History ComicBook / Mystique

* ''Sabretooth and Mystique'' (1996-1997)

* BiTheWay: Mystique's early characterization had her ambiguously paired with the female clairvoyant Destiny (at least, until her death). For several decades the editorial staff [[HideYourLesbians would not admit the depth of their relationship]] (and, under The Comics Code, couldn't). Since then, she has had at least two children by male lovers retconned into her backstory. One of said [[{{ComicBook/Sabretooth}} lovers]] becoming a retconned off & on love interest that writers are determined to keep throwing her back with.

** ''Fim/DarkPhoenix'' (2019): Portrayed by Creator/JenniferLawrence

* TheDragon: Some stories have her as this to Magneto. She was also introduced as Apocalypse's Dragon in the ''[[WesternAnimation/XMen X-Men Animated Series]]''

* OlderThanTheyLook: She reveals that she's over 80 years old, but thanks to her powers she doesn't look older than 30. It is later revealed that she is older than even that, having been alive since "the dawn of the 20th century", and with the reveal that her longtime lover Destiny was in fact the historical Irene Adler, it is possible she could be around 150 years old.

* PsychicBlockDefense: A downplayed example, as her mutation gives her a natural resistance to telepathy, but it's not strong enough to keep Exodus out of her head.

* ShapeshifterWeapon: She can do this with some effort, but usually doesn't because she still has organs and needs to remember where they are. Instead, for example, she'll shift most of the muscles of her upper body into her right arm just as she delivers a punch, thereby increasing its power. She's also been known to hide guns inside herself. At one point she even gave herself two heads and four arms to fight on two fronts at once.

* ShapeshifterBaggage: Defied, as it is explicitly stated that her mass remains the same regardless of the form she has taken, and the longer she maintains a form physically larger than her own the greater strains she feels. In recent years this has largely gone the way of an informed limitation, with fewer and fewer writers seeming to get the memo that she can't draw mass out of nowhere.

* AbusiveParents: She has very little memory of her actual past, possibly as a result of assuming so many identities over the years, but one thing she ''does'' recall is that her father was... not very nice to her. "Don't let Papa get you" is her SurvivalMantra at one point. She is one to her children, Nightcrawler, Rogue, and Graydon Creed, considering she's either abandoned, manipulated, attacked, or killed ''all'' at some point with little to no remorse.

* FreudianExcuse: Like Magneto before her, writers have attempted to excuse Mystique's villainy by way of With Great Power Comes Great Insanity. Read the trope entry on that further below for specifics.

* MamaBear: Messing with her favorite kids, as Sinister [[NeckSnap found out the hard way]] (he got better).

** She also let's a trans woman leave with enough gold to fund her transition surgery, as she sympathizes with her dysmorphia.

Mystique is an 100-year old shapeshifting mutant. Originally, she could take on the appearance of any humanoid being by having complete control over the cells of her body, in addition to being able to morph the material in her clothes to suit any situation. She later got a superpower upgrade allowing her to produce [[ShapeshifterWeapon weapons by morphing her organs and such into wings and talons]]. For years she was involved in espionage, with her long-time romantic partner Destiny - a blind mutant precognitive. For a time, Destiny and Mystique separated for [[SecondActBreakup personal reasons]], and Mystique became romantically involved with Sabretooth and a German Baron, resulting in the birth of her two sons - Graydon Creed and Kurt Wagner. Destiny and Mystique reunited, and depending on the writer - either adopted Rogue or conceived her via Mystique's shapeshifting powers. After this, Destiny and Mystique revived the Brotherhood of Mutants to assassinate anti-mutant politicians and began their conflict with the X-Men. Mystique usually has her own personal goals she's fighting for and is usually constantly involved in multiple webs of deception.

* AbusiveParents: She has very little memory of her actual past, possibly as a result of assuming so many identities over the years, but one thing she ''does'' recall is that her father was... not very nice to her. "Don't let Papa get you" is her SurvivalMantra at one point. She is one to her children, Nightcrawler, Rogue, and Graydon Creed, considering she's either abandoned, manipulated, attacked, or killed at least one of them at some point with little to no remorse.
* AdaptationalHeroism: In ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'', she's given a very realistic and sympathetic motivation for her StartOfDarkness moment, in contrast to her depiction in the comics.

* ArchEnemy: Originally she was this to Carol Danvers aka Ms. Marvel.
** ArchnemesisMom: Nowadays it's Rogue her adopted Daughter.

* BigBad: In the old days when she was Ms. Marvel's arch nemesis she acted this way in her stories.Nowadays whenever Rogue has her own spin-off Mystique will act like this most of the time and was the leader of her own Brotherhood of Mutants at one point.

* DragonWithAnAgenda: Her betraying the boss in charge is almost expected at this point, such as when [[spoiler: she killed Mr. Sinister in a Batman Gambit to save Rogue's life.]]

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: When she and the Brotherhood became government agents. But even then, they were still treated as villains in most cases.

* MamaBear: Messing with her kids, as Sinister [[NeckSnap found out the hard way]] (he got better).

* MayflyDecemberRomance: Mystique doesn't naturally age since her shapeshifting cells are constantly renewing themselves, and the most difficult part of her relationship with Destiny was helplessly watching Irene grow old through the years.

* OlderThanTheyLook: She reveals that she's over 80 years old, but thanks to her powers she doesn't look older than 30.

* VillainessesWantHeroes: She has had a thing for Forge, Iceman, and Wolverine respectively.

* VoluntaryShapeshifting: Mystique's morphing ability allows her to morph into anyone/anything (including a wooden chair and a giant dragon on separate occasions), but she retains her "default mode" mass (her larger transformations would, well, tear like a hot-air balloon filled with blood if damaged...which is what happened to her as Bishop in ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' #301).

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: It's been said that Mystique's volatile personality and psychotic behavior is due to her brain shifting structure from her powers, causing schizophrenia. Psylocke used her psychic blade to stabilize her but it's unclear how long it'd last. In [[{{ComicBook/Ruins}} Ruins]] this is much more pronounced, as she uncontrollably shapeshifts into every person around her believing she's actually absorbing their identities.
* WouldntHurtAChild: One of her redeeming qualities.
** Was willing to risk a baby's life to save Rogue's.

* BiTheWay: Mystique's early characterization had her ambiguously paired with the female clairvoyant Destiny (at least, until her death). For several decades the editorial staff [[HideYourLesbians would not admit the depth of their relationship]] (and, under The Comics Code, couldn't). Since then, she has had at least two children by male lovers retconned into her backstory.

Mystique is an 100-year old shapeshifting mutant. Originally, she could take on the appearance of any humanoid being by having complete control over the cells of her body, in addition to being able to morph the material in her clothes to suit any situation. She later got a superpower upgrade allowing her to produce [[ShapeshifterWeapon weapons by morphing her organs and such into wings and talons]]. For years she was involved in espionage, with her long-time romantic partner Destiny - a blind mutant precognitive. For a time, Destiny and Mystique separated for [[SecondActBreakup personal reasons]], and Mystique became romantically involved with Sabertooth and a German Baron, resulting in the birth of her two sons - Graydon Creed and Kurt Wagner. Destiny and Mystique reunited, and depending on the writer - either adopted Rogue or conceived her via Mystique's shapeshifting powers. After this, Destiny and Mystique revived the Brotherhood of Mutants to assassinate anti-mutant politicians and began their conflict with the X-Men. Mystique usually has her own personal goals she's fighting for and is usually constantly involved in multiple webs of deception.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: It's been said that Mystique's volatile personality and psychotic behavior is due to her brain shifting structure from her powers, causing schizophrenia. Psylocke used her psychic blade to stabilize her but it's unclear how long it'd last. In [[{{ComicBook/Ruins}} Ruins]] this is much more pronounced, as she dies from an insane bout of partially shapeshifting into every person around her believing she's actually absorbing their identities.

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: It's been said that Mystique's volatile personality and psychotic behavior is due to her brain shifting structure from her powers, causing schizophrenia. Psylocke used her psychic blade to stabilize her but it's unclear how long it'd last. In ComicBook/Ruins this is much more pronounced, as she dies from an insane bout of partially shapeshifting into every person around her believing she's actually absorbing their identities.

* ''X-Men: Mutant Academy''

* ''VideoGame/XMenLegends'': Voiced by Music/GreyDeLisle

* TheDragon: Some stories have her as this to Magneto.

* FullFrontalAssault: In the ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'' arc, "Get Mystique", she switches off her powers before loading up with [[MoreDakka heavy weaponry]] and going into the final battle [[http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/File:Mystique_(by_Ron_Garney).jpg wearing an ammo belt and a SlasherSmile]]. Since her clothes are a product of her powers, she's naked for the whole fight.

Mystique is an 100-year old shapeshifting mutant. Originally, she could take on the appearance of any humanoid being by having complete control over the cells of her body, in addition to being able to morph the material in her clothes to suit any situation. She later got a superpower upgrade allowing her to produce [[ShapeshifterWeapon weapons by morphing her organs and such into wings and talons]]. For years she was involved in espionage, with her long-time romantic partner Destiny - a blind mutant precognitive. For a time, Destiny and Mystique separated for [[SecondActBreakup personal reasons]], and Mystique became romantically involved with Sabertooth and a German Baron, resulting in the birth of her two sons - Graydon Creed and Kurt Wagner. Destiny and Mystique reunited, and depending on the writer - either adopted Rogue or conceived her via Mystique's shape shifting powers. After this, Destiny and Mystique revived the Brotherhood of Mutants to assassinate anti-mutant politicians and began their conflict with the X-Men. Mystique usually has her own personal goals she's fighting for, and is usually constantly involved in multiple webs of deception.

* FullFrontalAssault: In the ''ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}'' arc, "Get Mystique", she switches off her powers before loading up with [[MoreDakka heavy weaponry]] and going into the final battle wearing an ammo belt and a SlasherSmile. Since her clothes are a product of her powers, she's naked for the whole fight.

** ''Film/XMen1'' (2000): Portrayed by Rebecca Romijn
** ''Film/X2XMenUnited'' (2003): Portrayed by Rebecca Romijn
** ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' (2006): Portrayed by Rebecca Romijn
** ''Film/XMenFirstClass'' (2011): Portrayed by Morgan Lily, Creator/JenniferLawrence, and Rebecca Romijn

* BigBad: In the old days when she was Ms. Marvel's arch nemesis she acted this way in her stories.Nowadays whenever Rouge has her own spin-off Mystique will act like this most of the time and was the leader of her own Brotherhood of Mutants at one point.

** She transformed into different attractive women for Wolverine years earlier. The first time when she needed protection against Spiral and the second when she needed protection against Sabretooth. In a recent storyarc it was revealed that she had in fact started using this tactic against Wolverine nearly a century ago.

* DoubleStandardRapeSciFi: A frequent offender. She often uses her powers to impersonate people her victims are familiar with, and even gleefully threatens to do this to X-23.

** Seems to be dropped as a teacher in Hellfire Academy. She was hired as a DrillSergeantNasty by Kade Kilgore into his "school" and she threatened to torture and downright kill all those kids who weren't tough enough to graduate her "tests".

* EvilIsPetty: There are a number of people she cares deeply about and there have been a number of occasions when she looked like she was reforming for good...and those times and those people have all been screwed over by the utterly ''horrible'' stuff she can do to someone who has earned her ire, or who happens to be in her way, or often, just for a good laugh. That this includes several heroes and innocent people is one reason she is still considered very much a villain.
* EvilMatriarch: She really does love her children, but Nightcrawler's the only one she hasn't stabbed or shot. Though to be fair, one of her kids was evil, but another was just trying to get Mystique out of jail, only for Mystique to break out and stick a knife in her gut for taking too long. Yes, really does love her children. In the most abusive way possible.
** Even Nightcrawler didn't escape unscathed. Only a few hours (at most) after he was born, she chucked him over a waterfall so that she could escape an angry mob without him weighing her down. Then again, the guilt over this incident is why she's probably not been as cruel to him as she's been to her other children.

* JerkJustifications: Claremont treated Mystique as made of this trope, and that comparatively trivial PetTheDog moments fully redeemed blowing up buildings of civilians and similar, but [[BrokenAesop beyond a certain point it simply turned extremely disturbing]], [[MisaimedFandom although it was done skillfully enough to drag along a large amount of readers]]. In the end, though she pretty much crossed the MoralEventHorizon when she disguised herself as [[ComicBook/MsMarvel Carol Danvers]] and beat the heroine's bystander boyfriend to death with an ecstatic smile on her face, while maintaining the disguise, just out of spite.

* EvilMatriarch: She really does love her children, but Nightcrawler's the only one she hasn't stabbed or shot. Though to be fair, one of her kids was evil.
** Even Nightcrawler didn't escape unscathed. Only a few hours (at most) after he was born, she chucked him over a waterfall so that she could escape an angry mob without him weighing her down.