The Monstrefact: Marvel’s Mystique

is probably better described as a human mutant. It's none other than Raven Darkholme aka Mystique, the blueskinned, red haired shape shifter whose various affiliations have cast her at times as a supervillain and other times as an antihero in the Marvel universe. Created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cochran back in nineteen seventy eight, she has a long history

in various X Men media. Mystique's most obvious mutant power is, of course, her ability to alter her appearance and morphology, taking on the likeness of anyone in her path, often

in order to carry out dastardly plots and assassinations. In the excellent book Marvel Anatomy by Mark Sumarac and Daniel Wallace, with illustrations by Jonah Loebe, the authors point out that her shape changing occurs at a molecular level, enabling her to even reproduce the semblance of clothing and additional appendages as needed to enhance a disguise or to aid in combat. She is, in short, the ultimate infiltrator and the ultimate deceiver.

Now on the shape shifting front, attempting to compare her to the natural world's own shape shifting expert, the mimic octopus. But I've discussed that particular species on the monster fact already, And besides, I was even more intrigued by something else that the authors mentioned concerning mystiquees abilities so advance is her ability to manipulate her own form. She can actually move vital internal organs around within her body to avoid

fatal injuries. Now, this would seem to include sliding her heart out of position and into say her upper thigh, or squeezing her brain down partially into her neck or perhaps even into her arm. Thus, coupled with accelerated healing, she can plot to evade certain death blows, either in disguise or out of it, and this has fooled her would be killers many times over the years. This ability

really intrigued me. I was asking myself, are there species in the natural world that can match or exceed this? And I suppose it depends on how you choose to compare it. Certainly we can think of various amorphous bodies and start there. We can also think about metamorphosis. During metamorphosis, most of a caterpillar's brain is broken down and ultimately rebuilt into its adult form, which is one of nature's stunning shape shifting feats. But this is almost too extreme

to compare to Mystique's shell game of sensitive organs. We've already discussed the shrew's ability to shrink their brains during the winter, though they don't exactly reposition them. However, during pregnancy, a mother's organs will shift to accommodate the growing fetus. The heart in particular is shifted during human pregnancy, though the exact details vary depending on the individual. Beauterus grows, elevating the diaphragm and pushing the heart upward and kind

of to the left. It may also push it forward a little. While the heart itself does not enlarge, the shift in position can lead to a misdiagnosis of an enlarged heart. Likewise, the resulting distortions, and the detectable sounds of the heart may require further analysis by a specialist. So that's one perfectly natural way that the human body can and does go moving its heart around. It's not as extreme as the exploits of a human mutant from

the Marvel Universe, but it's still absolutely amazing. One final note on Mystique is that, according to Sumarak and Wallace, her cellular manipulation of her own body actually rejuvenates her cells with each transformation, vastly extending her lifespan or even

providing her a form of biological immortality. While rare and still very much an area of interest and exploration for natural world scientists, we seem to see something similar in certain varieties of jellyfish and plenarian flatworms, though we always have to remember there's a difference between what is likely under ideal lab conditions and what is likely given the

challenges of the wild. Mystique has already lived a long life, but the Marvel universe is a dangerous place much like the natural world, and she's made no shortage of enemies over the years. But it would be a mistake to underestimate her abilities. There will be even more Marvel Monsters in the weeks ahead, with a particularly slippery one lined

up for next week, so don't miss that. You can tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week, and as always, you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.