Now that Fox is part of Disney, the X-Men will eventually be joining the Marvel Studios family for future movies. Kevin Feige sounded excited about the X-Men coming home to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, although there's no set timeline for when that will happen.
For now, the current X-Men film franchise is ending with Dark Phoenix this summer, not quite two months after the premiere of the MCU's Avengers: Endgame. One of those Endgame stars is Karen Gillan, who said before Avengers 4 opened that her Nebula would be someone fans would root for.
Karen Gillan was asked which X-Men character she would most like to see join the MCU, and her answer came immediately:
Mystique! So that we can talk about having blue prosthetics on all the time.
Hey, from her perspective, the priority is having someone who can empathize with that awful blue makeup experience! (Cast David Cross too, so he can blue himself like Tobias on Arrested Development.)
The X-Men character of Mystique (Raven Darkhölme) is known for her bright red hair and blue skin. Rebecca Romijn endured the Mystique process for X-Men, X2, and X-Men: The Last Stand, with Jennifer Lawrence playing the younger version of Raven in X-Men: First Class, X-Men: Days of Future Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, and this summer's Dark Phoenix.
Jennifer Lawrence has talked about tiring of the toxic fumes from the blue body paint she had to wear as Mystique. Karen Gillan told Variety Lawrence's experience actually made her feel better about her own less arduous process to become Nebula:
I truthfully would watch the behind-the-scenes videos of her getting her makeup done while I was getting my makeup done to make me feel like it wasn’t so bad. I was like 'Well, look at what she went through! This is only from the neck up.' It's just a feeling of like claustrophobia ... because I'm completely enclosed, it's a second skin that's glued to me, it's not painted. It's like a skin, and it's all over. So I can't really move my face very much. It's a weird sensation. It’s one that isn’t the nicest of sensations, but it does look really cool and it does help with the character. … I think it’s keeping me from overacting!
Considering Jennifer Lawrence's distaste for the Mystique process -- not to mention the trailer for X-Men: Dark Phoenix already including that major Mystique spoiler -- it seems safe to say Lawrence will not be back as Mystique if and when the character is brought to the MCU. But the character could easily be rebooted again for the new version of whatever Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige and company have planned for Phase ... 5?
As we wait for X-Men + MCU updates, check out Endgame in theaters now (you probably already have), watch Dark Phoenix on June 7, and don't forget that Karen Gillan will be back for the Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle sequel, currently called Jumanji 3, on December 13. Keep up with all of the release dates with our 2019 calendar.
