Geoffrey Thorne Discusses X-Force and Betsy Braddock

X-Force writer Geoffrey Thorne recently shared his insights on Betsy Braddock in the CBR forums and discussed the X-Force pitching process on the TalkTimeLive.com podcast. Check out some highlights from his discussions below:

Thorne addressed fan concerns about Betsy being Captain Britain and their desire for her to reclaim the Psylocke moniker.

Thorne: It's such a quandary. Betsy has been one of those characters different writers have done whatever they wanted with over the years, leading to this strange situation we have now. Until the whole body swap thing, she was sort of just the back-up telepath/kinetic with the psychic blade. The body swap, certainly visually, just turned her into an Asian psionic Elektra. Making her Captain Britain sort of changed the game and added magic, but at the expense of Brian no longer being Captain Britain and making her one of many Captain Britains. Like all heroes, she needs her own thing, her own identity. I don't know if I'm the one to give her that (or that I'll be allowed to), but I'm certainly going to try. Whatever her name or title, I want Betsy to be unique.

Thorne also shared his thoughts on the body swap arc with Kwannon.

Thorne: My personal feeling about the body swap is, I didn't like it at the time, and I'm glad it's over. Great design, but it was basically Blue Elektra, and it didn't need to be applied to a Caucasian British woman in the body of an Asian woman. It was, in my opinion, the definition of 'yellowface,' which is something I don't enjoy. There's no reason that design couldn't have been used to introduce a new character who was an Asian woman in an Asian body (which is what we have now). The canon is the canon. If they hadn't separated Betsy and Kwannon, I'd have been fine writing that version, but yeah, I'm glad they finally fixed it, and I do consider it a fix having them back in their own bodies.

A reader mentioned that Thorne should avoid the same mistake Tini Howard made by ignoring Betsy's development while in Kwannon's body and resetting the character. Thorne weighed in on this.

Thorne: Well, I've been reading Betsy's adventures since her debut. I'm very aware of her various twists and turns.And, just as a point for the future, in case it comes up with other writers—there is no way to 'give her something most fans will like.' There's no way to know what that would be in advance. Different fans like different things. If I set out to please one set, I would automatically alienate another set. We do our work in the dark in that regard. We do our best to come up with compelling stories and character twists, and we hope most fans like them, but we cannot ever know until you all respond. As for my predecessors, I ain't them. They did their thing; I'll be doing mine. Which I very much hope you all will enjoy.

Fans commented that Betsy's recent portrayal in the Krakoan era felt too soft, which left them dissatisfied.

Thorne: As I've said, I'm going to do all I can to get Betsy back to center. I don't think she's as bloodthirsty as she used to be, but she is absolutely the lady who will gut you without blinking if you cross the wrong line. The more I write her, the more I love her. Seriously.

A fan requested that Betsy use more pink and lavender, her signature colors, and incorporate the butterfly effect more. Thorne agreed.

Thorne: We'll see what we can do.

In a recent podcast interview, Thorne also discussed his approach to pitching X-Force to editor Mark Basso. Thorne shared his preference for working with lesser-known characters rather than the major figures of the X-Men universe.

“I don’t like working with the big guns—Rogue, Cyclops, Professor X, Magneto. I’ll never pitch them. Everybody has an opinion about them, so I feel restricted. But with lesser-known characters, you have more freedom to flex. You can tell a more compelling story. For example, if I wanted to kill Forge, I could, and he’d stay dead because Marvel isn’t focusing on him. That freedom means the adventure can truly be an adventure."

When it came time to pitch X-Force, Thorne explained that he had a clear vision. “I told Mark Basso, ‘I get what your needs are. I understand it’s X-Force now, because before it didn’t even have a title.’ But I needed more characters, so I pitched him a whole bunch. In my original pitch, X-Force had 10 or 11 members because I took the term ‘force’ to mean a bigger organization. They were set up very differently. They weren’t going to be a kill squad, but more like ninjas.”

However, Thorne faced some early hurdles. “The first thing Mark said was, ‘I’ve got some bad news for you. Some of these characters we’re not doing anything with as a company right now because they’re very complex. You’d have to spend so much time on every page explaining who they are that it wouldn’t be fun. So, they’re off the table.’”

Thorne also learned that X-Force was lower on Marvel's priority list. “Mark told me, ‘You came in last in line. X-Force is the last team book we’re picking up, and all the others have their character rosters already set.’”

Despite the challenges, Thorne was able to assemble a core team he was excited about. “The final roster ended up being characters I really wanted to work with. And Mark was like, ‘Those are great. Have a ball.’ I was surprised and asked, ‘Really? Even Captain Britain?’ And they said, ‘Dude, do your thing. No one’s touching Captain Britain right now.’ I joked, ‘You know what I do to characters, right?’ and Mark just replied, ‘Yeah, don’t worry about it. Have a ball.’”

"I wanted to come up with brand new names for some of these characters," Thorne explained. "But the editors were like, ‘No, Jeff.’ And I asked, ‘Why not?’ They said it’s because, in both Captain Britain and Rachel’s case, every time a new writer comes on, people keep throwing new names at them. I was like, ‘Alright, I get it.’ So, we’ll see if we can finesse that later."