Mystique (Raven Darkhölme) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by artist David Cockrum and writer Chris Claremont, 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 mimic the appearance and voice of any person with exquisite precision. 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; she has been stated to be over 100 years old. Mystique is the mother of the X-Men hero Nightcrawler and the villain Graydon Creed, and the adoptive mother of the X-Men heroine Rogue.
Mystique has been described as one of Marvel's most notable and powerful female antiheroes.
Mystique appears in seven of the 20th Century Fox X-Men films: the character was portrayed by Rebecca Romijn in X-Men (2000), X2 (2003) and X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), while Jennifer Lawrence portrayed a younger version in X-Men: First Class (2011), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014), X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) and Dark Phoenix (2019).
Mystique was created by David Cockrum. Chris Claremont saw Cockrum's design, dubbed the character "Mystique", and, with Cockrum's permission, set her in Ms. Marvel #16 (May 1978). The character's true appearance was revealed in Ms. Marvel #18 (June 1978) and first cover appearance in The Avengers Annual #10 (1981).
Claremont, a former X-Men writer, has said that he originally intended Mystique and Destiny to be Nightcrawler's biological parents (with Mystique having morphed into a male body for the act of conception), but Marvel didn't agree, because at that time the Comics Code Authority prohibited the explicit portrayal of gay or bisexual characters.
Mystique's origins remain unknown - her shapeshifting powers mean that her true age remains enigmatic.