CBR: During Marvel's Next Big Thing panel at Comic-Con International in San Diego, C.B. Cebulski and Johnathan Hickman had quite a bit to reveal about the publisher's new line of X-Men comics.
Among the biggest reveals was the news that Betsy Braddock will trade in her Psylocke mantle to become the new Captain Britain. Meanwhile, Kwannon will be taking on the role of Psylocke.
Cebulski compared Betsy's transition to Carol Danvers taking on the mantle of Captain Marvel in Kelly Sue DeConnick's 2012 Captain Marvel run. Betsy's brother, Brian Braddock has long been the name associated with the Captain Britain moniker but once the new Excalibur series drops, it's Betsy who will take the name.
The Excalibur series has strong ties to the Captain Britain title as it was Brian who was on the team in earlier years. Just recently, Braddock and his wife, Meggan (also an Excalibur alum) were a part of an Excalibur reunion of sorts in Leah Williams and Alitha Martinez's X-Men Gold Annual #1.
It's worth noting that Betsy briefly held the Captain Britain mantle before, but there is no indication regarding how the transition occurs this time.
Kwannon, on the other hand, is the Japanese woman with whom Betsy swapped minds with back in Uncanny X-Men #256. The character reemerged to the scene when Betsy got her old body back and most recently, she's been seen in writer Matthew Rosenberg's Uncanny X-Men run.
Written by Tini Howard and drawn by Marcus To, Excalibur #1 hits shelves on October 2019. Kwannon, on the other hand, will appear as Psylocke in Fallen Angels #1. Written by Bryan Edward Hill and drawn by Szymon Kudranski, Fallen Angels #1 hits stores in November 2019.
“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.
37 comments:
Elizabeth has finally self-actualized. A woman of her own making literally. Someone here (I apologize for not recollecting who... no shade, I promise. 💜) said that Carol ruined the Caption Marvel name. I disagree. Captain Marvel would have remained in obscurity if the man still had it. It sucks that Monica/Spectrum had it stolen from her by Carol but that’s a whole other story. I. look forward to Betsy as Captain Braddock. Hell, MCU might now make her the Agent Braddock we heard mentioned in Endgame.
As for poor Kwannon, I’m not ecstatic that she is now the Psylocke, but Betsy had that name forced on her, so I can totally understand why she may be done with it. As for going by Revanche, that was the name Kwannon chose when she was confused and thought she was Betsy and was hellbent on destroying our Betsy, so for her to call herself “Revenge” again seems like it would keep her traumatized. She should Umarekawaru, which means reborn in Japanese.
Now that Elizabeth is finally self-actualized on every front, I feel our next mission should be to support this movement. It would be nice to finally have an actor play Ororo who (both are equally important):
1. Actually looks like Ororo.
2. Actually can act.
No shade.
https://www.themarysue.com/kiki-layne-going-after-storm/amp/
I love Storm and I miss her being a leader and important. We all remember Jordan White saying Kitty was his fave so no surprise shes still leading.. ugh and storm no less.
Only thing I'm happy about regarding Storm rn is her amazing costume survived HoX I love it
I fear now that we'll get stuck with Psylocke on the xmens future plots and Captain Marvel (Betsy) will slowly stray away from X-Men and into obscurity. U.u
This is not good for Betsy.
All characters strong enough to establish a legacy remained a focus for marvel. Carol had an iconic look and story as ms marvel and had it deconstructed in favor of her rather iconic run as cap marvel.
Hulk, halkeye, wolverine, thor, ironman, capt america... have marvel failed any of them by passing their titles on to new diverse characters? This is a pattern of success in the company. Have some faith
@unknown I hope so , I just wish she doesn't go away from mutant titles X-Men.
@Finn this is an obituary for Psylocke. By Psylocke I mean Betsy Braddock and her status in the X-Men community.
The Psylocke name was the only connection she had to the X-Men franchise and American fans will not accept, recognize or care for her as Captain Britain therefore she will fade away gradually. Kwannon establishing herself as new Psylocke will start appropriating all of Betsy's powers and attitude.
Give an inch and they take a mile.
For example this blog is dedicated to Psylocke Betsy and her origins. From now on people who read the new comics will think it's about Kwannon. Once more a fine mess is created unless people at Marvel decide to give Kwannon her own identity.
I wonder if Betsy becoming Captain Britain will be shown during HoX/PoX or if it will only happen in Excalibur.
I agree mostly, but I will say this case is a little different because Kwannon looks exactly how Betsy did when she was in that body (although she seems to be drawn different now. But as far as the comic world, she is supposed to look like how Betsy used to look) . In addition to that she appears to have the same powers as Betsy did then, same costume Betsy wore, and now the same codename. I don't think all 3 of those happened in the other cases, I could be wrong though. It is to much copycat for me. I wish Kwannon had her own empathic powerset and her own costume. Then I would like this more. I'm fine with Betsy being Captain Britain (although I liked the name Psylocke to be honest), but iffy on this Kwannon stuff. It Kwannon is using Betsy's signature powers (psychic knife), and her old "iconic" costume while looking like Betsy did for years, I still don't see this as her getting her own identity completely free of Betsy or vice versa. I will hold out judgement until it happens though.
This blog will be updated once Excalibur launches 😇
I totally see your point XMan. I think the reason this case is different is not so much due to Psylocke now being a legacy title but more of Marvel behind closed doors saying "Okay how do we keep popular sexy Psylocke but keep it PC and without throwing out Betsy Braddock??" And this idea was created lol
Not justifying it just stating this is logically what happened. Its business they are rebranding and instead of trashing a money maker sexy ninja Psylocke they kept her as is and essentially created an entirely new character out of Betsy. New look, new powers etc while Kwannon (god bless her) was given the knife, butterfly, costume, codename and purple hair basically everything casual fans recognize as "Psylocke"
And I just have this awful feeling Betsy will lose her psychic powers somehow to Kwannon. I think they'll write it off as her TP is fading in the new body (could explain why she wasnt very powerful TP wise in Disseambled) and claim her TP was left rooted in Kwannons body hence why Kwannon has the butterfly signature and this sudden badass telepath I guess she needed no training with her powers?? Lol
It's just a shame Betsy couldnt at least keep her unique visual of the butterfly it's all Kwannon now.
@randybear I didn't expect my obituary comment to make people so pessimistic about Betsy's case. If the fans keep on supporting Betsy the fervent way Rahsaan does, everything will turn alright for Betsy and the blog.
My concerns remain until the X-Men line relaunches this Fall. If Betsy isn't written as a Mary Sue type who claimed the Captain Britain mantle to become preachy, lose her character and powers in the process, only then the endeavor will be successful.
Jaime o dont think anyone is being grateful influenced specifically by yourself
What you need to realize is this is a massive change for Betsy biggedt since the body swap. She is losing her codename, power signatures/powers, colors [purple and pink now Kwannons] and is being cemented in a different part of the universe away from the core XMen. So naturally we are nervous it's good to be optimistic of a new creative team or simply costume change but these are massive changes that are very permanent and we still have to hope it's all executed correctly by the writer.
Sorry about the typos! Wrote that on my phone while at my desk 😅
@randybear it really is a big change for Betsy. It's very soon to prejudge Betsy lose touch with the X-Men. She has Rogue, Gambit, Jubilee and Rictor to help her with her new status and life. Quite the number of mutants and good friends. She has been Captain Britain in the past and I believe now she won't relive the same bad fate losing her eyes or anything else on her body, especially her whole body. I wouldn't jump to conclusions that she loses her powers because they are mutant and she still is a mutant at her core. Her telekinetic sword and butterfly mark on the covers is assurance for that. What is helpful are Betsy fans who have access to social media to assist the creators trying to figure out Captain Betsy. Their feedback is invaluable to the new creative team. Don't worry about typos it's all perfect. 😉
Th lavender hair, purple/violet an pink BELONGS to Besty NOT Kwannon. I got faith they will make changes to our new Psylocke. Betsy is our tough British warrior queen she can still use those colors and the Union Jack colors as well. I'm going to accept them BOTH equally and individually. There is so much I can say but its getting me a headache...
I'm really enjoying this conversation Jaime.
Also where did you see the butterfly on Betsy?? It would put me more at ease lol
Renegade, but as CB she now is only available to have a costume in the Union Jack colors I don't think there ever been a CB suit that deviated its colors right?
With that said Kwannon will keep purple pink in her costumes as Bersy is limited now to red blue and white in her costume going forward.
@randybear on the POX cover Betsy in Asrar's costume uses her trademark butterfly effect. It's safe to say that POX and HOX are a transition to Excalibur therefore Marvel hasn't forgotten that Betsy is the Otherworld psychic butterfly and Kwannon is an empathic ninja.
Kwannon can't steal Betsy's powers because they were born different. Betsy is an official Omega mutant and Kwannon a low level empath so she can't copy Betsy's powers, only a tiny fraction.
@Renegade X absolutely right Betsy's trademarks are the lavender purple hair, pink tones on her costumes and butterfly effect. It is set in Claremont stone and canon.
On the other hand if they start dying Kwannon's hair it would be Japanese shaming tactics. Let her hair mirror a Japanese woman's natural black. That's why Kwannon exists to increase the Asian diversity.
Well said @Jaime Braz, 100% agree.
Theres a lot of things Kwannon shouldn't be able to claim but here we are.
The covers are variants and more homage to the characters i dont think it confirms she will he a telepath as CB.
I hope I'm wrong!
I agree! Plus a lot of people would color her hair black when she was in the Asian body it wasnt always consistently colored dark purple and the casual ninja fans probably dont care if she has black or purple hair so I would highly prefer editorial made sure Kwannon stayed with just jet black hair
Psi Girl nail in the head.
And if they're going to push Betsy as the next Captain Marvel type reinvention then I bet they will be rebooting Excalibur or a Captain Britain series ad nauseam because they are going to "MAKE IT HAPPEN"
I normally just lurk on here, but I too, think the Capt. Britain change isn’t a good one. Betsy IS Psylocke. It’s the name that she is most associated with, regardless of what body she’s been in. Changing that I fear will have a largely negative impact on her future accessibility as a character people can remember.
I know the whole body swap issue has been talked about to death, but now that she’s in her British body, there’s no reason she can’t continue the Psylocke mantle and maintain her abilities and trademark as a fierce combatant. She realized her dream of being a warrior years ago —she doesn’t need an identity change to go along with that.
And despite Mojo christening Betts with the Psylocke codename, it’s the one she’s adopted and has been embraced with. There were opportunities to change that decades ago. Doing it now just further muddies up her public persona in my opinion.
As for Kwannon, I’m fine with her sticking around, but give her her own identity and brand her as a hero in her own right, if that’s the goal. By having her take on the Psylocke name and not change much else, Marvel is simply trying to continue with the 90s version of Psylocke that has become so popular with the larger audience. The problem with that, is it’s just not Betsy.
Is anyone advocating for Kwannon to adopt her own identity? I just see positivity on social media in regards to Kwannon since Fallen Angels revealed
@randy, does Kwannon actually have the butterfly power signature? I don’t recall seeing her display it; only the knife and mind reading.
@Jaime and @randy, yeah. I plan to stan her always. She was my favorite X-Man since I firta met her in New Mutants Annual 2, and it appears after much craziness and gimmicks, she is finally becoming the character I always saw she could be. I think the key to this is us as her fans supporting this new volume of Excalibur. It actually sounds like one of the three most interesting books of the lineup. It and New Mutants and X-Men.
Also, I disagree with the statement that her team is comprised of throwaway characters. (I forget who said that above.... sorry for not @ing them). At least half this team, are beloved X-Men who many of us wanted to see fully return to team books. I think this has serious potential. Also, I would argue that Carol has only become more popular as Captain Marvel while being fully associated with the Avengers.
I know some folks were concerned about all of Marvel’s other media, but for we all know Betsy might end up being the Agent Braddock that was mentioned in Endgame who we all thought was Brian. That might be one of the ways, she and the mutants are introduced, and if it is, she will be on the map to all audiences; not just us loyal readers. I will remain hopeful and wait to see what happens and I plan to add Excalibur to my pull
list. I’m sure my dealer already did as he knows I love Bets.
As for Kwannon, to be perfectly honest, Fallen Angels with her, Laura, and Nathan sounds like the least interesting of the books. I am still holding out hope they they will give her a personality and identity, but seeing these three ultra violent characters out for revenge yet again makes my eyes glaze, so if any of these books are busts with long-time readers, I would think it would be that one before the others. I could be wrong. I hope all these books succeed.
Just remind myself of reading Excalibur with the Shadow-x, Avalon, Lionheart, teaming up with New Exiles...i love that whole series.
@Psi Girl, I meant no offense at all. I didn't recall who said what I thought were "throwaway characters" as this is s along thread. Also, I apologize that I misstated your sentiment. I assure you that it was not deliberate. Not my style at all.
We can all choose to be fearful of Bets’ future or actually support this new title and see what happens. I actually believe that was when Marvel went to hell in the 90s as 00s by being too concerned about licensing and the masses who don’t even read the books. If the long time fans have who have supported this character from day one before all the madness with body swaps, crimson dawn, killing addiction, etc. give this all a chance, I think it will all work out. And even if the book is canceled, they’ll try again until they find the right vehicle that fits who the character is now. Anyone who confuses Kwannon as being always Psylocke is not someone the new Excalibur is marketed to anyway, so I wouldn’t worry about that. 💜
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