What happened with Mystique in Marvel Ruins? Explained

There have been a bunch of What If Marvel stories, but Marvel Ruins is the only one that has completely embraced its bleakness. It features a universe that puts its heroes in various different scenarios and presents a dystopian future where everything feels grim. The story takes our favorite characters and presents them in a really miserable light.

One of the heroes' stories that really ended in a disturbing manner in Marvel Ruins was Mystique's. Like everyone else, the shapeshifter is not in the best shape here, and it certainly is one of the comic's more tragic stories. So, let's dive deep into Mystique's story and how Marvel Ruins really delivered a bleak Marvel universe.

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What is Marvel Ruins?

Before we dive into Mystique's story, let's first take a look at what Marvel Ruins depicts in terms of its themes. Coming from the mind of writer Warren Ellis and illustrated by artists Cliff and Terese Nielsen, Marvel Ruins was created as a parody of what Earth-616 (the main Marvel universe) would have been like had it been devoid of all hope.

To accomplish this, Ellis transported all of our favorite superheroes to Earth-9591, a dystopian future where all hope was lost. None of the characters exactly resemble their Earth-616 counterparts, and the entire story is told from the viewpoint of Philip Sheldon, a man who just wants to know how things got so awful.

In the comic, he keeps traveling across America, meeting many superheroes and getting a first-hand look at their extremely painful lives. One of the few disheartening examples here of the superheroes living a miserable life is that when Bruce Banner is hit with Gamma radiation, instead of turning into the Hulk, he ends up developing large green tumors all over his body.

Unfortunately, Sheldon passes away at the end of the book when he gets the same disease that Peter Parker got when he was bitten by the spider that gave him his powers on Earth-616. It truly is a bleak tale, and Mystique's story is perhaps one of the most painful ones.

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Mystique dies due to her brain imploding in Marvel Ruins

In Marvel Ruins, it is quickly established that the mutant X-gene is a misfortune to them rather than a blessing. The United States of America is led by President X, a version of Charles Xavier, who, instead of helping the mutants, imprisons them in this universe. He creates holding cells and uses them to put mutants in prison for the entirety of their lives.

Almost all the X-Men are imprisoned, with some of them facing horrors beyond comprehension. Cyclops' eyes are gouged so he can't shoot his beams, Quicksilver's limbs are severed, and Kitty Pride pretty much becomes a ghost-like entity.

Amidst this, we find Mystique. In the main comics continuity, Mystique aka Raven Darkhölme, has the power to shapeshift into anyone. Unfortunately, in the Marvel Ruins universe, her powers lead to her having multiple personality disorder.

While she doesn't have that big of a role in the book, one of the sequences sees Sheldon sit next to Raven in a plane, whom he immediately recognizes. While he tries to strike up a conversation with her, he quickly realizes that Raven is in a lot of pain as she reveals her disfigured face, which soon implodes in front of him, leaving nothing but stains of blood.

Apparently, Mystique implodes due to her powers leaving her unstable. Being in front of so many people on the plane, her multiple personality disorder apparently led her to take on so many different shapes that her brain couldn't withstand the power and caused her to implode and suffer a painful death.

That's not really a good way to go out, but this comic is not known for treating Marvel's legacy characters in a merciful way. Thus, Marvel Ruins is for people who want to see a darker version of the Marvel universe.