All 4 Mystique actresses ranked from worst to best

When it comes to shapeshifters in the Marvel universe, the mutant Mystique should come to mind for many. Raven Darkholme aka Mystique is a shapeshifting mutant who can mimic the the exact voice and appearance of anyone.

Her natural appearance is her scaly blue skin, blood-red hair, and yellow eyes. Mystique debuted back in an issue of Ms. Marvel in 1978 and since then has been portrayed in many ways including live-action and animated. In this list, we will look at the live-action portrayals and rank them from worst to best.

Note: For the purpose of this particular ranking, we're only looking at actresses who have played Mystique in live-action movies. Therefore, you won't see the names of any actresses who have played the character in animated series or within video games.

4. Carmen Electra (Epic Movie)

Epic Movie was another parody film that came out in the early 2000s. After the popularity of the Scary Movie franchise, many other parody films made their way to the cinemas including one spoofing the fantasy genre. Epic Movie featured its own takes on the popular X-Men films from Fox and featured Carmen Electra as Mystique.

At first glance, this Mystique looks great. Blue skin and all only they swapped the red hair for a blonde look and amped up the sex appeal to a max. This movie was received very poorly but most of these spoof films are never made to be taken seriously and are only made to get a cheap laugh out of it’s audience.

And for that reason, we have Electra at the bottom of our overall rankings.

3. Morgan Lilly as Young Mystique (X-Men: First Class)

In X-Men: First Class, we are introduced to a younger version of our favorite mutants. The film takes place in the early 1960s and shows us a young Charles Xavier gathering his first mutants to join his cause.

In this film, we actually go even further back to see a very young Charles Xavier investigating an intruder in his kitchen only to come face to face for the first time with a very young Mystique who introduces herself by her name Raven. Morgan Lilly played this version of Mystique and although her screen time was very brief she nailed the look of the character and it was a version of Mystique we haven’t seen before till now.

2. Jennifer Lawrence (X-Men: First Class, Days of Future Past, Apocalypse, Dark Phoenix)

Jennifer Lawrence is a phenomenal actress and has taken on many iconic roles in her career. Playing Mystique in the soft reboot of Fox’s X-Men franchise was one of them. Although she had some amazing moments in First Class and Days of Future Past, her overall performance as the iconic shapeshifter was diminished by lots of behind-the-scenes drama.

Unfortunately, Jennifer wasn’t too happy with getting into character due to the tiring hours of body paint. It was very uncomfortable for her and totally understandable but this ultimately showed in her later appearances in her last two X-Men films. Her Mystique look was inconsistent throughout the course of her four appearances and ultimately affected her performance in the long run. Lawrence stated she had no interest in taking on the role again after her last hoorah as Mystique.

Still, there were glimmers where Lawrence delivered some truly iconic moments and carved out her own place in the history of the X-Men franchise. It's just a shame the films strayed so far away from Mystique's comic origins via the storyarc of Lawrence's Mystique.

1. Rebecca Romijn (X-Men, X2, and The Last Stand)

Actress and supermodel Rebecca Romijn was the first live-action Mystique we were introduced to. The way she embodied the role was iconic. Her menacing icy glare and stance were fantastic and she played well off of her other cast mates in the film. This version of the character remained consistent throughout the first X-Men trilogy.

Although many would argue Jennifer Lawrence emoted better as Raven Darkholme/Mystique, Rebecca Romijn knew how to use her eyes and body language to express that eerie mysterious quality and showed how easily Mystique could persuade anyone to her favor.

Romijn expressed interest in reprising the role in the future and perhaps we could see her again or someone new take on the role now that the mutants are making their way into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She was truly iconic and remains the standard for live-action versions of Mystique, so fans would gladly welcome her back for another turn of the character.