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Why are there no nipples on Mystique's blue boobs?

Science Fiction & Fantasy Asked by Umbrella Corporation on September 22, 2020

In comics, Mystique wears a bra.

Mystique's red hair blows behind her, she's leaning over with a pistol held close to her chest where she's wearing a black brelet

But, in the currently running X-Men Cinematic Universe, she runs around naked. And yet, she doesn’t have nipples.

Close up on Mystique from the chest up showing her blue skin with the darker blue scales, her red hair is slick back; she stands in front of a partially ruined Washington

I am asking from out-of-universe perspective, of course (in-universe, it’s tricky because her offspring might not need to drink milk thanks to X-gene). Why does she not have nipples? I am asking this because it looks scary.

Talking about ratings, they already show enough. I mean, she is shown fully naked with all curves. She is blue and unless you are blue tail people from Pandora, addition of nipples can’t make the movie A-rated.

Lets say, nipples would make the movie A-rated, they never needed to show her fully naked. There are lots of options. She can cover her boobs with cloth (or hands, in case clothes can sabotage her disguise in other looks). Boobs can be blurred. Scenes can choose to not show boobs (like we saw naked Doctor in Doctor Who without rating changes).

One Answer

To answer this question, one just has to answer the question "Why don't they show nipples in PG-13 movies?"

Here a breakdown of X-Men movies, containing Mystique, and their age ratings, according to MPAA certification standards

  • X-Men (2000) – PG-13
    (Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action violence)
  • X-Men 2 (2003) – PG-13
    (Rated PG-13 for sci-fi action/violence, some sexuality and brief language)
  • X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) – PG-13
    (Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action violence, some sexual content and language)
  • X-Men: First Class (2011) – PG-13
    (Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, some sexual content including brief partial nudity and language)
  • X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) – PG-13
    (Rated PG- 13 for sequences of intense sci-fi violence and action, some suggestive material, nudity and language)
  • X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) – PG-13
    (Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence, action and destruction, brief strong language and some suggestive images)

Directly from the MPAA Wiki:

Nudity is restricted to PG and above, although only brief nudity is permitted in a PG rated film. Nudity that is sexually oriented will generally require an R rating. As of 2010, the MPAA has added a descriptor of "male nudity" to films featuring said content.

Since only "brief nudity" is allowed, and female nipples are considered nudity, you can only get away with brief moments of nipple, like in the famous Titanic scene in which Kate Winslet is nude, briefly.

Covering Mystique's nipple, but still being suggestively sexual/nude is allowed in a PG-13 movie.

The reason the producers and studio behind this film were aiming for a PG-13 rating with these movies is because all major superhero franchise movies have a tradition of aiming for this demographic. It wasn't until Deadpool (2016) broke the PG-13 mould for superheroes (which paved the way for the R-rated Batman v Superman cut (sold as the Ultimate Edition) and Logan (2017)).


An in-universe answer is that: she was electrocuted while being the conduit for two power cables.

Panel 1: Mystique looks upset with her arms crossed and looking down, the captions read: "No Toad. No hope of defeating the Stranger. If the Stranger succeeds in kick-starting Mutant evolution, life on Earth - mediocre as it has been - is forever changed. But the conduit is literally spewing cellular deconstructive energy. If she is doused by any leakage, it could have a permanent effect even on her malleable morphology. Billions of lives, weighed against the risk to her own. People she couldn't care less about." Panel 2: Close up of Mystique's determined face, she says: "Irene... you would have appreciated the irony in this..." Panel 3: Mystique grabs two cables spewing out energy in either hand. Panel 4: She presses the cables together and screams in pain causing a bright spark, the machine states "Cellular reclamation and restoration 88% complete. 90% 95% 99%"

Panel 1: Full body show of Mystique now covered in blue scales, she says "Don't I look okay?", Toad off panel replies "Uhm--You--Uh--". Panel 2: Close up on Toad's face, he says "Tell me about it! I feel like I could beat the bloody brains out of everyone who's ever put me down!" Panel 3: Close up on Mystique's face, she says "Were that the case, you'd be occupied for the next century. We're pressed for time right now." Panel 4: Mystique charges off with Toad leaping off in front with his left leg raised out in front of him

After the success of the X-Men (2000) movie, Fabian Nicieza, Kevin Maguire and Andrew Pepoy created a mini-series of comics called "X-Men Forever", which explained certain unresolved plots, and more importantly, brought into the comic-book universe Mystique's scaly appearance from the 2000 movie.

So now we can say that she may have had the blue nipples you're looking for, but they are hidden/scarred under the scales that the accident caused.

*Note: the biggest hole in this in-universe explanation, though, is that the child version of mystique in First Class (2011) also has these scales, which doesn't fit with the electricity accident explanation, which happened when she was an adult, but continuity errors and plot-holes are nothing new in the X-Men Cinematic Universe.

Answered by Ghoti and Chips on September 22, 2020

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