Real Name: Elisabeth BraddockWhen the R.C.X. effectively invaded Braddock Manor and set up shop there, the Mastermind computer manipulated events to have Brian gave up the mantle of Captain Britain. Mastermind and the R.C.X. then convinced Betsy to take over, giving her a modified amplifier costume which granted her super-strength and flight. She partnered with Captain UK for a while, but her career as Captain Britain ended when she was blinded by Slaymaster, an enemy of her brother's. Compensating with her telepathy for her lack of sight, Betsy went on an extended vacation with R.C.X. Agent Gabriel, a new love. Eventually, however, Betsy was captured by Mojo and given bionic eyes, who used them to spy on the X-Men, who along with the New Mutants had rescued her. It should be noted that Betsy was seen unclothed by Cypher as a result of her transformation, and Doug always had a crush on her afterwards.
Betsy joined the X-Men around the time of the Mutant Massacre, and valiantly defended the wounded against Sabretooth. After the X-men died in Dallas, Wolverine got her Betsy an armored costume from Landau, Luckman and Lake to protect her physically during battles. However, after going through the Siege Perilous Psylocke was used by the Hand and Lord Nyoirin, an Asian crimelord, to reassemble the mind of his assassin, Kwannon, who had been injured in a fall. Matsu'o Tsurayaba, Kwannon's lover, cut a deal with the time-dancer Spiral and Betsy's mind entered Kwannon's body.
Her mind was slightly merged with Kwannon's and, with the help of Spiral's Body Shoppe, their bodies were made genetically identical. "Psylocke" was given Kwannon's Asian body and martial arts training, and worked for the Mandarin until a plunge into Wolverine's psychosis knocked her out of the brainwashing. At that point, she manifested her power in the form of a psychic knife that she would plunge into an opponent's head to knock them out. In reality, there was only a part (albeit the majority) of Betsy in Kwannon's body, believing herself to be Psylocke. When the remainder of Betsy (including her body) returned as Revanche (who was really Kwannon) and subsequently died from the Legacy Virus, Revanche returned the rest of Betsy's mind and power to Psylocke and took the missing parts of Kwannon into herself. Later on, as Sabretooth began his escape from the X-Mansion, Psylocke attempted to stop him, but was critically wounded.
To save her life, her lover Angel, along with Wolverine, Gomurr the Ancient, and Dr. Strange, journeyed into the dimension of the Crimson Dawn to retrieve some of the magical liquid to save Betsy's life. As a result of her exposure to the Crimson Dawn, Psylocke gained the ability to "teleport" through shadows. This new chance at life came with a price, however. The evil Kuragari usurped control of the Crimson Dawn and tried to make Psylocke into his bride. Fortunately, Gomurr and Angel were able to return the balance to the Dawn and break Kuragari's hold on Betsy.
Months later, the Shadow King tricked Psylocke into initiating a telepathic shockwave that disabled telepaths all over the world, leaving the King in command of the astral plane. Although her astral form was destroyed, Betsy emerged in a new "shadow form" that was certainly a by-product of her exposure to the Crimson Dawn. Invisible to the Shadow King, Betsy was able to free the X-Men he had captured and then taunted the Shadow King until he over-extended himself by trying to corrupt every mind on the planet. Betsy was then able to telepathically contain the Shadow King's core, but at a great cost: to ensure that the Shadow King would never be able to escape, Psylocke was forced to permanently shut down her telepathy.
Shortly afterwards, Psylocke gained telekinetic power from Phoenix, and no longer had her telepathy. She was powerful enough to move giant beams and fly, but she still had control and stamina problems. She also seemed to have lost the ability to teleport between shadows. At the same time, Betsy began flirting with fellow teammate Thunderbird III, much to Warren's chagrin, leading to his breaking up with her when he realized they really had very little in common.
Shortly thereafter, Psylocke joined other members of the X-Men on a secret mission to find the lost Books of Truth, prophecies written by the precog Destiny, and she and Thunderbird became an "official" couple. On their first mission, however, Psylocke fought the Homo Sapiens Superior named Vargas and was stabbed in the stomach. Though she died almost immediately, her spirit did stay on the mortal plane long enough to provide Bishop with some information as to the mission during a "Dreamtime" before being grabbed by a mysterious entity and pulled into a portal.
While it was assumed that Betsy was pulled into the "afterlife," what happened to her was called into question when she re-appeared months later in the exact spot of her death, with no memory of the intervening time period. Her powers remained telekinesis, not her original telepathy, but her Crimson Dawn eye mark was gone. The X-Men were called to collect her, and though reunited with them, also helping to defend the Earth from the saurian Hauk'ka in the Savage Land. During the battle she discovered that her telekinesis was more powerful and she was immune to telepathic attacks.
Returning to the X-Mansion, Betsy began to see visions of her brother Jamie, for unknown reasons. Then, when the Scarlet Witch unleashed a reality warp that re-wrote history, Betsy remained unaffected and was able to maintain Marvel Girl III's status as well. The women found themselves in the White Hot Room (the core of the Phoenix Force), where Jamie told them they had to help set the world right. Strangely, Jamie's influence did not help the girls from being co-opted into the reality warp of the House of M when they returned to Earth.
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| Princess Elisabeth Gloriana had just returned to England from abroad, where rumors had surfaced that she had been killed, in time for the bash her brother Brian, King of England, was throwing in Magneto's honor. Though she apparently was the older twin, Elisabeth had abdicated her rights to the throne when Magneto offered it to her, allowing Brian and his wife Meggan to take over the monarchy. With her lady-in-waiting Rachel Grey in tow, Elisabeth reunited with her brother and sister-in-law, and enjoyed the party. Later that night, however, after Brian began having visions of Roma and the destruction of the Earth, Elisabeth joined him in tracking down Nocturne and Juggernaut, two alleged terrorists. During the ensuing battle, Elisabeth was forced to fight Rachel, who was possessed by Nocturne, and the three mutants ended up near a rip in the fabric of reality. Betsy's mental link to Brian kicked in and they were able to see each other's surroundings, leading Brian and Meggan to the rift. There Betsy used her power to help maintain the rift long enough for Meggan to enter it and heal it from the inside, and Betsy, Rachel and Brian sealed it from without. |
Following M-Day, Betsy took to exercising outdoors in tight or skimpy workout clothes to distract the pilots of the Sentinels stationed on the Xavier Institute grounds. She was slightly injured when the X-Men intervened in the Shi'ar massacre of the Grey family. She also discovered that she was immune to telepathic attacks and could not be possessed in any way. Then Psylocke saw Jamie for real, but although he attacked the X-Men, he restored them to health and begged them to stop his former friends, who were trying to summon the First Forsaken, the force of nature opposed to the Phoenix. During the ceremony Betsy disrupted the spell with iron and her power, and they were all sucked into a heavenly paradise. The First Forsaken offered this solace to Jamie's friends, but Betsy realized that only the four summoners of the Forsaken would be spared, and the rest of Earth would be frozen in time or destroyed. Being immune to telepathic influence, she stabbed her TK sword into the Forsaken's mind, freeing her teammates and Jamie to act. Jamie, however, refused to let Betsy stay behind and sent her home with the others via a portal.
Following a quick detour to Africa to help Storm depose her warlord uncle, Betsy visited Brian in England. While there, the alternate reality Charles Xavier recently captured by Excalibur woke from his coma and asked for her by name. She and Excalibur checked him out at Darkmoor, where the Shadow King revealed his presence to her, having been freed from the Astral Plane during House of M. Fortunately, Betsy's immunity to telepathy allowed her to fight the Shadow King, and she used her TK to induce a stroke in Dark Xavier, forcing the Shadow King out of his mind, where she stabbed him. Since Xavier and the Shadow King had been in alternate timelines, a sort of portal opened and Betsy disappeared.
She reappeared in the Crystal Palace, the home base of the reality-jumping team, the Exiles, apparently a selection by the base's computers for a warrior compatible with the team's needs. However, it's probable that Roma had something to do with Betsy's arrival. Regardless, she first encountered Sabretooth (the heroic version from the Age of Apocalypse) and immediately attacked. Creed defended himself and had a great time, but team "dispatcher" Heather Hudson found that she couldn't see the new arrival with any scanners. Finally Betsy realized that Sabretooth wasn't out to kill her, and she joined the team. Strangely, she also found that she no longer had any cross-time counterparts.
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