EW.com: A new dawn is breaking for Marvel’s mutants. Now that the 12-week event comic series House of X/Powers of X (by writer Jonathan Hickman and artists Pepe Larraz and R.B. Silva) has concluded, we’re starting to see what that new dawn looks like. X-Men and Marauders, the first of six initial titles from the Dawn of X line, hit stands earlier this month and showed how classic X-Men characters are adapting to new roles. Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Wolverine are hanging out on the moon (and possibly carrying on a polyamorous relationship, if certain infographics are to be believed) while Kitty Pryde is putting together a pirate crew to rescue mutants across the world and bring them to the new mutant nation-state of Krakoa.
In other words, there’s a lot going on with mutants right now. The part of Dawn of X you’re most looking forward to probably depends on your favorite element of HoX/PoX. Any readers who were particularly impressed by Apocalypse’s heel-face turn will probably be excited about Excalibur, which launches later this month from writer Tini Howard and artist Marcus To. Though Apocalypse was formerly one of the X-Men’s greatest villains — he famously took over the world in the ‘90s storyline “Age of Apocalypse” — the mutant known as “En Sabah Nur” has now joined with the X-Men on Krakoa to defend mutants rather than conquer them.
He’s a big part of the new Excalibur team, alongside Captain Britain, Jubilee, Rictor, and the recently married Rogue and Gambit. Howard describes the new Apocalypse as “a big mean man who I like a lot.”
“He’s always been concerned with the ascension of mutants and it’s not that he feels as though his work is done now. It’s quite the contrary; it’s that his work must change,” Howard tells EW. “He was a general when he had to be a general, and now that the fight has changed, his tactics have changed. We’re gonna see an Apocalypse who’s a scholar and is someone who is able to work for the greatness of mutantkind as a thinker, as an artist, as a priest. We’ll see him in these roles we’ve never seen him in before.”
Howard continues, “I’m very, very proud of what we’re doing and where we’re going with Apocalypse. I’m working very closely with Jonathan on what we think and feel about him and what his journey is. It’s really interesting to give a character like that a journey. Whether it’s a hero’s journey or whether he’s Walter White will be something we’ll see as it goes on. But he’s fighting for his home too.”
Apocalypse’s change of heart carries through his design. Out with the classic bulky blue armor with various tubes sticking out of it; in with a new, comfortable-looking outfit that gives Apocalypse the air of a sage mystic.
He’s not the only one going through a big redesign. The mantle of Captain Britain, previously held by Brian Braddock, has now passed to Brian’s sister Betsy. For years, Betsy’s consciousness was fused with the body of the assassin Kwannon; together, they were Psylocke. But they were recently-separated. Kwannon now exclusively holds the mantle of Psylocke (readers will see what she’s up to in Fallen Angels, another Dawn of X book launching next month from writer Bryan Edward Hill and artist Szymon Kudranski).
In the pages of Excalibur, Betsy is now coming into her own as Captain Britain. She’s even got an amazing new costume to show for it.
“She’s been divorced from a body that was not her own. It was important to me to acknowledge that Betsy has a lot of complicated feelings about that. Her and Kwannon will, at some point, have to have that talk,” Howard says. “But Betsy needs to stand on feet that are actually her own. When we see her at the beginning of Excalibur #1, she is kind of adrift. She’s crashing at her brother’s place. She doesn’t really know what she’s doing. She doesn’t know if Krakoa is her home too. In issue #1 we see her go from being a baby deer to a great white stag.”
Howard continues, “Developing the Captain Britain design was a lot of me sending Marcus everything from like Waterhouse paintings to anime girls with swords, like Revolutionary Girl Utena and Sophitia from Soul Calibur. We really wanted her to have this quality where it looks like she just rode in on a white horse to save the day. She’s the knight of not just Britain but Krakoa as well.”
Excalibur #1 hits stores on Oct. 30.
“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.
7 comments:
''Betsy is the knight of Britain/Otherworld and Krakoa''
Phew! My girl is an inseparable part of the X-Men.
yay! Her eyes are still purple!
Something that has always bothered me - and people here state it as fact a lot - where on panel does it say Psylocke dyed her hair purple?
Brian only comments on the fact that Betsy’s hair is now purple when he and Psylocke are reunited. Betsy brushes off this comment without explanation
The only logical assumption is that when Psylocke’s mutation kicked in it turned her eyes and hair purple. This is the only way to reconcile these traits being transferred to Kwannon’s body genetically by Spiral, and also the numerous instances of the hair of both bodies remaining fully purple when it would have been impossible for both women to have been continually dyeing their hair.
I think I read in a lot of her bios that it was dyed. Also in Sisterhood she was put in her original body then back in Kwannon's after Dazzler blew half her face off (which I still thought was a little extreme on Dazzler's part lol). They commented after that incident in Betsy's solo series that the haircolor was fake when looking at her original body. However I believe it's her real haircolor ar this point and time, as one of the first things she did when recreating her original image back after styxx "killed" her was change her naturally blonde hair to purple. Kwannon is another story. I dont know if her natural haircolor is purple or if Betsy was dying that body's haircolor as well. If it's black now then I'm guessing Betsy was dying it when she occupied that body.
@Benjamin ugh the hair talk got old. A chewing gum that snowballed many mouths.
Don't mix up Polaris hair mutation with Betsy's that is not physical. Bets loves to dye her hair purple what's the big deal? Kwannon's hair was dyed purple for the time Betsy Freaky Fridayed with her. Betsy gets turned on by having purple hair and we have to respect her thang. After Betsy got out of Kwannon Kwannon's Japanese hair are back to black.
Nobody needs a freakin PhD on genetics to read comics. Writers keep their ish together and write simple. Like when Betsy talked with Brian over coffee and cupcakes about her new purple hair and small talk.
Betsy dyes her hair starting from Captain Britain comics. At the earliest days after the body swap Betsy dyed her hair purple every day. The mourning over the loss of her real body was fresh and she wanted to look like she did before she changed. After her resurrection she dyed her hair less and less to explore Kwannon's body. X-Man has a point to mention Mystery in Madripoor. Sapphire Styx isolated Betsy in spiritual form and she had blonde hair that she colored purple with her hands. That guarantees that Betsy dyes her hair purple.
Yeah I think she did previously dye it for sure (although her hair was dark purple in Kwannon's body as well, I'm curious why you think she dyed it less and less?), I think now currently it is her natural hair color since she instantly changed her hair color when remaking her body. Which is fine with me, I think her having purple hair is great and makes her unique.
Post a Comment