People Have To Stop Giving Mystique A Chance

I was looking at some scans from this Wolverines weekly series, and Mystique is doing her thing, jerking people around for her own benefit, which brought a familiar question to my mind: Why don't people just shoot Mystique in the face the second they see her?

Every time Mystique shows up asking to join the X-Men or assist them, it's part of some long con to get her something she wants. Usually this involves endangering the lives of the X-Men, if not outright killing them, and she's OK with that. She talks a big game about loving Destiny and Rogue, but her past history is littered with examples of her ignoring Destiny's sensible (if vague) warnings to not do something. And the thing Mystique usually wants to do is not in the best interests of their happy little family unit. She sent Rogue in after Carol Danvers, which worked out fabulously for everyone *sarcasm*. She threw Baby Kurt Wagner off a cliff to save her own neck.

On the one hand, it's impressive how utterly focused she is on what she wants, to the point she frequently demonstrates a complete lack of concern for anyone else. She's smart enough to make it work, because a lot of the time she waits until she has them over a barrel to reveal herself. By the time they know it's her, she has something they need/want/care about that she figures they can't do without. And her self-interested attitude doesn't stop her from doing good on occasion. In her own series, she saved more than a few people, although it was usually because she had a personal stake in things. That's fine, it doesn't change the fact she saved those people, but it also doesn't mean you can trust her.

I understand why the X-Men aren't going to kill her on sight (though it's always irritated me how much more readily the X-Men accept her presence than Deadpool's. At least Wade has the excuse he has actual mental problems, rather than a total lack of empathy), they're the good guys. Also, she's sort of related to two of them (not to mention that off-and-on thing she had with Logan). Probably poor form to kill your friends' mom/foster mom, even if she is a terrible mom. But given her track record, that whenever she appears, it means she's planning to use whoever she's approaching for something, and if they're lucky, she won't stick a knife in her back when she's done. The only sensible response to seeing Mystique seems like it should be, "Kill her! Kill her with fire!" And she interacts with plenty of people who don't hold to any prohibition on killing, and should logically be even less forgiving of getting double-crossed.

I'm just at the point where anytime I see someone giving her benefit of the doubt, I want to slap my forehead. And I'm waiting for the time where she tries one of her "Here's why you have to help me," and the character in question calls her bluff.

Mystique And Her Survival Instincts

Reading over both of the Mystique collections (one written by Brain K. Vaughn, the other by Sean McKeever), it's hard not to be impressed by Mystique's instincts for self-preservation. She's really quite impressive at turning a situation to her advantage, even if only briefly. Whether it's taking the appearance of a child to try and make those arresting officers pause, or send Rogue into a fury by saying she only wanted what's best for her (because it's better to have a pissed off Rogue trying to kill you than a calm Wolverine, apparently).

The flipside to that is it makes it kind of hard to root for her. Both BKV and McKeever go the same route Ennis did with the Punisher, presenting her opponents who were such remarkable examples of human fertilizer Mystique could look almost good by comparison. Even so, because much of what Mystique does is so clearly self-serving, and since she isn't really in this situation of being a secret agent for Xavier by choice, I tend to find her motives suspect. I'm always wondering what she's getting out of it.

Mind you, it can still be highly entertaining, because there's benefit in the short-term and the long-term, and Raven Darkholme knows the difference between the two and how to weigh it. But again, that makes it that much harder to trust anything she does. Even when Fantomex just happens to show up in time to warn Forge that Mystique is nearby planning to kill Xavier, you know it's all part of some larger scheme, where the potential payoff is worth having all the X-folks out for her blood.

Still, have to be impressed with her commitment to survival. I wonder how interconnected that and her mutant abilities are. If she was always like this, focused on protecting herself, shapeshifting would be a good mutation to develop. The ability to look like anyone she pleases, letting her get close to anyone she wants, or elude nearly anyone she likes.