Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. Created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Herb Trimpe, she first appeared in Captain Britain #8 (1976). Introduced as the precognitive twin sister of Brian Braddock, Betsy is later established as a mutant, a subspecies of humans in the Marvel Universe born with an "X-gene" that grants superhuman abilities. Possessing telepathic and telekinetic powers, Betsy joins the X-Men in 1986 as the first incarnation of Psylocke.
Betsy was redesigned in a 1989 story written by Claremont and illustrated by Jim Lee as a Japanese assassin with ninja skills and the ability to manifest her telepathy in the form of various weapons, most notably a "psychic knife", and this revamp proved so popular with fans that it was made permanent. In 1993, writer Fabian Nicieza retroactively revealed that this change in appearance was the result of a body swap with the newly-created character Kwannon. Following nearly 30 years of publication history, both women were returned to their original bodies, and Betsy took up the mantle of Captain Britain from her brother while Kwannon became the new Psylocke. A new series about Betsy once again as Psylocke, Psylocke: Ninja – Rise from the Fall, was published in 2025.
The character has been adapted in various media incarnations, including films, television series, and video games, having most notably been portrayed by Olivia Munn in the film X-Men: Apocalypse.
Publication history
Origins
Created by writer Chris Claremont, Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock first appeared in Captain Britain #8 (December 1976), with Captain Britain #10 (December 1976) as her first cover appearance, published by the Marvel Comics' British imprint Marvel UK. The original spelling of the character's name was "Elizabeth", though relettering of the UK versions for American reprints would occasionally misspell it as "Elisabeth". This led to spelling inconsistencies throughout future publications. The inconsistency was resolved by Claremont 32 years later in 2008 in the series New Exiles, which reasserted the particular spelling of her name as "Elizabeth". In the Captain Britain series, Claremont introduced her as a supporting character, the sister of Brian Braddock, the eponymous Captain Britain, and established her career as a charter pilot. He also established that she had psychic abilities, the full extent of which were unknown, though no explanation is given for these powers. In Marvel UK's Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain #243 (October 1977), Betsy Braddock is presented as a professional model.
In Marvel UK's Daredevils #3 (March 1983), Alan Moore established that the character has begun to work for the fictional governmental organization S.T.R.I.K.E., who are making use of her psychic abilities. Her lover Tom Lennox is also a S.T.R.I.K.E operative and is later murdered. The story also presents the character as having dyed her hair purple after being blonde; this hair color has subsequently become the dominant presentation of the character. The next major change for the character came in the 1986 relaunched Captain Britain series, where Betsy Braddock stands in for her brother as Captain Britain, and is rendered blind by the supervillain Slaymaster.
X-Men
In New Mutants Annual #2 (1986), Claremont integrated Betsy Braddock into the X-Men franchise. The story sees her abducted to the Mojoverse, where she is subjected to brainwashing, fitted with bionic eyes, and referred to as "the Psylocke" for the first time. After being rescued by the New Mutants, she takes up residence at their mutant-training academy, run by Magneto at the time in the absence of Professor Charles Xavier. After aiding the team unofficially, Braddock proves herself by distracting the attentions of the murderous supervillain Sabretooth. Afterward, Braddock is formally invited to join the X-Men and officially adopts the codename "Psylocke", becoming an enduring fixture of the team over the next three decades.
Initially written as a pure non-mutant telepath with few fighting skills, Betsy later adopts body armor. In The Uncanny X-Men #251 (November 1989), the X-Men flee from the cybernetic terrorists, the Reavers, through the Siege Perilous, an extra-dimensional teleportation device. The now-amnesiac Betsy is taken in by the Hand, who brainwash and physically alter her to take on an East Asian appearance so that she can blend in in Hong Kong. Braddock now believes herself to be "Lady Mandarin", the Hand's supreme assassin. After she is rescued by the X-Men's Wolverine and overcomes her brainwashing, the character retains the combat skills granted through the Hand's modification techniques as well as the ability to manifest her total focused telepathy in the form of a "psychic knife".
With the launch of the second volume of X-Men (later rebranded X-Men: Legacy) in 1991, the team splits, with Betsy joining the team led by Cyclops. In Jim Lee-written issues, the character becomes flirtatious with Cyclops, eventually attempting to seduce him. At this point, Kwannon, a new character with the physical appearance of Betsy prior to the Hand's manipulation, claims to be the original Betsy Braddock, accusing the Asian-featured Betsy of being an impostor. After Jim Lee and six other creators left Marvel Comics to found Image Comics, new scriptwriter Fabian Nicieza established that Kwannon is the impostor and that Braddock's flirtations with Cyclops were part of a genetic and mental splicing in which the Kwannon impostor was first created, a body swap having occurred.
In 1994, writer Scott Lobdell set up a relationship between Betsy Braddock and her teammate Archangel. The character is severely injured by a crazed Sabretooth in the Lobdell-written The Uncanny X-Men #328. Her life is saved by the use of a mystic artifact known as the Crimson Dawn, the aftereffects of which granted Betsy the ability to teleport in and out of shadows. Lobdell also temporarily took her out of the X-Men roster this issue. Braddock returns to the team in X-Men (vol. 2) #77–78, where she uses her Crimson Dawn-enhanced telepathy to trap the Shadow King in the astral plane. Any use of her telepathy would result in his release, so she forgoes the use of her telepathic ability. Some time later she would develop telekinesis for the first time instead. Betsy's relationship with Archangel ends in the Claremont written X-Men (vol. 2) #109, where the character embarks upon a relationship with new Indian X-Men recruit Neal Shaara, also known as Thunderbird.
In the Claremont-written X-Treme X-Men #2 (2001), the character dies, her comic book death lasting until 2005's The Uncanny X-Men #455; Claremont also wrote this issue, later stating he had always intended to revive her. Briefly, the character was depicted in Exiles, a spin-off comic-book series in the X-Men franchise, set in an alternate universe. With the cancellation of New Exiles, Betsy Braddock starred in her first solo book, the X-Men: Sword of The Braddocks one-shot. Afterwards, the character was brought back to the main Marvel Universe in early 2009 within the pages of The Uncanny X-Men.
In addition to appearing in many X-related team titles over the decades, Psylocke (both Betsy Braddock and Kwannon) have appeared in several limited series. In the year of 1997, the characters appeared in the 4-issue team-up series Psylocke and Archangel: Crimson Dawn. Beginning in November 2009, Betsy Braddock was featured in X-Men: Psylocke a self-titled four issue miniseries written by Christopher Yost and drawn by Harvey Tolibao; Matsu'o Tsurayaba and Wolverine are central characters in the story.
Captain Britain
At the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, Editor-in-Chief C. B. Cebulski and writer Jonathan Hickman revealed that, following the franchise-wide relaunch House of X/Powers of X, Betsy Braddock would become the new Captain Britain, with Brian adopting the new title of Captain Avalon and Kwannon taking over the Psylocke moniker. Cebulski compared Betsy's adoption of the Captain Britain mantle to Carol Danvers's transition to Captain Marvel. As part of the Dawn of X, a new volume of Excalibur written by Tini Howard was launched, with Braddock leading a new lineup of the titular team consisting of herself, Gambit, Rogue, Jubilee, Rictor, and Apocalypse. Braddock was included as a central character in the X of Swords crossover by Howard and Hickman. Following the completion of Howard's Excalibur run, Braddock was featured in the Knights of X miniseries and Captain Britain: Betsy Braddock, with Betsy and her long-time friend Rachel Summers confessing their romantic feelings for each other, with their kiss shown in a splash page. A new series about Betsy once again as Psylocke, Psylocke: Ninja – Rise from the Fall (originally known simply as Psylocke: Ninja), was published in 2025.
Fictional character biography
Background
Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock was born in England and was raised in the small town of Maldon, Essex. Betsy was Sir James Braddock's second child, born minutes before her twin brother Brian. The twins and their elder brother Jamie, who was nearly a decade older, had a very privileged life. By the time she entered college, Betsy had become a charter pilot. After she and Jamie were taken hostage by the Red Skull's agents and freed by Captain America and Captain Britain, Betsy learned the latter was her brother Brian. At this time Betsy began to develop precognitive powers. She dyed her hair purple and took up modeling. At the age of twenty-one, her psychic powers fully manifested, which grew to include telepathy. Agent Matthew recruited Betsy into S.T.R.I.K.E.'s Psi Division, and she became fellow psi Tom Lennox's lover. As she had inherited membership to the Hellfire Club from her father, Betsy was sent to infiltrate it, but was warned off by Tessa for her own protection. She also met future boyfriend Warren Worthington for the first time during one of the Hellfire Club parties.
When the crime lord Vixen hired Slaymaster to eliminate the Psi-Division, only Betsy, Tom Lennox, and their friend Alison Double were left when Brian defeated him. When reality warped due to the powers of Mad Jim Jaspers, Tom sacrificed himself to give the Braddocks time to escape from a group of superhero hunters. Betsy was in Tom's mind when he died; feeling his death, she was left traumatized. Following the repair of the reality warp, an evil version of Captain Britain from another universe named Kaptain Briton switched places with Brian. The double tried to rape Betsy. In self-defense, she telepathically killed him. The same night, the twins were informed of their father's Otherworld origins, and a new intelligence agency called R.C.X. asked them to billet Warpies, children transformed by Jaspers' warp, at the Manor, which led to an argument between Betsy and Brian.
As Captain Britain
When Brian went overseas, Matthew (now codenamed Gabriel) convinced Betsy to become the new Captain Britain, wearing Kaptain Briton's modified costume. Working with Captain UK, the duo became public sensations. After several months, crime boss Vixen lured Betsy into a showdown with Slaymaster. During the battle, Betsy called Vixen a "hag", which angered her. Vixen instructed Slaymaster that she wanted Betsy's eyes, so he brutally beat Betsy, then gouged her eyes out. Brian flew to her rescue and killed Slaymaster as Vixen escaped. Betsy refused R.C.X.'s offer of cybernetic eyes, preferring to rely on her psychic abilities to "see". She and Gabriel went to former S.T.R.I.K.E. Psi co-agent Alison Double's Switzerland chateau for Betsy to recuperate.
As Psylocke
Betsy was kidnapped from the Alps by Mojo, brainwashed, given cybernetic eyes, and, as "Psylocke", became the star of his new show "Wildways". Brian and the New Mutants rescued her, after which Betsy moved to the X-Men's mansion to recover, exactly where Roma, Guardian of the Omniverse, needed her to be. When the Marauders attacked the Morlocks, the X-Mansion was used as a temporary infirmary for injured survivors of the massacre. Knowing that the X-Men were away in New York, the Marauder Sabretooth invaded the mansion. Betsy used herself as bait to lead him away from the injured until the X-Men arrived to help her. While Sabretooth and Wolverine fought, Betsy used her telepathy to gather information about the Marauders and their leader, Mr. Sinister, from Sabretooth's mind. Wolverine, though initially reluctant to involve outsiders in the X-Men's affairs, was impressed by her bravery and nominated her to join the team.
As an X-Man she met Mephisto, Dr. Doom and the Fantastic Four, and the Horde. The X-Men later battled Freedom Force and the Adversary in Dallas, and, in a televised battle, sacrificed themselves to allow Forge to bind the Adversary; Roma secretly restored them to life, and gave Betsy the Siege Perilous, which they could use if they ever wanted to start new lives. The X-Men moved to the Reavers' Australian Outback base, from where they took on the Brood, Genoshan Magistrates, Mister Sinister and the Goblin Queen, M Squad, Mr. Jip and the Serpent Society, Master Mold and Nimrod, Nanny and Orphan-Maker, and Zaladane and the Savage Land Mutates. As they were about to depart the Savage Land, Betsy had a precognitive flash of the Reavers killing the team. To prevent this, she telepathically "convinces" them to abandon the Outback, and subsequently sends them through the Siege Perilous.
Lady Mandarin and body swap
Betsy reappeared amnesiac on an island near China, where the Hand, a ninja clan, found her. Matsu'o Tsurayaba, their leader, saw a chance to save his brain-dead lover, Kwannon. Spiral informed Matsu'o that Betsy's telepathy could restore Kwannon, and Matsu'o accepted. Unknown to Matsu'o, however, Spiral actually placed the two women's minds into each other's bodies. She also merged their genetic structures, leaving both women with physical and mental traits of the other, and with each possessing half of Betsy's telepathic power. With some physical and mental conditioning, Betsy—inhabiting Kwannon's body—became the Hand's prime assassin, taking the name Lady Mandarin. She gained highly remarkable fighting skills and learned to focus her telepathic power into a "psychic knife". Lady Mandarin's first mission pitted her against Wolverine. Betsy's psychic knife attack revealed Wolverine's memories of who she used to be and allowed her to break free from the Hand's conditioning.
Betsy rejected her role as Lady Mandarin and escaped with Wolverine and Jubilee, eventually going with them to the island nation of Genosha, where the New Mutants had been kidnapped along with the X-Men's leader, Storm, by Cameron Hodge. Following Hodge's defeat, the X-Men reunited and returned to New York. Betsy then joined the Blue Team led by Cyclops, for whom she displayed an obvious attraction. When Phoenix found out, the two women fought, but were interrupted by the arrival of Kwannon, now calling herself Revanche, in Betsy's former body, claiming to be the real Betsy. Unable to discern which was truly Betsy, both stayed with the X-Men, maintaining an uneasy coexistence. Learning she had the Legacy Virus, Revanche had Matsu'o kill her, restoring Betsy's full personality and telepathic potential. Having become involved with her teammate Angel, the following months saw her fight the Phalanx, try to reach Jamie's comatose mind, battle Legion in Israel, and combat Gene Nation.
Crimson Dawn
Betsy was gutted by Sabretooth which led Angel, Wolverine, Doctor Strange and Gomurr the Ancient to retrieve a magical liquid from the Crimson Dawn dimension to heal her. This gave her the new ability to teleport through shadows, also marking her with a red tattoo over her left eye. Her personality took on a cold edge, which created distance between her and Warren. Kuragari, Proctor of the Crimson Dawn, tried to claim Betsy as his bride, but was thwarted with Gomurr and Angel's aid, freeing Betsy of the Dawn's influence. Betsy retained the abilities associated with it. Soon after these events, the couple retired from active duty with the X-Men.
Subsequently, she aided Storm against the Shadow King, who tricked Betsy into initiating a psychic shockwave that disabled all other telepaths, leaving him unchallenged on the astral plane. Her own astral form was destroyed, but her exposure to the Crimson Dawn gave her a new shadow form with temporarily enhanced powers, which she used to trap the Shadow King's core. To keep him trapped she was forced to constantly focus her telepathy on him, effectively rendering herself powerless.
Revolution and X-Treme
Jean Grey's attempt to help Betsy deal with the Shadow King somehow swapped their powers, leaving Betsy telekinetic. With her new abilities Betsy fought Belasco, the Neo, the Goth, the Crimson Pirates, the Twisted Sisters, and the Prime Sentinels, then aided her brother freeing Otherworld from Mastermind's Warpie army. After ending her relationship with Archangel, Betsy joined Storm's X-Treme X-Men team in the search for Destiny's diaries.
In Valencia, Betsy died in combat with the man known as Vargas while protecting Rogue and Beast, who were badly beaten by the villain. Brian Braddock and Meggan collected Betsy's body from Spain. She was buried at the Braddock family estate and a memorial to her was erected at the X-Mansion by Beast.
Resurrection
One year after her death, Betsy awoke where she had died, unaware of how she had been resurrected, and was soon reunited with the X-Men, helping them against the Saurian Hauk'ka, and Mojo and Spiral. Jamie started to covertly observe his resurrected sister, allowing her to catch occasional glimpses of him. Betsy was reunited with Brian during the Scarlet Witch's "House of M" reality storm. When the timeline was set right, the memories of their encounter took on a dreamlike state, prompting Betsy and several of the X-Men to visit London to check on Brian's status.
Back in the US, Betsy and the X-Men failed to stop Shi'ar Death Commandos from slaughtering the Grey family, targeted for death because of their relationship to Phoenix, but helped defeat them before they could kill Rachel Grey. With the First Fallen's servants, the Foursaken, about to make their move, Jamie revealed his part in Betsy's resurrection to the X-Men: sensing the approaching threat of the cosmically powerful First Fallen (a harbinger of frozen, eternal "perfection") and learning of Betsy's demise, an annoyed Jamie resurrected her, reaching back through time to stop her spirit passing into the afterlife. Intending her to be a weapon to use against the First Fallen, Jamie tightened up the "quantum strings" of Betsy's body, rendering her mostly immune to external manipulation, enhancing her telekinetic powers, and leaving her invisible to the First Fallen's senses. Jamie was abducted by the Foursaken before he could fully inform them of the imminent threat; trying to rescue him, the X-Men were easily captured, except Betsy, who found herself invisible to the Foursaken's senses. Disrupting their attempt to give the First Fallen full access to Earth, Betsy and the X-Men were pulled into his realm, the Singing City, where Betsy's immunity to his mental control allowed her to free the city's residents, including the Foursaken, from his dominance. As a wrathful First Fallen turned on them, Jamie sent the X-Men home while he held the entity back, apparently sacrificing himself.
Returning to the UK to tell Brian of Jamie's fate, Betsy learned that Shadow Xavier, leader of the Shadow X-Men, had taken over the minds of his jailors in Crossmore Prison, and was demanding to see her. Accompanied by Excalibur, Betsy visited the prison, where Xavier revealed his true identity as the Shadow King, and tried to take revenge, having Excalibur attack Brian so that Betsy could witness his death; however, immune to his control, Betsy telekinetically induced a stroke in Xavier's body, freeing Excalibur. Before she could finish him off, Betsy was interdimensionally teleported to the Crystal Palace at the Nexus of All Realities.
Exiles
Appearing at the headquarters of the Exiles, heroes gathered from several realities to protect the Omniverse; both the Exiles' choice of Betsy as latest recruit, and the timing of same, were apparently the result of Roma's manipulations, again moving one of her pawns to where it would soon be needed as part of a greater plan. Her first mission with the Exiles brought Betsy face to face with Earth-1720's Slaymaster, brutally reminding her of her reality's Slaymaster blinding her. After escaping, Slaymaster-1720 began murdering Betsy Braddock in each reality he visited.
Meanwhile, determined to confront her fear, Betsy began rigorous training to prepare herself for their next encounter. She returned to Earth-616 to let Brian know she was alive. Almost immediately both the Exiles and Excalibur were called to the defense of Otherworld, under attack by an army of Furies created by a resurrected Mad Jim Jaspers; though the heroes prevailed, the Exiles were left as the Omniverse's primary defenders until the devastated Captain Britain Corps could be rebuilt. Choosing to remain with the Exiles, Betsy traveled to several realities. Upon arriving on a certain Earth, Betsy had a mental breakdown due to her counterpart of this world's psyche being at war with Betsy's own psyche to control her body. This reality's Ogun approached Betsy and offered to train her so she could avenge the death of his apprentice, who was killed by Slaymaster. Betsy eventually tracked him to Earth-616 and killed him. Betsy returned to the Crystal Palace, became involved with teammate Sabretooth, and promised to honor her mission as an Exile.
Return
Somehow, Betsy became trapped between parallel worlds and was rescued by Madelyne Pryor – now calling herself the Red Queen – who controlled her to join the Sisterhood. They also stole Betsy's original body, in which Kwannon had died, at a graveyard. A ritual of sorts with both bodies was performed, resulting in Betsy's original body being brought back to life. The Sisterhood, now including a brainwashed Betsy, attacked the X-Men. Dazzler was forced to use her powers on Betsy, blowing half of her face off. Dazzler's attack shocked Betsy back to consciousness, enabling her to overcome the Red Queen's control and return to her Japanese body.
After these events, Betsy's powers changed once again; she now possessed both telepathic and telekinetic abilities, but with her psionic potential divided between them, neither ability is as strong as it once was. The following days saw Betsy travel back in time alongside Beast's X-Club. Betsy also led the X-Club in a mission to raise Asteroid M, which was at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, to serve as the X-Men's new base of operations and a haven for mutantkind, called Utopia. Soon after, Betsy went to Japan with Wolverine to re-inter her former body. Upon arriving, she was ambushed by the Hand, who destroyed her original body at the behest of Matsu'o Tsurayaba. Enraged, Betsy tracked Matsu'o down, finding him terribly disfigured as the result of Wolverine's yearly revenge on Matsu'o for his role in the murder of Mariko Yashida. Matsu'o, now missing both hands and other body parts, desired an honorable death and wanted Betsy to grant him that honor since he could not hold a blade to perform seppuku himself. This put Betsy at odds with Wolverine, who felt that Matsu'o's punishment was not over yet. Betsy engaged Wolverine in a brutal fight which ended in a truce. With Wolverine's permission, Betsy finished Matsu'o off mercifully, using her telepathy to project illusions into his mind of his body restored and of Kwannon embracing him. Betsy quickly killed him with her psi-blade.
During the Nation X storyline, Betsy, Wolverine, and Colossus were sent down into the sewers under San Francisco to investigate the case of a missing Predator X. They ran into Fantomex, who had slain the beast. Betsy battled Sublime's associates with the help of Fantomex and her teammates. During the Necrosha storyline, Betsy joined Rogue's team sent to Muir Island to battle the resurrected Proteus. Betsy appeared to have lost her immunity to telepathic attacks and reality alterations, as Proteus easily possessed her. However, her psi-blade was able to break his hold on his hosts. Following the return of Cable and Hope Summers, Betsy was selected as part of Cyclops' "Alpha roster" of X-Men sent to locate and protect the two from the forces of Bastion.
Uncanny X-Force
In the aftermath of "X-Men: Second Coming", Betsy (along with Deadpool, Fantomex, and Archangel) was selected by Wolverine to be a member of the new X-Force; the sole condition being that no one could learn of the team's existence. Betsy had been using her telepathy to help Warren control the "Archangel" persona in his mind, which led to the two rekindling their previous relationship. The team's first mission was to locate and kill Apocalypse, who had been reborn. Upon discovering that the reborn Apocalypse was a child, most of the team decided against killing him, but Fantomex fatally shot the boy. With X-Force, Betsy also faced long-time rivals such as the Reavers and the Shadow King. The latter succeeded in freeing the Archangel persona in Warren. To prevent Archangel's ascension into Apocalypse, X-Force traveled to the Age of Apocalypse to seek a Life Seed, which could cleanse Warren. Betsy's hesitation to kill Archangel led to her transformation into the Horseman of Death at his hands. Jean Grey of the Age of Apocalypse managed to revert this process, unlocking a previously untapped power in Betsy's mind, who became a full-fledged Omega-level telepath after these events. Betsy stabbed Archangel with the Life Seed, killing Warren and creating a new being in his likeness in the process.
After the Schism between the X-Men, while Betsy decided to stay on Utopia under Cyclops' leadership, she secretly remained part of X-Force to help whenever Wolverine requested. Cyclops also placed her in charge of a new X-Men Security team, asking her to be his spy and spy-hunter.
Soon after, Captain Britain learned of Betsy's activities with X-Force through their bond and decided to retrieve her to Otherworld, where Jamie Braddock was revealed to be alive, and punish Fantomex for his crimes. Betsy took up the Lady Briton mantle to rescue Fantomex and was ultimately forced to kill Jamie to prevent his future self from destroying the multiverse. X-Force faced a new Brotherhood of Mutants, of which the Shadow King was a member. Betsy imprisoned his psyche for good into Omega White, whose ability was to eat psychic energy. After this last mission, X-Force disbanded for good and Fantomex, who had been keeping a relationship with Betsy, but died at the hands of the Brotherhood, was resurrected in three different bodies for each of his brains.
As a member of Cyclops' Extinction Team, Betsy dealt with the fallout from Archangel's machinations in Tabula Rasa and sided with the X-Men against the Avengers once the Phoenix Force returned to Earth to reclaim a host. However, Daredevil made Betsy question her motives, and she joined the Avengers, the X-Men and Nova in the final battle against Cyclops.
Marvel NOW!
After the events of Avengers vs. X-Men, Betsy and Fantomex spent weeks in Paris, engaging in drinking, sex and thieving. While Betsy and Fantomex grew apart, she and Cluster – Fantomex' female self – grew closer and more devoted to each other, resulting in a romantic relationship. Feeling jealous about the new couple, Fantomex set Betsy up to be blamed for a crime. Once Cluster sided with him over Betsy, Betsy decided to leave them both for good.
Upon returning to New York, Betsy took a teaching position at the Jean Grey School for Higher Learning. Due to Betsy's constant assaulting of the students and aggressiveness, Wolverine was forced to fire her, and instead assigned her a mission to take down Spiral. With the help of Storm and Puck, Betsy faced her longtime rival and Bishop, who had returned to the present day. After taking a trip through Bishop's mind, Betsy managed to tame the Demon Bear in his psyche, making an unusual ally of it. She also rescued Fantomex from Weapon XIII at Cluster's request, but left them once more. Bishop's alliance with Betsy's group put them at war with Cassandra Nova – the Revenant Queen – who wished to unleash her revenants (or mummudrai) on Earth. Betsy ultimately stabbed her to death, breaking her vow not to kill again. Betsy's group also teamed up with Cable's X-Force to rescue Bishop and Hope Summers, both kidnapped by Stryfe. Betsy's posture in this mission impressed Cable.
As a member of the X-Men, Betsy joined an all-female squad led by Storm alongside Rogue, Kitty Pryde and Rachel Summers, and later Omega Sentinel and Monet, taking on villains such as Arkea, the Brotherhood from a future timeline, Lady Deathstrike's Sisterhood and The Future. During this time, Betsy started focusing her powers into different weapons of psychic energy such as a bow and arrow, a crossbow and a grappling line and a flail, mentored a small group of students consisted of Hellion, Anole, Broo, and Rockslide and kept a relationship with a virtual boyfriend created in the Danger Room.
All-New Marvel NOW!
In the wake of a terrorist attack known as the Alexandria Incident, which claimed 3,000 lives, Cable re-formed the mutant black ops team X-Force so that mutantkind not only had a continued place in the world, but also had a stake in it. While Cable recruited Fantomex, Marrow and Doctor Nemesis as his teammates, Betsy actually sought Cable because she couldn't bear staying away from X-Force as she admitted she was addicted to killing. Their first mission had the team track and face Volga, a wealthy business man responsible for the abduction and weaponization of several mutants and depowered mutants. As a member of X-Force, Braddock grew more bloodthirsty, self-loathing and broken by the day, admitting that resorting to killing was the only way she could feel anything at all. She also kept a sexual relationship with Cable. X-Force also faced Fantomex, who was driven to the point of insanity and received god-like powers. Betsy ultimately used her mind blade to scramble Fantomex's brain.
As a member of the X-Men, Betsy investigated the Shi'ar's Providian Order, while taking on Skrull/Brood hybrids, investigated a mysterious natural phenomena in the Blackrock Desert, helped Nightcrawler against a newly returned Shadow King, and joined the X-Men and Avengers in Genosha to fight the clone of Red Skull during the AXIS storyline. Months later, Betsy and the X-Men took refuge in the X-Nation under Cyclops' leadership, when Earth-616 suffered from an early death as a consequence of the multiversal phenomena known as the incursions.
All-New, All-Different Marvel
The intervention of Mister Fantastic in the rebirth of Earth-616 caused the Marvel Universe to be a direct continuation of the previous iteration. As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel event, Betsy reappeared in a world where the Terrigen released in the atmosphere by the Inhumans proved to be deadly to mutants. For this reason, Magneto invited Betsy to be a partner in his endeavors and protect mutantkind. He also offered her the chance to work with a blank slate clone of Archangel he had come across earlier. Although not fully agreeing with Magneto's methods, Betsy remained part of his team, alongside Monet and Sabretooth, for the sake of rehabilitating Archangel, whom she kept under telepathic control. Magneto's X-Men first mission had them face the Dark Riders, who were targeting mutant healers. Following a lead buried in the dormant Archangel's mind, Betsy and Magneto travelled to Colorado, where they found a wingless Warren Worthington brainwashed by the son of Apocalypse, Genocide, and Clan Akkaba, who were harvesting his wings to create an army of Archangel clones. When Warren and Archangel merged, Betsy started working with him to restore the man she once knew and loved.
Once Ulysses, an Inhuman with the ability to forecast the future, emerged, Betsy briefly changed alliances, siding with Storm's X-Men in opposition to Magneto's team, who wanted to eliminate the boy. Betsy also found out Magneto had secretly employed Mystique and Fantomex and made an alliance with the Hellfire Club, much to her annoyance. After the X-Men foiled Someday Corporation's plans to weaponize mutants, Betsy quit the team, vowing to keep an eye on Magneto's operations and putting an end to them if he ever crossed the line. On her own, Betsy tracked down and defeated threats to mutantkind such as Omega Sentinels, Sauron and the Nasty Boys. Betsy also faced Mystique, stabilizing the shapeshifter's psyche once and for all.