1
00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:06,399
Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

2
00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:11,920
Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and this is the

3
00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:15,160
Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow

4
00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:19,480
Speaker 2: Your Mind, focusing in non mythical creatures, ideas and monsters.

5
00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:26,640
Speaker 2: In time, We're going to continue our look at various

6
00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:30,920
Speaker 2: monsters from Marvel comics in this episode. Though today's pick

7
00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:34,960
Speaker 2: is probably better described as a human mutant. It's none

8
00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:41,800
Speaker 2: other than Raven Darkholme aka Mystique, the blueskinned, red haired

9
00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:45,960
Speaker 2: shape shifter whose various affiliations have cast her at times

10
00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:49,680
Speaker 2: as a supervillain and other times as an antihero in

11
00:00:49,720 --> 00:00:53,920
Speaker 2: the Marvel universe. Created by Chris Claremont and Dave Cochran

12
00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:57,120
Speaker 2: back in nineteen seventy eight, she has a long history

13
00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:03,000
Speaker 2: in various X Men media. Mystique's most obvious mutant power is,

14
00:01:03,000 --> 00:01:06,759
Speaker 2: of course, her ability to alter her appearance and morphology,

15
00:01:07,240 --> 00:01:10,440
Speaker 2: taking on the likeness of anyone in her path, often

16
00:01:10,600 --> 00:01:15,360
Speaker 2: in order to carry out dastardly plots and assassinations. In

17
00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:20,960
Speaker 2: the excellent book Marvel Anatomy by Mark Sumarac and Daniel Wallace,

18
00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,920
Speaker 2: with illustrations by Jonah Loebe, the authors point out that

19
00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:29,280
Speaker 2: her shape changing occurs at a molecular level, enabling her

20
00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:33,480
Speaker 2: to even reproduce the semblance of clothing and additional appendages

21
00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:37,240
Speaker 2: as needed to enhance a disguise or to aid in combat.

22
00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:42,360
Speaker 2: She is, in short, the ultimate infiltrator and the ultimate deceiver.

23
00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:46,679
Speaker 2: Now on the shape shifting front, attempting to compare her

24
00:01:46,720 --> 00:01:50,840
Speaker 2: to the natural world's own shape shifting expert, the mimic octopus.

25
00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,280
Speaker 2: But I've discussed that particular species on the monster fact already,

26
00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:58,720
Speaker 2: And besides, I was even more intrigued by something else

27
00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:04,360
Speaker 2: that the authors mentioned concerning mystiquees abilities so advance is

28
00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,720
Speaker 2: her ability to manipulate her own form. She can actually

29
00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:12,800
Speaker 2: move vital internal organs around within her body to avoid

30
00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:17,679
Speaker 2: fatal injuries. Now, this would seem to include sliding her

31
00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,840
Speaker 2: heart out of position and into say her upper thigh,

32
00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,600
Speaker 2: or squeezing her brain down partially into her neck or

33
00:02:24,600 --> 00:02:29,120
Speaker 2: perhaps even into her arm. Thus, coupled with accelerated healing,

34
00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,480
Speaker 2: she can plot to evade certain death blows, either in

35
00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,760
Speaker 2: disguise or out of it, and this has fooled her

36
00:02:36,760 --> 00:02:41,000
Speaker 2: would be killers many times over the years. This ability

37
00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,200
Speaker 2: really intrigued me. I was asking myself, are there species

38
00:02:44,240 --> 00:02:46,880
Speaker 2: in the natural world that can match or exceed this?

39
00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:50,200
Speaker 2: And I suppose it depends on how you choose to

40
00:02:50,320 --> 00:02:53,920
Speaker 2: compare it. Certainly we can think of various amorphous bodies

41
00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:58,640
Speaker 2: and start there. We can also think about metamorphosis. During metamorphosis,

42
00:02:58,639 --> 00:03:01,520
Speaker 2: most of a caterpillar's brain is broken down and ultimately

43
00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:05,440
Speaker 2: rebuilt into its adult form, which is one of nature's

44
00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:09,200
Speaker 2: stunning shape shifting feats. But this is almost too extreme

45
00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:13,560
Speaker 2: to compare to Mystique's shell game of sensitive organs. We've

46
00:03:13,600 --> 00:03:17,080
Speaker 2: already discussed the shrew's ability to shrink their brains during

47
00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:22,440
Speaker 2: the winter, though they don't exactly reposition them. However, during pregnancy,

48
00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:26,200
Speaker 2: a mother's organs will shift to accommodate the growing fetus.

49
00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:30,519
Speaker 2: The heart in particular is shifted during human pregnancy, though

50
00:03:30,560 --> 00:03:35,440
Speaker 2: the exact details vary depending on the individual. Beauterus grows,

51
00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:39,800
Speaker 2: elevating the diaphragm and pushing the heart upward and kind

52
00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:41,960
Speaker 2: of to the left. It may also push it forward

53
00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,240
Speaker 2: a little. While the heart itself does not enlarge, the

54
00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:49,000
Speaker 2: shift in position can lead to a misdiagnosis of an

55
00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:53,520
Speaker 2: enlarged heart. Likewise, the resulting distortions, and the detectable sounds

56
00:03:53,520 --> 00:03:57,360
Speaker 2: of the heart may require further analysis by a specialist.

57
00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:01,960
Speaker 2: So that's one perfectly natural way that the human body

58
00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,040
Speaker 2: can and does go moving its heart around. It's not

59
00:04:06,160 --> 00:04:09,200
Speaker 2: as extreme as the exploits of a human mutant from

60
00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:13,800
Speaker 2: the Marvel Universe, but it's still absolutely amazing. One final

61
00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,719
Speaker 2: note on Mystique is that, according to Sumarak and Wallace,

62
00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:21,280
Speaker 2: her cellular manipulation of her own body actually rejuvenates her

63
00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:26,720
Speaker 2: cells with each transformation, vastly extending her lifespan or even

64
00:04:26,800 --> 00:04:31,960
Speaker 2: providing her a form of biological immortality. While rare and

65
00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,840
Speaker 2: still very much an area of interest and exploration for

66
00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:38,680
Speaker 2: natural world scientists, we seem to see something similar in

67
00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:44,080
Speaker 2: certain varieties of jellyfish and plenarian flatworms, though we always

68
00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:46,880
Speaker 2: have to remember there's a difference between what is likely

69
00:04:47,000 --> 00:04:50,240
Speaker 2: under ideal lab conditions and what is likely given the

70
00:04:50,360 --> 00:04:55,160
Speaker 2: challenges of the wild. Mystique has already lived a long life,

71
00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,880
Speaker 2: but the Marvel universe is a dangerous place much like

72
00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,679
Speaker 2: the natural world, and she's made no shortage of enemies

73
00:05:02,720 --> 00:05:05,680
Speaker 2: over the years. But it would be a mistake to

74
00:05:05,839 --> 00:05:10,200
Speaker 2: underestimate her abilities. There will be even more Marvel Monsters

75
00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:13,559
Speaker 2: in the weeks ahead, with a particularly slippery one lined

76
00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:16,440
Speaker 2: up for next week, so don't miss that. You can

77
00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,719
Speaker 2: tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact each week,

78
00:05:20,080 --> 00:05:23,200
Speaker 2: and as always, you can email us at contact at

79
00:05:23,200 --> 00:05:33,240
Speaker 2: stuff to Blow your Mind dot com.

80
00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,320
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For

81
00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,200
Speaker 1: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

82
00:05:39,320 --> 00:05:42,080
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.