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Elizabeth Braddock Was The Mutant Psylocke Before She Became Captain Britain
- Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock is Brian Braddock's mutant twin sister. She was formerly known as Psylocke and a powerful member of the X-Men.
Betsy is a telepath, but she's also a highly trained fighter. Psylocke's worn a few costumes over the years, as her mind was placed in the body of a ninja named Kwannon.
Betsy eventually regained her original body, but she had yet another big change to come. Her brother Brian was forced to give up the Amulet of Right to her, allowing her to become the new Captain Britain. She embraced her new role first as the leader of Excalibur, then the Captain Britain Corps and more recently, the Knights of X.
Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with Captain Britain and the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Herb Trimpe in 1976, she first appeared in the Marvel UK series Captain Britain.
Betsy Braddock was initially a supporting character in the adventures of her twin brother, Brian Braddock, as the original Captain Britain, before temporarily becoming the superheroine Captain Britain herself and later joining the X-Men in 1986 as Psylocke, a codename coined by the villains Mojo and Spiral. Originally presented as a precognitive in the pages of Captain Britain and then as a telepath, she was later established to be a mutant, developing telekinesis as well as martial arts skills, the latter of which derived from a body swap with the Japanese mutant ninja Kwannon lasting nearly 30 years of publication history. She and Kwannon were returned to their original bodies in a 2018 story, after which, Betsy permanently took up the mantle of Captain Britain, while Kwannon adopted the Psylocke identity.
Many alternative versions of the character have also appeared in several comics series of Marvel Multiverse, as well as in various other media and merchandise, notably in numerous video games. The body-swapped iteration of the character has been portrayed by Meiling Melançon in the 2006 film X-Men: The Last Stand and by Olivia Munn in the 2016 film X-Men: Apocalypse.
ORIGINS
Created by writer Chris Claremont, Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock first appeared in Captain Britain #8 (December 1976), with Captain Britain #10 (December 1976) as her first cover appearance, published by the Marvel Comics' British imprint Marvel UK. The original spelling of the character's name was "Elizabeth", though
re-lettering of the UK versions for American reprints would occasionally misspell it as "Elisabeth". This led to spelling inconsistencies throughout future publications. The inconsistency was resolved by Claremont 32 years later in 2008 in the series New Exiles, which reasserted the particular spelling of her name as
"Elizabeth". In the Captain Britain series, Claremont introduced her as a supporting character, the sister of Brian Braddock, the eponymous Captain Britain, and established her career as a charter pilot. He also established that she had psychic abilities, the full extent of which were unknown, though no explanation is given for these powers. In Marvel UK's Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #243 (October 1977), Betsy Braddock is presented as a professional model.
In Marvel UK's Daredevils #3 (March 1983), Alan Moore established that the character has begun to work for the fictional governmental organization S.T.R.I.K.E., who are making use of her
psychic
abilities. Her lover Tom Lennox is also a S.T.R.I.K.E operative and is later murdered. The story also presents the character as having dyed her hair purple after being originally blonde; this hair color has subsequently become the dominant presentation of the character. The next major change for the character came in the 1986
re-launched Captain Britain series, where Betsy Braddock stands in for her brother as Captain Britain, and is rendered blind by the supervillain Slaymaster.
CAPTAIN BRITAIN
At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, Editor-in-Chief C.B. Cebulski and writer Jonathan Hickman revealed that, following the franchise-wide relaunch House of X/Powers of X, Betsy Braddock would become the new Captain Britain, with Brian adopting the new title of Captain Avalon and Kwannon taking over the Psylocke moniker. Cebulski compared Betsy's adoption of the Captain Britain mantle to Carol Danvers's transition to Captain Marvel, indicating that this new status quo would be permanent. As part of the Dawn of X, a new volume of Excalibur written by Tini Howard was launched, with Braddock leading a new lineup of the titular team consisting of herself, Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, Rictor and Apocalypse. Braddock was included a central character in the X of Swords crossover by Howard and Hickman. Following the completion of Howard's Excalibur run, Braddock was featured in the Knights of X miniseries and Captain Britain: Betsy Braddock.
FICTIONAL CHARACTER BIOGRAPHY
Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock was born in England and was raised in the small town of Maldon, Essex. Betsy was Sir James Braddock's second child, born minutes before her twin brother Brian. The twins and their elder brother Jamie, who was nearly a decade older, had a very privileged life. By the time she entered college, Betsy had become a charter pilot. After she and Jamie were taken hostage by the Red Skull's agents and freed by Captain America and Captain Britain, Betsy learned the latter was her brother Brian. At this time Betsy began to develop precognitive powers. She dyed her hair purple and took up modeling. At the age of twenty-one, her psychic powers fully manifested, which grew to include telepathy. Agent Matthew recruited Betsy into S.T.R.I.K.E.'s Psi Division, and she became fellow psi Tom Lennox's lover. As she had inherited membership to the Hellfire Club from her father, Betsy was sent to infiltrate it, but was warned off by Tessa for her own protection. She also met future boyfriend Warren Worthington for the first time during one of the Hellfire Club parties.
When the crime lord Vixen hired Slaymaster to eliminate the Psi-Division, only Betsy, Tom Lennox, and their friend Alison Double were left when Brian defeated him. When reality warped due to James Jaspers' powers, Tom sacrificed himself to give the Braddocks time to escape from a group of superhero hunters. Betsy was in Tom's mind when he died; feeling his death, she was left traumatized. Following the repair of the reality warp, an evil version of Captain Britain from another universe named Kaptain Briton switched places with Brian. The double tried to rape Betsy. In self-defense, she telepathically killed him. The same night, the twins were informed of their father's Otherworld origins, and a new intelligence agency called R.C.X. asked them to billet Warpies, children transformed by Jasper's warp, at the Manor, which led to an argument between Betsy and Brian.
PSYLOCKE
Betsy was kidnapped from the Alps by Mojo, brainwashed, given cybernetic eyes, and, as "Psylocke", became the star of his new show "Wildways". Brian and the New Mutants rescued her, after which Betsy moved to the X-Men's mansion to recover, exactly where Roma, Guardian of the Omniverse, needed her to be. When the Marauders attacked the Morlocks, the X-Mansion was used as a temporary infirmary for injured survivors of the massacre. Knowing that the X-Men were away in New York, the Marauder Sabretooth invaded the mansion. Betsy used herself as bait to lead him away from the injured until the X-Men arrived to help her. While Sabretooth and Wolverine fought, Betsy used her telepathy to gather information about the Marauders and their leader, Mr. Sinister, from Sabretooth's mind. Wolverine, though initially reluctant to involve outsiders in the X-Men's affairs, was impressed by her bravery and nominated her to join the team.
As an X-Man she met Mephisto, Dr. Doom and the Fantastic Four, and the Horde. The X-Men later battled Freedom Force and the Adversary in Dallas, and, in a televised battle, sacrificed themselves to allow Forge to bind the Adversary; Roma secretly restored them to life, and gave Betsy the Siege Perilous, which they could use if they ever wanted to start new lives. The X-Men moved to the Reavers' Australian Outback base, from where they took on the Brood, Genoshan Magistrates, Mister Sinister and the Goblin Queen, M Squad, Mr. Jip and the Serpent Society, Master Mold and Nimrod, Nanny and the Orphan-Maker, and Zaladane and the Savage Land Mutates. As they were about to depart the Savage Land, Betsy had a precognitive flash of the Reavers killing the team. To prevent this, she telepathically "convinces" them to abandon the Outback, and subsequently sends them through the Siege Perilous
COMIC
BRITISH SUPER HEROES - A TO Z
Black
Knight, Dane Whitman (British, American, Ebony Blade Cursed Sword
Strong, Marvel)
Blade, Eric Brooks (Vampire Hunter Born Soho, London MI-13* [Wesley Snipes] British SuperHero,
Marvel)
Captain Avalon, Brian Braddock (Protects mystical Omniverse, Britain Corps,
Excalibur, Marvel)
Captain Midlands,
'Rambling' Sid Ridley (British Army Super Soldier Program MI-13*)
Dark
Angel, Shevaun Haldane (Psylocke, British Superhero Darkmoor, England,
Marvel Comics)
Dr Druid, Anthony Ludgate (Raised England, studied magic Harvard Medical Degree,
British Superhero)
Dr. Faiza Hussain (England, London - Sword Of Arthur
Excalibur Stone [Marvel Disney])
Elsa
Bloodstone, Monster Hunter (Marvel Comics)
Elizabeth 'Betsy' Braddock (Super heroine Captain Britain, mutant Psylocke Amulet of Right
Excalibur Knights)
John
Storm - Storm Force, ex army captain, soldier turned mercenary with
cybernetic arm 1987 Eagle comics
Ka-Zar,
Lord Kevin Plunder (British Royal Heritage England [Tarzan] Raised By Mutant Sabretooth Tiger
Zabu)
Motormouth and Killpower Harley Davis & Julius Mullarkey, Marvel UK Stories British Super Heroes
Mys-Tech Organization
Pete Wisdom (British Secret Agent Mutant Mi-13*
Excalibur X-Force S.T.R.I.K.E.)
Spider-Woman, Jessica Drew (London, England - Avengers Hydra
S.H.I.E.LD British
Superhero, Marvel)
Spitfire, Lady Jacqueline Falsworth Crichton (Vampiric Speedster Marvel Comics,
Immortal MI-13*)
Union Jack, Joseph 'Joey' Chapman (Patriotic Legacy Hero World War One [Liverpool, England] Marvel)
*
Military
Intelligence, Section 13 (MI-13), is the United Kingdom's (fictional) agency set up to deal with paranormal occurrences and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside MI5,
MI6, GCHQ, and DI. MI13 is directed by the JIC (Joint Intelligence Committee). The service is directed to protect Britain from mystical, extra-terrestrial and superhuman threats.
MARVEL
COMICS US SUPERHEROES - A TO Z
Ant
Man,
Captain
America,
Doctor
Strange,
Hulk,
Iron
Man,
Spider-Man,
Thor, and
Wolverine,
HISTORICAL LEGENDS
Saint George is based on a soldier in the Roman army who was martyred in 303 CE (Patron saint of knights)
Sir Galahad - Knight of the Round Table 12-15th century CE literature (King
Arthur legend)
Siegfried - Brunhilde & King Gunter (Kriemhild, Burgundian [Nibelung] princess) c. 1200 CE
RECORDED HISTORICAL KNIGHTS
Robert
Guiscard - 'The Crafty' (c. 1015-1085 CE) [Norman]
Rodrigo
Díaz de Vivar - 'El Cid' (1043-1099 CE)
Godfrey
of Bouillon (circa 1060-1100)
Sir William Marshal - 'The Greatest Knight that Ever Lived' (c. 1146-1219
CE)
Richard I - 'The Lionhearted' (1157-1199 CE) King of England from 1189 to
1199 CE
Sir William Wallace (c. 1270-1305 CE)
Sir James Douglas - 'The Black Douglas' (c. 1286-1330 CE)
Bertrand du Guesclin - 'The Eagle of Brittany' (c. 1320-1380 CE)
Edward
of Woodstock - 'The Black Prince [of Wales]' (1330-1376 CE)
Sir
Henry Percy - 'Hotspur' (1364-1403 CE)
John
Storm is a hybrid character. A new breed of modern Knight, fighting to protect the
natural world and the archaeology that defines man's development, from
Tanzania, to the Moon and beyond. Storm's ace in the hole is the Elizabeth
Swann, the onboard
AI, Hal, and his enhanced performance via a brain implant and genetic
modification. Thus, just about keeping pace with what the market expects in
a modern world: A technological super secret agent. In this case, for Blue
Shield & UNESCO.
John
Storm is a new breed of British super hero, a modern Knight. Seen here with Dan Hawk, at the helm of the Elizabeth
Swann. The formidable high tech duo discover they have
no way to make it in the book or film world, but discover that they make
excellent comic characters, ideal for publication as graphic novels. George
Franks, mentor, is held to be a descendant of King Arthur, a knight of the
fabled Round Table. The Swann's onboard weapons early warning and targeting system
is called: Merlin. The laser cannon: Excalibur. And the tazer anti-piracy
boarding system: Pendragon.
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