After making a big impact as Mystique in the original X-Men trilogy, Rebecca Romijn is set to reprise the role in this year's Avengers: Doomsday.
We caught a quick glimpse of the shape-shifting mutant in the recent trailer, as she transformed into Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) while facing off against the leader of the Thunderbolts/New Avengers.
During an interview with Inverse, Romijn spoke about returning to the role after 20 years to play a "slightly different take" on Raven Darkholme, and finally being able to take ownership of the character.
"First of all, it was a call that I was not expecting at all. And it was my very first question: 'Let's talk about the makeup process.' It is a slightly different take." The original Mystique makeup took 9 hours to apply.
"And of course I jumped at it; I couldn't wait to do it again," she continued. "It was also interesting because when I played her the first time, I didn't have ownership. At the very beginning, I had impostor syndrome. I was young. Like, I was really young, and I was like, 'Oh, maybe I was just the girl who happened to be available.' I had to audition, but I really was like, 'This is a fluke. They're about to find out that I have no business being here.' But that was just me in my youth. We've all gone through that. I didn't have that at all this time going back. I went back in with so much ownership of her this time, and that was delightful."
Romijn gets to wear an actual costume this time, and the makeup process wasn't nearly as arduous.
"Nine hours every day, yeah," she recalled. "I'd go in at midnight to be ready at 9 a.m., and then I would want to shoot as much as possible. I would end up shooting like maybe 15 hours, and then it would take another three or four hours to take everything off."
"So I'd work like 24 hours straight, and then I'd have to have 24 hours off in between so that my skin could breathe because underneath all those prosthetics – which was on roughly 75% of my body – there was nowhere for the sweat to go when I was doing all the action stuff. And so I would blister underneath my prosthetics, and I would have to take 24 hours off in between with healing salves."
Jennifer Lawrence took over as Mystique from X-Men: First Class on, but it remains to be seen if a new version of the character will be introduced in Marvel Studios' upcoming reboot.
Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars were hit with significant delays last year, with Doomsday now set to arrive in theaters on December 18, 2026, and Secret Wars positioned for December 17, 2027.
Both movies will be directed by the Russo brothers, who also make their MCU return after helming Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
"Universes collide and the Multiverse Saga begins its final chapter in Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Doomsday. Beloved heroes from three distinct universes will be set on a deadly collision course and ultimately face an existential threat unlike anything they’ve ever encountered. This epic film will lay the foundation for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe."
Doomsday will star:
Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Lewis Pullman as Sentry, Florence Pugh as Yelena, Danny Ramirez as Falcon, Ian McKellen as Magneto, Sebastian Stan as Bucky, Winston Duke as M’Baku, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Kelsey Grammer as Beast, James Marsden as Cyclops, Channing Tatum as Gambit, and Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent
Along with Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique, Patrick Stewart as Professor X, Alan Cumming as Nightcrawler, Letitia Wright as Black Panther, Tenoch Huerta Mejia as Namor, Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Ebon Moss-Bachrach as The Thing, Anthony Mackie as Captain America, and, of course, Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.