Spoilers: When Iron Man and Daredevil visit the Xavier Institute to meet Kitty Pryde and discuss all their findings regarding Logan's disappearance; Tony Stark immediately notices Psylocke in her original body. Kitty explains what has happened to her in Madripoor and informs that Jean Grey is working with her. Betsy doesn't appreciate the others talking or thinking about her, and Kitty apologizes.
“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.
51 comments:
She better do something in that comic...
Along with classic psychic knife to the head, here's another classic Betsy-esque trait that has been returned - being dark and disturbed and brooding. She was like this right after Siege Perilous, which gave her a great mystique. Even before that, I think one thing that I liked about her armor & hooded cape was that it played up an inherent mystery and darkness about her character. Psylocke should always be mysterious (and not in a Jazzercise outfit).
-AO
Tony can get bent. I've got a soft spot for Matt at least.
@Alex, LOL. What’s with all the Stark hate?
@Rahsaan,
I've never been particularly fond of the Avengers outside a few members. Usually whenever I read an arc with Tony I've found his personality grating. Probably cause I came in around the whole registration/alliance story.
WTF?!
1) Why has it been tough? We were led believe she CHOSE this new-original body.
2) What's wrong with her that Jean needs to help?
3) Again, bish picked the vessel. So, why the heck is she all emo?
This is NOT the Psylocke I know. Yeah, after the Siege Perilous it made sense for her to be brooding because she had just broken free of the brainwashing and was co-infected with Logan's psychosis...
I dunno. Seems like my suspicion might be true. The "Sapphire solution" is gonna end up including a curse...
It's like this has already been played out and makes no sense for the character...
I agree with Snarky Grin. According to majority of you, this is what she wanted I hope they don't make her all gloomy now. Also, some of you have mentioned that her tk is gone. Can anyone confirm this yet? If it is gone I hope she gets a different power set to replace it. I've got my fingers crossed for enhanced strength and durability. She was a Captain Brittan at one time so its not out of the question.
@Snarky and @Mel,
I think she may be gloomy due to what she experienced in Sapphire’s mind. All those trapped souls and darkness. I don’t think she has a problem with being herself again physically. I think just enduring all that Sapphire was, which in turn forced her to re-examine all that she has been is a lot for a person to process. I think she is processing all of it.
@Alex, the only Avengers I like are Sunspot and Cannonball and Spidey, so I get it. I just was wondering if Tony had done sometbing in this comic book.
Y’all are unsympathetic AF. Let our girl relax, relate and release. LOL. She can have her kiki once she sees Brian again and he sees her!
Yes, the inner reflexion is needed. She has some stuff to think about and consider. We shall see what she is going through furthermore. We shall see what the change means to her, why and where she is going from here deeper.
I wish I could be excited about this, but this is NOT a good start. It's been two released issues with Psylocke in her new (or old?) body, and the writers are already treating her like sh*t. Again.
We learn nothing from this because her 'gloom and doom' mode is just a sounding board for Kitty and Jean... WHO IS NOT EVEN IN THE DAMNED PANELS!
Like Rahsaan said, she's processing.
For the next 30 years.
For the next 30 years, she will be dealing with this transformation. It's ill-fitting because, in creating her new body, she forgot to give herself 10 toes. Also, she's not a telekinetic anymore, which means that Malice goes into her body and she becomes Magneto's daughter. Then when she realized she killed her own father, she goes full goth, and creates a new costume that includes torn fishnets. After 15 years, she realizes Saphire Styx is trapped in her body and occasionally takes over to drink people. That's why Carol Danvers is stuck in her head. When Kwannon pulls Carol out of her, Psylocke realizes her secondary mutation is creating neon jazzercise costumes molecule by molecule.
-AO
While I hope this isn't her only scene in the issue I figure that while she chose to be in her real body herself, it still is a big adjustment.
I think while writers over the years have played with her sense of identity & with Betsy seemingly ok being in Kwannon, there was always temptation to get her old self back. She just never gave in because it was offered by enemies with strings attached.
While she seemed ok in the heat of battle during Madripor, the end of the issue had them note she was processing a lot.
A good writer could play on that. She's probably going through many test to see if it's actually her, what her powers are now, her physicality. I've been thinking what if she created her body from the last point she remembered it? Without the martial arts skills? What if she has the memory of being able to be an able combatant (depending on the writers) but actually has to retrain her body to get into that condition?
I'd imagine it has being an athlete who's coming back from a really bad accident or time off. The muscle memory is there but the actual application is gone & going to take time to get back.
That Elektra suit leotard was definitely something a Richard Simmons background extra would wear. Let’s all jazzersize. LOL.
@Alex, all good points. we should recall that Psylocke was not exactly out if shape pre-Hand. All the X-Men trained physically and were extremely athletic. We saw her training with the likes of Rogue and Colussus in the Outback. Granted, she wasn’t as skilled as Kwannon in fighting, but she wasn’t exactly a couch potato in terms of athleticism. We should all recall that.
Her Elektra suit made sense because both ladies were students or disciples or whatever of The Hand. The Hand got the inspiration from Carol Danvers, who had the EXACT same costume, including sash, minus lightning bolt and stripey thingies. She took them shopping at the mall where Jubilee found them, and they added the stripey thingies on their calves to her thighs. Then, when Tom Ford made both men and women wear thongs on the catwalk in the 90s, Spiral magically transformed the iconic Jim Lee / Carol Danvers suit into a designer 90s Tom Ford thong, only drawn poorly by 90s artists. Psylocke never forgave them for de-hotting her since no artist could make her look as amazing as Jim Lee did.
Richard Simmons is Mojo, and he's actually the creator of Betsy's current costume. He wanted something for TV, and since Jessica Jones is a Netflix hit, he decided to make her Jewel.
Jem is truly amazing.
-AO
Hater.
Give her a mask and Psylocke will look like Diamondback...
I don't mind Betsy leisure wear in the panels. I will always hate Kitty's uniforms though. She's been around for decades & no artist can give her a definitive look.
I hate how Kitty is there with the door open and showcasing a troubled "friend." And then to talk like that in front of her?
Gawdamnit I am ready for Psylocke to just psycho blast all of them out of the fucking room.
I don't know. I hate these particular panels and what is being said.
"I can hear lots of things." Maybe her TP is stronger now? I HOPE it's not her having to readjust to using her power after she just used that same power to make herself an entirely new body...
We'll see.
Writing is bad.
Man, this page pisses me off. It's rude!
When Revanche died and Psylocke's "full" telepathic powers were returned, Betsy was having trouble keeping out other people's thoughts.
It's clear from the dialogue here that Betsy is having the same problem now.
She is probably just adjusting to her new body, and needs to set-up the proper telepathic screens again to dampen other people's thoughts.
Remember, telepaths in the Marvel Universe continually hear the thoughts of others and need to continually screen them out as much as they are able to not go mad (and yes this is still cannon even though there hasn't been a writer who understood or was able to write a telepath in the last twenty years).
haha! love ya, bish
-AO
Who me? LOL.
@Vigmed, you are right. Kitty and the Avenhers were disgusting in this scene. No common sense or manners.
@Benjamin, psychic shields makes a lot of sense. I didn’t even think of that. That couoled with the trauma of being soul-sucked by Styx and having to relive every facet if her life and seeing all the trauma experienced by the other souls inside of Styx would all be a lot. It would be interesting to see a therapy session with her and Jean.
Also,I just realized something. Recall how all of us thought it was bad writing that the one Femme Fatale called Betsy “Tea and Crumpets” before she even said a word. It may not have been bad writing. Recall just before Sapphire was obliterated, everyone in the vicinity telepathically heard Psylocke tellling Sapphire that she was at the end of her line and that her days of killing people were done and that Sapphire exploded and Betts was there big as life. That villain probably heard Betsy in her head too like everyone else did. Recall, Neena was like, “Betsy, is that you??” before Sapphire started exploding.
@AO, where is my No-Prize?
bahaha, yes you!
your prize is a free makeover at Mojo and Spiral's body shop that will keep you young for 30 years, and a jazzercise session with Betsy in her new aerobics outfit, for you and two friends.
-AO
Thank you! What a splendid gift! My last visit to the Wildways did me a world of good. It is how I stay so effervescent despite being alive four decades now. I look forward to my touch-up with them.
Also, I would love to see a conversation between Betsy and Rachel one day regarding their times at Spiral’s shop!!
Oh, joy: https://uncannyxmen.net/characters/spiral/biography/page/0/2
yep I think you are correct
I posted this in a thread on Psychic Butterfly on Facebook.
But before I start, not all Telepaths in the Marvel universe constantly hear thoughts. Some block it out, and have good control over that. Psylocke was of that type. While Jean had to focus a lot, Emma also was able to easily block out the thoughts of others. Like she said in an older 80's issue. The mind is like a radio, change the channel and you hear nothing, others static, and some just make way to much noise, but you can always turn volume to zero.
Here's my post.
So in today's issue of Dead Ends. There's an interesting page with Psylocke, that I think is very interesting, and long overdue. She's not shown or being portrayed at her best or strongest. Which I LOVE. Here's why and Context.
She's been through SERIOUS traumatic experiences in a relatively short time. Many people fail to realize that comic time and real-world time is not the same thing.
One thing we never got to see was how she felt being stripped of who she is in any real way. When she had to choose to give up her bionic eyes, it led to a really deep and well-remembered scene of her being naked on top of Doug.
But it wasn't her nudity that was the point, it was her struggle to give up her sight, or try her best to deal with the hand the "Devil" gave her. She had a moment of weakness and vulnerability was showed stoicism.
In this book she is shown to not be the strong powerful Psychic we've seen over in the pages of Mystery in Madripoor, here' she still seems a bit bothered, angry, and conflicted. A strong female character or any character has to have the option to be shown weak, not just defeated by a Villain, but in her personal life.
In Comics terms, she's been an X-man for less than Seven years, spent about 3-4 in a body not hers by birth. Has been killed and Resurrected 4 times. She has a Strong fear of death, and of being manipulated by others.
We have to see whats in her head and learn more, in order to appreciate the woman.
She's a strong woman for sure, but she has to be able to be seen in a not strong state. You just can't be a badass 24/7. Psylocke is literally showing all the signs of PTSD. She had it when she was addicted to killing, she had it when she fought Slaymaster. She had it in her mini, when she thought she was gonna die. Wolverine questioned her about this thing she has with death, etc.
She has to be given the option of being weak, in order to grow. She has to face it and deal with it, in the way she chooses. I really want a mini with her, Logan, Storm, and Jubilee. She has a LOT to deal with.
Psylocke has PTSD. She can be weak. Let her.
Listen, just because some of you like Psylocke in her original body better than the one she’s been in for 30 years does NOT mean you have to pretend this $h!+ is being written well. This is the textbook definition of rehashing and the worst part is it’s not even interesting.
This page in Dead Ends basically serves one purpose: to give ham-fisted exposition to everyone that didn’t know about Psylocke’s change because it occurred in an otherwise inconsequential and unremarkable mini.
“Some dude” I 100% agree. I stopped buying the mini after issue 1. Gonna wait til uncanny X-men starts and possibly return of wolverine mini to start buying again. Anyone know if the infinity war mini is any good?
The mini did suck, but her ONE page is not a step backward. I get it that some of you don't like nuance. Don't like characters being shown at less than 100%, but because you don't like it, doesn't mean it's bad writing. You just don't like seeing a character you thought you loved in a not great place.
Writing like art is subjective.
Personally I don't care about costumes, those can change. I like both versions of psylocke, but I think it's been too long in the other, changing back now, I feel like the brooding character.
But I think this might be interesting in that the original Psylocke was not a a stone cold killer. And even though she was powerful and defeated some big guns, I felt like her conscious, and maybe her body could not cut loose enough to protect those she loved, she used her powers passively from a distance most of the time, like she started to to immediately after she returned to her original body, mind tricks from a distance. In the other body, she was kind of wearing a costume that allowed her to hide and to do things that maybe she would not do (even though she could) in her original body, Im taking psychologically more than physically. So maybe her brooding is either her coming to terms with all the killing she did, because now she has to look herself in the face and come to terms with it, literally and not blame the kwannon body because it was really Betsy doing all the killing. And maybe she feels that she is back to a place where she no longer protect others again the way she wants to, no more action junkie and will be relegated to a suit of armor and standing on the sideline and mind blast people, watching the others be the scrapper heroes who are in the fray. Maybe she's putting down her sword and and does not like it.
"She's a strong woman for sure, but she has to be able to be seen in a not strong state. You just can't be a badass 24/7."
I couldn't have said it any better, Tazirai. Yes, I don't think she's brooding because she doesn't like returning to her original appearance, it's just that experiencing death like she did (again) must be a really hard deal - and that's just the last straw in a long list of difficult experiences she's had in a while.
Hopefully she'll be able to recover by the time the new UXM book starts, but for now, it's only natural that she takes some time to deal with her feelings.
(as for the intrusion of her privacy, as much as I dislike Kitty, she did realize what she did was wrong and apologized to Betsy, so I can't criticize her... and I also can't blame Stark for being surprised after seeing an acquaintance looking unnaturally different)
FSaker that was well put. I can totally see how this whole ordeal would make her need a bit of time to adjust. This kinda reminded me of when Buffy came back from the dead and what she was like. I am just impatient to see what the final product will be (powers and personality) Asian ninja psylocke is pretty much the only Psylocke I have known. I’ve read back issues but the only issue I found her memorable in was where she fought Sabertooth. So if she was an awesome character back then then I missed it or didn’t get it so I am impatiently waiting to see what role on the team she will play now. Part of me hopes this change actually makes her a way darker character than she’s ever been in the other body. That would be an amazing character choice in my opinion, but I doubt the writers and editors have the balls to do that.
While it for sure does serve that utilitarian purpose Some Dude mentioned, it also reflects major PTSD, as mentioned by Tazirai. I would say you're both right, in that regard. She just got killed again and is in a new body again. Plus, she has to wear that jazzercise outfit. PTSD.
I LOVE Some Dude's comments. They crack me up, and I always want to chime in and say, "Yeah!"
Rahsaan, that link you posted shows a very traumatizing panel of a limp Betsy lying on the ground against a wall. So sad. (But then she got an awesome makeover and kicked ass, so win.)
I also really like Tazirai's idea for a mini. If it were up to me, I'd have one issue with that golden trifecta, Psylocke-Wolverine-Jubilee, one issue with Dazzler, one issue with the telepaths (I like her with Rachel for some reason), =one issue where the Outback members that went through the Siege Perilous and lost their memories takes her back to the site where she had to push everyone through the Siege Perilous to save their lives from the Reavers, and finally, one issue where her and Kwannon get to know each other and hang out like Storm & Yukio, and then suddenly they disappear, leading to the next adventure of where are the whereabouts of Psylocke and Revanche??
Then one issue where they bring back Slaymaster so she can tear out his eyes with her fingers in a very Quentin Tarantino way, and laughs demonically like Shoshanna in The Inglorious Basterds where all her enemies are gathered in a fiery room on the Astral Plane.
And then one issue where she and Meggan do Jazzercise in their off-the-shoulder outfits while her brother just hangs out watching Jessica Jones on Netflix.
:D
-AO
OMG, I like the way MellyMel thinks. MellyMel, I too lean towards Psylocke in Kwannon's body, and I too like the idea of a dark Psylocke.
While I did find original Psylocke memorable at the time, for me, it was in such a way that you saw both her vulnerability and her strength, and what drew you in was her inner struggle to develop into her own identity and you wanted to see her realize her potential (Chris Claremont in his prime was an amazing writer that could totally convey that inner struggle and make you empathize with what the character was going through.)
So for me, while I completely understand the reason for putting her back in her new body, it also comes with a sense of profound loss of some great things as well, and is not a perfect solution. There are both elements - there are mixed elements about the whole thing that I don't think will ever be truly resolved, but they really do need to both redevelop her and redevelop Revanche both, otherwise they're only contributing to the sloppiness that created all the loose ends and would be leaving a lot of potential on the table.
-AO
Thanks Anonymous. I like to think I’m a writer sometimes haha. I think allowing Kwannon to come back made things a lot more complicated when that part of Psylocke’s story was already put to bed. I just hope the writers have something amazing planned with that and that they’re able to pull it off
@MellyMel, I thought about the dark season six of Buffy too a few days ago when reading this, so I’m glad you mentioned it. I hesitated too as I thought some of our fellow Psy-Crew would equate Buffy’s tenure in heaven to Elizabeth’s time in Kwannon’s body, which I think would be fallacious. While Buffy missed being at peace, what depressed her so much was the reality of all the unresolved issues that being alive brought back for her:
Joyce is dead.
Dad is MIA.
Dawn needs parents.
House mortgage needs to be paid.
Giles is gone.
Everyone looks to me as the most grounded person, so much so that they brought me back from the dead as they all need me to keep their lives stable.
And on top of all this. I still need to save the world.
A lot of people hate season six, but I love its dark overtones and all the “adulting” that the Scooby Gang has to do. I would have been if season five had been the final season, but having Buffy realizebthe next stage if her journey was necessary and the pains that cane with it was great.
Season 7 on the other hand... The pits!!!
Overall, season 6 with its adult themes and its sadness and darkness reminded me a lot more of the Angel series which in the latter two seasons of Buffy, I preferred over Buffy.
@Rahsaan— Yeah I instantly thought of Buffy Season 6 which I initially disliked because it was hard to watch her go through all the shit she had to go through. I think that season was about a lack of control of her circumstances, her finances, her sister, the friends etc. she only had to be the slayer before, now she has to be the slayer and because all the buffers have been removed, an adult. I think maybe Psylocke being in a strangers body was a buffer or escape for her as well. Though slightly different, there are a lot of themes in both these instances. They both involved crossing a new threshold and play with the idea of resurrection although Psylocke’s being a little less straightforward. Botha have these characters have been built up layer by layer over the years and now the stripping back of some of those layers feels tedious and like it’s gonna be a little hard to watch. I personally would like a lot of this process for Psylocke to happen off panel. I’m hoping a little story time has passed when uncanny x-men starts. Unlike a tv show things don’t move as quickly in comics unfortunately
@Melly, one of the best scenes from season 6 is Anya deciding to go back to the dark side after Xander leaves her at the alter.
I think my favorite season of the entire Buffyverse is Angel, Season 5.
@Rahsaan —Yeah that was sad. That whole season was a low point for most of the characters. They weren’t afraid to allow them to be fuck ups that season. My favorite season was 5 because I LOVED Glory. She was a fun villain
Season 5 is the best Buffy season. (I’m not including Angel seasons.). “The Body” and “The Gift” are really great episodes. Especially, “The Body.” I had a very similar experience to Buffy’s with the sudden death of a parent the year before that originally aired and all of what was displayed in that episode was spot-on. While I love season 6, if the show had ended with “The Gift,” I would have been sad, but content.
And I agree that Glorificus was the best Buffy big bad.
Please stop discussing Buffy in a Psylocke thread.
While I love that Psylocke is even included in the present new universe, there’s a sense of unknown doom again with bringing her into yet another body that has no armor, a separation from Kwannon who we do not know of her moveset and disposition,
What’s the point if they are going to yet blow up one of the bodies
Why couldn’t they just stop playing around and make a full-blown series, detailing her struggle, mini here, mini appearances there, a ne series is demanding to be explored
This whole story is a waste of time!
If they aren't going to undo what they did, then send Betsy away and let Kwannon take up the title of Psylocke. Let her somehow retain the powers.
Don’t be silly, poppet. Kwannon can never be Psylocke. She never was named by Mojo. She can be Revanche or whatever the hell else she wants instead.
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