By Marc Strom
Though she's spent most of the past few decades fighting the X-Men, the shape-shifting villainess known as Mystique actually made her debut appearance in the original MS. MARVEL #16, and would go on to plague the titular heroine throughout the rest of her first series. Now, 30 years later, Mystique and Carol butt heads once more thanks to writer Brian Reed and artist Sana Takeda in MS. MARVEL #48 on December 16.
"Well, the book is ending with #50, and something fans have asked me since issue #1 was when Mystique would drop in," notes Reed of the reasoning behind this reunion. "It was now or never!"
As to why Mystique has caught Ms. Marvel's attention again after all these years, Reed ascribes it to one reason:
"Two words: Captain Marvel. How does he figure into this? Well, if a shape-shifter was looking to cause some trouble with Carol Danvers, who better to pick?"
After the events of recent months, Reed tells us that readers will find Carol "more than ready" to face Mystique.
"Carol's in an ass-kicking mood and nothing is going to get in her way."
Reed ascribes the fans' interest in seeing these two characters together again to their shared history, even if that does go back multiple decades.
"[For Ms. Marvel] Mystique is like the Kingpin is for Spider-Man," remarks Reed. "She's known as a character primarily from another book-most people think of Daredevil when they think of Kingpin-but Mystique got her start in the pages of MS. MARVEL before she went off to be an X-Men mainstay. And it was Mystique's plots to kill Carol that led to Carol's power loss, her return as Binary, and everything that has come since."
Looking towards the series' milestone-and climactic-50th issue, Reed promises fans the completion of a storyline that began in issue #1.
"Carol is going to finally attain her goal of being one of the best of the best-but she's going to have to kill someone to do it," warns Reed.
As such, the series' end will offer long-time readers a great deal of closure as they say goodbye for now to the solo adventures of Ms. Marvel.
"This is it, kids, last story arc," remarks Reed, bidding goodbye. "The big issue #50 is the end of a three-year story about Carol's rise from B-lister
to the most powerful woman in the Marvel Universe."
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