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Quote1 Forget everything you think you know. Whatever lessons you learned in school, whatever your parents taught you - none of that matters. You're not kids anymore. You're not students... You're X-Men. Quote2
Raven Darkhölme[src]

History

Early Years[]

Abandoned by her parents, Raven Darkhölme met a young Charles Xavier when she broke into his family's Westchester mansion to steal food. She took the form of his mother to try and fool the boy, but he saw past the ruse. Thrilled at the fact that he wasn't the only one who was "different" in the world, he offered to let Raven stay and live with him and his family, which she happily accepted.[4]

Years later, Raven followed Charles to England (posing as his sister) and worked as a waitress while he studied genetics at Oxford. She constantly had to hide her true appearance, which began to put a strain on their relationship.[4]

X-Men[]

When Charles was approached by Moira MacTaggert to assist in apprehending mutant terrorist Sebastian Shaw, Raven accompanied him to CIA headquarters where they displayed their abilities to a group of government agents, among them the Man in Black. Gathering a group of other mutants, including Erik Lensherr, Sean Cassidy, Alex Summers, Armando Muñoz, and Henry McCoy, they formed the early version of the team that would become the X-Men.

Henry McCoy became instantly smitten with her, and a budding attraction was evident between them. Hank revealed that he had been working on a serum to cure his physical mutation but leave his abilities intact. He believed that Raven's ability to alter her appearance would hold the key to perfecting it. He requested a sample of her blood, during which they shared each others' wish to appear "normal", as well as a kiss. However, Erik's constant validation of her true beauty and self overturned her opinion, and when Hank finished the serum she refused to take it. Hank injected himself and underwent a radical transformation, which resulted in him taking on a more bestial appearance. The serum had the opposite effect he'd intended: it enhanced his mutation instead of dampening it.

Raven Darkhölme (Earth-10005) from X-Men First Class (film) 005

Raven as an X-Man

The team was instrumental in stopping the Cuban Missile Crisis and foiling the Hellfire Club's bid for world domination. However, it was eventually split when Lensherr began to believe 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 Lensherr, opted to join him and helped form the Brotherhood of Mutants.[4]

Over the next decade, Raven embraced her true form as "Mystique" and helped Erik, now operating under the alias Magneto, form the Brotherhood of Mutants. However, after Magneto was arrested for allegedly assassinating President John F. Kennedy, she left the Brotherhood to pursue her own goals.

Becoming Mystique[]

In 1973, Raven was on a mission to hunt down Dr. Bolivar Trask, whom she had discovered had performed experiments on mutants, causing the deaths of several of her friends, and that he was building giant robots, called Sentinels, designed to target mutants.

Raven Darkhölme (Earth-10005 Revised) and United States Army (Earth-10005 Revised) from X-Men Days of Future Past (film) 001

Mystique saving mutants

Raven travelled to Saigon, Vietnam in order to intercept a transportation of a group of mutants to Trask Industries. Among this group of mutants was former X-Man and teammate, Alex Summers. Raven disguised herself as a Colonel Sanders, and is almost successful in her plan, but Major William Stryker noticed that something was odd with the Colonel, which forced Raven to reveal her identity and beat up the soldiers. She managed to send the group of mutants on plane back to the US, then she stayed at the base, disguised as herself.

A couple of days later, Raven infiltrated Trask Industries, disguised as Trask himself. There, she discovered autopsy files on experimented mutants, who she recognized as her former Brotherhood of Mutants teammates, Azazel and Angel. This saddened and angered Raven, and now she had made it a point to kill Trask personally.

Raven Darkhölme (Earth-10005 Revised) from X-Men Days of Future Past (film) 005

She made plans to infiltrate the World Peace Summit in Paris, where Trask would be presenting his designs for his Sentinel weapon to communist countries. She knocked out and stole the invitation of a Vietnamese general who was supposed to attend, and went to the Summit disguised as him. However, during the presentation, Trask tested his mutant track device, which led to them discovering that Raven was an impostor. She attacked everyone in the room, and was about to kill Trask, but then Charles, Erik, Hank, and another man barged into the room distracting her momentarily, which led to her getting tasered by Major Stryker. She shared a short conversation with Charles, which was interrupted when Erik pointed a gun at her and threatened to kill her. Confused, she ran and jumped out the window, but the bullet still hit her in the ankle before landing on the streets below. The crowd outside the building stared at her, and she transformed into a random onlooker. She tried to disappear into the crowd, but Erik levitated down from the building, and pulled her towards him via the bullet in her ankle. Erik pulled the bullet out of her ankle, and was about finally kill her, until Hank (now in Beast form) attacked Erik. She took the opportunity to flee, and disappeared into the panicking crowd.

Raven reappeared later in a hospital, now in her human form. She chatted with a nurse, as she bandaged Raven's ankle.

Attack on the White House[]

Raven headed to Washington, D.C. to kill Trask during the unveiling of the Sentinels on the White House lawn. However, first she had to take care of her business with Erik. She disguised herself as a subway beggar, and ambushed Erik while he was walking. She questioned Erik on why he tried to kill her, and he said it was because they received a message from the future, saying that her actions would cause the downfall of their species. Raven then accused him of lying, but Erik told her that he has never nor will never lie to her. Erik invited her to rejoin him, so that they could defeat this threat together. She declined, and disappeared into the crowd.

A day later in Washington, during the unveiling, Raven was disguised as a White House staff member, and was about to kill Trask. However, she was mentally stopped by Charles. Trask and President Richard Nixon were able to unveil their Sentinels, but the Sentinels unexpectedly began attacking everybody. Just then, Erik, in his Magneto attire, came hovering over the White House with a giant baseball stadium, and dropped it around the White House, making it act as a barrier to stop the police from interfering. Raven, now free from Charles' mental control, followed the President, Trask, and other White House staff members into an emergency bunker. She stayed there with them as a battle outside raged on. However, Trask discovered that a mutant was in there with them with his mutant detector.

With her cover blown, she attempted to kill Trask again, but the bunker abruptly started shaking, and was pulled straight out of the White House. Magneto ripped the door of the bunker right off. Raven watched as Magneto held everyone in the bunker hostage while broadcasting it on television. Raven disguised herself as the President, walked straight out of the bunker, and surrendered to Magneto. Magneto was about to kill her, but then a Sentinel attacked Magneto, which distracted him long enough for Raven to incapacitate him. She graze shot him in the neck, revealing her identity, and then knocked him out. With Magneto down, she took matters into her own hands, and held everyone at gunpoint. Just then, Charles appeared to her mentally, and pleaded her to stop. He managed to persuade her to do the right thing, and she ultimately decided not to kill Trask, and then removed Erik's helmet, which gave Charles the power to control him. Before making amends with Charles, Erik and Hank, She left the stadium disguised as one of the military personnel.

Ripples in the Tide[]

The news outlets covering the event labeled her as a mutant hero who saved the President, which then led to the disassembly of Trask Industries and the Sentinel program.

Later, disguised as Major Stryker, Raven took custody of the mutant she saw with Charles and Hank earlier after his body is retrieved from the river.[1]

Apocalypse[]

10 years later, Mystique, in her human form, wearing a purple dress, appeared in East Berlin and saved her presumed son, Nightcrawler, from a cage match arena. The two made their way to Caliban's underground base where Mystique found out Erik returned

Mystique and Nightcrawler later went to Xavier's mansion where she reunited with Hank. Raven told Charles that Magneto returned. Mystique was later saved by Quicksilver after Havok accidentally blew up the school. After recovering, Mystique's blue form was revealed, Hank told her that the students looks up to her, but she said that she wasn't what they needed and shapeshifted back into her human form. Raven was abducted by William Stryker, but later escaped with the X-Men in a jet inside of Stryker's base and together, they defeated the ancient mutant God Apocalypse She became their leader after their battle with apocalypse and gave a speech to them in preparation for a sentinel training program.[2]

Attributes

Powers

Abilities

Weaknesses

Paraphernalia

Transportation

X-Jet

Notes

See Also

Links and References

References

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