After playing Mary Todd Lincoln in Broadway’s Oh, Mary! and the villain Maestro in Doctor Who, Jinkx Monsoon already has a colourful roster of characters to her name. Now, the RuPaul’s Drag Race alum has her sights set on the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
During an appearance on Vulture’s Good One podcast, Monsoon revealed she’s eager for a trans woman to take on the role of Mystique in Marvel’s upcoming X-Men reboot. “Can I manifest something? Marvel has now regained the rights to X-Men. I think it would be really cool to have a trans woman be Mystique,” she said.
The Broadway star admitted that Mystique has always been her favourite Marvel character and explained why the shape-shifting mutant resonates with many in the trans community. “I relate to her so much,” she said. “A lot of trans people do—we think about how nice it would be to just blend in and not have everyone pay attention to us if we don’t want to. And then, we also relate to the fact that she’s not accepted in her original form, so she has to transition to even walk around.”
Monsoon has even taken the first step toward her dream casting. “I texted my agent; I was like, ‘I don’t know what’s going on there, but please start dropping my name,’” she joked.
Mystique was previously played by Rebecca Romijn in the original X-Men trilogy and later by Jennifer Lawrence in the prequel films. Romijn is set to reprise her role in Marvel’s upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, which will also feature other returning actors from the early 2000s franchise.
But Monsoon may not be the only trans actress in the running—Hunter Schafer recently said she thought it “would be cool” to play Mystique, after fans on social media began campaigning for her casting.
With Marvel Studios actively developing its X-Men reboot, the possibility of Mystique being reimagined through the lens of trans identity has already sparked conversation—and Monsoon is more than ready to shapeshift into the opportunity.
