Recap 2020 • The year saw the conclusion of Excalibur’s first year and Betsy Braddock’s rise as Captain Britain. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic caused a particularly big disruption to American comics. Comics shops closed, and Diamond Comic Distributors completely shut down, as Marvel, DC, and most of the biggest comic-book publishers put business on hold for months in 2020. As production resumed in the second half of the year, the events of Excalibur led to a big crossover between all X-Books, called X of Swords. Betsy Braddock joined the Swordbearers of Krakoa and claimed the Starlight Sword to fight in a tournament against the Swordbearers of Arakko. Regrettably, Betsy’s role was cut short as she lost the first duel and mysteriously disappeared, only to return by the end of the year lost in an alternate timeline. Refresh your memories and talk about your favorite stories, writers, artists, quotes, etc. Happy New Year!
JANUARY
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Excalibur #5
• Verse V: Panic on the Streets of London
Captain Britain teams up with Pete Wisdom to protect the people from London against the creatures from Otherworld breaching into Earth.
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Fallen Angels #5
• Sensei
Captain Britain trains during the sunset in Krakoa and is joined by Kwannon, who apparently forgives her.
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Excalibur #6
• Verse VI: Watch the Throne
Captain Britain fights Brian Braddock in the final battle against Morgan le Fay. Betsy wins the duel and Apocalypse claims the throne of Avalon for Jamie Braddock.
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FEBRUARY
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Excalibur #7
• Verse VII: The Unspeakable and the Uneatable
Captain Britain and Excalibur are assigned to retrieve Warwolves for Apocalypse's ritual. Cullen Bloodstone invites them to a hunt in his estate.
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MARCH
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Excalibur #8
• Verse VIII: The Unspeakable and the Uneatable II
Excalibur decides to deceit Cullen Bloodstone and hunt the Warwolves out of his sight. After knocking him unconscious, Excalibur succeed in their mission.
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Excalibur #9
• Verse IX: Schools of Magic
Excalibur travels to Otherworld at Apocalypse's behest hoping to break into the Starlight Citadel. The team fights Saturnyne's White Priestesses.
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X-Force #9
• The Moral Jungle
Captain Britain join other mutants at the Green Lagoon tiki bar. Betsy happily drinks with Dani Moonstar.
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JUNE
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Excalibur #10
• Verse X: A Crooked World
[Alternate] Captain Britain and Excalibur are caught up in a war between Krakoa and London. Captain Britain's death causes her teammates to become Captains Britain.
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AUGUST
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Excalibur #11
• Verse XI: Blood of the Changeling
Captain Britain and Excalibur succeed in planting a gateway in the Starlight Citadel after defeating the Priestesses. Saturnyne finally decides to meet them.
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SEPTEMBER
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Excalibur #12
• Verse XII: The Beginning
Captain Britain learns from Saturnyne why the latter distrusts her as a Champion. Betsy encourages Gambit to sacrifice Candra's life to complete Apocalypse's ritual.
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X-Men: Marvels Snapshots #1
• And the Rest Will Follow
[Flashback] Cyclops leads the X-Men's blue team, including Psylocke.
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OCTOBER
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Excalibur #13
• X of Swords: Chapter 9, Avalon
Captain Britain and Brian Braddock travel to Otherworld as both are named in Saturnyne's prophecy. The twins fool the Majestrix and Betsy claims the Starlight Sword.
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X of Swords: Stasis #1
• X of Swords: Chapter 11, Champions
The Swordbearers of Krakoa head to Otherworld for the tournament against the Champions of Arakko. Betsy draws the Nine of Swords tarot card foretelling her future.
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NOVEMBER
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Marauders #14
• X of Swords: Chapter 13, Parley
The Swordbearers of Krakoa and Arakko are invited to a feast offered by Saturnyne. Betsy briefly argues with Wolverine for blaming their predicament on Brian.
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Marauders #15
• X of Swords: Chapter 14, Dinner
After dinner is finished, Saturnyne draws the tarot cards and sets the first battle: Captain Britain vs. Isca the Unbeaten.
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Excalibur #14
• X of Swords: Chapter 15, Versus
Captain Britain duels Isca, the Unbeaten. After a brief battle, the Starlight Sword shatters and so does Betsy Braddock, who is deceived by Saturnyne.
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Excalibur #15
• X of Swords: Chapter 21, Allir
[Alternate] Saturnyne performs a ritual using Captain Britain's shattered pieces and summons a new Captain Britain Corps consisting of alternate Betsys.
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X of Swords: Destruction #1
• X of Swords: Chapter 22, The End
[Alternate] The new Captain Britain Corps joins the battle between the X-Men and the forces of Arakko, helping to defeat the daemons of Amenth.
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DECEMBER
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Excalibur #16
• Absence Makes the Heart
[Alternate] The Captain Britain Corps is summoned by Meggan's ritual. Excalibur asks for their help to find their own Betsy Braddock.
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Excalibur #16
• Absence Makes the Heart
After shattering into pieces, Betsy Braddock wakes up in an alternate timeline where she is Queen Elizabeth III and is married to Warren Worthington III.
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“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.
19 comments:
2020 was a bad year for the entire world in real life, and also to Betsy in the X-books. Hopefully 2021 will be kind to her (and to us all).
The thing I'm most curious to find out is whether Betsy was fully sent to this alternate reality or if just her mind went there - and, in the second case, what happened to the mind of her alternate self whose body she's inhabiting now. I don't know if you guys have ever heard (or even better, played) the Zero Escape trilogy of visual novels. This is a considerable spoiler (then again, these visual novels were already released some years ago), but transferring one's consciousness from one reality to another is a major plot point, and looks like a fantastic way to avoid death - until the third game reveals what is the cost for that. Hopefully the rules used in them won't be the same used here.
And hopefully Howard won't use this new arc to promote Betsy as a "body snatcher" or something, and will have her back into her own body by the end of the story.
(oh, and Happy New Year, y'all!!)
Ditto.
I wish the new year is better and virus free. For Betsy I wish all that is stolen from her to be returned ASAP. Life stays bad by pretending someone you are not. Let's raise a glass to the old Betsy and hope for good stuff to come when normalcy comes back.
2020 was such a terrible year for everyone and seems as if global energy shifted drastically, understandably. Its almost meta that Betsy lost her butterfly in 2020 lol
Can't wait for it to return I have more faith in Howard. If issue #16 is any indication of whats to come then I'm excited.
My favorite issues of Howard's Excalibur are #13 and 16. How about, you guys?
Twelve months of Betsy being marginalized, criticized, disrespected, demonized, and robbed of all agency and authority. Given the title of Captain Britain in name only, without any of the powers or the respect that goes along with it. Not only that, but stripped of her own powers and unique signature.
And now Betsy is a Psionic being in a non-corporeal plane, living some make believe life...disembodied. Her brother is plotting to get her a body back, from the worst person you could possibly do business with...Sinister. Once again Betsy is being robbed of her own choices and being manipulated by outside forces.
Tini Howard has broken this character down even below her lowest common denominator. Betsy is literally nothing and nobody. Couldn't even give her a significant role in the giant, wasteful X of Swords event.
My hope for 2021 is that the character of Betsy be repaired and becomes some semblance of the great character she used to be. I want her restored and renewed to a hero instead of a loser, and the sour faced, forever irritated, useless woman that she has become. Apocalypse is gone now, so there is no excuse anymore for the writer not to focus on Betsy.
Best wishes for Everyone here for this new year. Seems like since Betsy created and returned to her caucasic self, writers can't write her good. First she was unsecure, suffering from anxiety, then she seemed weak, oh and that romance with Blob and her mental issues with her body image, and now Captain Britain book makes her look grumpy and emotionally unstable. Meanwhile, Kwannon/Psylocke is written with good stories in two of the best crittically aclaimed comics of the x men: Hellions and now Marauders. Don't get me wrong, I like Kwanon and I love Betsy in her british body but, seems to me sge was better written before the body swap. I just hope they can write her better this year and they turn her in the badass machine she was in Kwannon's body or the master tactitian she was on the 80's outback era.
Please forgive my writting, English is not my first language. *
Kwannon is with the Marauders now? I didn't know that... She seemed to fit perfectly with the Hellions. If this change in rosters really happens, I wonder how Kate, Storm and Bishop will feel traveling with someone they barely know inhabiting a body they used to relate to one of their closest friends.
And if the X-writers decide to make changes in their rosters in the next months, could there be any chance for Northstar and Aurora to move to Excalibur? I think they'd fit perfectly with Howard's D&D themes, since in-universe they're often compared to elves. And Jean-Paul has worked with Gambit and Rogue in the past, so they wouldn't be complete strangers.
Shes not in Marauders shes only been a member of Fallen Angels and now Hellions . I think the other poster just mistyped their reply
If they really meant Fallen Angels, then I have to disagree on that being a good book Kwannon was in. Imo it was terrible.
@X-Man, I agree. Last month the first issue of Fallen Angels was finally published in my country, and I thought it was kinda weak. Kwannon herself is actually alright (Magneto and Sinister seemed to care more about her past with Betsy than Kwannon herself did; to me, she came off as just slightly angry with the situation she lived, not with Betsy), but X-23 and Cable are shallow and annoying - and generic; you could replace them with any other mutant with blades and any other mutant with guns and it wouldn't make any difference to the story.
(then again, I also thought the first issues of New Mutants and X-Force published alongside Fallen Angels #1 here were quite boring, and these two books seem to be regarded as two of the best X-books from the current line... maybe they get better in the next issues)
Happy New Year to all the people!
I hope 2021 will be a lucky and productive year.
I also hope that Betsy will be the original Psylocke once more and is protected from bad writers that ruin her because 2019 and 2020 were two bad years for her.
I'm thankful for the wishes for Betsy and 2021. Trump made the entrance like a bull in a china shop and peach little peach momoko keeps ripping off Betsy and giving her image to Kwanon in demon days. I am disappointed and demon days describes our times.
Marvel mistake Betsy for a fruit. A character won't produce juice if constantly put through the wringer.
A lot happened to Betsy in 2020 and we had the covid shut down. Better or worse we wait for 2021.
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