What Happens To Mystique In 'X-Men: Apocalypse'?

The Internet already tends to gawk with excitement every time that a new superhero movie trailer is released — but throw in the word "apocalypse," and you have mass online pandemonium. Sure enough, another new trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse has arrived into the world, and its ominous ending has got people worried about a certain sometimes blonde/sometimes blue anti-heroine. In fact, it's even got some fans — myself included — wondering: will Mystique die in X-Men: Apocalypse ?

Now, my original thought was a loud, "no, this is a prequel and we've all seen Rebecca Romijn work it in the original X-Men movies from the early 2000s." But, as it would turn out, X-Men Days of Future Past re-set the X-Men timeline... more or less. In a MTV interview, producer Simon Kinberg noted that the events of the movie altered the universe that the Days of Future Past variants existed in. "A lot could have changed from that point in 1973 forward," Kinberg said. Meaning, people could have been born earlier. The whole world changed after those events. So things that were represented in X1, X2, and X3 wouldn't have happened in quite the same way."

So, what does that mean? Simple: the directors have creative license to retcon the X-Men continuity in whatever way they please, and subsequently, that makes Mystique's death actually plausible — despite her character's presence in the later films.

And things certainly don't look good for Mystique. In the trailer, we see her in a pretty fatal-looking choke-hold courtesy of the film's titular baddie, Apocalypse — and considering that Jennifer Lawrence confirmed in a March 2015 interview with MTV News that she's done playing Mystique after X-Men: Apocalypse, death would be a pretty convenient way out of the storyline. And, given Mystique's weight in the prequel films, it would be a poignant loss in the series.

But will it happen? Not... necessarily. To begin with, movie trailers are sometimes lightyears away from the actual film. Granted, I don't particularly think that this trailer is pulling any punches about what the plot is: Apocalypse is going to try to destroy the world, because that's what bad guys do.

As far as Mystique kicking the bucket, though, a chokehold doesn't promise that. For one thing, it they were planning on killing off the character, then that preview is going to make the death ultimately less impactful in the actual film. It would be a predictable move. And more than that, the trailer is edited so the film looks like the most dramatic version of itself. Implied Mystique death: very dramatic. It could just all be a trick of the light, though, you know?

X-Men: Apocalypse comes out May 27, so it's only a matter of time before we find out the shape shifter's fate.

Images: 20th Century Fox/YouTube (3)