Spoilers: Psylocke is in charge of Utopia's defense and a group of stealh specialists. Mission: reconnaissance as needed, but primarily defensive (X-Men by Victor Gischler). She also remains in X-Force as long as there is work to be done (Uncanny X-Force by Rick Remender).
“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.
14 comments:
I'm liking Betsy in this. She's choosing her groups but not really taking orders from Wolverine or Cyclops. She's got enough experience that she'll work with them as long as she agrees with what they're doing.
I love the way she looks in this issue.....
Also, did everyone notice the hint about Warren's fate. Emaa says to Scott: "With Warren away, utopia needs funding."
IMO that would seem to imply that he leaves but stays alive...
Betsy resumes leadership of an X-Men team. Awesome! She only got to be leader of the emotionally destitute squad in the Outback after they suffered quite a few losses and morale was an all-time low. This will be her time to shine!
I'm confused though. I thought Kieron had implied before that Storm would lead. I'm assuming Cyke will lead Uncanny. Who will lead Adjectiveless, Storm or Psylocke or both?
I love the idea of Psylocke leading her own stealthy team. I also love it when Psylocke and Wolverine spar!
I can see her point a school is not for her she's never really been a teacher type of person but I think she still respects Logan above Scott when she says I won't be in X-Force for you! She'd do it for Logan but not for Scott. Says to me she trusts Logan more.
She's always followed her beliefs and has always done what is right and I'm glad the writer has remembered this aspect of Betsy's character.
That's what I took from it, too. She'll kill for Wolverine (however reluctantly -- for the most part), but not for Cyclops, with whom she never had such a bond.
Ah, so now the "double duty" mystery is finally solved: she is aligned with Cyclops, and just remains with X-Force because she feels it is still necessary to the world.
I loved the way Gillen portrayed her! It shows Psylocke respects both Cyclops and Wolverine (perhaps she respects Wolverine even more, as she tells Cyclops that she would never join X-Force for him), but in the end it is only her beliefs that will matter in any decision she makes.
The weird thing is that Cyclops makes her leader of his secret-ops team, yet Gischler said that Storm is the leader. Maybe Betsy will start as the leader, then will get bored and give the title to Ororo? Or maybe Storm isn't with the team at first, and will only join them later...
About the leadership thing...
I think the way it will be is that Psylocke will be the leader of small team of stelth experts while Ororo will be the overall field leader of all Scott's X-Men.
Psylocke, Hope and whoever will lead the New mutants all report to Ororo and Ororo will report to Scott.
Look at when she says, "If you want me to by a spy, I'll be a spy." I don't think she's entirely or necessarily aligned with Scott, and there's an underlying subtext when she says she will do it.
She denies both sides, which gives her the freedom to work with both. She's a part of two teams, but she's not really working for either.
Psylocke: wildcard
Re: The Uncanny X-Men # 239
Issue Date: December 1988
Story Title: Vanities
"In his lair, Sinister holds the statue of Psylocke in his hand and remarks that she was the X-Man he never had the opportunity to know, making her the wild card in the deck – outwardly the perfect, genteel, upper-class lady, and yet she faced Sabretooth on her own and survived, which was no mean feat. ‘Pity. I suspect you’d have proven a most…interesting challenge’."
Oh - also, I like that she's doing flips and stuff here. I think that's what I miss most about her: seeing her do these gorgeous impossible moves. It's almost poetic. They must keep that about her.
Her fluctuating powerset is a bit of a stretch, but one thing that needs to remain consistent: she always has to look GOOD.
Hey Rahsaan - so they actually used the term 'wild card' back then. Good to know that they're doing a solid job of preserving core things that makes her character so attractive - very grounded but also sharp, edgy. She's never really played a good 'girl scout' to the extent that being a 'boy scout' has been so deeply ingrained in Scott.
I mean, some characters have that predictable element about them, which might work for them. Some of them fit so nicely.
Psylocke is a character that raises your adrenaline. If she were a book, she'd be a page turner.
All these comments are so dead on!!
& I see not one comment about that last panel where she is holding the torch in some sort of tribal ceremony. Is it saying something about roles? How Psylocke is a torchbearer, lightbearer, behind someone's back? or something? I really like the imagery even though I can think of a few ways to look at it.
I really do miss her TK & I wish her Xforce uniform would translate across all X books because.. the girl needs a new look update as ALL OTHER CHARACTERS have received. But anyway this is cool to see her character explored again.
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