Wednesday, October 14, 2020

X of Swords Handbook - Captain Britain (Betsy Braddock) Profile

17 comments:

Psi-Girl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
FSaker said...

It's a good summary of her story. And to be fair, she did revel in Kwannon's martial arts expertise; even Claremont in the early 1990s showed her thinking that a couple of times (granted, back then it was still supposed to be Betsy's original body, but still). But at least they didn't blame her for the body swap, which would be stupid as 1. she never asked for it, and 2. Kwannon "stole" her body just like Betsy "stole" hers.

Hill's depiction of the whole body swap fiasco was a huge factor for all this discussion, as he distorted the notion of how things happened. Marvel urgently needs to have both women have a conversation in a story and acknowledge neither of them was at fault for what happened and decide how they will move on from this point.

Nate X said...

They really put on some effort! Betsy had 6 pages dedicated to herself, the most out of everyone covered here. Even Wolverine had 5 pages.

randybear said...

Damn that went in! They mentioned so much obscure stuff. Im impressed the xofficw remembers even half that stuff lool

Wells and Howard claim Betsy's hair is natural purple but the guide says its unknown if still dyes lol

Also interesting that Brian and betsys grandad is presumed dead and not confirmed. I wonder if that will come into play at some point? I'm dying for Howard to dive into more or Braddocks ancestry.

Eoleo Glebatruss said...

A wild association of the life of Elizabeth Braddock to that of Ulysses that is not hyperbolic to make. Her biography triggered the parallelism.

Elizabeth is the deceptive type of hero who uses her intelligence and strategic ingenuity to solve and overcome physical and mental barricades. She does so effortlessly in versatility like flowing water.
In many stories, she invented Trojan Horses to subdue evil people and organisations, done so with mind manipulations to fool the smartest of villains into her traps, so that they do not notice the deception Betsy created for them.
Famous examples are the Sabretooth, Mister Sinister, the Mandarin, the Goblin Queen, the Shadow King, Cassandra Nova, Legion and oftentimes her fellow X-Men; only when they fall to the dark side and to personal vices.
An outsider who reads her CV in the short biography of hers, will definitely correlate her life journey with Ulysses' Odyssey.
Both heroes have undergone tremendous changes - physical and spiritual - during their respective journeys and died lots of times to discover who they truly are in essence; to conquer their purest form of each one's desires, motivations and perspectives.
The climax of Betsy's and Ulysses' Odysseys were the descend to the Underworld, viz, Hades. Elizabeth, as a human being and a hero; the Psylocke, had no physical substance after the death of her natural body and ventured to extreme pains and dangers to find meaning in her new form. It was a suicidal dance on the edge of death's blade chasing after deadly foes and asking for a noble death as a warrior to enter Valhalla in her pure and real form.
Her eldest brother Jamie is Poseidon who blocks her evolution and wishes to drown her in misery. Which is made evident, when Jamie resurrected Betsy in the Asian body after her first death, in order to use Betsy to get his job done by pulling at her fear strings. Jamie bears an unusual grudge for the twins, due to his inferiority complex or sheer jealousy for the bond the Braddock twins share and for their talents. Jamie's poor mental health can be enough reason to bring the worst self out of him.
The second death of Betsy is the epicenter. Alike the descend of Ulysses to the Underworld. Elizabeth's second death was the last trial to reach her final destination. The restoration of her home that is her body. Sapphire Styx was the Hellfire to burn her sins and also a forge out of which her biological body was tempered to come out stronger and more confident to return to her Ithaca. The absorbed persona of Wolverine into Sapphire Styx, known as Patch, takes the role of a moral compass and torch like the fallen heroes Ajax, Achilles and Hercules to show the road back to the living.
The talent who wrote that story made a passing reference to warlord Horde who revealed Betsy's heart's desire to be made of steel and not weak flesh.
Elizabeth's inglorious fall as Captain Britain, the first time she took the mantle in the shortest stint of comic history, allowed her a second chance of fulfilling her dream and come back home to the Otherworld, despite her mutant gene, to claim a piece of her heritage and birthright.

X-Man said...

@Randybear I would say it's safe to say if she changed her eye color from blue to purple as a conscious choice when re-creating her body as this article indicates,then the hair is definitely naturally purple lol. Betsy really loves that purple hair haha. I remember how quickly she turned it that color when she was trapped inside Styxx, priorities I guess lol.

Kiki M. Ishola said...

@PsiGirl I wanted Marvel to say out loud and clear that Betsy was victim of the Hand and didn't steal anything. Revanche has no right to claim Betsy's things to spite her cause Betsy was abused for her.

Fábio said...

Guys, Is Betsy always placed between , or () a nickname? I never understood why they write it this way.
2 as intelligence, do you all agree?

Nate X said...

There's two Captains Britain, they need to clarify they're talking about Betsy not Brian.

randybear said...

Elizabeth "Betsy".. the quotations imply its a short nickname for Elizabeth.

Its similar to say Richard "Dick" Grayson. It just means its not their legal name just a shorter version theyre more commonly known by.

Fábio said...

Thanks Randybear! :)

randybear said...

No problem! As for the 2 intelligence while Betsy has never been known as a high intelligence in leagues with say Beast, Brian or Husk i think its implied anything above a 1 is higher than a base human. So shes considered slightly higher intelligent than the common man.

Tazirai said...

Don't let the numbers trigger you. They change depending on many factors. When she was a pure Telepath, her intelligence was a 3 and her strength a2.

Be more upset, they didn't use any of her other costumes, Pre-Siege.

Nate X said...

That's because her early years were widely covered in previous Handbooks. Her last Handbook entry was in 2010, so they focused more on the last 10 years.

lucasg_i said...

That kinda happened in Fallen Angels

lucasg_i said...

They do go pretty in depth about her outback armors ironically

MellyMel said...

I have been actually waiting for clarification on her powers (strength and durability specifically) since she took up the mantle of captain Britain. Right now it feels like she's Captain Britian in name only which has been my only complaint. Does she actually have super strength and durability in addition to her mutant powers? what do we think?