Spoilers: Dr. Doom rules over Battleworld while its many territories are governed by local Barons under Doom's law. The nation Higher Avalon is ruled by Baron James Braddock from the House Braddock, consisted of Brian, Meggan and Betsy. Both Baron James Braddock of Higher Avalon and Baron Sinister of Bar Sinister are brought before Dr. Doom. The House Braddock accuses Baron Sinister of discord and allying himself with Baron Hyperion of Utopolis in opposition to Higher Avalon. Sinister chooses to settle the dispute in the arena, but against Brian Braddock instead of James. Sinister almost kills Brian, whose life is spared by Dr. Doom himself. Doom tells him that Higher Avalon sits below the Kingdom of Manhattan, whose Silent Chambers is used by heretics to cast Doom from his throne, and demands to know where it is located. Brian says he knows nothing about it, but James intervenes and admits his acknowledgment of the place. Dr. Doom makes Brian the new Baron of Higher Avalon and sentences James Braddock to the Shield, the last line of defense against the hordes to the south of Battleworld. Zombie armies, Ultron robots primed only for death, and the Annihilation Wave.
“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.
8 comments:
Awesome. Plot is overly-convoluted, like poorly written fan-fiction already. I guess when you're making billions off movie rights, you don't have to worry about your core product or audience.
Pretty much. Marvel will make a ton of money at the expense of telling a good story. People will get punched, and solving the dilemma will involve punching somethin. Because Marvel has contempt for us readers. But they've done their job by reaching the action over thinking crowd and go on to their next vapid event. The only books I plan to buy are Inferno, because Outback armour Psylocke, and if there's a book for Bar Sinister, because pink fluffy Psylocke. That's it.
I disagree, I'm really enjoying secret wars, it's one of the most thought out and exciting marvel events in years and it's only just beginning. The plot is a bit convoluted but Hickman is more of a cerebral writer, I don't mind it when the comics I read make me think.I too wish Psylocke would have more of a role in it though. But, I'm not sure how many tie ins I'll be buying, not many have have grabbed my attention, but we'll see.
I agree with @JJfroud, Hickman's story have a slow development - however, unlike many other current Marvel writers, his stories do usually have some logical development and satisfying endings (his Fantastic Four run was amazing, and Infinity was probably the only interesting event in years - too bad that the X-Men had no participation in it). Sure, he's also the guy who put a polar bear in Antarctica in AvX, so there is a chance that Secret Wars can be disappointing, but we'll have to wait and see.
As for the tie-ins, my first choice is definitely Giant-Size Little Marvel: AvX. We already know Psylocke appears in at least one panel of the first issue (hopefully she'll appear more than that), Skottie Young's art is cute and funny and the premise seems to be hilarious - I wouldn't be surprised if this tie-in turns out to be a much better story than AvX was. I would be interested in Inferno, but I didn't like the composition of the main team (Colossus, Nightcrawler, Domino and Boom-Boom), and Psylocke may die in the first issue there. Masters of Kung Fu could be interesting now that the writer hinted that she may appear in issue #3, as long as she doesn't appear there just to job to Elektra, Shang-Chi or someone else.
@Fsaker, Sadly I think she will "die" first issue also. Which is another reason i despise how Marvel treats her.
Even the High Avalon Psylocke who is part of the Avalonian royalty, got to do absolutely nothing. I mean she showed up and wasn't there anymore. I'm happy for people that want the silly ninja action stuff, but the girls is a BRADDOCK, Heir to Avalon/Otherworld. Why don't writers treat her that way. Brian is all over the place in multiple books, with a huge presence. Jamie came back from the dead and went out in a blaze of glory. Betsy one panel. Megan had more panel time than she did. Drives me nuts. I wish people would get over her just being the "hot asian" Ninja, with pink stabby stuff. She is royalty, chick should be out there as much as her brothers. She needs to do something important. We should advocate more for that over cool fights. Emma became what Betsy should have been, makes me bonkers. All style and lack of substance.
@Fsaker, Sadly I think she will "die" first issue also. Which is another reason i despise how Marvel treats her.
Even the High Avalon Psylocke who is part of the Avalonian royalty, got to do absolutely nothing. I mean she showed up and wasn't there anymore. I'm happy for people that want the silly ninja action stuff, but the girls is a BRADDOCK, Heir to Avalon/Otherworld. Why don't writers treat her that way. Brian is all over the place in multiple books, with a huge presence. Jamie came back from the dead and went out in a blaze of glory. Betsy one panel. Megan had more panel time than she did. Drives me nuts. I wish people would get over her just being the "hot asian" Ninja, with pink stabby stuff. She is royalty, chick should be out there as much as her brothers. She needs to do something important. We should advocate more for that over cool fights. Emma became what Betsy should have been, makes me bonkers. All style and lack of substance.
@Tazirai
Yes, she could be shown as more than "the purple-haired ninja chick from the X-Men". That's one of the things I loved in Remender's UXF: he showed Psylocke in all her complexity, with her ninja skills, yes, but also her background with the Braddocks (she even got to wear a Captain Britain uniform for an entire story arc!), her troubled mind, her difficulty to decide if it was worthy to become a killer to save the world... and I know many people hated her romance with Fantomex, but I really enjoyed it and hope that someday he can be "fixed" (that is, nu-Fantomex, Cluster and Weapon XIII being merged into a single body again) and maybe become a couple with Betsy again (or at least with both leaving the bitterness behind and becoming friends).
I guess the problem nowadays is that the Marvel Universe is too crowded, and unless a character is one of the top dogs (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man - or, considering only the X-verse, Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Xavier, Beast and Jean) or happen to be written by someone who really likes him or her (like Remender clearly loved Betsy), he/she will just get some action scenes or minor dialogues and that's it. It's not just her problem, it's happening to most characters: the same Emma Frost you mention hardly did anything noteworthy after AvX was concluded. Even Kitty Pryde, who got a huge push when she was placed as the "new Professor X" to the Original 5 X-Men, eventually became a minor character in ANXM and what happened to her by the end of Black Vortex was horrible.
Maybe when Secret Wars is over, Psylocke will get luckier. There is a rumor that Sam Humphries may replace Bendis in the main X-books, and we know he loves Betsy - although he also did some very questionable things with her in his UXF run...
I think your outrage over a simple cameo is a bit over the top. Secret Wars didn't focus on the Braddocks. The Braddocks were merely used to depict how Battleworld works. It isn't the time and place for Hickmann to focus on Psylocke all of the sudden for the sake of it. She's not a main character in the event. It's the best we're going to have for the following motnhs until the X-Books are relaunched by the end of the year.
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