Obscure Marvel fancast of the day: Andreja Peijic as Mindmeld! Mindmeld appeared in June 1997 in but a single issue, X-Force #62, and she is heavily implied to be a transgender woman, which would make her the first (and thus far only, I believe) transgender mutant in Marvel comics. And I don’t mean she’s a shapeshifter or something like that, I mean she is strongly implied to be trans in the way that real people are trans. She is drawn the same way that the men are in terms of face and body (remember, sexual dimorphism is extremely exaggerated in comics, especially in the 1990s) but given long lashes, lipstick, and jewelry. Everyone, even her enemies, refer to her as “she” yet X-Force (specifically Meltdown) also express mocking confusion about her gender, teasing her about not being able to tell if she’s a man or a woman ( “Now, Mr. or Mrs. Mindmeld…what is your real name? Pat? Chris?”) I think the reader is very much meant to interpret her as a pre-transition transgender woman. It’s also worth noting that she appears in the service of Shinobi Shaw, who is a firmly established bisexual during a time that this was played for shock value to show how depraved and decadent he was, so her presence as a trans woman is probably meant to play that up as well. Mindmeld is Shinobi Shaw’s bodyguard in this issue, and besides her striking silvery-white skin, she has the ability to move people’s minds into other bodies. For instance, she mentally moves Domino’s mind into Caliban’s body, so that both Caliban and Domino are occupying it, leaving Domino’s body empty and comatose. She does the same to Meltdown and Sunspot, and later moves her own mind into the body of her turncoat co-bodyguard, Clearcut, leaving her own body helpless. This particular choice of power may be a low-key joke on the phrase “trapped in the wrong body” as related to trans people; I notice that an androgynous male X-Men villain named Switch, also from the 1990s, had the same ability. Mindmeld is unconscious when X-Force blows up the base she’s in, and she has not been seen since, making it likely she died. However, this being Marvel, she could come back any time…if only someone remembered her! Mindmeld comes off as having a pessimistic and jaded view of the world, and it’s not hard to imagine she might have had bad experiences that caused this, being non-passing as both a mutant and a trans woman. She enjoys taunting X-Force, and sneers at their dreams of peace and harmony being possible with humans. Yet she seems to have some sense of camaraderie, as she’s shocked when Shinobi betrays her, apparently having expected better even from him. Besides her codename, she has no other known identity. Mindmeld was not treated kindly by Marvel, but she should not be forgotten. I’m personally hoping (though not expecting) for her to come back on Krakoa, this time under the pen of writers who are more educated and sympathetic around people who are transgender, and won’t treat her as a joke. Also, she needs a shot at kicking Shinobi’s ass for leaving her in Clearcut’s body and then in the base when it blew up!
