Warning: SPOILERS for Avengers #64!Marvel Comics' flagship Avengers book is barreling towards its conclusion, and the most recent installment of the interdimensional conflict has revealed that the newest Dark Phoenix is a variant of a classic X-Men foe. Despite forming a key villainous faction in the omniversal smack-down between Mephisto and the Avengers, huge blind spots still exist about the lives of each of the Multiversal Masters of Evil. Case in point, the Dark Phoenix among their number is one of the most powerful members on the team, but no inkling has been given as to what face lay behind her gilded mask until now. Seeing as the ongoing Avengers Assemble arc is focused on the massive battle at hand, it's unclear how much more readers will get to learn about this fascinating new villain or her colleagues.
The Avengers are well and truly at war, and the squad formed of Earth-616's mightiest heroes have been in the midst of battle for over a week now. Avengers #64 from Jason Aaron, Javier Garrón, David Curiel, VC's Cory Petit, and Tom Brevoort picks up in the heat of the action. In a Phoenix v. Dark Phoenix duel, Echo channels power from superheroes throughout eons of Earth's history to defeat Dark Phoenix. Hobbling away into the darkness, the Dark Phoenix hostess' form shifts into her true shape, promising herself that, "the fires of Mystique... will outburn them all." The corrupted power of the Phoenix Force is already an existential threat, only now is it known that an alternate universe's Raven Darkhölme wields that power at her fingertips.
A Mystique is the New Dark Phoenix as Two Iconic X-Men Villains Become One Super-Sized Threat
Of course Mystique is not the only classic Marvel villain to get a kind of cosmic remix before being drafted into the Multiversal Masters of Evil. For example, Ghost Goblin is a Norman Osborn variant who began serial murdering Ghost Riders to rob them of their Spirits of Vengeance. Similarly, the Black Skull is what happens when a Red Skull finds a kinship with a Klyntar symbiote. However, the specific pairing of Mystique as hostess to the Dark Phoenix stands out among her eclectic teammates, and not just because she's the only woman among the Multiversal Masters of Evil.
Classic mythos surrounding the Phoenix Force suggest that the cosmic entity prefers hosts with psychic power sets and a preference for the Grey/Summers family lines, and Jean Grey being the ultimate example. In fact, the initial incarnation of the Dark Phoenix formed as Jean and the Phoenix struggled to cope with external psychosexual abuse. The history of Mystique's time as Dark Phoenix suggests a similarly dark backstory. In retrospect, the gold mask worn by Dark Phoenix Mystique takes on great significance due to its similarity to the one adorning the face of 616-Mystique's wife, Destiny. Perhaps the corrupted force of fire and death incarnate found a home within a Raven who had been permanently severed from her Irene.
It remains to be seen if there are more stories to tell about Dark Phoenix Mystique. However, it is worth noting that the Phoenix Force is an Omniversal Entity, meaning that there is only one Phoenix across all time and across the entire multiverse. With this in mind, is the current incarnation of the Phoenix hosted by Echo one that has already lived for eons in Dark Phoenix Mystique, or is that fall from grace yet to come? Either way, Mystique as a new Dark Phoenix hostess is a fascinating choice on Marvel's part, and combines two different X-Men antagonists into a deadly cosmic threat that the Avengers have yet to fully avoid.
Avengers #64 is available now from Marvel Comics.