When Fox decided to reboot its X-Men franchise, it did something unique. They didn't restart everything but instead went back in time to show how the X-Men started. This began with X-Men: First Class, directed by Matthew Vaughn, and then moved on through the decades with Days of Future PastApocalypse, and Dark Phoenix.

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However, while Fox chose to keep the original trilogy intact and even tied them together in the Days of Future Past movie, it made some staggering changes to some characters. The one character taking the biggest change was Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique, a subservient lackey to the older Magneto in the original trilogy but was a member of the X-Men who was around the same age as the Master of Magnetism in the new movies.

She Brings Star Power

Jennifer Lawrence on a spaceship in X-Men Dark Phoenix

The first three movies had some star power attached, with Patrick Stweart and Ian McKellen as major Hollywood names taking on the main roles. The new X-Men series needed to have some major names in the cast, and the new movies wanted to make Mystique a more important part of the series.

Fox needed a bigger name than someone like Rebecca Romijn in the role. The year before X-Men: First Class hit, Lawrence picked up her first Oscar nomination for Winter's Bone and gave the new X-Men movies one of the top young stars in Hollywood as Mystique.

Mystique Is More Important

Mystique in X-Men: First Class.

With someone the stature of Jennifer Lawrence in the role, Mystique was suddenly not a second-tier star who was nothing more than a lackey to Magneto anymore. Mystique suddenly became the second most important X-Men member behind only Professor X when the new movie started.

From there, Mystique played a large role in all the movies. She was the key person to stop in Days of Future Past and ended up as the most significant death in Dark Phoenix.

Mystique And Professor X

X-Men: Mystique chilling with Xavier

Jennifer Lawrence and James McAvoy became the franchise's new faces and moved on to carry the load when it relaunched. Fox made the smart decision to make Charles Xavier and Mystique close from childhood.

Mystique was nothing more than a generic villain and hired gun for Magneto in the original trilogy of X-Men movies. In the new movies, she got a personal story with Xavier, which made her character more important than ever before.

Lawrence Is The Better Actor

Jennifer Lawrence in X-Men: First Class

Nothing against Rebecca Romijn, who did what she was expected to do in her movies, but Jennifer Lawrence is the superior actor in the X-Men movies. One year before she started work as Mystique for Fox, Lawrence picked up an Oscar nomination for Winter's Bone. That was just the start.

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However, since she started working as Mystique, she became one of Hollywood's top stars. She won an Oscar in 2013 for Silver Linings Playbook and earned two more nominations in 2014 (American Hustle) and 2016 (Joy).

Mystique Is Not A Follower

Mystique Magneto X-Men Movie

Because of Jennifer Lawrence's status as a top actor in the new series, especially following her Oscar win, Mystique ended up more important than ever before. Lawrence was able to make Mystique one of the most vital members of the X-Men.

By the time X-Men: Dark Phoenix rolled around, Mystique was a team leader and was arguably the most essential members of the entire team. This was something the original trilogy's Mystique never came close to achieving, even in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Lawrence Takes Character Deeper

Jennifer Lawrence Raven Mystique X-Men First Class

The acting skills of Jennifer Lawrence also allowed the movies to push Mystique's story deeper than ever before. No one expected anything from Mystique when Romijn played her outside of her role in battles.

When it comes to Lawrence, Mystique was able to go into her childhood backstory, her sibling-like relationship with Charles Xavier, her close relationship with Magneto, and her eventual leadership role with the X-Men team. Lawrence made Mystique a real character for the first time.

Romijn Didn't Have Much To Do

Rebecca Romjin as Mystique in X-Men.

None of this is to say that Rebecca Romijn did not do what was asked of her in the first three X-Men movies. As a model, Romijn had no problems with her body, and she was able to play the role mostly nude the entire trilogy, with just body paint covering her as Mystique.

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However, Romijn as Mystique seldom spoke. There was a moment in the second X-Men movie when she was messing with Wolverine, but that was about it. In X-Men: The Last Stand, Mystique had a very heartbreaking moment where she was hit with the mutant cure, and Magneto rejected her instantly, but that was it for her character.

Beast And Mystique

Beast lies on top of Mystique in X-MNen

The only real relationship was between Wolverine, Cyclops, and Jean Grey when looking at the first three X-Men movies. In the new movies, the X-Men world introduced different relationships, and the best might have been between Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique and Nicholas Hoult's Beast.

Honestly, it was a perfect pairing, with the blue-furred Beast and the blue-skinned Mystique, but it was more than that. The two young actors created something real with this pairing, and her death really made Beast's role in Dark Phoenix so much more important.

Relationship With Magneto

X-Men Dark Phoenix Magneto Beast Mystique

In the first three movies, Rebecca Romijn's Mystique was a soldier working in Magneto's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. When she lost her mutant powers, Magneto rejected her outright, ending her story with the franchise. That made Jennifer Lawrence's Mystique so much more important.

She had a close relationship with Magneto and one that was almost romantic and personal at times. These two characters were so close that Magneto rejected Apocalypse to save Mystique in X-Men: Apocalypse. It was night and day, with the relationship between the new Mystique and Magneto superior in every way.

Her Overall Story Arc

Mystique in her natural form

Mystique, in the original trilogy, did almost nothing. She was a soldier fighting in the first movie. She was a little more cunning in the second movie, but in a small dose. Her story ended in the third movie with her cure, but she never once seemed like a character anyone should care about or even remember when it was finished.

However, in the prequel movies, Mystique was a fully realized character. She was a little girl who had a bond with Xavier. She ended up in a close relationship with Magneto and then tried to save all mutants by killing Bolivar Trask. She ended up as a team leader who died trying to save a student. Jennifer Lawrence made Mystique someone you will never forget.

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