Betsy Braddock

Captain Britain Betsy Braddock in Excalibur v4 #1.

Betsy Braddock is a female comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock was a female human who was the daughter of James Braddock, Sr. who unknown to her was an inhabitant of Otherworld. (Captain Britain v2 #7) She was the twin sister of Brian Braddock and had an older brother in Jamie Braddock. (Captain Britain v1 #8)

Afterwards, her telepathic abilities began to grow stronger until she was contacted by a telepathic agent working for S.T.R.I.K.E. that was the British version of S.H.I.E.L.D.. At the time, the organization was establishing a Psi Division similar to the one in the U.S. with Betsy being recruited for it. She accepted where she began to work for them over the next few years where she came to learn more about her telepathic abilities. Later on, the agency came to be infiltrated by a rival criminal organization headed by the Vixen. Operatives were placed in high ranking positions but one threat to their infiltration was from the telepaths of the Psi Division. This marked them for elimination where several of their number were murdered with Betsy and the survivors being forced to go on the run. This saw her reaching out to her brother Brian Braddock who she had not seen for years and wanted to get his help in his superhero guise as Captain Britain. (Daredevils v1 #3)

X-Force

Psylocke in Astonishing X-Men v4 #1.

She resumed her relationship with Warren Worthington III with the two being a couple once more as they formed a new incarnation of X-Force alongside Wolverine who brought in Fantomex onto the team whilst Angel had hired Deadpool. (Wolverine: Road to Hell v1 #1) Elizabeth was also helping Warren in controlling the ruthless Archangel persona that was embedded in Worthington and keeping it under control. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #1) The teams first assignment was to infiltrate a Clan Akkaba stronghold after they received reports that the secret society had resurrected Apocalypse in the form of a clone. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #2) This led to the teams confrontation with the Final Horsemen who were the boys protectors. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #3) She was abducted by the Horseman War who had been smitten with Psylocke due to the mental misdirections of Fantomex which she used as an opportunity to render him unconscious. Elizabeth then entered into the chambers of Apocalypse to kill her target only to discover that he was a young boy currently whereupon she intended to take him away so he could be raised differently. Thus, she opposed her fellow X-Force members that had come to assassinate the child. This resulted in her fighting against Warren who intended to kill the boy as he believed the child was destined to become Apocalypse once more. During the fight, he managed to overpower Wolverine and Psylocke where he nearly killed the child but relented as he saw the horror in the act he was about to commit. The team then decided to take the boy away to be raised elsewhere but whilst their attention was diverted the young En Sabah Nur was shot in the head and killed by Fantomex. X-Force then quickly departed the Ship as it was making a matter transport to another site. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #4)

Back to normal, she and Fantomex battled Archangel who managed to overpower the pair where he attempted to plant the Life Seed once again. Betsy recovered where she confronted him once again where she used all her strength in a powerful telepathic onslaught that knocked her opponent down briefly. However, she failed to use the Life Seed on Archangel which would have purged the Death Seed from his body. Archangel was distracted when Evan Sabahnur entered into the fight where the young clone of Apocalypse battled Warren but failed to defeat the Dark Angel. The fight did distract him allowing for Betsy to sneak up on and stab Archangel with the Life Seed which destroyed the Death Seed but was overwriting his life. Dying from the attack, Betsy spoke to Warren telepathically where the two declared their love for one another with her crafting a dream where the two married, had children and died together. She was then forced to leave Warren's body behind during the destruction caused to the area. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #18) Though dead, the Life Seed in his body came a new being born in the place of Warren Worthington III named Angel who had no memory of his predecessor. Betsy came to struggle in her encounters with him as she knew Warren was dead but came to see his body still animated by a new soul. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #19)

In the months afterwards, she remained with Fantomex and his female counterpart Cluster where the three stayed together in Paris. Elizabeth was deeply in love with Fantomex but resented having to spend time with Cluster though decided to give her a chance. In this time, Fantomex pushed Betsy to indulging in the life a thief and as his misdirection powers had gone to Weapon XIII he lacked his old powerset and had need of Psylocke's telepathy as a substitute. The three of them conducted a burglary in France where during their escape Elizabeth lost her footing and nearly fell but was saved by Cluster. They returned to their hideout but the theft was something that Betsy did not enjoy despite Fantomex trying to push her into this career. This caused her to be unhappy with him and she decided to have a moment alone. She was then visited by Cluster who revealed that after their brain was split between three bodies that each embodied different traits of the original Fantomex. It was then that Betsy realised that Cluster held the love Fantomex had for her with her and Cluster sharing a kiss together. (Uncanny X-Force v2 #7)

ResurrXion

Whilst her mind was trapped inside Sapphire Styx, Betsy came upon the various souls the supervillain had absorbed with one being a lingering trace of Logan. Once there, she managed to rally the energies of the people she had consumed alongside Logan's to shatter her foes body and molecularly re-forge her own which she did in her original form. (Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor v1 #4)

House of X

Coming to terms with her life, she began to abandon her life as Psylocke and looked to settle on Krakoa. Once there, she learnt that her brother Jamie had been resurrected with him content to remain in the Mutant nation developing there. Around this time, she was informed of a crisis occurring in Otherworld around a Krakoan gateway that sprouted in that realm. Betsy accompanied her brother Brian Braddock to investigate where the learnt Morgan le Fay ruled the lands as Regent-Queen where she saw the Krakoan gateway as a defilement of her realm. Thus, she declared war on Mutants and magically controlled Brian Braddock to turn against his sister. Before being sent away from Otherworld, Betsy was given the Amulet of Right by Brian thus transforming her into the new Captain Britain. (Excalibur v4 #1)

As part of the prophecy, Betsy as named as one of the sword wielders of Krakoa and she was to wield the Starlight Sword. However, the blade forged as by Saturnyne was meant for her champion who she had chosen to be Brian Braddock and she intended to stripe Betsy Braddock from her position as Captain Britain. Knowing this to be the case, the Braddock siblings orchestrated a ruse to distract Saturnyne long enough for Betsy to claim the Starlight Sword which she took to the gathering ground on Krakoa where she and her brother Brian joined the other sword wielders as they waited for the upcoming Contest of Swords. (Excalibur v4 #13)

During the dinner, she was with her brother Brian Braddock when he attempted to have a private talk with Saturnyne where he requested Arrako be disqualified from the tournament for an attempted poisoning against the Krakoan champions. Saturnyne refused his request as Wolverine had attempted to kill her thus showing that Krakoa had also attempted to cheat in the tournament. (Marauders v1 #15) She then prepared for the match when Isca met her and told Betsy not to humiliate herself in their fight with her considering this to be 'friendly' advice to her opponent. The pair later had their match in Avalon with it being officiated by her brother King Jamie Braddock. Initially, Betsy managed to get an advantage and hit her opponent with a telekinetic shield thus drawing blood from Isca. However, then her sword along with her body shattered seemingly killing her thus leading to the first victory by Arakko. (Excalibur v4 #14)

She awoke to find herself in another reality where she had taken the place of that Elizabeth Braddock. On this world, the Braddock's were the royal family that ruled England with her father having once been its monarch. Later on, her counterpart came to succeed him and took the throne as Queen Elizabeth III where she had Pete Wisdom as her Prime Minister. Finding herself in the royal bedchambers, she learnt also that her counterpart was involved with Warren Worthington III of this reality with their relationship having sparked an interest from the public over the Queen being with an American. Betsy Braddock came to reveal her true nature to Warren where she decided to return to her Earth through the Otherworld portal at the Lighthouse. To aid her, Worthington requested his ex-girlfriend Kwannon accompany Betsy to the site as it was the base for British intelligence and converted into a stronghold. Together, the pair broke into the site where Betsy attempted to use this as an opportunity to apologise to Kwannon for taking her body in her own reality. Braddock then went through the portal and materialised on Earth-616 in the waters around her world's Lighthouse. (Excalbur v4 #17)

Captain Britain was later called to Otherworld by Saturnyne to attend a meeting of the regents of the different realms. Whilst there, Merlyn decided to bring his grievances before the group where he claimed that Saturnyne was an ill-fit ruler and that under her watch that their world was nearly destroyed by the 'witchbreed'. Thus, he attempted to foster discontent and unrest among the regents against her with Saturnyne allying with Betsy Braddock against their mutual enemy. (Excalibur v4 #22)

Overview

Personality and attributes

During her time as a model, she began to change the color of her hair to purple. (Daredevils v1 #3) She began to abandon the name Psylocke after returning to her original body. (Excalibur v4 #1)

Betsy was known to participated in fox hunting with her father and older brother Jamie. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #23) In her youth, she looked up to her older brother Jamie and his adventurous lifestyle with her loving his cars. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #256) She once worked as a charter pilot and had some skill flying airplanes. (Captain Britain v1 #8)

Her father was James Braddock, Sr. where she was unaware of the fact that he came from Otherworld. (Captain Britain v2 #7)

She had a twin brother who was Brian Braddock where it was said that they wielded the power of Otherworld in their genes. (Captain Britain v2 #7) She and her twin brother Brian were said to be close yet sometimes acted like strangers. (Captain Britain v1 #8)

Powers and abilities

Elizabeth Braddock in Astonishing X-Men v4 #1.

As a result of her parentage, she was only half-human. (Captain Britain v2 #7) She was noted for being a telepath and a precog. (Daredevils v1 #3) Betsy came to be regarded as the third most powerful psychic on the planet. (Uncanny X-Force v2 #17)

Braddock could use her telepathy to read and project thoughts over long distances. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #221) She came to receive training in her telepathic abilities when she worked for S.T.R.I.K.E.'s Psi Division. (Daredevils v1 #3)

She began to experiment in testing the limits of her new powers as she was shown to be capable of manifesting telekinetic shields and swords for use in fights. (Uncanny X-Men v5 #1)

As Psylocke, she was once given a sword named Shurayuki that was forged in Japan a thousand years ago with it being given to her by an old friend. (Uncanny X-Force v2 #1)

She later came to wield the Starlight Sword that was crafted by Saturnyne and was made from a piece of the Starlight Citadel itself. (Excalibur v4 #13)

Notes

• Psylocke was created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe where she made her first appearance in Captain Britain v1 #8 (December, 1976).
• Writer Chris Claremont noted that, "So—the idea was to put everything back the way we found it, originally. But then, looking at what Jim had created—visually—she looked so cool. “Heck it, we can fix it later.” I mean, Jim, Jim will be around for three years, and then we’ll get a new artist and we’ll fix it. In the meantime—let’s go with it! And see what happens. See where it leads. Sometimes you have a plan, sometimes you have an inspiration. The one thing I didn’t consider anywhere in this equation was “What if I’m the one to go, and not Jim."
• Writer Chris Yost commented on her powerset being, "She's not shadow melding, she's maybe a little telekinetic. She's got high level telepathy, which she can focus into a psychic knife. She's got the muscle memory of being a bad-ass ninja assassin, so she can move, knows martial arts, and is lethal with a katana. That's it."
• Rick Remender stated on X-Position that the character was, "Burgeoning Omega-level telepath and stealthy ninja. I see Betsy as having telepathic abilities akin to Jean Grey’s prior to the Phoenix merger, with the ninja skills of a high Hand operative. That is it."

In other media

Television

• In X-Men, Psylocke appeared in the fourth season of the animated television series where she was voiced by actress Tasha Simms.
• In Wolverine and the X-Men, Psylocke appeared as a minor antagonist in the animated television series episode "Time Bomb" where she was voiced by actress Grey DeLisle.

Films

• In X2: X-Men United, Psylocke was referenced in the 2003 live-action film.
• In X-Men: The Last Stand, Psylocke appeared as a minor antagonist in the 2006 live-action film where she was portrayed by actress Meiling Melançon.
• In X-Men: Apocalypse, Psylocke appeared in the 2016 live-action film where she was portrayed by actor Olivia Munn.

Video games

• In X-Men: Mutant Academy 2, Psylocke appeared as a playable character in the setting of the fighting video game where she was voiced by actress Jane Luk.
• In Marvel Heroes, Psylocke appeared as a playable character in the MMORPG video game.
• In Deadpool, Psylocke appeared in the setting of the third-person shooter video game where she was voiced by actress Melissa Disney.
• In Marvel: Contest of Champions, Psylocke appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.
• In Marvel Future Fight, Betsy Braddock as Psylocke appeared as a playable character in the setting of the mobile video game.

Appearances

• Captain Britain v1: (1976)
• Daredevils v1:
• Captain Britain v2:
• X-Men:
• Uncanny X-Men v1:
• Psylocke v1:
• Uncanny X-Force v1:
• Uncanny X-Force v2:
• X-Men:
• Astonishing X-Men:
• Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor v1:
• Uncanny X-Men v5:
• Excalibur v4:
• Fallen Angels v2:
• Marauders v1:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Comicvine Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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