First Appearance of Mystique: Ms. Marvel #16, #17, #18

Mystique first appears as a cameo in Ms. Marvel #16 (May 1978), and her first full appearance is Ms. Marvel #18 (July 1978); she was created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum (Wikipedia). PriceCharting labels the three issues this way:

• Ms. Marvel #16: first cameo appearance of Mystique
• Ms. Marvel #17: second cameo appearance, as Raven Darkhölme
• Ms. Marvel #18: first full appearance of Mystique

Collectors argue over which one counts, and one of the top results for this search is a collectors' forum thread asking exactly that. The prices below show how the market has settled it: in top grade, #18 sells for about three times #16.

PriceCharting values retrieved September 25, 2026:

• Ms. Marvel #16 (first cameo): ungraded $35.66 (about three sales a week); graded 4.0 $29.99; 6.0 $63.72; 8.0 $77.46; 9.2 $101.00; 9.8 $400.00
• Ms. Marvel #17 (second cameo): ungraded $24.87; 4.0 $18.00; 6.0 $22.04; 8.0 $35.00; 9.2 $43.26; 9.8 $230.99
• Ms. Marvel #18 (first full appearance): ungraded $54.16 (about one sale a day); 4.0 $55.83; 6.0 $75.00; 8.0 $125.92; 9.2 $165.00; 9.8 $1,235.85 (about one sale a month)

Below 9.2 all three are inexpensive, so buying the set costs little. In 9.8, #18 is worth about three times #16 and five times #17, which is the clearest sign that collectors treat #18 as the key.

Mystique's partner in the comics is Destiny (Irene Adler). Wikipedia reports that Chris Claremont said in a 2006 interview that he had meant Mystique and Destiny to be Nightcrawler's biological parents, with Mystique shapeshifting into a male body to conceive him. Marvel rejected the idea at the time because the Comics Code Authority restricted LGBTQ+ characters; the storyline became canon in November 2023. Mystique is also the adoptive mother of Rogue (see our Rogue page).

For Marvel's first openly LGBT hero, the usual answer is someone else: Northstar is the usual answer. He first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #120 (April 1979) and said "I am gay" in Alpha Flight #106 (1992), an issue that sold out in a week; he married Kyle Jinadu in Astonishing X-Men #51 (June 2012), which Wikipedia calls the first same-sex wedding shown in mainstream comics. Book Riot notes he was the first superhero to explicitly come out on the page.

• Rebecca Romijn played the adult Mystique first, in X-Men (2000), X2 and The Last Stand, and Wikipedia lists her returning in Avengers: Doomsday (2026).
• Jennifer Lawrence played the younger Mystique in X-Men: First Class (2011), Days of Future Past (2014), Apocalypse (2016) and Dark Phoenix (2019). Her Wikipedia article says the blue form took eight hours of makeup, with latex pieces and body paint applied to her otherwise nude body, and that she had to report to set at 2 a.m. It also says she was at first intimidated by the role because she admired Romijn.

Photograph the front cover straight on, then the indicia (the small print on the first page or inside cover with the title, issue number and date). ComicLens reads the title, issue number and cover from the photo, matches the likely issue with a confidence indicator you can correct by hand, and shows a reference price range that moves with the grade you pick. For Ms. Marvel #16 to #18, confirm the issue number and date in the indicia before comparing prices, because later reprints and collected editions reuse the same story. There are free scans every day; the range is a reference estimate, not an appraisal or an offer.

Research and drafting were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed on this page. Prices are the figures shown by the named source on the date given; they change with the market, and a grade that trades about once a year can move a lot on a single sale.