What could two of the X-Men’s most stalwart members have in common with two of the team’s most vicious enemies? Family. The relationship between Nightcrawler, Rogue, Mystique and Sabretooth is a tangled web that took decades to reveal itself in real time, and grew only more complex as the years went by.
It’s a story of false identities, half-siblings, love, hate and lies, made all the more complex by a man purporting to be the inspiration for the Devil himself. Yet for some time, none of the four mutants knew the truth about the bond they shared… save for one.
10 Six Degrees Of Raven Darkhölme
Unifying all of these characters is Raven Darkhölme, a.k.a. Mystique. Raven is the biological mother of Kurt Wagner (Nightcrawler), as well as that of Victor Creed's (Sabretooth) son, Graydon Creed. She is also Anna Marie's (Rogue’s) adoptive mother, having taken her in with Irene Adler, alias Destiny. While Rogue knew about her connection with Mystique early on, Nightcrawler was too young to remember his mother when she abandoned him, and Sabretooth had conceived his child with Mystique while the shapeshifter had been in disguise. For years, only Mystique—and likely Irene, her lover and closest confidante—knew the full truth.
9 Sabretooth & Mystique: Secret “Love” Child
While in East Berlin, Mystique murdered an accountant named Leni Zauber to take her place, and became involved in German espionage operations. During that time, she met Victor Creed while on a mission, and the two secret agents snuck off from their respective agencies to begin an affair. Tired of being in hiding with Creed, Mystique faked her death, leaving the real Leni’s body in a canal for the police to uncover as “proof” of her demise. Creed had no idea the Leni he knew was really Mystique and still alive… nor did he know that “Leni” was pregnant with his son.
8 Nightcrawler & Mystique: Demonic Unions
Mystique would conceive her second son while masquerading as Raven Wagner, wife of Baron Christian Wagner. After discovering Christian was sterile, Mystique used her shape-shifting powers to try her luck with with numerous men in the baron’s castle. She finally became pregnant after encountering the demonic mutant Azazel, who saw through her human form and seduced her.
Though Azazel rejected Raven’s love, their son was born with his demoniac features and Raven’s blue skin. Mystique was persecuted for her child’s appearance, as well as for accidentally exposing her true form during childbirth. To escape, Raven threw the child down a waterfall and assumed the form of a local farmer. Yet the child teleported away before he could meet his demise…
7 Rogue & Mystique: Unsacred Brotherhood
While Mystique was not much of a mother to Graydon or Nightcrawler, she would finally raise a child as her own when returning to the United States. While in human form, Mystique encountered a child named Anna Marie, who had run away from her father Owen and her Aunt Carrie. Tired of her aunt’s harshness, Anna Marie eagerly allowed Mystique to take her in. Not only would Mystique show Anna Marie her true form, but she would also help the young girl manage the mutant powers she developed during puberty. Mystique raised Anna Marie with Destiny, and eventually recruited her to the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.
6 Nightcrawler & Mystique: The Early Hints
Decades after giving birth to Nightcrawler, Mystique would finally reunite with her son while leading an assassination attempt on Senator Robert Kelly in Uncanny X-Men #142. While battling the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants with his fellow X-Men outside the U.S. Capitol, Nighcrawler found himself under attack by Mystique, who had assumed his appearance. With a powerful blow, Kurt caused half of Mystique’s body to revert to its real form, allowing the teleporter to more easily compare Mystique’s true appearance to his own. Raven then revealed she knew both Nightcrawler’s real name and his adoptive mother, Margali Szardos. Before Nightcrawler could demand more answers, however, he was unintentionally distracted by Angel, allowing Mystique to sneak off with her secrets.
5 Rogue & Mystique: Defection
Rogue had not been present at the attempted assassination of Robert Kelly, but finally got her chance to fight the X-Men alongside Mystique in Uncanny X-Men #158. Yet in #171, she appeared at the X-Men’s doorstep, pleading for help in controlling her power. While Rogue had joined the X-Men willingly, Mystique was convinced her foster daughter had been telepathically forced to join by Charles Xavier. In #178, Mystique infiltrated the Mansion, offering to take Rogue home. However, Rogue refused, explaining she’d gone to the X-Men willingly because they could help her more than Mystique could, and because she craved freedom. In the end, Mystique begrudgingly accepted Rogue’s choice.
4 Sabretooth & Mystique: A Son’s Revenge
Victor Creed would finally learn about his child when kidnapped by Tribune, a man whose identity was concealed by a suit of green armor, and ordered to kill Mystique. Victor tracked the shapeshifter to France, where Mystique stunned him with the revelation that she had been “Leni Zauber,” and that the man who sent Sabretooth after her was their son.
With the help of his telepathic companion Birdy, Victor tracked down the Tribune’s hideout and entered the man’s mind, learning he was indeed Sabretooth’s and Mystique’s son, Graydon Creed… now an adult and leader of the mutant hate group the Friends of Humanity.
3 Rogue, Nightcrawler & Mystique: Family Reunion
Things came to a head in X-Men Unlimited #4, in which Graydon Creed, Rogue, and Nightcrawler traced Mystique to Caldecott County, Mississippi. There Rogue dropped Nightcrawler off at the home she had shared with Mystique and Destiny, while she went looking for their mother near the riverbank where her powers first manifested. At Rogue’s home, Nightcrawler encountered Graydon, who confronted him with information obtained from classified documents proving Mystique was both of their mothers. Nightcrawler subdued Graydon and took him to Rogue, who had run into Mystique. Reunited with her three children, Raven confirmed Graydon’s findings. Yet neither she nor Graydon’s intel mentioned Kurt’s true biological father...
2 Mystique & Sabretooth: Filicide
Raven and Victor would run afoul of Graydon Creed again while serving as teammates on X-Factor. Infuriated by the Friends of Humanity’s attack on Destiny’s grandson, Trevor Chase, Mystique recruited her old Brotherhood ally Pyro for what X-Factor believed to be an attempt on Graydon’s life. The team was assigned to protect Graydon, who was running for U.S. president, reuniting Graydon with his hated father. While X-Factor caught up with Mystique and Pyro, Raven told the team that she and Pyro were trying to save Graydon, who was subsequently incinerated by an energy bolt while giving a speech. 2001’s X-Men Forever proved Mystique lied, however, and that she had killed Graydon with a timed weapon.
1 Nightcrawler & Mystique: Son Of The Demon
In Uncanny X-Men #429, Nightcrawler found himself mentally hypnotized into travelling to Isla Des Demonas. The X-Men traced him to the island, where they found Kurt and several dozen teleporters resembling him opening a rift to another dimension. Nightcrawler, the X-Men, and the mutant Abyss were sucked into the rift, where they met Azazel and his minions. With Mystique by his side, who Abyss had “spat out” with his void powers (he had absorbed her some time earlier), Azazel revealed Nightcrawler, Abyss, and the other teleporters were all children Azazel had sired so that he could mentally control them into opening a portal between his realm and Earth.