Not every mutant from the X-Men Universe is primed and ready for their own standalone movie. To this point, only two – Wolverine and Deadpool – have gotten the solo treatment. The former had a long history that could be explored in individual films, and the latter, after suffering a disastrous introduction in X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE, could only be salvaged with a return to the form that made the character popular among fans to begin with.
There had once been discussions about doing a Magneto ORIGINS film, but those talks quickly went silent after that first Wolverine flick was received so poorly. Gambit is in the works currently, and it would appear 20th Century Fox is open to the idea of doing X-Men standalone films where they might make sense and open up the window to expand the brand (and make a considerable amount of money for the studio). However, it can't just be any character… And Bryan Singer already thinks there is a good fit for such an opportunity in the mix.
Appearing on the Empire Podcast, Singer threw his support behind Mystique landing a standalone spot, with or without Jennifer Lawrence in the role.
I think [Mystique’s] right for [a standalone], whether it’s Jennifer [Lawrence] or not. She has this different view of the world. Xavier can get into Cerebro and look at the world but he’d rather just teach classes and see the beauty of mutants and humans co-existing in his mansion in Westchester. Along comes Raven with a reality check on the state of the world. It opens up a lot of avenues.
Are you sure about that, Bryan Singer? Mystique feels as if she's been taken as far as she can go over the last three FIRST CLASS films… and even that was probably farther than the character deserved (no doubt Jennifer Lawrence being in the role made that happen). In the first three X-MEN films, Mystique is a part of an ensemble. She serves her purpose and fits her role well… but she is just one of many who do what is necessary to advance the stories being told. I'm not sure there is anything above and beyond that which would make for a compelling solo film.
The internal conflict Mystique or Raven deals with regarding her outward appearance was done to death over FIRST CLASS and DAYS OF FUTURE PAST… and that's most likely as interesting as it's going to get. The rest is a lot of shape-shifting and… well, how much of that do you need for a two-hour feature film before it gets repetitive?
She has gotten some interesting story arcs across the comics, but with the way the character has been built in the X-Men movies, I'm not quite sure they fit this version. Plus, with Jennifer Lawrence not appearing long for the X-MEN franchise, I would expect to see much less Mystique in our future, not more.