Fan art of Margot Robbie as Mystique has seen her touted as a perfect fit for the MCU's X-Men, but her potential casting would only continue one of the worst ideas about how to approach the character. Due to issues with ownership rights, the early stages of the MCU were forced to set up heroes without being able to use the X-Men and their mutants. Despite mutants being an integral part of the wider Marvel universe, their absence in the MCU was both conspicuous and unavoidable. However, with the rights now back with Marvel, the MCU is beginning to drop heavy-handed hints about the appearance of mutants in the franchise.

The reveal that Ms. Marvel possessed the X-gene was followed up with the MCU's Wolverine set-up in She-Hulk: Attorney at Law episode 2, hinting that the appearance of the MCU's mutants is imminent. Naturally, speculation on who will portray the most iconic X-Men characters has run rampant, with many names mentioned for the impressive roster of characters that the MCU will undoubtedly seek to introduce. One such iconic character is Mystique, the blue-skinned shape-shifting mutant previously portrayed in film by Rebecca Romijn and Jennifer Lawrence in Fox's X-Men movies.

Related: Why The MCU Hasn’t Introduced Non-Mutant X-Men Characters Yet

Fan art imagining Margot Robbie in the role of Mystique has prompted calls for the Australian to be cast in the MCU's X-Men as the shapeshifter. However, doing so would repeat the mistakes of previous Mystique castings by further facilitating the bizarre idea that the character rarely uses her powers. In previous X-Men movies, Mystique uses her powers incredibly sparingly, largely so that the actor cast in the role gets a reasonable amount of screen time. However, this subtly undermines all the most interesting stories that the character should tell - something that casting Margot Robbie in the role would only continue in the worst way possible.

Why Casting Well-Known Actors As Mystique Ruins The Character

Mystique in a promo image for Days of Future Past

As Margot Robbie is undeniably one of the biggest stars in Hollywood, casting her in the MCU's X-Men seems perfectly logical. However, Margot Robbie as Mystique only reinforces the worst movie trend for the character: the temptation to simply cover Robbie in blue body paint and not allow the character to make proper use of her powers would likely prevail. The nature of Mystique's shape-shifting powers means that the character is effectively played by numerous actors, and this is something that should be reflected in the MCU's X-Men casting process. Hiring a big name like Margot Robbie to play a shape-shifter would either waste the actor or waste the character, making it a particularly poor choice either way.

Casting well-known actors as Mystique mostly results in her using her powers as sparingly as possible, which hampers X-Men's ability to properly utilize the character. The MCU needs to move away from that idea and embrace the character's shape-shifting abilities, allowing Mystique to finally become the complex and versatile character she deserves to be. Although Margot Robbie would make an excellent addition to the MCU, casting her as Mystique in X-Men would be a bad decision.

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