Jennifer Lawrence reportedly met with Kevin Feige, sparking Mystique return rumors
Jennifer Lawrence’s possible Marvel return as Mystique is back on the boil, after a new scoop reignited the speculation.
Right, so here’s the latest swirl in the never-ending Marvel rumour mill: Jennifer Lawrence might – just might – be slipping back into blue skin as Mystique. If you’re getting déjà vu, join the club. Lawrence last shape-shifted her way through the franchise in 2019’s Dark Phoenix. Since then, we’ve mostly assumed she was done with the X-Men – or what’s left of them – but suddenly her name’s cropping up again precisely when you’d expect it: just as Marvel starts dusting off its mutants for their proper MCU arrival.
What sparked all this?
The fire was set off by X/Twitter’s info-leaker My Time To Shine Hello (MTTSH, if you frequent this sort of news), who reckoned Lawrence has met up with none other than Kevin Feige himself. Cue wild speculation. Nobody official has bothered to confirm or deny any of it, which is very Marvel. The only direct info is that Lawrence and Feige apparently had a 'meeting'—no word on whether it concerned wigs, contracts, or mutant rights. It’s not much, but in Marvel-land, that’s more than enough to set fans off.
Jennifer Lawrence last appeared as Mystique in 2019’s Dark Phoenix.
Meanwhile, it’s actually Rebecca Romijn – yes, the original Mystique from the early 2000s X-films – who’s officially coming back as the blue shapeshifter. She’ll crop up (under a ton of makeup presumably, more on that below) in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday.
The Lawrence/Mystique history lesson
Lawrence first painted herself blue for X-Men: First Class, then stuck around for Days of Future Past, Apocalypse, and Dark Phoenix. Back in 2016, after Apocalypse, she was openly fed up with the physical toll – not surprising considering the hours in the makeup trailer. But franchise producer and writer Simon Kinberg (clearly a mate) talked her into coming back for one more round as part of his directorial debut on Dark Phoenix. She reckoned she couldn’t turn him down, and the size of the franchise’s fanbase weighed on her too.
- Lawrence debuted as Mystique in 2011’s First Class
- Returned for three more films up to 2019’s Dark Phoenix
- Rebecca Romijn (original Mystique) set for Avengers: Doomsday
Lawrence actually said her final go as Mystique was her best – she finally felt connected to the character, and the whole shoot was, for once, "calm, organized, and fun".
How the makeup sausage gets made
Romijn, who knows a thing or two about being doused in blue paint, described her return as surreal and a bit daunting – mostly due to the infamous makeup process. She’s apparently already asked Marvel what their plan is, because in the old days, she spent a frankly ridiculous amount of time being transformed into Mystique. The answer to her question, at time of writing, remains a closely guarded Marvel secret.