voiceprints.
Special Limitations: Mystique, however, is limited by her inability to diminish or increase her own mass at will. As a result, while she can make herself look exactly like a person who is physically bigger than herself, she will not weigh as much as the real person does. Although she can maintain the form of a person of her height, weight, and build indefinitely (as with her own appearance as Raven Darkholme), the longer that she maintains the form of a person physically bigger than herself, the greater the strain she feels. If she maintains that bigger form for too long a period, the length of which is directly proportional to the difference in size between that form and her normal one, she will collapse and automatically revert to her normal form.
Mystique cannot duplicate the powers of the person she imitates: for example, if she turned herself into a duplicate of Nightcrawler, she would not gain the ability to teleport.
As yet Mystique has not demonstrated any ability to adopt the form of non-humanoid beings, animals, plants, or non-living objects. It is conjectured that she could not imitate any of these without interfering with the proper functioning of her internal organs and possibly dying, but the truth, like much regarding Mystique, remains shrouded.
History: Little has been revealed about Mystique's past. Indeed, since she can eliminate the outward signs of aging with her shape-changing power, it is not known exactly how old she is. She apparently learned to use her shape-changing power at a very early age, for there is no evidence known to the public or the United States government that Raven Darkholme ever looked like anything but a normal human being.
Mystique has concealed her mutant ability and criminal intentions by assuming an endless string of cover identities. As Darkholme, she rose rapidly through the U.S. Civil Service. In short order, she ascended to the trusted position of deputy director of the Defense Advanced Research Planning Agency in the U.S. Department of Defense. And to facilitate her criminal activities, Mystique joined the Brotherhood of Mutants -- a subversive organization founded by the genetic terrorist known as Magneto, self-anointed Master of Magnetism. |
