2/6 · Mystique · Leader and organizer

2/6 · Mystique · Leader and organizer Mystique has to establish command before the Brotherhood even reaches its target. Blob objects to following a woman, and she makes clear that his experience with Magneto does not entitle him to dismiss her. She is directing this operation, and she expects him to understand it. Her shapeshifting then lets her exploit the confusion around the attack. In the guise of a policewoman, she gets close to Xavier and Moira under the appearance of helping them. She also impersonates Nightcrawler, turning a familiar face into another problem the X-Men have to solve. The Nightcrawler disguise creates a particularly ugly choice for Wolverine: two identical-looking teammates in front of him, with very little time to sort them out. Storm will not allow him to settle the question with his claws. Mystique makes the team's own rules part of what they have to contend with while stopping her. When the disguise falls away, the resemblance between Mystique and Kurt remains striking. She also knows his name. The encounter leaves him with questions he cannot resolve in the middle of the attack, and Mystique escapes while the others are being defeated. Even losing the operation does not mean she has been caught. Those choices tell us how she leads. While her teammates dominate the room with noise and force, Mystique can move through the assumptions people make about safety, authority and friendship. Recognizing a uniform or a teammate suddenly becomes unreliable. She is dangerous because she can make someone cooperate with her before they know an attack has started, and the public chaos gives her plenty of opportunities to do it.