With the imminent launch of the new Astonishing X-Men,
Psylocke will face the Shadow King again. These two have crossed paths many
times before. Their feud has only grown over time, turning it into something
personal. Has the Shadow King become Betsy’s greatest enemy?
Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #273
When Jean Grey attempted to use Cerebro to track some
former X-Men on the Astral Plane, she was attacked by the Shadow King. Psylocke
entered the Astral Plane and was forced to use her psi-knife on Jean to free
her. Upon returning to the real world, neither woman was sure who their foe was
or what he really wanted.
THE MUIR ISLAND SAGA
Uncanny X-Men (Vol. 1) #278-280,
X-Factor (Vol. 1) #69
After warnings from Forge and Banshee, a team of X-Men
– including Psylocke – decided to investigate Muir Island, whose inhabitants
have been taken over by the Shadow King, but they were soon captured. Psylocke
was among the many mutants possessed by the Shadow King. Forge defeated Betsy
and used her psychic knife on Polaris, who was being used as a nexus between
the physical world and the Astral Plane by Farouk. His power source destroyed,
the Shadow King was ripped apart.
PSI-WAR
X-Men (Vol. 2) #77-78
Years later, after the Onslaught incident, Farouk was
able to return. Posing as "Ananasi", the Shadow King took over the
African tribe who worshiped Storm. Psylocke took to the Astral Plane to fight
him, but ended up falling into his trap. Betsy accidentally caused a chain
reaction that crippled the psionic plan itself, damaging the collective
subconscious of every being on Earth, especially those born with psionic abilities.
Psylocke's astral form was destroyed as Farouk ascended to dominance. While the
Shadow King began to corrupt mankind, the Crimson Dawn saved Psylocke once more,
assigning her the ability to command the shadows of the Psionic Plane. Once
Farouk sensed Betsy's presence, he stretched his powers to the maximum to
infect every mind on Earth. Psylocke discovered that the Shadow King had left
his nexus exposed and used her shadows to contain it. Psylocke trapped the
Shadow King, focusing her telepathy on him, which prevented her from using her
telepathic abilities again.
Wolverine (Vol. 2) #147
Sometime later, when Psylocke was forced to use
Cerebro to reach and cleanse Wolverine and Archangel of the Death persona, the
Shadow King eventually managed to convince Betsy to release him so she could
help both men. As Psylocke was ready to embrace the Shadow King, Warren stopped
her. After that encounter, Betsy turned off Cerebro, imprisoning Farouk again.
X-Treme X-Men Annual 2001
The Shadow King was eventually released from his
prison when Psylocke perished in combat with the mutant hunter, Vargas. Once
again free, he possessed the Reavers and attempted to attack the X-Men. However, Rogue
used her strength of will to stop the Shadow King and imprison him, like
Psylocke did before.
New Excalibur #8, #19
After Psylocke was resurrected by Jamie Braddock, she visited her twin
brother Captain Britain in England and faced the Shadow King once more. Farouk
explained that when Psylocke died, her consciousness was pulled by the strings
of reality itself and part of him managed to escape to another universe where
he possessed an alternate version of Charles Xavier. The Scarlet Witch's
Decimation Wave enabled the Shadow King to return to Earth-616, seeking revenge
on Betsy. Immune to his control, Psylocke telekinetically induced a stroke in
Xavier's body. However, before she could finish him off, Betsy was
interdimensionally teleported to the Crystal Palace at the Nexus of All
Realities. Farouk was later defeated by Lionheart, who killed his host’s body,
sending him back to the Astral Plane.
Uncanny X-Force (Vol. 1) #8, #10
The Shadow King later resurfaced in Wakanda, where his plans were foiled
by Storm and the Panther God, Bast. Sometime later, X-Force investigated a
nuclear facility, from where Psylocke sensed strange psionic readings. Betsy
easily uncovered the enemy – the Shadow King, who engaged her in battle on the Astral Plane. Farouk released
the Archangel persona from the psychic prison in Warren's mind to exact revenge
on Psylocke. The Shadow King hoped to use Warren to launch nukes at Utopia, a
haven for mutantkind. Archangel slayed the Shadow King on the Astral Plane and
killed a soldier at the military facility, even though said soldier was no
longer possessed by Farouk. The Shadow King later gave a reporter a USB
containing images of Archangel, and X-Force, acting as assassins, hoping to
expose the black ops team.
Uncanny X-Force (Vol. 1) #26-27, #32-35
The Shadow King later joined Daken’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants in a
plot to attack the X-Force. Psylocke was psychically attacked by Farouk, who
played with her weaknesses and insecurities, however Fantomex used his
psi-shielded mask to break Farouk’s mind control over her. When X-Force faced
the Brotherhood again, the Shadow King attacked Betsy on the Astral Plane,
reminding her how he promised to tear her life apart. Psylocke manifested the
sum of her psionic might and the Shadow King fell. Betsy decided not to kill
him, which Farouk used as an opportunity to shatter her psyche. In the physical
world, Betsy used Omega White to drain the Shadow King’s psychic essence and
trap him. Psylocke later asked her brother, Captain Britain, to keep the imprisoned
Shadow King in Otherworld.
Nightcrawler (Vol. 4) #8-10
Brian Braddock sealed the Shadow King's host body in a tomb in the Gobi
Desert where it was eventually found in stasis erroneously trapped inside Omega
Black's body by the Crimson Pirates and unwittingly released by their telepath,
Bloody Bess. Bess appealed to Nightcrawler for help, and alongside Kurt, fought
the Pirates and the X-Men, who were controlled by the Shadow King – including Psylocke.
Once Bess broke the Shadow King’s control over Betsy, both women sent
Nightcrawler against Farouk on the Astral Plane armed with Psylocke's
psi-blade, which stunned him long enough to be interred again in Omega Black's
body.
Astonishing X-Men (Vol. 4)
The Shadow King returns! The ancient evil is attacking the world’s most
powerful minds, one by one, twisting reality. A band of X-Men – Psylocke, Old
Man Logan, Bishop, Archangel, Fantomex, Rogue, Gambit and Mystique – discovers
the truth behind the threat and will try to save the world.
“For so long, my life has been out of control. Chaos and serendipity, wrapped in insanity. I have suffered, I have lost. Not just my life, but my very soul, my self. But no more. Now I know who I am.” – Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Braddock, daughter of Otherworld, mutant, telepath, telekinetic, defender of the realm and, above all, X-Man.
11 comments:
Great recap! And yes, Shadow King is probably Psylocke's worst enemies; the only other villains who I associate with her are Mojo and Spiral - but neither of them is as dangerous as Farouk (plus, Spiral supposedly reformed after Humphries UXF).
That's interesting when we consider that Farouk was originally Xavier's archnemesis, then Storm's. Yet, Betsy is the one who crossed paths with him more frequently ever since their feud began.
I really hope Betsy will have a good plan here. She got everything to be one of the principal characters in this book. I wish they keep portraying her as a strong women willing to do anything for a greater good. And yes please use her powers right and strong. (Sorry for my English) ;)
This raises my anticipation to check what will come!!! I never get tired of seeing Psylocke against the Shadow King, as it takes more than just telepathy, but also intelligence, to defeat him.
As the only telepath in the series, her role is gonna be pretty meaningful probably. I wonder what consequences will come out of this in terms of changes.
What I am most impressed with is that, even with (fortunately) Betsy's brief absence from Marvel, there is always a lot to be said about her. It is not for nothing she's one of my favorite characters.
Humphries run doesn't exist at Marvel lol.
But this was a great job at recapping their past together and their rivalry.
But Betsy never fought with Farouk. Betsy's only battle at the astral plane was with Cassandra Nova.
What are you talking about? Betsy fought with Farouk on the Astral Plane plenty of times. Just read the article.
I think Toca do Caranguejo is refering to Tazirai's post about Humphries's UXF.
Exaclty nicce, thank you.
Indeed.
And Tazirai's post wasn't related to Betsy fighting Farouk (if I understood correctly), but to Humphries making Spiral become a heroine (or something close to that), which the other Marvel writers will probably ignore whenever she appears in a comic book again.
Fsaker, I do not entirely agree with you about Psylocke's stance toward Magneto. I admit that Cullen Bunn did not make himself understood as he should for common sense, but I do not think it was merely for Erik "to have associated with Emma Frost to exterminate the Inhumans". You see, Psylocke always been a mindful person but, shall I say, deranged too. When Magneto came to her (using Archangel for blackmail her emotionally), it was to offered a partnership, not for her to become his blind follower (Magneto's words in UXM # 12). However, in pratice, Eric tooks a lot of madman, mindfucked and/or warmongers desperated for a cause or for taking it out in some Inhumans (for obvious reasons) and whose members had nothing to do with each other (easier for Magneto manipulations). And acting and calling themselves X-men, but using Brotherhood, Hellfire Club and other enemy groups and its methods. In the end, when it became clear that he maintain hidden secrets from his "partners", Magneto simply asked Betsy to trust him (but if she did, she would be a blind follower, right?).
But, as we all know, all this is typical of Erik, so is enough reason to kill him? Many people think "er... no", most because Magneto did worse of the past and the X-men always been full of fingers with him, instead of think "no" because it's wrong to kill for start.
For me, therefore, kill Erik was yes a hypocritical attitude of Psylocke, because she was basically anger with him for manipulated her, as Magneto has always done with all the mutants he has ever had contact with. Betsy couldn't admit to being treated like any pawn. Moreover, by the new times that would come after Inhumans vs X-men, a person like Magneto would only mess with all, for all his historical precedence. Rage + "Rational Motivations", that's my interpretation of Bunn's UXM.
In short lines, the association of Magneto was the last straw but not all of the problem that Betsy had with him.
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