging process is very slow and seems to have ceased at some point of her early adulthood. Her natural form is that of a young woman with red hair, yellow eyes and blue skin.

History

Mystique's exact age remains unknown. However her earliest meeting with her lesbian lover Destiny ("Irene Adler") is stated to have occurred at "the dawn of the 20th century". At the time, Mystique posed as a man and worked as a consulting detective.

Irene was an Austrian mutant whose power was precognition. She was more accurate in predicting near-future events concerning her presentenviroment. But in a period of 12 months during her adolescence, Irene had produced 13 volumes ofprophecies concerning the future of the Marvel Universe during the 20th and early 21st century. When that period ended, Irene was left blind and haunted by disturbing images of uncertain meaning. She enlisted Raven's services in pursuit of two goals:the decipherment of her recorded prophecies and a mission to prevent the most terrifying of them from ever being fullfilled.

The two women would soon become life-long partners. But they bothdiscovered 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. The miniseries "X-Men:True Friends" featured their first encounter with Shadowcat and Rachel Summers. The later had time traveled from the future and sought to prevent a plot by Nazi agents Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and Geist (alias meaning "Ghost") and their allie 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 Fascist Party", a likely allie for Nazi Germany. Irene and Raven contacted an acquaintance of theirs called Logan (Wolverine) to help the time travelers. Irene and Raven advised Shadowcat and Logan against proceeding in their contemplated assasination of Adolf Hitler and other prominent leaders and officials of the Nazi party. Raven was laconic in only stating: "We all of us have learned to kill, Logan. But more importantly, we have learned not to kill. And to know the difference".

Logan would reportedly soon join the International Brigade of the Spanish Civil War and then serve in the army of Canada as a corporal during World War II. After the war he became a freelance intelligence agent. Baron Strucker reportedly served as squadron commander during the war and then became leader to Hydra, an international terrorism organization. Geist reportedly observed the war from Berlin as an advisor to the Führer. He later escaped persecution for war crimes by agreeing to transfer his allegiance to the Office of Strategic Services and then to the Central Intelligence Agency. The activities of Raven are uncertain during the war but like her former allie and enemies the early Cold War reportedly found her involved in operations of espionage.

At some point Raven reportedly lost contact with Irene. She managed to locate her working as an archivist in the Almagordo Nuclear research facilities in New Mexico. Raven was uncertain of Irene's motivation but apparently trusted her enough to press for answers.

It should be perhaps noted that Almagordo was originally introduced as part of the origins of Kurt Marko (Juggernaut) and Charles Xavier. Dr. Kurt Marko and Dr. Brian Xavier, their respective fathers, were both working there. The former was responsible for the later's reported death. Then Kurt married his widow and inherited his fortune. Later stories concidered Almagordo to actually be a secret facility for research in genetics and particularly in mutations. Reportedly it also served as a precursor for the Weapon X project which employed among its agents Wolverine and Sabretooth (Victor Creed).

Raven would meet the later agent for the first time in 1968. The events were depicted in the miniseries Sabretooth #3. 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.

The result of this short-lived affair was reportedly the birth of Graydon Creed, her earliest known descedant. A number of stories have reported that soon after his birth, Raven gave him 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 till he reached adolescence. Graydon was the son of two mutants and as a result likely to be a mutant himself. However he eventually prooved to be a Homo Sapiens instead of a Homo Superior (mutant). Raven was dissapointed and soon abandoned him. Graydon would grow to hate his parents and eventually extent his hatred towards all mutants. He later became leader to the mutant-hating organization Friends of Humanity and then a politician.

For several years Mystique was also reported being the mother of Nightcrawler but the exact events were uncertain. They were eventually depicted in Uncanny X-Men #428, with a publishing date of October, 2003. 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 proove to be a loving husband but rather dissapointing as a lover. His infertility added to their marrital problems. Raven started using her shape-shifting 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.She was eventually seduced by another fellow mutant.

He called himself Azazel and stated he was ruler of "an island nation of the coast of Bermuda:La Isla des Demonas" (The Island of Demons). He was apparently a fellow shape-shifter 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 Nephilim, 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. Beelzebub. And most commonly called Satan" (many of these aliases have also been claimed by several notable demons of the Marvel Universe).

Raven soon became pregnant. Her husband became suspicious and his own father suggested a blood test to verify if the child was his. Mystique used a dagger to slay him and then buried him. She eventually gave birth to 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 named Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler) and was raised by Gypsy sorceress Margali Szardos along with her own children: son Stefan Szardos and daughter Jimaine Szardos (subsequently Amanda Sefton, Daytripper and Magic II). Kurt would grow to kill his addoptive brother in combat and to become a lover to his addoptive sister. He eventually joined the X-Men.

Television and film

In the X-Men film, Mystique was played by Rebecca Romijn-Stamos.

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