Published Sep 28, 2026, 9:00 AM EDT
Robert Wood is a writer and editor based out of Cheshire, England. He is the author of 'The False Elephant: and 99 Other Unreasonably Short Stories' - 100 stories, each told in exactly 100 words.
Rob got into comics via Bendis' Ultimate Spider-Man and the UK anthology 'The Mighty World of Marvel,' which was running Frank Miller's Daredevil, Classic Hulk and Contest of Champions II.
Prior to journalism, he worked in copywriting and copyedited for Oxford University Press. He is on X as @PinchTwigs and Instagram as roobwoodjourno.
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Marvel's X-Men just revealed the official successor to iconic villain Mystique. The blue-skinned villain's replacement has all her powers and more, as well as Raven Darkhölme's love of gunplay.
Marvel's ongoing Bishop series has seen the title hero attacked by the Final Brotherhood - the distant descendants of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, combining multiple powers from the classic villains. The team blame Bishop for their dystopian future and aim to kill him off.
So far, Bishop has taken out the sadistic Skippingstone (who combines the powers of Toad and the Blob) and the erratic Flamequake (who combines the powers of Pyro and Avalanche.) Now, he faces the group's leader...
Marvel Reveals Design for Mystique Successor Mirrormind
The recent Bishop #4 - from Saladin Ahmed, Federica Mancin, Reese Hannigan, Mario Santoro, Federico Blee and Travis Lanham - reveals the design for the villainous Mirrormind, who combines the powers of Mystique and Mastermind (aka Jason Wyngarde.) Not only can Mirrormind shapeshift like Mystique, he can also cast powerful illusions that fool all five senses.
Mirrormind is the group's fanatical leader, recruiting his allies by sharing supposed visions of the chaos Bishop will wreak on the future. He makes an impressive entrance by crashing a cruise ship into the Brooklyn docks, having killed everyone aboard to set a tableau for the final face-off with Bishop.
Mirrormind wears a duster coat similar to Mastermind, but has Mystique's blue skin, yellow eyes and red hair, apart from a patch of skin over his left eye. He also wears silvery armor similar to Mystique on his arms and chest, as well as Mystique's signature skull-shaped grenades on his belt.
Mirrormind appears to be gifted with firearms and can cast complex illusions, but isn't as tactically skilled as the original Mastermind, who rarely puts himself anywhere near the firing line. That, combined with Bishop's power-absorbing abilities telling him a moat of fire around the villain is fake, allows Bishop to take down Mystique's time-traveling descendant.
How Mirrormind Compares to Mystique's Other Kids
Mystique has a number of powerful children in Marvel lore. Mirrormind's powers make him perhaps the second most powerful after Charles Xavier II, the likewise time-traveling son of Mystique and Xavier, who is a master telepath. Other children of Mystique in Earth-616 canon include:
- X-Men teleporter Nightcrawler (with the mutant seer Destiny)
- Cyborg villain Graydon Creed (with Sabretooth)
- The time-traveling Raze Darkhölme (with Wolverine in a potential future - the brother and ally of Xavier Jr.)
- X-Men power thief Rogue (adopted)
Mystique is one of a group of mutants (also including X-Men leader Cyclops) whose genetics combine unusually well with other superhumans, generally leading to her having particularly powerful children, with Mirrormind standing as an example of her propensity to pass on her powers to her descendants, even when merged with other mutant genomes.
Mystique Just Took A Major New Place In X-Men Lore
While Mystique's descendant leads the Final Brotherhood back in time to kill Bishop, the woman herself has resurrected the classic team in another form. In the recent X-Men: The Hellfire Murder, Mystique arranged for the murder of Sebastian Shaw, assembling a new Brotherhood made up of:
- Destiny
- Amphibious mutant Toad
- Mastermind (Martinique Wyngarde, daughter of Jason)
- Emotion-manipulating Empath
Mystique killed Shaw to seize new technology which would have depowered various mutants including the X-Men, establishing the group's new role as antiheroic protectors of mutantkind. With Destiny onboard, the new Brotherhood are able to act against undesirable futures in unexpected and unusual ways - ways which are likely to bring them into conflict with the X-Men, as when Mystique famously tried to assassinate Senator Robert Kelly.
Mystique has returned to her prior place as one of the biggest antagonists of the X-Men, with both her new brotherhood and her descendant's Final Brotherhood establishing her as not just a villain, but an influential leader whose legacy will shape the future of mutantkind.
Bishop #4 is available now from Marvel Comics.
TV Show(s) X-Men: Pryde of the X-Men, X-Men (1992), X-Men: Evolution (2000), Wolverine and the X-Men (2008), Marvel Anime: Wolverine, Marvel Anime: X-Men, Legion (2017), The Gifted (2017), X-Men '97 (2024)
Video Game(s) X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994), Marvel Super Heroes (1995), X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996), Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997), Marvel vs. Capcom (1998), X-Men: Mutant Academy (2000), Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000), X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001), X-Men: Next Dimension (2002), Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds (2011), Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011), X-Men Legends (2005), X-Men Legends 2: Rise of Apocalypse (2005), X2: Wolverine's Revenge (2003), X-Men (1993), X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995), X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1994)
First Film X-Men (2000)
Character(s) Professor X, Cyclops, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Phoenix, Wolverine, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jubilee, Morph, Nightcrawler, Havok, Banshee, Colossus, Magneto, Psylocke, Juggernaut, Cable, X-23
Comic Release Date 213035,212968
English (US) ·