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“Self-Preservation: The Most Human of Reasons”
How 9/11 Changed the Nature of American Identity Representations in the X-Men Franchise
By: Samm Banks

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Over a comic book character story arc, there may be multiple re-imaginings of them
before they reach their full potential as an indispensable character. A reinvention of a character
allows writers to adapt their thoughts, feelings, actions, and morality to those consuming the
comics.1 Though comic books as a medium are fading from view, marvel storylines are
frequently portrayed on the silver screen as of late, making their stories more accessible to
modern mass audiences. This leads to a need to make these characters even more empathetic and
current in order to appeal to a wider population of consumers. These reinventions of characters
and storylines often echo current events in subtle yet telling ways, giving viewers and character a
common background.
This paper will examine one of these characters, The X-Men’s Mystique, and will explain
why she has risen to such prominence in the most recent films as a sympathetic antihero rather
than a common villain. I will argue that the reason for this sudden spike in popularity and
visibility is due to many American's changing ideas about flexible identities in an increasingly
atomically-anxious world that lacks a universal moral code as the result of the absence of victory
culture. Whereas Mystique's power of transformation was once a source of fear, and thus
villainy, amongst the last dregs of Cold War anxieties, now she can be read as an empathetic
anti-hero in a social context in which the concepts of fluid identity and morality, and the
struggles that this flexibility entails, become more apparent in everyday life.2 I will also explain
how this rise of such a character is a way of the American public negotiating the lack of a
definitive victory culture in post-9/11 America.
1 Phillips,NickieD., and Staci Strobl. Comic Book Crime: Truth, Justice, and the American Way. New York: New York
University Press,2013.16-17.
2 Costello,Matthew J. Secret Identity Crisis: Comic Books and the Unmasking of Cold War America. New York:
Continuum, 2009.1-30.

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Fig. 1: Mystique in X-Men Comics is often masculine, defying American gender norms
This analysis will examine the X-Men film trilogy in opposition to the more recent
prequels that have thus far been released. Ironically, Mystique is fairly flat as an adult character
in the film trilogy, but is complicated and more complex in the prequels. In the film trilogy,
Mystique appears most often as a type of evil, hyper-sexualized sidekick to Magneto in his
various attempts to bring the mutant race to its "rightful" place as the successors to the
evolutionary throne. In comparison to this, her role as an antihero in the prequels complicates the
narrative of villainy by investigating her journey of defining her personal moral code. I will
argue that these two very different characterizations of Mystique symbolize two stages in
American society of negotiating a tragedy like 9/11. The first version stresses community
building and allegiance, while the second phase emphasizes individualism and independence of
thought and action when the familiar power structures fail to meet the expectations of its citizens.
This echoes the evolution of post-9/11 reactions to trauma and tragedy, which abruptly shifted
from reactionary nationalism to moral confusion and abandonment with the uncertainty of a
faceless and ongoing "War on Terror."

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Rather than chronologically within the Marvel Universe, here I will discuss the films in
the order to make clear how Mystique has been complicated in the mass audience’s eye over the
past decade and a half, and brought to a general understanding as an antihero rather than a villain
under current social climates surrounding a post-9/11 world. Mystique as a comic book villain is
usually represented as overly masculine, while the films present her as a feminine sexual being
overall. Masculinity is often projected onto female comic book villains in order to display their
defiance of female norms, thus their threat to the American way of life. In the 1980’s, alongside
developments of new forms of femininity expression, this changed, introducing busty and
scantily clad “bad girls” as villains meant to intrigue readers’ morality and sexuality.3 In the film
trilogy, Mystique falls under this category, often appearing in the nude as an expression of
difference, pride, sexuality, and exoticism. Her imagery in the prequels, however, takes a step
back from this into a “girl next door” place, as her character in these films is less of a seductress,
and more of a youth in transition. The reasons for these transformations will be evaluated in
stages of film releases.
The Marvel Formula
The X-Men franchise, as a product of Marvel Industries, is subject to certain formulas in
character creation. First, it is important to consider the traditional means of character creation, in
which super-villains and heroes alike are often generated, based on their power, and personality
and physicality are usually built around this concept. At the time of Mystique’s first appearance
in comic books, being able to shape shift into any form would have been a truly evil skill that
threatened the home, often mentioned in the films as a severe threat. Through today’s lens,
however, Mystique’s talent might be viewed as an adaptation for survival. By taking the form of
3 Robbins,Trina. The Great Women Superheroes. Nothampton, Mass.:Kitchen Sink Press,1996. 169.

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men in power, she poses a serious threat to society, but this also gives her a sense of control and
power that she would never have as a marginalized woman. In taking this characterizing ability
and transforming it from a reason to fear her into a reason to admire her, Mystique’s shape-
shifting becomes a defining characteristic of heroism, rather than villainy.
For Marvel Industries, a very common trend is to make the reader or viewer reevaluate
constantly how they interpret the actions of both heroes and villains. Nickie D. Philips and Staci
Strobl’s Comic Book Crime describes this strategy, saying “Many of the Marvel characters were
considered revolutionary in that they introduced moral complexities, insecurities, and flaws,
prompting introspection by the heroes themselves…Stan Lee and Jack Kirby4 ‘wanted their new
heroes to be real people who argued among themselves, made mistakes, and had feet of clay.’
With such a unique focus on character development, the series helped reinvigorate the popularity
of superheroes.”5 In this way, the X-men film franchise as a whole follows the Marvel Formula,
which generally paints both heroes and villains in a light that makes them more empathetic as
humans, thus more relatable and intriguing in regards to their fluid morality.
While the Marvel Formula encourages viewers to be open-minded about the motivations
of villains, it also exposes the need to be more critical of heroes. Creating human and relatable
characters also requires them to fallible; flawed in some way that is inherent to their very persona
that they must daily battle in order to do good. In this way, flat characters engage their fans and
intricately entangle them in their struggles. As Marvel characters are often teens or young adults,
their character flaws are personable and read as a more dramatic version of the struggles that
most young people go through at some point as a part of coming of age. By exposing the
4 Creators of Marvel Comics
5Phillips,NickieD., and Staci Strobl. Comic Book Crime: Truth, Justice, and the American Way. New York: New York
University Press,2013.29.

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complicated nature of Marvel characters, they can no longer easily be placed into distinct “good”
and “bad” categories. Instead, Marvel storylines encourage viewers to consider the motivations
behind a character’s action. When a villain kills or exhibits their powers in a way that harms
others, it is at surface unacceptable. Antiheroes may do the same things for the “greater good” or
self-preservation and be forgiven. The less justification there is for an unforgivable action, the
further a character may drift into villainy.
"We must know who they are, and above all, what they can do.": X-men (2000)
The first installment of the X-Men trilogy takes place in an unspecified near future. Since
the film debuted in 2000, that future might very well be the world we live in today. In the Marvel
Universe, Magneto and his Brotherhood of Evil Mutants have kidnapped Senator Kelly, a
forerunner in the movement to pass legislation requiring all mutants to be registered in order to
enter or continue their status as United States citizens. Mystique herself is responsible for
kidnapping Kelly, saying "People like you are the reason I was afraid to go to school as a child."
Aside from this, Mystique has few lines, and little to no character development. In this section, I
will discuss why this is so, and why this film is so very different from the rest of the X-Men film
franchise.
X-1, as I mentioned above, debuted in 2000, just before the paranoia of the War on Terror
set in America. United States citizens were aware that foreign powers had weapons of mass
destruction, but at that point we had no idea that we were to be targeted later that year. Despite
this inactivity on the home front, the entertainment industry still played an important role in
citizen morale. There is a very distinct mood to the original trilogy of the X-Men trilogy of
community building and triumphalist "good vs. evil" dichotomies. This is often seen in

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American films that precede and immediately follow national tragedies in order to re-invigorate
patriotism and civic pride. While the first installment off the trilogy preceded 9/11, it follows the
pattern of many films geared toward instilling confidence in American audiences and
encouraging their own "goodness" because of their association with the United States. In a social
climate that has been steadily losing sight of victory culture since the indecisive end of Vietnam,
films that strive to convince viewers that they should have pride and confidence in our nation's
abilities to triumph are extremely crucial for American audiences. Such films allow American
audience who has not lived through a victorious war to find affirmation in entertainment that the
"good guys," read Americans, will always win.
Throughout X-1, there are themes of acceptance, tolerance, and peaceful incorporation of
difference in the United States. The main plot revolves around Magneto's efforts to forcibly
mutate the United Nations Assembly in order to force them to sympathize with mutants. This
climactic ending takes place at the Statue of Liberty, a re-appropriated symbol of freedom and
tolerance to all who come to our country. The symbolism is clear, as the distress surrounding
"the mutant problem" may be easily compared to issues of incorporation and solidarity in our
world. “The mutant problem” and the resulting issues of threat containment could be considered
foreshadowing for the containment policies that began to be set into action soon after 9/11.
In truth, viewers did not need a complex and morally ambiguous character like Mystique
to be a major player in this stage of the X-men franchise. Though the film precedes the social
divisiveness that occurred in the wake of 9/11, other social issues required a boosting of public
morale. X-1 encourages positive action and hopeful cooperation between humans and mutants,
which may be read as various incorporations of difference. A morally ambiguous henchwoman

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like Mystique needed to be kept in the background, as viewers are meant to understand that she
is a "bad guy" attempting to further challenge the status quo and peaceful negotiations.
The "good guys" and the "bad" can often be differentiated by their appearances, as
discussed by Rachel Zuckert in “Boring Beauty and Universal Morality: Kant on the Ideal of
Beauty.” Zuckert analyzes in this article the concept that often, it is human nature to judge others
based upon their appearance, and associate their moral code with the quality and serenity of their
appearance. In short, those who are beautiful are immediately understood to be good persons,
while those who are ugly or disfigured are thought to be evil or bad as reflected in their
appearance. Often, writers create villains and heroes alike based on their powers.6 So, Mystique
is meant to be understood as a villain at this stage in the franchise because a secret identity and
mysterious actions can be read as evil. In contrast, Professor Charles Xavier7 is a telepath, thus
he understands the minds of others and attempts to empathize with them, making him a hero.
Also, those who are beautiful are generally understood to be inherently good, while those less
physically appealing are villains, sometimes even incorporating their rejection from society
based on their physicality into their back story. Compare Jean Grey, also a telepath and always
rendered physically beautiful, with Mystique, who is often rejected and feared due to her scaly
and blue skin.8
6 Morrell,Jessica Page. Bullies, Bastards & Bitches: How to Write the Bad Guys of Fiction. Cincinnati,Ohio:Writer’s
Digest Books, 2008.124.
7 Leader of the X-men
8 Zuckert, Rachel.“Boring Beauty and Universal Morality:Kanton the Ideal of Beauty.” Inquiry, 2004, 107-30.
Accessed September 20,2014. Print.

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Fig. 2: Mystique in the first X-Men film is seen, not heard.
Mystique's presence is often announced by eerie violin music and a flash of her yellow
eyes, as she is frequently in disguise as a white man of political power. In many ways,
Mystique's silence and mystery is reminiscent of pop culture representations of undercover
Communists in Cold War era films. The War on Terror, like the Cold War, proved to be fought
against faceless and constantly changing enemies, but the fear of infiltration by those threatening
the American way of life is similar. As a shape shifter, Mystique too is a faceless enemy, who
can effortlessly infiltrate whatever American institution she desires. Taking the form of male
political figures offers Mystique social mobility, control, and a form of power that she would not
otherwise have as a woman, much less as a marginalized mutant. By mimicking these sources of

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power, Mystique has a power all her own through her ability, which paradoxically denies her
power in her true form by marking her as a mutant "other."9
"Even Their Voice": X2 (2003)
X-2 Brings Mystique into more focus as the mutant forces come together to defeat a
common enemy, but the "good vs evil" dichotomy is still made clear throughout the film.
Mystique has been posing as Senator Kelly since his demise in X-1, adjusting mutant policies
where she can and collecting inside information when she cannot. Meanwhile, General Stryker,
another staunch anti-mutant political figure, has been pushing for experimentation and
registration for mutants. He infiltrates Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters10 with a SWAT
team, kidnapping the children who live there while they sleep. Stryker's ultimate goal is to
recreate Cerebro, a machine Xavier uses to locate mutants, and repurpose the duplicate to target
and destroy all mutants in one fell swoop. X-2 clearly carries sentiments of an untrustworthy
government, but the unity of the opposing mutant forces for a common goal closely parallels the
social climate of 2003, when the film went public and Americans struggled to support one
another when we doubted those in power. This section will analyze one particular mutant
relationship, and use it as an example of the tense circumstances that social cohesion in 2003
involved to rebuild a national community. Like Americans in the wake of 9/11, the mutant forces
in X-2 were required to set aside their differences in order to ensure their survival.
Without cooperation, there would be no chance of survival for the mutants under fire
from the United States government. In order to cooperate in the situation given in X-2, the clear-
cut and unshakeable moral codes given to discriminate between the "good" and the "bad" must
9 X-Men. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation,2000.Film.
10 Living,training,and education facility for Xavier’s students and team

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be temporarily set aside for the greater good. The situational co-dependency involved in X-2
places mutants with tense histories into direct contact and requires them to work together. Some
character arcs must be left out of the films in order to make more room for plot, but the comic
books released simultaneously are available to those wanting for character development. In 2003,
Uncanny X-Men #428 hit the shelves, telling the tale of Mystique's brief moment in life as a
mother to Nightcrawler, and the ultimate abandonment of this child.11 Throughout the comic
books and various television series, it is often referenced that Mystique is Nightcrawler's
mother,12 but in the film, this relationship is completely neglected, despite ample opportunities. It
is my belief that this important element is left out in order to broadcast to viewers that tense
histories must be set aside in order to cooperate and ultimately ensure survival for the mutant
race.
Fig. 3: Mystique and Nightcrawler discuss visibility, but not their relationship.
Mystique and Nightcrawler share an important scene in X-2, where they discuss public
visibility. Nightcrawler asks Mystique why, if she can mimic and impersonate anyone, she does
11 Phillips,Austen. “”How Did I Get Here?”” Uncanny X-Men, October 1, 2003.
12 Hitch, Bryan. “Growing Pains.” Uncanny X-Men ’95, November 1, 1995.

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not choose to camouflage her mutant nature at all times in order to belong, to which she
responds, "Because we shouldn't have to."13 The irony here is that though Mystique feels that
public visibility as a mutant is her human inalienable right, she does not reveal her maternal
relationship to her son. Though this may be a way of softly transitioning Mystique into a more
sympathetic character, it does leave the non-comic reading viewer in the dark. At various
moments in the X-Men franchise, this relationship is used as both a way of signaling Mystique's
villainy as a negligent mother, and of her humanity in the struggle she endures and often
succumbs to in her guilt over abandoning her son. However, none of this makes it into the film.
Why?
Avoiding the delicate nature of motherhood may simply be a way of making things
simple for the sake of the storyline, which is commonly done in comic books in order to allow
supers and other characters to have lives without those lives negating their abilities. The concept
of motherhood simply does not fit into a storyline that demands physical activity and life-
threatening danger that a mother with super abilities would inevitably entail.14 Though many
supers, and most of the X-Men characters, are related to one another or are known to have
children, the reality of child-rearing would require a retirement from the Marvel Universe, as the
super-parent could no longer perform their duties with a child. This applies to X-Men characters
just as it would to most other fictional characters, as the family trees complicate the storyline
desirably, but the reality of child development is often necessarily ignored.
In times of national distress, such as the Great Depression or World War II, it is common
for Americans to reach back toward more traditional familial structures in order to instill
13 X2. 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2003.Film.
14 D’Amore, Laura Mattoon. “The Accidental Supermom: Superheroines and Maternal Performativity,1963-1980.”
The Journal of Popular Culture, 2012, 1226-1248.Accessed October 14, 2014. Academic Search Premier.

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confidence in the "American way of life" and to promote solidarity. I would argue that
neglecting to tie in the relationship between Mystique and Nightcrawler in film, yet expanding
upon it in print, is a method of communicating such messages of solidarity in modern-day
situations to mass audiences, while discretely recognizing the complex reality of contemporary
existence. X-2 promoted solidarity in the aftermath of tragedy in a time when many Americans
still deeply felt the loss of the 9/11 attacks. Despite our family units becoming increasingly more
fractured, in the wake of terrorist attacks, Americans were encouraged to set aside such issues
and come together to deal with national tragedy. Omitting the familial relationship in X-2 while
expanding upon it in print forms can be read as a way of allowing the characters to express the
desired solidarity, rather than allowing personal conflict to dominate, which was strongly
encouraged for Americans as the War on Terror raged on.
"You're Not One of Us Anymore": X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
In X-Men: The Last Stand, Mystique is eliminated early in the film, realizing most
Americans' greatest fears in post-9/11 aftershock: isolation and abandonment. In this installment,
the U.S. government has developed a "cure" for mutants from DNA retrieved from a mutant,
whose ability is to deactivate the powers of anyone around him. Here, as in so many other cases,
the Marvel Universe uses a familiar situation to help its readers make sense of the troubling
world around them. In this instance, the final stage of assimilation into being an American
acceptable to the rest of society is to remove your last marker of difference, which in this case is
a very intrinsic component of identity, and offers marginalized mutants, like Mystique, power
and control that is evidently unacceptable if one wishes to be a part of the desired group.
The beginning of the film finds Mystique in custody, after an attempt to derail the
experiments leading to the mutant "cure." She remains calm and confident, as her close

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allegiance with Magneto assures her that her capture will be temporary. In transport, Magneto
does indeed rescue his beloved pet, along with other captured mutants, but is interrupted by
soldiers armed with a weaponized version of the cure. Mystique takes the bullet for Magneto as a
sign of her unshakeable devotion, but is left behind once the effects of the cure have set in. No
longer is Mystique the strong, confident, and capable image of commanding and prideful nudity,
but a weakened, naked, and powerless woman left cold upon the floor. Her humanity is exposed
her in every possible meaning of the word, as there is not a single marker of strength left to her
human form.15 "I'm sorry, my dear," Magneto laments, "You're not one of us anymore." As he
turns his back on her, Mystique is expelled from the mutant community for what seems to be the
last time.
Fig. 4: “Being naked” is not as powerful or commanding as a classical “nude.”
Isolation and abandonment are familiar concepts to most dwellers of a post-9/11 world in
the political sense rather than the personal that Mystique undergoes. Furthermore, an unexpected
attack from those meant to protect citizens from danger that rapes us of our independence and
distinctive markers might be compared to our world as well. The film, released in 2006, can be a
perfect metaphor for the sentiments of Americans who felt betrayed and deceived by the War on
15 Robbins,Trina. The Great Women Superheroes. Northampton, Mass.:Kitchen Sink Press,1996.34.

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Terror. Despite constant promises of imminent victory and the returning of troops, there were
143,800 troops in the Middle East fighting the War on Terror in 2006,16 which had a constantly
changing face. Contrary to continued promises of safety from terrorism, new suspicions of
WMD holders developed nearly every week. We saw on the news daily assurances that we were
the good guys, but very little as to what the nearly 144 thousand troops might be doing after they
were taken from our homes. When those troops finally did come home, they suffered from Post-
Traumatic Stress Disorder and refused to speak of their actions overseas. Some of them still,
after years of service, did not even know who the enemy was.
The sentiments of community building in the wake of tragedy from X2 are absent in X3.
Again, the plot revolves around simple "good vs. evil" concepts, similar to those in X1. The
American public may not have needed Mystique to be a main character for more than twenty
minutes or so in this film, but with the shaky political and social environments we encountered
each time we turned on the television, another film encouraging the certain victory of "the good
guys" was certainly needed. However, Mystique's abandonment and exclusion from the
community is not the end of the losses incurred in this film. Professor Xavier, Jean Grey, and
Scott Summers (aka Cyclops), the commanders-in-chief of the X-Men, are memorialized and
buried by the end of the film. The government's weaponized and often forceful use of the cure
rips many talented and well-meaning mutants of their gifts in a battle to free the mutant with
curing abilities.17 Though this is a film that returns to simple moral dichotomies, the human
sacrifices that are made to possibly promise a better future are still not a guarantee that relations
16 Belasco,Amy. "Troop Levels in the Afghan and Iraq Wars,FY2001-FY2012:Cost and Other Potential Issues."
Federation of American Scientists.July 2, 2009.Accessed April 16,2015.
17 X-Men: The Last Stand. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2006.Film.

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or security will improve. As in our universe, the Marvel Universe questions what good sacrifices
of life may do.
“Pets Are Always Cuter When They’re Little”: X-Men: First Class (2011)
The driving force of the plot of X-Men: First Class is the young adult development of
three staple characters: Charles Xavier, Erik Lensherr (Magneto), and Raven Darkholme
(Mystique).18 As a child, Xavier found Raven stealing food from his mansion of a home and took
her under his wing, establishing a lifelong bond. Having previously discussed the trilogy, this is
probably shocking, as we know Mystique to be a villain cohort of Magneto. This leads me back
to the central argument: the mood of the prequels echoes that of post-9/11 America, where we
abandoned the attempt of victory culture in the immediate wake of the disaster, and faced the
reality of what our "heroic" government was doing at home and abroad for the sake of global
dominance. We were left thinking, "But, I thought we were the good guys?"19 Like many
Americans in 2011, Mystique discovers that despite her strict code of loyalty, no one can truly
have her best interests at heart but herself. By investigating Mystique's origin story, we will see
that the moral code that the adult mutant has (or doesn't have) is a product of her experiences in
warfare, similar to our own sentiments of moral ambiguity in a post-9/11 world.
18 “Comic Vine- Comic Reviews, Videos, Forums, and Wiki.”Accessed January 20,2015.
http://www.comicvine.com/.
19 Phillips,NickieD., and Staci Strobl. Comic Book Culture: Truth, Justice, and the American Way. New York: New
York University Press,2013.107.

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Fig. 5: Charles Xavier offers the young Raven Darkholme a home and friendship.
As mentioned above, First Class finds Charles a child of privilege, and Raven as his
protégé from an early age. Erik, however, has a much more troubling origin story. Erik's powers,
like that of many mutants, come to fruition in a period of extreme emotion and distress in
adolescent years. In this case, it is during his time in the death camps of World War II when he is
taken from his mother and forced to watch her die at the hand of Nazis. Unfortunately, Erik's
powers do not free him, but expose him before the Nazis as a possible tool, resulting in his
continued imprisonment. This extended state of abuse leads Erik to become the human-hating
Darwinist we know him to be in the trilogy, but it also establishes a relationship him and the
audience. While few would condone his systematic hunting and destroying of his Nazi
persecutors, his actions are read as retribution, rather than senseless killing for the sake of
mayhem. This Marvel Industries tactic is meant to cause viewers to think about how far they
would go themselves, and reevaluate and complicate how they feel about traditional villains.
In contrast to this, viewers are also encouraged to revisit their judgements of standard
issue heroes, such as Charles Xavier. His powers of telepathy allow him to empathize with the

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humans around him, but the interior nature of his ability also allows him to blend into society.
Charles is realistically depicted as a young adult with abilities and adolescent impulses, as when
he casually uses his telepathy in school or when he abuses his talent to pick up women in bars.
By viewing Charles as a flawed human, audiences can understand that in this world, as in ours,
there is no indelible "good" or "bad." Instead, there is a scale of gray that is influenced on both
sides by human impulse and situational contexts.
While Charles Xavier and Raven Darkholme develop a close bond into young adulthood,
they develop very different feelings toward the human race due to their very different mutations.
This might be compared to the different attitudes in the wake of 9/11, with polar opinions
ranging from hopeful optimism to bitter resentment regarding the War on Terror that just never
seemed to end. While Charles is an empathetic telepath with an easily disguised interior ability,
Raven must live most of her life in disguise in order to achieve a normal life. Charles
experiences the best of life, using his place of privilege to attend Oxford, while Raven humbly
works in the food service industry to sustain herself. Here we can see the differing goals of the
two extremes of the socioeconomic scale: Raven’s goals are of survival, Charles’ position in life
allows him to focus instead on personal development and growth. Though Charles is sympathetic
and even celebratory at times of mutants and their abilities and limitations, his understanding of
incorporation into the rest of the world is slightly skewed by the imperceptibility of his mutation.
Incorporation for a mutant with an easily hidden ability is much more attainable than for Raven,
whose natural form is blue and reptilian-skinned with animal-like yellow eyes prove to prevent
her from assimilation even in the mutant world.
One might compare the contrasting optimism and experienced pessimism of Charles and
Raven to those directly impacted by the terrorist attacks and those who were spared the trauma,

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or even soldiers who had experience with the war compared to those at home. At heart, in both
our universe and the Marvel mirror universe, the issue became one of trauma-contact. Charles,
like citizens at home in the “reaction stage” of the war, feels that diplomacy and democracy are
the answers, and that there is a bright future ahead, however, being one step removed from the
actual conflict of mutant aggression due to the nature of his ability, this optimism may be
misplaced. In a similar fashion, Raven experiences the worst of humanity, such as their quick
judgement and rejection, placing her in the trenches, so to speak, of human-mutant aggression.
This might be considered the “resentment stage” that many Americans directly touched by the
war were experiencing around the time of First Class’s release. By 2011, we had been engaged
in conflict overseas for nearly ten years. Though the details of the conflict were fading from
media presence, Americans who had fought in the war, or knew someone who had, were still
daily affected from a war that the remainder of the population had put out of sight and out of
mind since it did not affect them. Charles Xavier might be hopeful, but Raven knew what
humans were capable of and saw little benefit in coexisting with them.
While Xavier and Raven life at Oxford, Erik Lensherr spends his young adulthood
tracking down and assassinating Nazis from his time in the death camps. Though most of us
would never dream of acting out such aggression, the intro to the film allowed us a window into
Erik’s mind and experiences that permit us to understand him to an extent. In many cases in
comic books and films dealing with extra-normal persons, the communities are self-regulating
because the “human world” marginalizes the extra-normal into isolation, offering little assistance
when it comes to inter-community justice. Though Erik’s aggressors are human, popular culture
generally depicts Nazis responsible for Jewish extermination as supervillains due to their lack of
empathy. So, how far can Erik go before we consider him worthy of punishment for his mortal

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crimes? Is his retribution within means, or has he become just as evil as his aggressors? Marvel
Industries often encourages viewers to decipher these codes for themselves, offering a more
realistic depiction of justice and providing relatable and struggling characters that must grapple,
just as we do, with building an individualized morality.20
Fig. 6: Young Erik Lensherr being separated from his mother in the Nazi death camps
Charles and Raven, and later Erik, are enlisted by the U.S. government to form a special
team of mutants in order to combat a mutant bent on destroying the human race with his nuclear-
energy derivative ability. In this mission, there is a considerable amount of character
development with all of the mutants in this initial version of “the X-Men,” mainly regarding this
group of young adults with special abilities learning how to use their powers rather than continue
to hide them from the world. These personal journeys are complicated by Erik and Charles’
contrasting ideas about how powers should be used. Erik tells Raven “Your whole life the world
has tried to tame you. It’s time for you to be free,” encouraging her to embrace her true form
20 Phillips,NickieD., and Staci Strobl. Comic Book Culture: Truth, Justice, and the American Way. New York: New
York University Press,2013.107-139

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rather than the faces of normality she often assumes, even in private. The evident appeal in this
encouragement drives a wedge between Raven and Charles, culminating when she says to him
“It used to be me and you against the world. No matter how bad the world gets, you don’t want
to be against it, you want to be a part of it.” From Raven’s perspective, Erik is driving towards
change, though at times it is admittedly extreme, while Charles desires to be a part of the status
quo that rejects him time and time again. These confrontations lead Raven to decide that she will
no longer fight for a race of humans that seeks to destroy her, and will instead place her efforts
towards change and self-preservation.
First Class comes to a climax when a final battle between Xavier’s X-Men and the human
nuclear weapon’s forces meet on the beach of Cuba, alluding directly to the Cuban Missile
Crisis.21 Erik deems this mutant to be death worthy, as he was associated with Erik’s mother’s
death in the concentration camps of his childhood. While the mutants fight their war, the human
forces fight theirs, with both U.S. and Soviet warships targeting the beach filled with mutants in
hopes of preventing future threats. Charles diverts this threat, but the conflict results in defining
the “sides” that most mutants in the X-Men franchise ultimately fall on. Erik assumes his role as
Magneto, whom we already know has an agenda that is pro-mutant at the cost of human
extinction if necessary. Raven, in a heart-wrenching moment, decides to abandon Charles for the
cause of mutant freedom and liberation.22
21 May, ElaineTyler. “Echoes of the Cold War: The Aftermath of September 11 atHome.” In September 11 in
History: A Watershed Moment?. 35-54. 2003.
22 X-Men: First Class. Twentieth Century Fox FilmCorporation,2011.Film.

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Fig. 7: Raven decides to join Erik in the interest of taking action for mutant issues.
The allusion to the Cold War is not a flippant coincidence. As this study has argued, there
are various stages to dealing with tragedy and fluid wartime that respects no boundaries. By the
time First Class was released in 2011, the immediate reaction of offensive patriotism had phased
out of mainstream American cultural contexts. Instead, the War on Terror raged on in the Middle
East with strict controls on press release and media access to current events. In many ways, the
American public allowed the dust of 9/11 to settle and attempted to carry on with normalcy while
bombs dropped far outside of the periphery. First Class is set in a similar era, albeit fifty years
prior. The attacks on Pearl Harbor and the resulting use of nuclear weapons in Japan, though still
intense memory objects, were not a part of the daily Cold War discourse. Instead, constantly
shifting “threats” and “enemies” of the Cold War led many Americans to lose interest in a war
that rarely had definitive information to offer. In 2011, we experienced something similar. It
seemed there was always a new threat, a new leader of Al-Qaeda, a new country that our military
needed to supervise for our safety across the world. In this context, Raven, like Americans in the
1960s and those of the 2010s, finds herself constantly re-evaluating her alliances, and how far
she is willing to go to fight a faceless and ever-shifting enemy. Like Americans of both periods,

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Raven finds that the larger politics are not in her control or her realm of influence. Instead, she
must align herself with whoever has the closest objective to her own and use this connection to
her own advantage and agenda.23
“What’s the matter, baby?” X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
The most recent installment of the trilogy completes the cycle of post-war identity crisis
for Americans, and hits the closest to home in Mystique’s character development. In Days of
Future Past, the mutant race of the distant future is in danger of extinction by Sentinels.24 Kitty
Pryde and Wolverine25 must use their abilities in tandem to send Wolverine’s consciousness
back to 1973, when Mystique assassinated Trask, the scientist who developed the mutant-
destroying robots. The Sentinel Project became government-sanctioned after Mystique
assassinated Trask, as this action proved mutants to truly be a threat to the human race. The
United States government had not, until this point, been behind the Sentinel Project in the
interest of protecting American citizens. In order to prevent this bleak future from coming about,
Wolverine must stop Mystique from assassinating Trask, thus leaving the government in doubts
as to the threat posed by mutants.
Why, you may ask, is Mystique so bent on murdering a human being when in the last
film her goal was simply freedom? Trask uses ruthless experimentation on mutants to create the
Sentinels, committing genocide on many mutants close to Mystique’s heart. This brings us again
to death worthiness: how justified is Mystique in her desire to murder such a human? From
23 May, ElaineTyler. “Echoes of the Cold War: The Aftermath of September 11 atHome.” In September 11 in
History:A Watershed Moment?. 35-54.2003.
24 Sentinels are largeautomatons developed by Trask in the 1960s in the interests of targeting and destroying
mutants. Trask used Mystique’s DNA in the Sentinel Projectto give the robots the ability to shapeshiftbased on
environment.
25 Kitty Pryde’s ability allows her to project people’s consciousness into their pastselves;Wolverineis chosen to go
back to reunite Xavier,Erik, and Raven becauseof his healingabilities.

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Trask’s perspective as a citizen of 1973, an unseen enemy (communism) and its vehicles of
underestimated destruction: the tragedy of Vietnam. “When you sent our soldiers to Vietnam
without the proper weapons to win the war,” Trask addresses Congress, “you underestimated
your enemy. Do it with this enemy, and it won’t be some skirmish halfway across the globe. This
time, it will be for our homes, our streets, and by the time you see the need for my program, it’ll
be too late and you’ll have lost two wars in one lifetime.”
Fig. 8: Trask addresses Congress about “the mutant problem.”
Vietnam is called upon here in order to make clear the sentiments of Americans today in
the post-9/11 fallout regarding our government officials and their response to the attacks in 2001.
While the villains of the mutant world flippantly change sides, a recurring theme in the Marvel
Universe is the corrupted agenda of the United States governing bodies. Connecting Vietnam,
perhaps the greatest military failure in American history, with the War on Terror makes the

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argument that now, as then, the “war” will continue to drag on, claiming countless American
lives, yet no decisive victory.26
For Mystique, the connection between Vietnam also means she cannot afford to commit
to supporting anyone else’s agenda but her own. She must personally craft her own code of
morality and ethics tailored to her individual experiences and needs, since she can no longer
align herself with the convoluted agendas of “good” or “evil.” Mystiques embodies here the
distrustful sentiments of aftermath-era Americans of the 2010s, the main audience of the
prequels. The foe in the War on Terror continually evolved and changed faces, thus ultimately
undefeatable. The immediate actions of the United States government were covert, secretive, and
often delayed to ensure public support. Mystique, like many Americans who have grown up
surrounded by the echoes of 9/11, is now a character forced to trust only herself and to interpret
her environment based upon her own moral code.
In many ways, returning to this turbulent period pays homage to the original threat of a
“bad” mutant like Mystique, capable of impersonating anyone and wreaking havoc due to her
ability to remain undetected as long as it suits her purposes. Dealing with unseen enemies, as
Trask’s speech above references, proved to be one of the greatest struggles of Vietnam, as
guerilla warfare tactics caught American soldiers unprepared.27 The danger of a mutant like
Mystique brings this back to the home front, where she not only stands as a threat to American
society, but also to the most basic of American fears: infiltrating the family unit. However, Days
of Future Past complicates these ideas by reminding viewers of Mystique’s own humanity and
26Engelhardt, Tom. The End of Victory Culture: Cold War America and the Disillusioningof a Generation. New York,
NY: Basic Books,1995.306-333.
27 Wright, Bradford W. Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins University Press,2001.191-199.

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vulnerability. Though her murderous intent marks her as a “bad guy,” her actions are fueled by
the violation of her own family unit: the many mutants who were sacrificed on Trask’s operating
table. Though audiences may not have been entirely empathetic to Mystique’s part in kidnapping
and ultimately killing Senator Kelly in the first X-Men film,28 when she is shown shedding tears
at the losses incurred from her battle with humanity, she may be redeemed and interpreted in
another light.
Fig. 9: Mystique sheds tears over her fallen comrades, in a brief exhibition of humanity
behind closed doors.
While considering redemption in film, it is crucial to understand why writers may be
motivated to allow such characters grace for harsh actions. Writers may complicate plots and
ideas about concrete morality by salvaging a “bad guy,” demonstrating their humanity and pure
motivations in violence. Jessica Page Morrell’s Bullies, Bastards, & Bitches says that “As in real
life, fictional characters can often be most known and defined when the curtains are drawn and
they think no one is looking.”29 Mystique appears in many such “closed-curtain” moments, as
when she mourns the loss of her fallen mutant family when she infiltrates Trask’s office. Though
28 X-men. Twentieth Century Fox FilmCorporation,2000. Film.
29 Morrell,Jessica Page. Bullies, Bastards & Bitches: How to Write the Bad Guys of Fiction. Cincinnati,Ohio:Writer’s
Digest Books, 2008.19.

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viewers know from the trilogy that Raven Darkholme is destined to become Mystique, they are
not allowed to forget her origins or her humanity in character while watching her grow as a
young adult in the prequel films.
Sympathy for Mystique is cemented when Erik shoots her to prevent the government
from capturing her and using her to develop the Sentinels. Though many villains beg for their
lives in the final pages of countless comic books, this does not communicate the same message.
Erik may know the consequences of her actions in the future, but she has yet to commit these
crimes. How then, is this punishment just? Later, Xavier reaches into the minds of others to find
Raven and bring her back into the fold, yet her estrangement and violent experiences have
prevented such a reunion from being possible. Mystique is clearly no villain, but an anti-hero
attempting to do what she feels is right. Ultimately, Mystique does not complete her
assassination mission, instead blending into obscurity after saving former President Nixon from
Erik. Rather than the sealed fate of a world dominated by Sentinels, the future for mutants might
be one of acceptance and coexistence thanks to Mystique’s demonstration of humanity.30
30 X-Men: Days of Future Past. Twentieth Century Fox filmCorporation,2014.Film.

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Fig. 10: Mystique begs for her life as Magneto prepares to destroy her for the good of mutant-
kind.
How, then, do we connect Mystique in Days of Future Past to our own experiences? Her
growth in morality and decision-making might be compared to the way in which American
citizens have drifted out of their lull in recent years. Mystique’s actions are for the advancement
and security of mutant persons; in our world we see many progressive changes happening in
Marriage Equality Acts, police brutality cases, and developments in laborer’s rights. While
violence is often frowned upon, in our world and the Marvel Universe alike, it does prove to
have results. However, the message we are meant to come home with from Days is that
diplomacy won, and the real villain was stopped in his tracks. Might we not apply this to the
social changes Americans have been aggressively pursuing since the “War on Terror” began?
Conclusion
Why is it that we sometimes find ourselves rooting on the bad guys? Of course we still
admire the overall goodness of traditional heroes, but it becomes more difficult in an unjust
reality of tragedy where purity has become a rarity in human character. Ideally, we would all
sacrifice ourselves to enable others to survive, but realistically, we are rarely placed into a

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situation where we have that option. Instead, we are often faced with circumstances where we
must preserve our own safety and find our own agendas, defining as we go along our personal
moral code. Mutations are, by Jeffrey J. Kripal’s definition, adaptations to one’s environment
produced by several occurrences of reproduction in circumstances that necessitate change.31
Mystique’s mutation, then, is due to an increasing need in society to camouflage oneself, or play
multiple roles, in order to survive. Having one, stable, unchanging identity simply does not allow
for self-preservation in a world that is constantly evolving around us, much less in an era of
constantly changing threats overseas.
Villains’ personalities are often created based on their form of threat or superpower.32 If
Mystique’s shape-shifting was an embodiment of her evil at the time of her creation during the
Cold War, and again in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, why does this aspect of her character
become a symbol of her empathetic liminality in the prequel films? Comic books often use
familiar situations of the past in order to communicate to their adolescent fans the current events
which may be difficult to grasp.33 In other words, by harkening back to cultural memory
benchmarks, viewers of the X-Men franchise can use the Cold War and Vietnam as models of
our current moment in American culture. For Mystique’s originations as a villain, her
inconsistent identity posed a threat similar to that of Communist infiltration and thus destruction
of American ways of life. In 2000, this was revisited in her film representations as infiltration
once again became a fear of Americans in the “War on Terror.” In 2011, this all changed; now,
Americans could view Mystique’s adaptation as a way of evolving along with stressful and
31 Kripal,Jeffrey J. Mutants and Mystics: Science Fiction, Superhero Comics, and the Paranormal. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press,2011.175-178.
32 Morrell,Jessica Page. Bullies, Bastards & Bitches: How to Write the Bad Guys of Fiction. Cincinnati,Ohio:Writer’s
Digest Books, 2008.138-140.
33 May, ElaineTyler. “Echoes of the Cold War: The Aftermath of September 11 atHome.” In September 11 in
History: A Watershed Moment?, 35-54. 2003.

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confusing moments in history. Shape-shifting into various roles, experiencing moral ambiguity
and confusion, and living our daily lives without a clear definition of where our allegiances
might lie are now concepts we can empathize with as Americans caught in a world that requires
us to play many roles without outside direction or instruction we feel we can place confidence in.
Rather, we are thrown into a world that makes very little sense, and expected to make do, much
as Mystique must in a chronological viewing of the X-men franchise.
When read chronologically, as Mystique matures into adulthood, the X-Men films tell a
familiar narrative of a marginalized individual gone bad after being soured on authority.
However, we can also see the two distinct characterizations of Mystique as methods of reading
American identity in different stages of acceptance of national identity disruption. The
immediate reaction after a tragedy of such severity as 9/11 is to find a community for support
and acceptance. After the dust settles, it is commonly found that, in order to cope with trauma
rather than suppress it under illusions of victorious grandeur, citizens affected by such events
must find their own path and interpret their surroundings for themselves. Similarly, the decisive
and concrete “good vs. evil” narrative also fades with each X-Men film release. The trilogy has a
clear moral dichotomy, where society must unite in the face of crisis. The prequels, in
comparison, encourage viewers to consider a moral gray-scale, along with cause-and-effect of
international crisis and response.