Elizabeth (Betsy) Braddock: Captain Britain Appreciation 2020

[slacker]

Betsy as CB will outshine Betsy as Psylocke the moment she has a character-defining arc.

I feel like Betsy as Psylocke dominates in her popularity because of one reason: time. As stated, literally 30~ years of her being simply a visual mainstay. Sporadically at that.

Ask anyone who generally is familiar with Psylocke what stands out the most to them for her as a character, what moments have defined her as an X-Man & comic superhero, and they will draw blanks or vaguely remember cool moment #1 or cool moment #10.

Ask someone who is well versed in her but not necessarily a fan? They likely will either trash the character or state that she's best known for being a fetish toy.

Ask a fan? Well, we already know how that will go. A fan will pick their favorite moments of hers in relation to that person's tastes. (relationship with Warren, for example *cough cough*). When it comes to Betsy, I think most of us would admit that our love for her borders on obsession, which sometimes blinds to the fact that she isn't that important.

There are hardly any groundbreaking objectively iconic beats in her storyline that help to define her as a hero and X-Man, in the way that say Storm or Jean have had.

Uncanny X-Force was a rare time when she was without a doubt the lead character, emotionally and in action. And we got some great memorable arcs from her throughout that. And moments that will stay with me forever. But it fizzled.

When Betsy as Captain Britain has the stars align consistently with a great writer, great editors, and artists, she will ascend through the barrier that she's always faced as a B-list character. But I fear for how seemingly unlikely that will be. There's SO much potential. Fingers crossed.

[slacker]

And on a side note, I have for the most part enjoyed Excalibur. What it represents and what it wants to do.

The book may be important for near future storylines, but it doesn't feel important. That's my biggest gripe about it. If that makes sense....

[gifted]

Thanks for the kind words, Psycwave! And I agree with everything slacker said.

The one thing I wish the office could do is help elevate her status. The Mark Brooks photo he posted on Instagram with him drawing her for the X-Men/FF cover, he used a #Psylocke hashtag, but he did not use a #CaptainBritain hashtag. It's little things like that in marketing and social media and art that we need to see. To plant seeds every now and then.

I do believe that they are waiting to show Betsy as CB in other comics and parts of the MU because they need to establish her first. For example, if Betsy appears in an issue or arc of Strikeforce and a reader is interested in her, they're gonna want to find out what to read more about her. But they'll go to Excalibur and only have a handful of issues.

I think, hopefully, the office is waiting to give her more exposure once they have a good handle of who she is as Captain Britain. And that's still being developed.

[LoganAlpha30X33]

Betsy as CB will outshine Betsy as Psylocke the moment she has a character-defining arc.

I feel like Betsy as Psylocke dominates in her popularity because of one reason: time. As stated, literally 30~ years of her being simply a visual mainstay. Sporadically at that.

Ask anyone who generally is familiar with Psylocke what stands out the most to them for her as a character, what moments have defined her as an X-Man & comic superhero, and they will draw blanks or vaguely remember cool moment #1 or cool moment #10.

Ask someone who is well versed in her but not necessarily a fan? They likely will either trash the character or state that she's best known for being a fetish toy.

Ask a fan? Well, we already know how that will go. A fan will pick their favorite moments of hers in relation to that person's tastes. (relationship with Warren, for example *cough cough*). When it comes to Betsy, I think most of us would admit that our love for her borders on obsession, which sometimes blinds to the fact that she isn't that important.

There are hardly any groundbreaking objectively iconic beats in her storyline that help to define her as a hero and X-Man, in the way that say Storm or Jean have had.

Uncanny X-Force was a rare time when she was without a doubt the lead character, emotionally and in action. And we got some great memorable arcs from her throughout that. And moments that will stay with me forever. But it fizzled.

When Betsy as Captain Britain has the stars align consistently with a great writer, great editors, and artists, she will ascend through the barrier that she's always faced as a B-list character. But I fear for how seemingly unlikely that will be. There's SO much potential. Fingers crossed.

I never once viewed her as fetish anything in the Asian body, I actually liked that she was more than what some thought her to be by her outfit and such, I doubt that Marvel had anything planned for her as CB and so far only the upcoming crossover has really the Excalibur team having anything at all to do with most of the X-world, unless something changes I sadly don't see Marvel elevating Betsy anytime soon, especially when they're so focused on Scott and Xavier and such on the council and all of them, and on a side note so far Warren doesn't have a book to belong to...he and several others...

[CRaymond]

You are a singular unique individual Logan.

Others see, feel, and think differently.

[Havok83]

Warren is set to be a mentor in COTA

[H-E-D]

Correct. Its gonna be hard for Marvel to rebrand Besty as something new when she been an Asian telepathic assassin for almost 30 years.

I hope she does well as Captain Britain but I feel she will never outshine her Psylocke persona.

And yet, they must. Leaving Betsy as a white woman in an Asian body would have been unconscionable.

Psylocke is a stronger brand than Betsy Braddock; it makes much more sense to do what they’re doing now, letting the Psylocke brand stay more or less as it was while taking Betsy in a new direction.

[gifted]

I have no doubt Betsy is going to be a major player in Marvel moving forward. Whether it takes one year or ten years, it's going to happen. With the Black Knight now in the MCU, they're tapping into British Marvel lore, which means Captain Britain has to come around eventually. Betsy being the current Captain Britain, and with the MCU's push for diversity-- our girl is going to shine. We just have to be patient. #longlivethemonarch

[Psycwave]

And on a side note, I have for the most part enjoyed Excalibur. What it represents and what it wants to do.

The book may be important for near future storylines, but it doesn't feel important. That's my biggest gripe about it. If that makes sense....

Agreeeeeed.

This right here. Excalibur feels the most disconnected from the x-line even with a council member in the ranks. Mutant magic, something that should feel huge and big feels very small to the grand scheme of Krakoa and how it affects mutants globally, a mutant king of Otherworld should be just as exciting but outside of Exodus no one has even mentioned it, Rogue killed Apocalypse and it's quiet. Even Betsy's turn to CB feels like a blip. We got a quick moment of her meeting the Queen and some words about how folks are reacting to a mutant Cap but it's mostly nothing. The rest of the cast is just there.

It's been a little odd how all the other books mention and continue things happening in the other titles but Excalibur feels like it's on an island.

I have no doubt Betsy is going to be a major player in Marvel moving forward. Whether it takes one year or ten years, it's going to happen. With the Black Knight now in the MCU, they're tapping into British Marvel lore, which means Captain Britain has to come around eventually. Betsy being the current Captain Britain, and with the MCU's push for diversity-- our girl is going to shine. We just have to be patient. #longlivethemonarch

But also this. We're (unfortunately) used to waiting for Betsy to get her due. It's coming. And it'll surely be worth it. When she wins she fucking WINS.

[Havok83]

Betsy was fine as Psylocke in the year leading into HoX. There was no need to take that from her. I was really looking forward to seeing this new chapter in her life and it was yanked before much was done with it

[LordAllMIghty]

And yet, they must. Leaving Betsy as a white woman in an Asian body would have been unconscionable.

Psylocke is a stronger brand than Betsy Braddock; it makes much more sense to do what they’re doing now, letting the Psylocke brand stay more or less as it was while taking Betsy in a new direction.

I really wonder how much pressure (if any) was Marvel under to transform Psylocke back into a white woman?

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I don't really think that they were under much pressure at all really, and so far unless something changes with the upcoming crossover I'm not sure that Marvel has any really big plans for Betsy either, the more British she becomes it seems more likely that Marvel could just keep her in Excalibur far removed from the rest of the X-world...

[Selene]

Captain Britain cannot outshine Psylocke without fundamentally redefining who Betsy is. I just don't see how, for instance, she can be showcased as a major psy talent among the X-Men whilst staying in that role anymore.

Yes, she can become more popular with significant focus. But not without the cost of losing many of her essential traits; and this is already happening, with the "gains" being disproportionately lower than the "losses" so far. I consider Psylocke's character after her evolution in 1989 very consistent with her previous appearances in UXM, and right now everything seems forcibly disconnected.

And Captain Britain doesn't have much margin for becoming a more compelling choice than Psylocke, as long as she doesn't outgrow the limitations of being in a book about the X-Men. IMO, there's no way in hell the psychic ninja would be cast out in favour of the knight in, say, an X-Men video game.

I don't expect things to improve going forward at all. For if there had been willingness for that, she would have been allowed to remain the telepathic ninja in her original body, without any Captain Britain or Kwannon mess. The sooner we return to the pre-2018 status quo, the better.

[Selene]

Off-topic, but I hope all of you are keeping physically and mentally well in spite of the ongoing craziness!

[LoganAlpha30X33]

I still think that the best way out of this would be for Betsy to be in the body that Kwannon is in now and have Jamie morph it so that she looks more of a mix given that he made that body for her in the first place, have Kwannon get a new codename in her own separate body and change her look enough so that there's no confusion between the two, so far only diehards have noticed the change to the new body, as some of her more recent looks before the new body looked great to me for Betsy, and she should keep the name Psylocke and get rid of the thong costume as well...and yes I know that I'll be in the minority with these thoughts but I never had a problem with her being the Asian body as the books repeatedly reminded people that she was British in the Asian body over the years in the comics and I don't remember them listing Betsy as an Asian character...

Currently I don't think that Betsy will really grow until she gets fully rid of the whole CB thing and sets out something new...