Brian Braddock: Captain Britain Appreciation 2022

[Frontier]

Cleanshaven.

[The Sword is Drawn]

Good god. You’re all still here?

Glad to see somebody still giving a shit about Brian Braddock. Somebody needs to.

[Panic]

Hi Sword, glad to see you’re still alive and kicking. But things continue to be bad for Brian Braddock fans.

[Digifiend]

CBR thinks they should make a Captain Britain TV series.
https://www.cbr.com/captain-britain-...plus-show-mcu/

Surely they need to introduce the X-Men to the MCU first though? Considering Cap's sister is a member of that team?

[Panic]

CBR thinks they should make a Captain Britain TV series.
https://www.cbr.com/captain-britain-...plus-show-mcu/

Surely they need to introduce the X-Men to the MCU first though? Considering Cap's sister is a member of that team?

Brian had become Captain Britain way before Betsy joined the X-Men, so I don't see anything that necessitates making X-Men first. It's not like his origin is tied to anything Betsy does in the X-Men.

[The Sword is Drawn]

CBR thinks they should make a Captain Britain TV series.
https://www.cbr.com/captain-britain-...plus-show-mcu/

Surely they need to introduce the X-Men to the MCU first though? Considering Cap's sister is a member of that team?

I would really rather that they didn’t.

This remains the central, constant, and most limiting aspect of Captain Britain as a character.

He is not an X-Man. He is not a mutant. Nor has he ever been. And those ties have done nothing but hinder through confusion for large parts of his existence.

In the words of a writer far greater than myself, Captain Britain is described as being ‘dipped in magic, clothed in science’. Those two elements are key to both the character and to the concept. And in defining Captain Britain for TV or film you would absolutely need to establish this. The scientific application of magic and mythology. That’s a concept which would sit very easily in line with Marvel’s cinematic and televisual universe. It’s no longer quite the stretch for viewers which it might have been 10 years ago.

Brian Braddock is a character more at home alongside Dr Strange. Or Reed Richards. He’s worked with both. Sure, in the comics he’s also comparable in age to Peter Parker. *That* obviously won’t work. But much of the rest will.

But the mutant retcon (and it very much is a retcon) of the other two Braddock siblings muddies waters considerably. Because the simple fact is that the Braddock family as a whole were never conceived as mutants. Jamie initially had no powers at all. Betsy’s telepathy was originally just a twin’s precognition in its first appearance. Later it was just an ability that she had. And while he is not entirely to be trusted as a reporter, Merlyn certainly insinuated that Betsy and Brian’s powers had more to do with Otherworld than Brian simply being made into a Captain by him.

But at the concept level there is no connection whatsoever between mutantcy, the x-gene and Otherworld. And if you’re adapting Captain Britain girbother mediums that’s key.

That’s not to say there were never mutant characters in Captain Britain’s pre-X-connected era. Meggan, for example, was established as a mutant in her second story. But mutants generally didn’t figure a lot in Marvel UK stories. Genetic engineering certainly did. But actual x-genes and mutants in the more traditional Marvel sense? Not so much.

It all really comes back to a decision made in a far more fluid publishing era at Marvel. Chris Claremont technically created Captain Britain with Herb Trimp, as part of a push Marvel wanted to make into the 1970s UK comics market. But he only really wrote the initial story of that book, before passing it on to others. And the character would go on to evolve very much without his hand involved. By the mid 1980s the likes of Alans Moore and Davis and Jamie Delano were winning awards for what they were doing with the character. Stories involving the multiverse and the scientific application of magic. And funnily enough Claremont wanted to make use of that, because he liked what he saw.

But he was the X-Men writer. He pitched a pure Captain Britain title to Marvel, they said no. So he tried to find other ways of getting to work on them through the X-Men. That’s how Psylocke got introduced. Partly how Excalibur came about. And in terms of the latter you’ll notice that almost all the stories Claremont and Davis told on their run *were* Captain Britain, multiverse and non-mutant stories. It was a means to an end.

The problem is that long term it has created this odd misunderstanding in many peoples minds that Captain Britain is some how a mutant-based property, and should be treated as such.

It isn’t. It wasn’t for over a decade before an connection to the x-men of any kind. And as the uncomfortable Lobdell run of Excalibur illustrated painfully well, is that when it tries to be is when it’s at its absolute weakest.

[Panic]

How Marvel's Knights of X is modernizing the mythology of Captain Britain

"For me, the most interesting thing about this character has always been that they're not a nationalist hero, they're a magical hero who defends the idea of story and legend," Howard tells EW. "I like looking at those legends and talking about what kind of people are allowed to have these victory stories. What kind of people are allowed to be heroes?"

This makes me angry. Brian has been allowed to have relatively few victories since Marvel US took charge of him, particularly in Claremont's Excalibur where CC pretty much stuck a 'kick me' sign on him. Betsy has been very much the favourite of Marvel US writers, she's in no way the underdog here. Argh!

"The biggest difference between Betsy and Brian is that Betsy is too smart to trust the narratives because she understands they weren't written for her," Howard says. "They were written for people like Brian. The fact that she knows that, and isn't afraid to change the story, is what scares the people in power."

Ugh! Please make it stop. Can't they build up Betsy without taking swipes at Brian?

[Nomads1]

Geez, what a load of crap!

Peace

[kevlon]

That's just total nonsense.

[Demon Bowler]

Attachment 120613
More like this these days

What issue is that from?

CBR thinks they should make a Captain Britain TV series.
https://www.cbr.com/captain-britain-...plus-show-mcu/

Surely they need to introduce the X-Men to the MCU first though? Considering Cap's sister is a member of that team?

I wouldn't be surprised if they introduce her first as a telepath in uk shield/mi13 group and then move her to x-men. Also wouldn't be surprised if they went with Kwannon as the xmen psylocke whilst betsy stayed in the captain britain/captain carter if they make that a series properly.

How Marvel's Knights of X is modernizing the mythology of Captain Britain

This makes me angry. Brian has been allowed to have relatively few victories since Marvel US took charge of him, particularly in Claremont's Excalibur where CC pretty much stuck a 'kick me' sign on him. Betsy has been very much the favourite of Marvel US writers, she's in no way the underdog here. Argh!

Ugh! Please make it stop. Can't they build up Betsy without taking swipes at Brian?

From the Betsy and Knights of X/Excalibur forum, it looks like they aren't best pleased with the writing of Betsy either...

I can see where she is coming from whilst he is the "strapping blond superman", I wouldnt have said he was "a magical hero who defends the idea of story and legend". I see him as a fish out of water, constantly out of his depths, thrown into situations he is not used to and having to come to terms with that and trying to do better. That is also why I quiet like him being closely associated with the xmen with its analogy to minority groups. Brian is a majority amongst a family of minorities and it is about him dealing with that and learning from it and supporting them.
I agree that when he meets a "magical man appears to you and says, 'I have a quest for you,' you're more likely to trust that" (actually does that in Captain Britain and MI13 #1 lol), more often than not it goes badly awry, sees the error and looks to sort it and grows from the situation.

[Reviresco]

How Marvel's Knights of X is modernizing the mythology of Captain Britain

This makes me angry. Brian has been allowed to have relatively few victories since Marvel US took charge of him, particularly in Claremont's Excalibur where CC pretty much stuck a 'kick me' sign on him. Betsy has been very much the favourite of Marvel US writers, she's in no way the underdog here. Argh!

Ugh! Please make it stop. Can't they build up Betsy without taking swipes at Brian?

Even if I agreed with her, and I don't, she's doing a horrible job of executing the idea.

I just want Captain Britain and MI 13 back. That was such an entertaining book that deftly dealt with issues.

[Panic]

Even if I agreed with her, and I don't, she's doing a horrible job of executing the idea.

I just want Captain Britain and MI 13 back. That was such an entertaining book that deftly dealt with issues.

I think as a team book that was not either X-Men or Avengers, set outside of the States, and having no high-visibility character, it did well to go on for as long as it did. Sad, though.

[The Invincible Beawulf]

There'll be another CB series next year, and Brian is mentioned in the solicits as Captain Avalon. :/ (It seems Britain still doesn't want Betsy as CB and Tini Howard's still trying to redefine the CB myth and Betsy's role in it.)


Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #1
New series (editor’s note, this has been updated from limited series), On Sale February 2023
Written by Tini Howard, Art by Vasco Georgiev, Cover by Erica D’Urso

THE CAPTAIN COMES HOME!

And she’s got a whole new mission! With Otherworld settled, Braddock Manor restored, and her brother Captain Avalon at her side, you’d think things look pretty good for Betsy Braddock. Only it turns out, good ole Britain doesn’t want her back. No one wants a mutant menace carrying the shield of Captain Britain, and Betsy’s made more than a few enemies along her way. Quest-less and country-less, Betsy must define a role for herself. A fresh take on a beloved character, don’t miss the latest Tini Howard extravaganza and fan-favorite artist Vasco Georgiev’s Marvel debut!

[Golden_Guardian]

I'm just not interested in anybody else besides Brian in the Captain Britain mantle. Captain Avalon screams "I'm a supporting character." Likely just to pay lip service to fans of the original Captain Britain - "Look, he's still around! We've not forgotten about him!" When in effect he's become mere lip-service in his own corner of the MU.

[Digifiend]

So the UK government is racist? The problem is only because she's a mutant, right? It's like saying someone can't enter the country just because they're black.