Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain Appreciation 2021

[Cane_danko]

I love the new betsy in excalibur. I have never been interested in excalibur but tini howard has made me a believer!

[WallStreeter]

Telepaths have been able to speak different languages from the people around them so that doesn’t mean anything. She also was training in that body, so her skills as a martial artist wouldn’t just disappear. Body merging and brainwashing all lead to her understanding. You do retain knowledge.

The swap/merger story retcon needs to be fixed. It made it messy and now everyone has their own opinion on what happened. I said way back they should have taken the Sisterhood arc and use that for when Kwannon became “trapped” in her body with Betsy in control. It would clear up MiM when all of a sudden there’s Kwannon. How?

Retcons can be good and they can totally be garbage with more questions and less chance of a writer or writers to want to fix it. If I was going to let any writer fix it at this point it would be Wells. Tini hasn’t done anything to fix this or Betsy in 19 issues. Back in the day I would have said “let Claremont fix it”, but I think his time as an amazing writer is passed.

FA and Excalibur only made matters worse. Until the last issue nothing was done about it and even still it was just a “we are both victims” where it was clear that Kwannon blamed Betsy. So fix it already. Let’s get Betsy back to being strong and confident.

It doesn´t need to be fixed. In today´s racial climate having Psylocke as a white woman in an Asian woman cannot work out at all. So they simply separated them. Now the psionic weapons Elizabeth makes are medieval European, and they simply put her back to her British/Otherworld heritage which has a lot of interesting things.

The supernatural ninja stuff is now handled by Kwannon/Psylocke as it is HER culture and heritage, not Elizabeth´s.

Also it´s not like Elizabeth wanted to join the hand or have anything to do with that stuff. When all is said and done, it is NOT who she truly is.

[WallStreeter]

I love the new betsy in excalibur. I have never been interested in excalibur but tini howard has made me a believer!

I love her too. I always loved Otherword, and the Otherworld heritage is every much Elizabeth´s as it is Brian´s.

[Selene]

Betsy still had martial arts skills, still spoke Japanese, and still understood Japanese culture after Kwannon died. So she was never out of Betsy until Betsy was torn out of Kwannon’s body by Sapphire Styx.

Jesus. You may not like the 25+ years Psylocke spent as an English girl in a Japanese girl's body, but can't you see how catastrophic it is to establish that she was not fully herself for all those years?

[Rnap22]

It doesn´t need to be fixed. In today´s racial climate having Psylocke as a white woman in an Asian woman cannot work out at all. So they simply separated them. Now the psionic weapons Elizabeth makes are medieval European, and they simply put her back to her British/Otherworld heritage which has a lot of interesting things.

The supernatural ninja stuff is now handled by Kwannon/Psylocke as it is HER culture and heritage, not Elizabeth´s.

Also it´s not like Elizabeth wanted to join the hand or have anything to do with that stuff. When all is said and done, it is NOT who she truly is.

I didn’t say they shouldn’t have been separated. I’m talking the Kwannon was trapped inside with Betsy in control. They need to end this narrative between them that they have yet to do.

The growth Betsy has in Kwannon’s body is still Betsy’s growth.

[LordAllMIghty]

Put some led lights inside that sword and I’m totally gonna buy it

While I'm not feeling the hair, everything else looks great.

[CGAR]

I love the new betsy in excalibur. I have never been interested in excalibur but tini howard has made me a believer!

I love her too. I always loved Otherword, and the Otherworld heritage is every much Elizabeth´s as it is Brian´s.

What are some highlights for you two in regards to Betsy Braddock in this run so far. Just out of curiosity I like hearing other peoples perspectives because I've been pretty critical on Tini Howards take so far in this run.

[WallStreeter]

I didn’t say they shouldn’t have been separated. I’m talking the Kwannon was trapped inside with Betsy in control. They need to end this narrative between them that they have yet to do.

The growth Betsy has in Kwannon’s body is still Betsy’s growth.

Yes, clearly she was trapped in Betsy´s head. It was a convenient way for them to also wash out X-Force because that is not who Elizabeth is. That woman had NOTHING in common with the Elizabeth Braddock introduced in Captain Britain and who was a member of the X-Men before the merger with Kwannon.

[WallStreeter]

Jesus. You may not like the 25+ years Psylocke spent as an English girl in a Japanese girl's body, but can't you see how catastrophic it is to establish that she was not fully herself for all those years?

It is wonderful to establish she was not fully herself for all those years. Because she was not. I´ve read the old Captain Britain books, as well as the X-Men after Elizabeth joined before the merger with Kwannon. The merged woman was not Elizabeth who never would have joined X-Force. Elizabeth had certainly done work for the British government, and was a public hero.

As noted, Elizabeth is just as tied to Otherworld and Britain as Brian. The whole Japanese supernatural ninja thing took away from that. Finally, she became herself and that´s awesome.

Kwannon/Psylocke is the supernatural ninja. Elizabeth is a different kind of warrior.

[Uncanny X-Man]

Yes, clearly she was trapped in Betsy´s head. It was a convenient way for them to also wash out X-Force because that is not who Elizabeth is. That woman had NOTHING in common with the Elizabeth Braddock introduced in Captain Britain and who was a member of the X-Men before the merger with Kwannon.

I strongly disagree with this. X-Force's Psylocke is a direct evolution of Claremont's Betsy circa Mutant Massacre onwards, there's no Kwannon whatsoever factored in especially because that was a blatant retcon.

[Psy-lock]

The merged woman was not Elizabeth who never would have joined X-Force.

Oh really?

It's tragic what the stupid Kwannon retcon has done to the perception of the character.

[Psycwave]

I don't really think anyone has established that Betsy wasn't herself for all those years? Even if we go with the FA thing of Psylocke 2 being in her head all the time it's even said Betsy didn't know. Everything she experienced was hers and helped shape her.
I've honestly noticed more Betsy fans make a bigger deal out of this than anyone else though. I feel like issue 20, while having its issues, pretty much put to bed anymore discussion surrounding the two women and what influenced what. They're both victims and are joined even when they're not. It's not perfect and a lil messy but the entire switch was.

Betsy can go on and be an adventurer and the other girl can hopefully get her daughter back, give up her life as a killer, and settle down with Greycrow on Krakoa living a happy family life.

[MetalPsyc]

The recent retcon was stupidly flawed:
- When Betsy (in so called Kwannon's body) died by Vargas, why Kwannon didn't claim her body just like the in MiM?
- Betsy had encountered and interacted with the strongest mind in the world (Xavier, Jean, AOA Jean, Rachel, Shadow King etc) none of them sense any trace of Kwannon
- Her previous body was a construct made by Jamie. Heightened and strengthened for Betsy. No Kwannon involvement.
- She fought an evil Lady mandarin tried to claim her body in Exiles - No Kwannon whatsoever.
- Her body and soul was manipulated once again by Maddie (sisterhood) and other magic practioners ( Spiral, etc). They would've detected Kwannon essence/soul if there's one.

Let's just say that when Betsy died by Styx in MiM, Kwannon came back from Heaven/Hell/wherever to reclaim her body (the body that's been changed/manipulated/reconstructed)

And after her recent death in Hellion, maybe Kwannon is finally back to her original body after being resurrected.

[WallStreeter]

I strongly disagree with this. X-Force's Psylocke is a direct evolution of Claremont's Betsy circa Mutant Massacre onwards, there's no Kwannon whatsoever factored in especially because that was a blatant retcon.

Absolutely not.

Mutant massacre Betsy was not a ninja to begin with. It simply wasn’t her. Though she wanted to be a better fighter she never asked to be an Asian ninja.

That woman in X-Force was simply not her.

[WallStreeter]

Oh really?

It's tragic what the stupid Kwannon retcon has done to the perception of the character.

That’s one panel. Your point? Though she suggested they kill Havok to protect their secret, she was not a ninja or professional killer and certainly could not have done X-Force.

It’s over. She’s back to being her true British self and a public hero. All the ninja tackiness is gone.