Real Name: Raven Darkholme
Origin: Unknown
Affiliation: Brotherhood
Aliases: Risty Wilde
Relatives: Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler, son), Rogue (adopted daughter)
Powers: Able to change shape at will
Background: Very little is known of the mutant called Mystique, save that her true name is Raven Darkholme. She was the first mutant found by Magneto, and using her shapeshifting powers, "sat in" on many of Magnus's initial meetings with his friend Charles Xavier. When Magneto split from Xavier, Raven became Magneto's right hand, using her position as principal of Bayville High to recruit young mutants for the Brotherhood of Mutants.

One of the few things that can be confirmed of Mystique's past is that she gave birth to a mutant son, who would later grow to be the X-Man Nightcrawler. Soon afterwards, she discovered another young mutant, who was to have the ability to absorb people's memories and the abilities of mutants, and sent the young child to live with a blind mutant psychic called Destiny. Mystique eventually recruited this girl named Rogue into her Brotherhood, but lost her to the X-Men when she tried to kill Cyclops on a field trip.

At one point, in an attempt to gain control of Professor Xavier's mutant tracking computer, Cerebro, Mystique unleashed the Juggernaut, which backfired on her, causing the Brotherhood and X-Men to reluctantly band together to bring down the behemoth.

In a culmination point between the Brotherhood and the X-Men, Mystique was thought to have been lost when Asteroid M was destroyed, but has since been lurking behind the scenes as the young student Risty Wilde, and cozying up to Rogue, presumably to gain access to the X-Men and their secrets. In fact, she again sabotaged Juggernaut's cell, drawing Xavier away, and then as "Risty" helped Rogue organize a party at the X-Mansion, during which time she and the young "Arcade" hacked into Cerebro, allowing Mystique to access the files on the New Mutants. With the information she received from this download, she gained a bit of insight into the mental status of Magneto's daughter, Wanda Maximoff. Using the young girl's hatred towards her father, with training from Agatha Harkness for Wanda, Mystique announced to the Brotherhood that she plans to challenge Magneto for leadership, due to her feelings of betrayal because she had to fight for the right to join Magneto on Asteroid M. This scenario remains to be played out, but it is clear that Mystique has no intentions of playing fairly.

At the beginning of the infamous "Day of Reckoning" fiasco, Professor Xavier appeard much more stern and unforgiving of his students, upset that they were unprepared to fight against Magneto. Because of this lack of training, Xavier announced to his students that they would be joined by the Brotherhood. This action upset Cyclops, who subsequently left the team. Xavier assembled the team, leaving the New Mutants at the Institute because they were inexperienced, and flew off to attack Magneto in an uncharecteristically aggressive maneuver for him. However, just before the teams left, Mystique appeared in the Cerebro control room, and set the Mansion to Defcon 4. As soon as the Velocity and X-Jet were gone, the Mansion went into Defcon 4, locking Magma outside and the rest of the New Mutants inside. Moments later, Cerebro set itself for emergency demolition. When Cyclops returned, after prompting by Boom-Boom and Magma, he was able to save himself and the New Mutants at the last minute. In New York, the battle raged between the X-Men/Brotherhood team-up and Magneto's own mutants, Sabretooth, Pyro, Colossus, Gambit, and Quicksilver who had led the teams into a trap, knowing he would be same. As the battle continued, and Magneto's team was defeated, the Sentinel, created by an anti-mutant fanaticist known only as Trask, surfaced. The battle between the X-Men/Brotherhood and the Sentinel was so massive that it devastated a decent sized area of New York, and was played around the world on tv, revealing that mutants exist. After the battle was finished, the team had to flee quickly, leaving Beast, Rogue, Spyke and Blob behind. Again, this was very uncharacteristic of Xavier. However, when the remaining team returned to the destroyed Mansion, Cyclops accused Xavier of destroying the Mansion and nearly killing him and the New Mutants, then lifted him out of the chair and tossed him to the ground. The others tried to subdue Cyclops, when Xavier stood up and morphed into Mystique. They squabbled a bit, but in the end, Mystique's argument that the X-Men had to follow her in order to save Xavier won out.

The next day, Mystique led the X-Men and Brotherhood into Area 51, in order to save their comrades. However, as they were departing, Cyclops trapped Mystique inside the building, and demanded that she tell him where Professor X was. She refused, and the X-Men left her there, despite the protests by the Brotherhood.

Soon after, Juggernaut reappeared, and the X-Men were forced to battle him. When Rogue imprinted him, she realized that Mystique had freed the crazed brute and placed Xavier in Juggernaut's holding tank.

A few weeks later, Mystique freed herself from Area 51, and, using the persona of Alex Summers, Scott's brother, lured the X-Man into a trap. Mystique left him alone in the desert to die, without his sunglasses or visor, but a local construction company saved him and brought him to a hospital in Mexico City. At the hospital, Cyclops' eyes were uncovered, and he had to run away, when he ran into Mystique who began beating him, taking advantage of his blinded condition. Cyclops' strong link to Jean Grey alerted the X-Men to the fact that Cyclops was in danger, and they tracked him to Mexico where, just at the last moment, Jean arrived to help Cyclops, and both were able to send Mystique running into the darkness.

Later she received a message from Destiny. When the two met, Destiny said that Rogue would play a major role in Mystique's life, if Rogue survived long enough to do so. With this, Mystique returned to her life as Risty Wilde, and accompanied Rogue to a popular rock concert. While there, Rogue touched Risty, and began to lose control of her mind, realizing that Mystique was her adopted mother. Rogue was stopped and calmed down by the X-Men.

Soon thereafter, Mystique was approached by Mesmero, and told that if she were to assist him in resurrecting Apocalypse, both she and Rogue would be guaranteed a place in his new order. Mystique agreed, and helped Mesmero gain control of her adopted daughter. After this, Rogue proceeded, under the control of Mesmero, to absorb the powers of all of the X-Men and Brotherhood members, and then the three traveled to Tibet. Mystique asked Mesmero why he did not enslave her as he had done with Rogue, to which he replied that her mental control was far too strong for him to break. He then told her that she was the third key, and told her to enter through a small hole and place her hand on the symbol of Apocalypse within. Mystique did as she was told, and when she touched the symbol, she was suddenly turned to stone.

After these events, Xavier brought the now stone-Mystique back to the Mansion, and despite his best attempts, was unable to find any spark of life within her. After which, he handed her over to the Brotherhood, but Nightcrawler went in and rescued the statue of his mother. When Rogue saw Mystique in Nightcrawler's room, she began yelling at her adopted brother, after what Mystique had put her through. Nightcrawler persisted that Mystique let herself be consumed by her anger, and that if Rogue couldn't let go of her own anger, she would end up like Mystique. As Rogue walked away, Nightcrawler noticed that the statue appeared to be crying. Hoping to save his mother, Nightcrawler sought out Agatha Harkness, who told him only Rogue could unlock Mystique. However, rather than unlock Mystique, Rogue knocked the statue off of a cliff. Nightcrawler teleported to the bottom of the cliff just in time to watch the lifeless stone of his mother smash to pieces.

However, Mystique was not dead, as the statue of her was apparently just that, and in fact Apocalypse had teleported her away at the moment she touched his symbol, replacing her with the carving. When Apocalypse rose, Mystique was one of his Horsemen, brainwashed and outfitted with bio-tech implants. With Apocalypse's defeat, she was returned to normal. What, if any, resolution she made with her children is unknown.

It should be noted that Mystique can apparently change mass as well as shape, and so is not limited to humanoid forms. She has taken the form of a cat and of a wolf, and aside from her obviously superior intelligence, is indistinguishable from other members of those species.

Original Costume

"Principal Darkholme"

"Risty Wilde"

Horseman

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