History ComicBook / Psylocke

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[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px_uncanny_psylocke.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:After and before the [[FreakyFridayFlip body swap]].]]
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[[caption-width-right:250:[[LegacyCharacter As]] [[WearingAFlagOnYourHead Captain Britain]].]]
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->''"This is who I was. A last link to my life. Gone. A life that was ripped away from me a long time ago by one man. A man I thought I had made my peace with. I was wrong. Whatever mercy I had left in me burned away with that body. Whatever vestiges of Elizabeth Braddock that would spare him again are gone. Because now? [[BadassBoast Matsu'o Tsurayaba is going to die]]."''
-->-- '''Elizabeth Braddock (Psylocke), ''Psylocke'' #1'''

Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock a.k.a. Psylocke is a Creator/MarvelComics character associated with the superhero team the ''ComicBook/XMen''. She's one of the most famous [[UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} British]] superheroes in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse. She was created by Creator/ChrisClaremont and Herb Trimpe. In the UK, she was first introduced in ''Captain Britain'' Vol. 1 #8 (1976), published by Marvel UK. In the United States, she was introduced in ''ComicBook/NewMutants Annual'' #2 (1986). Her other aliases have included “Captain Britain”, “Lady Mandarin”, and “Lady Briton”.

Betsy is a pilot, secret agent, supermodel, and the twin sister of Captain Britain. She developed PsychicPowers and spent some years as a supporting character in her brother's book, then had a brief but disastrous go at filling in for him and was blinded by his nemesis Slaymaster. After that, she tried to quit superheroing but was kidnapped by Mojo and rescued by the New Mutants. She was initially a character with [[WeakButSkilled mediocre fighting skills but excellent telepathy]]. She was later kidnapped in China and turned into a McNinja, getting magically body-merged with the mutant assassin Kwannon (resulting in the assassin looking like Psylocke, and Psylocke looking Asian but with her face still recognizable) and picking up super martial arts skills. She even got a [[SpontaneousWeaponCreation psychic knife]], which after she switched her powers from telepathy to telekinesis turned into a telekinetic katana.

In the aftermath of ''ComicBook/HuntForWolverine: Mystery in Madripoor'', Betsy regained her original British body after causing the psychic vampire Sapphire Styx to explode using the power of her victims' souls, which also brought Kwannon back to life.

As part of the ''ComicBook/DawnOfX'' initiative, Betsy took on the identity of ComicBook/CaptainBritain, while Kwannon began using the Psylocke name.

[[AC:Main Comics appearances]]
* ''Psylocke and Archangel: Crimson Dawn'' (1997)
* ''X-Men: Sword of the Braddocks'' (2009)
* ''Psylocke'' (2010)

Other comics:
* ''Captain Britain''
* ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}''
* ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}''
* ''ComicBook/HouseOfM''
* ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen''
* ''ComicBook/UncannyXForce'' Vol. 1
* ''Uncanny X-Force'' Vol. 2
* ''[[ComicBook/AdjectivelessXMen X-Men]]''
* ''X-Men: ComicBook/BattleOfTheAtom''
* ''X-Men: Die by the Sword''
* ''X-Treme X-Men''
* ''[[ComicBook/HuntForWolverine Hunt For Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor ]]'' (Betsy regains her Caucasian body while Kwannon is restored to life in her Asian body)
* ''ComicBook/Excalibur2019'' (Betsy becomes Captain Britain)
* ''ComicBook/FallenAngels2019'' (Kwannon becomes [[LegacyCharacter Psylocke II]])
* ''ComicBook/{{Hellions}}'' (Kwannon is one of the leads)

[[AC:Animated series]]
* ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' (1992-1997): Voiced by Tasha Simms.
* ''WesternAnimation/WolverineAndTheXMen'' (2009): Voiced by Creator/GreyDeLisle.

[[AC:Film]]
* ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'' (2006): Appears as a '''very''' [[AdaptationalVillainy minor villain]]. Portrayed by Meiling Melançon[[note]]who initially thought she was portraying Kwannon due to [[InNameOnly very little resemblance]] her character has with Psylocke from the comics[[/note]].
* ''Film/XMenApocalypse'' (2016): Portrayed by Creator/OliviaMunn.

[[AC:Video Games]]
* ''[[VideoGame/XMenIITheFallOfTheMutants X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants]]'' (1990): appears as a playable hero.
* ''Wolverine'' (1991): appears as NPC.
* ''X-Men'' (1993): appears as NPC only in a cutscene.
* ''[[VideoGame/XMenMutantApocalypse X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse]]'' (1994): appears as playable hero.
* ''VideoGame/XMenChildrenOfTheAtom'' (1994): appears as playable hero. Voiced by Catherine Disher.
* ''VideoGame/XMen2CloneWars'' (1995): appears as playable hero.
* ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'' (1995): appears as playable hero. Voiced by Catherine Disher.
* ''VideoGame/XMenVsStreetFighter'' (1997): appears as cameo.
* ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomClashOfSuperHeroes'' (1998): appears as AssistCharacter.
* ''VideoGame/XMenTheRavagesOfApocalypse'' (1998): Her clones are included among the enemies.
* ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2'' (2000): appears as playable hero. Voiced by Catherine Disher.
* ''VideoGame/XMenMutantAcademy 2'' (2001): appears as playable hero. Voiced by Jane Luk.
* ''VideoGame/XMenNextDimension'' (2002): appears as playable hero. Voiced by Masasa Moyo.
* ''VideoGame/XMenLegends'' (2004): appears as playable hero. Voiced by Masasa Moyo.
* ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance'' (2006): appears as NPC and MiniBoss. Voiced by Creator/KimMaiGuest.
* ''Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2'' (2009): appears as a playable hero. Voiced by Creator/KimberlyBrooks.
* ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance3TheBlackOrder'' (2019): appears as playable hero. Voiced by Creator/EricaLindbeck
* ''VideoGame/SuperHeroSquadOnline'' (2011-present): appears as playable hero. Voiced by Creator/LauraBailey.
* ''Marvel vs. Capcom Origins'' (2012): HD remake and compilation of ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'' and ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcomClashOfSuperHeroes''.
* ''VideoGame/MarvelAvengersAlliance'' (2012-2016): appears as recruitable playable hero.
* ''VideoGame/{{Deadpool}}'' (2013): appears as cameo and NPC. Voiced by Melissa Disney.
* ''[[VideoGame/LEGOAdaptationGame LEGO Marvel Super Heroes]]'' (2013): appears as a playable hero.
* ''VideoGame/MarvelHeroes'' (2013-present): appears as playable hero. Voiced by Creator/AprilStewart.
* ''VideoGame/MarvelFutureFight'' (2015-present) appears as playable hero.

!Tropes
* NinetiesAntiHero: Her body switch turned her into this: an exaggeratedly sexy kunoichi who wielded an impossibly cool psionic shiv and loved to beat people down.
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: At first her psychic blade was only able to fry the brains of her foes, not any matter. After a RePower that made her powers telekinetic instead of telepathic, it went from a wedge-shaped field of KirbyDots to a detailed energy katana that could function as a blade that could slice through anything (yet still have its [[SetSwordsToStun stunning/psychic effects]] if it hit flesh and blood).
* ActionSurvivor: In her early appearances, before she had powers, when she was victimized by her brother's enemies.
* AlliterativeName: '''B'''etsy '''B'''raddock.
* AffirmativeActionLegacy: Psylocke is a rather complicated example:
** Before she the BodySwap with Kwannon, Betsy briefly became the second Captain Britain, replacing her brother Brian. Later, in 2018 when the BodySwap with Kwannon was reverted, she once again took the identity of Captain Britain, and this time officially, as she was granted the Amulet of Right that powered her brother, which leads [[ComicBook/Excalibur2019 the new iteration of Excalibur]]. All in all, this leads to her being a bisexual woman taking the mantle of a heterosexual man. For added bonus, she's a mutant, and Brian is a human.
** Her original Psylocke identity at the same time is taken up by Kwannon. This effectively makes her a ''true'' Japanese woman taking the identity of a hero who was originally white, and not culturally Japanese. (Perhaps worth noting is the fact that, when Betsy was originally {{Body Swap}}ped, she was explicitly ''Chinese'' instead of Japanese, which was a later {{Retcon}}. Making Kwannon a Japanese successor to a White/Chinese/Japanese–but–culturally–British hero.)
* AllAmazonsWantHercules: Literally. A team-up with ComicBook/TheIncredibleHercules revealed that during an ''earlier'' team-up, the two of them had flirted back-and-forth and then slept together. Before parting, Hercules told her that her beauty was "unforgettable"... and yet, back in the present, he didn't seem to remember her at all. Psylocke punches him in the jaw.
* AnimalMotifs: Butterflies, a symbol of her telepathy. They represent her [[PrettyButterflies gracefulness]] and [[ButterflyOfTransformation change]], what with switching bodies, becoming Captain Britain, gaining new psychic powers, and joining the X-Men.
* AntiHero: Initially a pragmatic [[Analysis/AntiHero Type II]] during her British days, then after the body swap she became a darker [[Analysis/AntiHero Type IV]]. Over time she reverted to a lighter hue, even after joining the Black Ops squad ComicBook/UncannyXForce. Now she's somewhere in a complicated "Type IV trying to be Type II" stage.
* ArchEnemy: Psylocke has the Shadow King and Matsu'o Tsurayaba. The Shadow King temporarily destroyed her psychic form, nearly killing her, temporarily forced Psylocke to sacrifice her telepathic powers to keep him imprisoned, and once tried to make her his queen.
* AscendedExtra: She was initially a supporting character in her brother's comics. She quickly rose to fame and eventually become much more famous than he.
* TheAtoner: In ''Uncanny X-Force'' Vol. 2, she is trying not to kill anymore, since it has become like an addiction to her.
* AttemptedRape: Kaptain Briton, [[BrotherSisterIncest her brother]]'s {{evil|Doppelganger}} [[AlternateSelf alternate reality]] counterpart, attempted to rape her. Fortunately for her, she discovered her previously minimal psychic powers were considerably more formidable than she believed at that point. Unfortunately for her brother Captain Britain, who was trapped in the alternate universe Kaptain Briton came from, he too faced this at the hands of villainess Sat-Yr-9, just without any ability to fight them off, adding to [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale his growing list of never-mentioned-after rape experiences]].
* BackFromTheDead: She was once fatally stabbed by the man known as Vargas while protecting Rogue and Beast, who were badly beaten by the villain. One year after her death, Betsy awoke where she had died, unaware of how she had survived, and was soon reunited with the X-Men. It is later revealed that the responsible party was her elder brother Jamie, who had RealityWarper powers.
* BareYourMidriff: Her costume from the ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}'' comics.
* BetaCouple: For several years, she and Archangel were the beta couple to ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} and ComicBook/JeanGrey. Then Thunderbird III came along.
* BettyAndVeronica:
** Was Veronica to Jean's Betty in the early days of the Blue and Gold team split, where she tried to start an affair with Cyclops, acting overtly seductive towards him, such as performing a SexySurfacingShot right in front of him and acting as TheTease. [[AbortedArc The whole story was eventually dropped with no real explanation.]] Given that many of Jim Lee's personal comics outside of X-Men contain cold and remote but incredibly hot ninja-babes who wear ass-floss uniforms, it's possible that this is something he interjected into the storyline himself after Claremont left.
** She was also the Archie in the LoveTriangle between her, Warren (Betty) and Fantomex (Veronica), in ''Uncanny X-Force''. She ultimately didn't end up with either.
* BelligerentSexualTension: Had tons of aggressive sexual tension with the ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse version of Sabretooth (who was [[AdaptationalHeroism much nicer than the one in her universe]]) during ''ComicBook/{{Exiles}}''. It eventually culminating in [[TheyDo them sleeping together and becoming a couple briefly]], but he got PutOnABus soon after and she moved on.
* TheBeautifulElite: Betsy Braddock is the daughter of a British lord and is a graceful HeadTurningBeauty who had a modeling career for a time.
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Her psychic knife manifests in this style.
* BlindSeer: Kind of. After she lost her eyes, she could use her psychic powers to see through the eyes of everyone around her. She also occasionally saw the future.
* BloodKnight: And in denial about it, in the 2010s X-Force series. She considers herself an addict (much like her alcoholic brother). Her addiction is killing people.
* BlueBlood: The Braddocks are a high-class family, and she and Captain Britain have hereditary membership in the Hellfire Club's London branch.
* BlueIsHeroic: Her leotard was sometimes colored blue.
* BoobsAndButtPose: So common in the 90s and early 2000s that she illustrates the trope page, and many artists and fans actually call this the "Psylocke Pose".
* BoxingLessonsForSuperman: Betsy is a borderline example; while she has martial arts skills in addition to her PsychicPowers, and has the ability to use her powers and martial skills in unique ways, this was granted to her in an impossible BodySwap fashion, and not something she learned herself. Kwannon, the woman whose body she inhabits, is this trope played straight, as a low-level empath who trained to become an expert assassin.
* BraidsOfAction: She often wears her hair in a braided ponytail when going into a fight. One issue in the Savage Lands shows her plaiting her hair in preparation for battle while calmly discussing the plan with an ally.
* BrainwashedAndCrazy: More than once.
** The first time was when she was captured by the Hand, body-swapped/merged with Kwannon, and programmed to serve as Lady Mandarin. That time the brainwashing was broken by her using her psychic knife on Wolverine, who at the time was in the grip of a hallucinatory psychotic break; the resultant double dose of bonus crazy was enough to override her {{brainwashing}}.
** A more insidious example came from the Crimson Dawn, which was said to have stained her soul. The full implications were never completely explained, but she was generally reckoned to have become more ruthless and violent under its influence.
** And again by Archangel, after he took his place as the heir of Apocalypse and transformed her into his Horseman of Death. This took direct intervention by Jean Grey to override.
* BreakoutCharacter: From initially being a supporting character in ComicBook/CaptainBritain's books to being far more popular than her brother ever was.
* BreakTheCutie: ''Uncanny X-Force'' Vol. 1 is a never ending TraumaCongaLine for her.
* BrotherSisterTeam: Sometimes with Captain Britain, such as when she's with ComicBook/{{Excalibur}} and ComicBook/{{Exiles}}. In their civilian life, they are also very close.
* BulletProofVest: One of the few non-invulnerable heroes to have the good sense to procure adequate body armor. Until she became a {{stripperific}} ninja, of course.
* ButterflyOfTransformation: Psylocke's {{telepathy}} is symbolized by butterflies, and her character has undergone tremendous change, having [[BodySwap switched bodies]], become Captain Britain (twice), gained new PsychicPowers (twice), and joined the X-Men. Her successor Kwannon inherited the butterfly motif via a {{Retcon}}; she views her changes post-[[DeathIsCheap revival]] as a metaphorical rebirth, fitting the sub-trope of ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth.
* CainAndAbel: Psylocke and Captain Britain are twin superheroes, and their older brother Jamie Braddock is an insane RealityWarper who flip-flops between loving sibling and insane supervillain. Eventually, Psylocke mind-controls Captain Britain into killing Jamie, in order to prevent his future self from destroying the multiverse. This rather sours their family relationship.
* CaptainGeographic: When she briefly becomes Captain Britain and Lady Briton.
* CaptainSuperhero: As Captain Britain.
* CharacterDevelopment: Originally, she was the farthest thing from an ActionHero one could get, preferring to use {{Jedi Mind Trick}}s and sneaky telepathic tactics as opposed to outright conflict. After the FreakyFriday that gave her martial arts skills, she went from SquishyWizard to BareFistedMonk, putting herself InHarmsWay more often than not, and sometimes (DependingOnTheWriter) suffering [[TheWorfEffect humiliating defeats]] as a result of it.
* TheChick: In ''Uncanny X-Force'' Vol. 1, of LadyOfWar variety.
* CleavageWindow: Her Captain Britain/Lady Briton costume.
* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: She keeps the costume that belonged to Kaptain Briton to briefly becomes Captain Britain. Later in ''Uncanny X-Force'', she also briefly wears the costume again and assumed the alias Lady Briton. The costume increases her physical attributes to superhuman level, as well as grants the [[FlyingBrick ability to fly]] and to create a personal force field.
* ComboPlatterPowers: Betsy Braddock gets quite a lot of powers after she becomes the next Captain Britain. The original is her twin brother Brian, who unlike her, isn't a mutant, and thus had no innate superpowers before being empowered by the Amulet of Right to become a [[SupermanSubstitute Superman-esque]] FlyingBrick. Betsy on the other hand, ''does'', and she retains them fully. Add the magical Amulet on top of that, and you've essentially got someone who has two distinct power sources at once with her innate mutant abilities and her magical empowerment. For the former, she's the third most powerful {{telepath}} in the world, can create powerful forcefields, psionic weapons, read minds, control minds, and use a variety of special TK-based abilities. For the latter, she can [[{{Flight}} fly]] at [[SuperSpeed vastly superhuman speeds]], [[SuperStrength benchpress over 500 tons]], is practically {{Nigh Invulnerab|ility}}le to most forms of normal damage, and can [[BarrierWarrior manipulate a nigh-indestructible forcefield]] for both offense and defense.
* CoolBigSis: She often acts as a mature, level-headed figure to the younger ''X-Men''.
* CoolSword: Her psi-knife later morphed into a telekinetic katana, and now takes the form of a telekinetic longsword/bastard sword.
* CurbStompBattle: On the receiving end of this when Slaymaster injured her eyes and later when Vargas once killed her.
* CursedWithAwesome: In ''Uncanny X-Force'' Vol. 1, [[spoiler:she "sacrificed" her ability to feel sorrow to save Fantomex. She even points out she never would've had what it takes to save the multiverse without making the deal]].
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Her eyes [[DependingOnTheArtist are occasionally drawn as purple]] to match with her hair.
* DeathIsCheap:
** [[DroppedABridgeOnHer Killed by a swordsman named Vargas]] [[CurbStompBattle in a one-sided fight]]. Fans of the character were [[CreatorsPet not]] [[InvincibleVillain happy]]. Resurrected without explanation a few years later, and it was a few years after ''that'' that anything resembling said explanation was offered... and it reeked of HandWave.
** However, Creator/ChrisClaremont -- Psylocke's creator, who's helped many an underutilized female character [[TookALevelInBadass take a level in badass]] -- was the writer of her death, her resurrection, ''and'' the story that revealed just how her resurrection happened. It's quite possible it was all planned, and would have gone much smoother if not for those [[ExecutiveMeddling meddling editors]].
* DestructiveRomance: Her romance with Fantomex was very unhealthy for both of them and the two ended it on very bad terms.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: She had a tendency to take out enemies well above her weight class left and right in the Exiles book.
* DirtyBusiness: Often serves as one of the X-Men's most prominent [[AntiHero anti-heroes]], second only to Wolverine in terms of [[PragmaticHero heroic pragmatism]]. This does not always win her friends, and in fact estranged her from her brother, but she can still manage to be genial enough to get along with her more pure-hearted teammates, particularly because she rarely does any killing in front of them.
* DiscardAndDraw: Betsy went from telepathic to telekinetic and then to shadow powers. Her powers seem to be altered fairly frequently, never having the full range of PsychicPowers but instead being really good at whichever psychic ability she enjoys at the moment. Recently, she acquired the Amulet of Right the artifact that powers her twin brother Brian to become Captain Britain. This has granted her flight at incredible speeds, super strength that allows her to bench press over 500 tons, invulnerability to most forms of damage and a near-indestructible force field.
* DrivenToSuicide: In the Uncanny X-Force time travel arc. The discovery that in the future she is a totalitarian dictator leads her to attempt seppuku; luckily, she survives.
* DyeHard: An InUniverse example, her purple hair is so iconic, few people even know she's actually a natural blonde, just like her brother. After the BodySwap it seems to be her natural color. Some adaptations [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair even have it as natural purple]].
* ElectronicEyes: After she was blinded by Slaymaster, Spiral replaced her eyes with electronic ones that instantly adjusted to light and broadcast her adventures back to Mojoworld. Later, when Kwannon, in Psylocke's original body, was dying of the Legacy Virus, she sent the electronic eyes to Psylocke.
* ExposedToTheElements: In a '90s issue, the team goes to Siberia. Psylocke, whose costume exposes most of her arms and legs, adapts by... putting on a short jacket, which she doesn't even bother to close.
* EyeScream: Early in Psylocke's superhero career, she filled in for her brother as Captain Britain. The tenure didn't go too well and during a fight with her brother's arch-enemy Slaymaster, he stabbed out both her eyes and then proceeded to beat her nearly to death. Mojo later gave her cybernetic eyes, which transmitted what she saw back to him, letting him turn the X-Men's adventures into TV shows, giving him godlike status in his home realm. She kept these eyes for the remainder of her time in her original body, keeping their function a secret.
* FantasticLightSource: Her telekinetic blade actually glows, so she's used it as a light source on occasion.
* FashionModel: She used to be a supermodel before becoming a superheroine. She even posed nude (albeit tastefully, with ToplessnessFromTheBack and a ModestyBedsheet) for Colossus so [[PublicExposure he could draw her portrait]].
* FashionableAsymmetry: Often, most commonly regarding [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/d/de/Elizabeth_Braddock_%28Earth-616%29.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20061111164413 the boots and ribbons]] (even [[https://n2ps.storied.co/uploads/c048fcd98aae2d23da146cca1f366a5b.jpg in the movie]]). Standouts include [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/f/f6/DEATH_Horseman_of_Apocalypse.png/revision/latest?cb=20150329032947 her as a]] [[EvilCostumeSwitch Horseman of Apocalypse]] and [[http://static6.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_small/0/4226/141157-139928-psylocke.jpg ''X-Men: The End''.]]
* FlexibilityEqualsSexAbility: Increased flexibility was one of the biggest boons Betsy got after the BodySwap, which was used as much for acrobatic combat maneuvers as it was for {{Fanservice}}, with her doing her often several bending poses or [[WorkoutFanservice doing stretches]].
* FlyingBrick: Granted by Captain Britain/Lady Briton costume.
* FreakyFridayFlip: Psylocke and Kwannon, in what used to be one of the few permanent examples. It wasn't a clean switch, however. Psylocke received Kwannon's martial arts training while Kwannon's inferior telepathy got a power upgrade. Both ladies retained their original abilities, and Psylocke's face was still recognizable (even though she was later confirmed to now be in Kwannon's body). Essentially each of them still had a little bit of their old bodies in their new ones, and both could use Kwannon's signature "psychic knife". Kwannon eventually joined the X-Men herself as Revanche and remained on the team until her death from the Legacy Virus.
* FullFrontalAssault: In ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' #467, the Shi'ar Death Commandos launch a surprise attack at the Grey's house, and Nightcrawler teleports to Betsy's room to teleport her to the fight [[InterruptedBath just as she's stepped out of the shower]] and is only wearing a bathrobe. Betsy jumps into the fight [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl without a second thought]], even after [[WardrobeMalfunction her robe comes undone]] (Some convenient SceneryCensor and HandOrObjectUnderwear preserves her modesty).
* TheGentlemanOrTheScoundrel: In ''Comicbook/UncannyXForce'', Betsy was in this type of LoveTriangle, having to choose between the gentleman Archangel (an honorable, decent, superhero and HonestCorporateExecutive) and the scoundrel Fantomex (a roguish, mysterious, master thief and mercenary). She started the series having reignited her long-term relationship with Archangel, but was aware that his SuperPoweredEvilSide might become a problem; eventually it took over and she was forced to kill him. She then dated Fantomex for a while, but eventually realized that he was manipulating her, and dumped him. After which he, too, turned evil until she gave him a psychic lobotomy.
* GiantPoofySleeves: Her very first superhero costume, as the second Captain Britain, had these. That motif carried over into her first X-Men costume before she dropped it in favor of a suit of body armor.
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: A former supermodel with butterfly motifs, and is often depicted as an elegant LadyOfWar in a purple leotard. Even before that, she favoured a mix of purple and pink. Even [[SupernaturalIsPurple her powers even manifest as purple]].
* GratuitousNinja: Psylocke is practically the AnthropomorphicPersonification of this trope. As the equally British sister of Captain Britain, she was moderately attractive and loved by fans... but when she was put into a female ninja's body, her attractiveness and popularity went through the roof, as she became the team's MsFanservice and resident McNinja.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Betsy is a human-Otherworlder hybrid since her father is from that dimension while her mother is a normal human.
* InHarmsWay: Kwannon's telepathy was much weaker than Psylocke's, so she developed the psychic knife was a way of focusing her power in combat. Betsy herself never had need of such a thing before the body switch, as she was perfectly capable of frying people's brains from a distance. But after the switch, the knife was one of the skills she inherited from Kwannon and she grew to like it. It's later established as a more focused form of her powers, allowing them to carry more impact/damage more resilient opponents, capable of breaking ComicBook/XMan's control over Archangel. Considering that X-Man is more or less indisputably the most powerful pure psychic in the X-Men's corner of the Marvel Universe (and arguably the strongest outright that isn't a CosmicEntity or Franklin Richards on a good day), and he was at the very peak of his power, this takes some doing.
* InSeriesNickname: Psylocke's real name is Elizabeth, but she's much more commonly referred to as Betsy.
* KatanasAreJustBetter: For a long time, she manifested a telekinetic katana blade composed of raw psi-energy at will, which at its lowest intensity, functions to disrupt neural pathways and at its highest level, her katanas can slice an armored opponent and cut through the armor, but leave the attacker physically unharmed. In a straighter play of the trope, her telekinetic katana came to replace her telepathic knife (although forcefully, as she had lost her telepathy by that time). These days, it's now a telekinetic longsword.
* KillTheOnesYouLove: Killing her brother Brian's evil twin probably doesn't count -- by the time she finished him off, she knew it wasn't him. Killing her other brother Jamie (in order to stop his future self from becoming a multiverse-conquering demon) definitely counts, though, as does performing a complete mindwipe (and therefore effective execution) on Archangel. She also killed Matsu'o Tsurayaba, who she didn't love but her body's ''previous'' owner probably did.
* KnightlySwordAndShield: When Betsy adopts her new identity as Captain Britain, she begins producing her psychic blade a sword more similar to a European knight's sword in its fashion, often paired with a psychic shield.
* LadyOfWar: She's stoic and ruthless, and her mastery in martial arts gives her movements a sense of smooth, graceful lethality. Her PsychicPowers tend to manifest as butterfly motifs, and allow her to form an elegant telekinetic katana/longsword as her weapon.
* LaserBlade: Her psychic blade is a weapon made out of pure mental energy that she can [[SpontaneousWeaponCreation manifest in her hand at will]]. It's not actually capable of physically cutting material, it instead [[SoulCuttingBlade used to attack the mind of her targets directly, exciting the pain receptors of her targets]], while not actually physically damaging them.
* LegacyCharacter: As of ''ComicBook/DawnOfX'', Betsy is no longer Psylocke, instead becoming Captain Britain again. Instead, her former body Kwannon will be taking on the identity (and the ninja bathing suit), thus making her Psylocke II.
* LeotardOfPower: The ninja outfit.
* TheLostLenore: Almost completely forgotten since she moved to the X-Men, but Psylocke spent some time traumatized by the death of her fiance Tom Lennox.
* LuckilyMyPowersWillProtectMe: Betsy would ''often'' refer to her psychic blade as "the focused totality of my psionic powers".
* McNinja: She is a British ninja.
* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: She once remarked to Havok that she made every effort not to read others' minds... the problem was shutting out the psychic background noise.
* MadeOfIron: Psylocke has bounced back from getting clawed by both Wolverine and Sabretooth, smacked around by Rogue and Juggernaut, blasted by Magneto, had her liver and kidneys ruptured, fell off a building with only Wolverine and his UnbreakableBones to "cushion" her fall and even survived her own attempt at {{Seppuku}}.
* MaleGaze: She gets this a LOT, probably one of the major characters in the Marvel universe. It is a rare issue that she does not show her butt to the reader.
* MercyKilling: She gave this to Matsu'o Tsurayaba, the person who body switched her, at his request. For context: See, he also made the mistake of poisoning the woman Wolverine loved. So every year, on the anniversary of her death, [[DisproportionateRetribution Wolverine returned and cut off part of his body.]] At the end, he looked like [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/8/8e/Matsu%27o_Tsurayaba_%28Earth-616%29_003.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100116024535 this]].
* MindOverMatter: She can focus her full power into a blade that can cut through anything, and she can choose to fry the brain of a living victim without cutting them physically (even when her telepathy is explicitly down).
* MindRape: This is how she killed the evil Kaptain Briton. Later, she also inflicted this on Brian in ''Uncanny X-Force'' to kill their older brother, Jamie, because Brian hesitated to do it. At the time, Jamie was manipulated by Horoam'ce, the devil goat who wanted to get into the Starlight Citadel and seize the Multiverse.
* MostCommonSuperpower: Subverted; she's not the best endowed of the X-girls. Probably the most revealing, though, due to her "ninja" outfit.
* MsExposition: Betsy is infamous for over-describing her powers, usually using a variant of "the focused totality of my telepathic powers".
* MsFanservice: Betsy has been this both before ''and'' after her BodySwap, having always been a HeadTurningBeauty who was a former supermodel. Not so much with the MostCommonSuperpower, but the [[LeotardOfPower costume she was stuck in for twenty years]] was pretty {{Stripperiffic}}, giving her what might possibly be [[ThongOfShielding the worst wedgie in the entire Marvel Universe]]. Not forget that she is the poster trope of the BoobsAndButtPose.
* MusclesAreMeaningless: Betsy has an athletic, but slim physique, yet once carried a 90-pound flail with one hand and a baby in the other. She also once kicked Sabretooth in the gut so hard his feet left the ground.
* MulticoloredHair: When she was Captain Britain. [[http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20111111144443/marveldatabase/images/9/98/Betsycaptainbritain.jpg Just look]]. Averted as Lady Briton, she keeps her purple hair.
* NakedOnRevival:
** When Madelyne Pryor revives Kwannon's original corpse as Revanche, she comes back without any clothes on.
** PlayedWith when Betsy and Kwannon are separated, Betsy is having an OutOfClothesExperience inside her head, but when she recreates her body, it's fully clothed.
* NeverBeHurtAgain: In ''Uncanny X-Force'' Vol. 1, [[spoiler:she sacrificed her ability to feel sorrow in order to save Fantomex]].
* NonIdleRich: Psylocke is a multi-millionaire heiress but risks her life to fight criminals and supervillains all the same.
* OneHeadTaller: Despite being a StatuesqueStunner at 5'11, she still finds herself one head shorter in a relationship with ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse Sabretooth (6'6). Of course, given it's Creed, you're considered ''lucky'' when you reach as high as his collarbone.
* ParentalAbandonment: Both of her parents are dead.
* PrecociousCrush: Cypher of ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' nursed an unrequited crush on Betsy.
* PrettyButterflies: Betsy's telepathic powers are often represented as butterfly motifs, and she's a LadyOfWar who fights with graceful movements. She was also delicate prior to switching bodies with Kwannon.
* PowersAsPrograms: The X-Men's most egregious example. From her inception, no one seems able to decide what powers she should have.
** She started off with {{telepathy}} and [[SpiderSense precognition]], and over time focused on the first until the latter was reduced to a sporadic gift. This was her specialty and only power in her Captain Britain days, to the point of CripplingOverspecialization.
** After her FreakyFridayFlip, Betsy lost half of her telepathy to Kwannon, but in turn learned to focus her remnant half into a "psychic knife", and a near-death experience with the Crimson Dawn left her with the ability to [[ShadowWalker teleport through shadows]] in addition to that. Kwannon's death gave her back the lost half of telepathic power.
** Then she lost ''all'' her powers during a fight with the Shadow King. However, after Jean Grey contacted her mind to try to help her against him, Betsy gained a new psychic power from Jean, albeit one she had never had, telekinesis. She now manifested a full "psychic katana" made of physical energy instead of her telepathic knife.
** Then Betsy [[DeathIsCheap died and came back]], which gave her psychic immunity aside from telekinesis. This stuck for a time, but...
** ...then, after destroying her zombified original body, her telepathy was somehow fully restored, making her a telepath/telekinetic on the vein of Jean herself (although she lost the mentioned immunity). With the increase of her power, she now can create a variety of weapons out of psionic energy, like morning stars, swords, knives and bows.
* PsychicPowers: The type and level vary wildly over the years, as explained above. Sometimes telepathic, sometimes telekinetic, seldom but sometimes both at once; sometimes just enough give a little edge to a ''mostly'' BadassNormal ninja, sometimes Phoenix-grade.
* PurpleIsPowerful: She dyed her hair purple and most of her costumes are purple-colored. Her psychic powers also are manifested as purple.
* RaceLift:
** Justified due to her FreakyFridayFlip with Kwannon. She turns from British Caucasian girl to Asian. Inverted with ''Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor'' where Betsy rebuilds her original body from the remains of the psychic vampire Sapphire Styx.
** In ''Film/XMenApocalypse'', Betsy is depicted as an Asian-American (Creator/OliviaMunn) woman and her being a white woman who swapped bodies with a Japanese woman is AdaptedOut.
* ReimaginingTheArtifact: Psylocke had one of the messiest backstories in comic books, having had a BodySwap with Asian assassin Kwannon that turned Betsy from a Caucasian Brit to a very sexualized Asian ninja, while also significantly changing her power set. This made her so popular that the change stuck, with Marvel even forbidding the writers from undoing it, with various {{Retcon}}s over the years pilling more and more into her backstory, making it even more confusing. It wasn't until 2018 that Marvel decided to undo the change, with Betsy and Kwannon finally becoming separated, with the English Betsy adopting the identity of Captain Britain while Kwannon become [[LegacyCharacter Psylocke II]] with the same iconic look and outfit.
* {{Retcon}}: Originally Betsy's transformation was explained away as Spiral and Mojo altering her with a MagicPlasticSurgery, hence why Wolverine could still recognize her face. It was also implied that her camera eyes were still intact. Fabian Nicieza, however, hadn't known of the explanation and introduced Kwannon, stating that Betsy's [[BodySwap body had been swapped with hers]]. He would then later retcon ''that'' explanation, to state that while their bodies were basically swapped, the results were incomplete and both wound up with a bit of each others' powers and features. Also, Kwannon ended up with the camera eyes, and [[EyeScream blinded herself by removing them]] shortly before dying of the Legacy Virus.
* RetiredBadass: Used to be an agent of S.T.R.I.K.E., [[ComicBook/{{SHIELD}} S.H.I.E.L.D.]]'s British equivalent.
* SexForSolace: After the death of her brother James, she pays a visit to Fantomex [[SexyCoatFlashing in just a robe]] with this trope in her mind. When he attempts to talk to her, she mutely [[DressHitsFloor drops the robe]] and pulls him for a kiss as the scene ends in a SexyDiscretionShot. The morning after, she's dispassionately [[NotStayingForBreakfast sneaking away]] while Fantomex vainly attempts to convince her to stay, but she dismisses the previous night as just a fling.
* SexGoddess: Both ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse Sabretooth and Fantomex have positively commented on Betsy's sexual prowess after sleeping with her. When ComicBook/{{Mystique}} pulled a BedTrick on Fantomex while taking Betsy's form, he managed to guess it wasn't the real Betsy because she wasn't [[NotRightInTheBed anywhere near as good]].
* SetSwordsToStun: Psylocke generates a glowing arm-blade with her PsychicPowers. As such, it can slice through anything but against living opponents, it causes temporary incapacitation. However, it ''can'' kill if she puts enough power into it and plunges it directly into your head.
* ShapingYourAttacks: She can focus her PsychicPowers to create a literal psychic blade, which is described as "The focused totality of her telepathic might".
* SheFu: Post BodySwap, she uses several acrobatic moves while fighting.
* ShesGotLegs: A lot of art of hers likes to focus on her legs, given IconicOutfit usually leaves them exposes and she's [[KickChick often prone to kicking]].
* ShowSomeLeg: In ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' #466, to help Rachel sneak out the mansion, Psylocke [[WorkoutFanservice performs her daily exercises]] in plain sight of the Sentinels to [[DistractedByTheSexy distract]] their human pilots.
* SmugSuper: Tends to be extremely condescending.
* SpiderSense: She has a precognitive ability that lets her sense when someone close to her is in mortal danger.
* SpontaneousWeaponCreation: Post BodySwap, she's able to create a psychic blade by intensely channeling her psionic powers on her hands. The psychic knife manifests as a BladeBelowTheShoulder, while the psychic katana manifests as actual holding weapons. After returning to her original body, she produces even more psychic constructs such as a [[AutomaticCrossbows crossbow]], a [[EpicFlail spiked flail]] or a KnightlySwordAndShield.
* SpyCatsuit: Some of her costumes had this look, such as the [[http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_medium/13/131045/3075444-9179808705-55475.jpg the one she wore]] during ''Uncanny X-Force'' Vol. 2.
* StatuesqueStunner: She's one of the taller Marvel female characters at 5'11" (she's actually the exact height and weight as Kwannon, the ninja body of Psylocke) and she was a former FashionModel.
* StiffUpperLip: Just like her brother and fellow British superheroine Spitfire.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: '''The ninja bathing suit.''' 'Nuff said.
* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Her ninja self's competence was always heavily DependingOnTheWriter. Ninjas do evade a lot of attacks, unlike her previous, armor-clad self, plus her psychic blade in combination with her superior telepathy proved often to be a GameBreaker. However, her newfound martial arts skills meant she now fought in the front line, where she was much more prone to be kicked around (TheWorfEffect mentioned below).
* StuffedInTheFridge: Initially averted -- when her brother's [[EvilTwin evil dimensional counterpart]] tried to rape her, she responded by killing him, messily. Then a few issues later, she had her eyes poked out by Slaymaster; much later, she's killed once by Vargas. She got better, thankfully.
* SoulCuttingBlade: Her psychic blade is able to attack the very mind of her opponents, causing all sorts of nasty effects, such as disrupting their neurons, inciting their pain receptors, stunning them, or even allowing her to [[TouchTelepathy read their minds]]. At maximum intensity, she can use them to kill but it's seldom used this way.
* SuperpowerLottery: In ''ComicBook/Excalibur2019'', Betsy gains the power the Amulet of Right that made her brother a Superman-esque FlyingBrick, while ''also'' retaining her mutant powers. Let it sink in: She's the third most powerful telepath in the world, can create powerful forcefields, psionic weapons, read minds, control minds, and use a variety of special TK-based abilities on top of being able to fly at vastly superhuman speeds, benchpress around 500 tons, is practically NighInvulnerable to most forms of normal damage, and can [[BarrierWarrior manipulate a nigh-indestructible forcefield]] for both offense and defense. She's ''even more'' overpowered than her brother!
* TamerAndChaster: After Betsy and Kwannon BodySwap was undone after many years just before this title, Betsy was heavily desexualized as Captain Britain, since the armor she wears covers a ''lot'' of skin. Subverted with Kwannon who inherited the Psylocke name and the infamous {{Stripperiffic}} leotard.
* ThrillSeeker: Has occasionally displayed some action junkie tendencies.
* ThongOfShielding: Sometimes her costume covers her behind completely and just shows off her thighs. Other times, it could ''generously'' be called a g-string. It doesn't help that almost every panel she's in has her striking a pose like something out of a Hip-Hop video.
* TookALevelInBadass:
** Possibly an inadvertent subversion -- while on paper going from supporting psychic to badass ninja sounds like an upgrade, she actually proved far less effective in ninja mode, losing a large chunk of her super powers, frequently filling in as the [[TheWorfEffect Worf]] of the team, and getting rather brutally eviscerated by Sabretooth, an enemy she had previously been able to defeat by psychic powers alone.
** Of course, that writer from shortly before her death to ''many'' years after her resurrection is the ActionHeroine-loving-to-AuthorAppeal-levels Creator/ChrisClaremont for quite some time. Since her last resurrection, Psylocke has grown quite a bit in power, so much so that she was described as coming into the Omega Class mutant bracket, namely, the most powerful type of mutant around, the ones whose powers have nigh-infinite potential. Her powers (which now are both telepathic and telekinetic) are now in a league with the likes of Phoenix or Cable, and she's been using them to kick ass, take names, and make a lot of bad guys feel the wrath of her psychic blade. Against opponents who should rightfully be well out of her SuperWeight class, she will, as per one of Claremont's favorite {{Author Catchphrase}}s of late, "find a way to win." ''Today'' she is definitely more badass than where she ''started,'' even if it wasn't a consistent, steady climb.
** ''ComicBook/Excalibur2019'' gives her the biggest upgrade yet: she now wields the Amulet of Right, giving her the powers of Captain Britain, while also retaining all of her mutant abilities, and thus making her an extremely powerful FlyingBrick with very potent psionic powers.
* TouchTelepathy: Stabbing someone's head with her psychic blade allows her to read their minds and in some cases become connected to them.
* TwinDesynch: In the original ''Captain Britain'' series, Betsy and Brian were HalfIdenticalTwins with matching blonde hair, until Betsy dyed her hair purple and stuck with it. Then she joined the ''ComicBook/XMen'' as Psylocke and came to be better known through her association with them than with Captain Britain, and that was ''before'' she became stuck with an Asian body for 30 years real-time. Nowadays, she has her original European appearance back, but her hair is still purple and she has long since surpassed her brother in popularity, to the point that he's now more known through his association with her and X-Men spin-off teams than as a standalone superhero.
* TwinTelepathy: She and Brian share special bond through her {{telepathy}}.
* UndressingTheUnconscious: During one of the ''New Exiles'' stories, she ended up getting knocked down and kidnapped by the Bloodforce, who took her to Alexandria. When Betsy next wakes up, she finds that someone took her clothes and dressed her up in a BedlahBabe outfit. She is ''not'' pleased by it.
* UnexplainedRecovery: Psylocke once was fatally stabbed by the man known as Vargas while protecting Rogue and Beast, who were badly beaten by the villain. One year after her death, Betsy awoke where she had died, unaware of how she had survived, and was soon reunited with the X-Men. Much later revealed that the one responsible was her elder brother Jamie Braddock who has RealityWarper powers.
* UnresolvedSexualTension: In ''ComicBook/AdjectivelessXMen'', she had a lot of sexual tension with ComicBook/{{Cyclops}} during a LoveTriangle subplot involving them and Jean. He once even [[ShowerOfAwkward walked in on her fresh out of the shower]] dressed only a skimpy ModestyTowel. The [[AbortedArc subplot was dropped before anything came out of it]].
* UnskilledButStrong: After she becomes telekinetic, she can level mountains but literally lacks the finesse to pick up a dime.
* WaifFu: She often shows feats of strength that are very impressive to her lean build.
* WearingAFlagOnYourHead: As Captain Britain and Lady Briton.
* TheWorfEffect:
** As mentioned above, after her RaceLift she spent some time the punching bag for every villain on the block (culminating in being killed off for the sole purpose of showing how dangerous Vargas was). Fortunately, when she returned to the spotlight in the 2010s it was in full badass mode.
** Justified against Sabretooth. Wolverine had previously "popped a claw" into 'tooth's head, and as he told her after she smacked him with a psychic knife, he had somehow become immune to the technique.
-->"Since the runt popped his claw on me -- the glow don't work no more."
* WorkingOutTheirEmotions: She tends to work out or train to clear her head, and has on at least two occasions managed to [[PercussiveTherapy kick apart a punching bag]] while talking to Magneto.

----

Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock a.k.a. Psylocke is a Creator/MarvelComics character associated with the superhero team the ComicBook/XMen. She's one of the most famous [[UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} British]] superheroes in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse. She was created by Creator/ChrisClaremont and Herb Trimpe. In the UK, she was first introduced in ''Captain Britain'' Vol. 1 #8 (1976), published by Marvel UK. In the United States, she was introduced in ''ComicBook/NewMutants Annual'' #2 (1986). Her other aliases have included “Captain Britain”, “Lady Mandarin”, and “Lady Briton”.

Betsy is a pilot, secret agent, supermodel, and twin sister of Captain Britain. She developed PsychicPowers and spent some years as a supporting character in her brother's book, then had a brief but disastrous go at filling in for him and was blinded by his nemesis. After that she tried to quit superheroing but was kidnapped by Mojo and rescued by the New Mutants. She was initially a character with mediocre fighting skills but excellent telepathy. She was later kidnapped in China and turned into a McNinja, getting magically body-merged with the mutant assassin Kwannon (resulting in the assassin looking like Psylocke, and Psylocke looking Asian but with her face still recognizable) and picking up super martial arts skills. She even got a psychic knife, which after she switched her powers from telepathy to telekinesis turned into a telekinetic katana.

* ''[[VideoGame/XMenIITheFallOfTheMutants X-Men II: The Fall of the Mutants]]'' (1990): appears as playable hero.

* ''Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2'' (2009): appears as playable hero. Voiced by Creator/KimberlyBrooks.

* ''[[VideoGame/LEGOAdaptationGame LEGO Marvel Super Heroes]]'' (2013): appears as playable hero.

* AffirmativeActionLegacy: Briefly as female Captain Britain, replacing her brother. In 2019, she made another go at this, which in ''ComicBook/Excalibur2019'', which Marvel says is a very important step to her character.

* AscendedExtra: She was initially a supporting character in her brother's comics.

* AttemptedRape: Kaptain Briton, [[BrotherSisterIncest her brother]]'s evil alternate reality counterpart, attempted to rape her. Fortunately for her, she discovered her previously minimal psychic powers were considerably more formidable than she believed at that point. Unfortunately for her brother Captain Britain, who was trapped in the alternate universe Kaptain Briton came from, he too faced this at the hands of villainess Sat-Yr-9, just without any ability to fight them off, adding to [[DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale his growing list of never-mentioned-after rape experiences]].

* BettyAndVeronica: Was Veronica to Jean's Betty in the early days of the Blue and Gold team split, where she tried to start an affair with Cyclops. [[AbortedArc The whole story was eventually dropped with no real explanation.]] Given that many of Jim Lee's personal comics outside of X-Men contain cold and remote but incredibly hot ninja-babes who wear ass-floss uniforms, it's possible that this is something he interjected into the storyline himself after Claremont left.

** The first time was when she was captured by the Hand, body-swapped/merged with Kwannon, and programmed to serve as Lady Mandarin. That time the brainwashing was broken by her using her psychic knife on Wolverine, who at the time was in the grip of a hallucinatory psychotic break; the resultant double dose of bonus crazy was enough to override her brainwashing.

* ClothesMakeTheSuperman: She keeps the costume that belonged to Kaptain Briton to briefly becomes Captain Britain. Later in ''Uncanny X-Force'', she also briefly wears the costume again and assumed the alias Lady Briton. The costume increases her physical attributes to superhuman level, as well as grants ability to fly and create a personal force field.

* DyeHard: InUniverse, she was originally blonde, just like her brother. After the body-swap it seems to be her natural color.

* EyeScream: The assassin Slaymaster inflicted this on her during her brief time as Captain Britain.

* GracefulLadiesLikePurple: A former supermodel with butterfly motifs, and is often depicted as a elegant LadyOfWar in a purple leotard. Even before that, she favoured a mix of purple and pink.
* HalfHumanHybrid: Her father is Otherworlder.

* KillTheOnesYouLove: Oh, boy. Killing her brother Brian's evil twin probably doesn't count -- by the time she finished him off, she knew it wasn't him. Killing her other brother Jamie (in order to stop his future self from becoming a multiverse-conquering demon) definitely counts, though, as does performing a complete mindwipe (and therefore effective execution) on Archangel. She also killed Matsu'o Tsurayaba, who she didn't love but her body's ''previous'' owner probably did.

* LaserBlade [[BladeBelowTheShoulder Below the Shoulder]]: Her psychic knife looks like this.

* TheLostLenore: Almost completely forgotten since she moved to the X-Men, but Psylocke spent some time traumatised by the death of her fiance Tom Lennox.

* MercyKilling: She gave this to Matsu'o Tsurayaba, the person who body switched her, at his request.
** For context: See, he also made the mistake of poisoning the woman Wolverine loved. So every year, on the anniversary of her death, [[DisproportionateRetribution Wolverine returned and cut off part of his body.]] At the end, he looked like [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/marveldatabase/images/8/8e/Matsu%27o_Tsurayaba_%28Earth-616%29_003.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20100116024535 this]].

* MsFanservice: Not so much with the MostCommonSuperpower, but the costume she was stuck in for twenty years was pretty {{Stripperiffic}}, giving her what might possibly be [[ThongOfShielding the worst wedgie in the entire Marvel Universe]]. Not forget that she is the poster trope of the BoobsAndButtPose.

** She started off with telepathy and precognition, and over time focused on the first until the latter was reduced to a sporadic gift. This was her specialty and only power in her Captain Britain days, to the point of CripplingOverspecialization.
** After her FreakyFridayFlip, Betsy lost half of her telepathy to Kwannon, but in turn learned to focus her remnant half into a "psychic knife", and a near-death experience with the Crimson Dawn left her with the ability to teleport through shadows in addition to that. Kwannon's death gave her back her half of telepathic power.

* PurpleIsPowerful: She dyed her hair purple and most of her costumes are purple-colored.

** In ''Film/XMenApocalypse'', Betsy is depicted as an Asian-American woman and her being a white woman who swapped bodies with a Japanese woman is AdaptedOut.
* {{Retcon}}: Originally Betsy's transformation was explained away as Spiral and Mojo altering her with magic and plastic surgeries, hence why Wolverine could still recognize her face. It was also implied that her camera eyes were still intact. Fabian Nicieza, however, hadn't known of the explanation and introduced Kwannon, stating that Betsy's body had been swapped with hers. He would then later retcon ''that'' explanation, to state that while their bodies were basically swapped, the results were incomplete and both wound up with a bit of each others' powers and features. Also, Kwannon ended up with the camera eyes, and [[EyeScream blinded herself by removing them]] shortly before dying of the Legacy Virus.

* ShesGotLegs: A lot of art of hers likes to focus on her legs and butt.
* ShowSomeLeg: In ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen 466'', to help Rachel sneak out the mansion, Psylocke [[WorkoutFanservice performs her daily exercises]] in plain sight of the Sentinels to distract their human pilot.

* SpyCatsuit: With [[http://static.comicvine.com/uploads/scale_medium/13/131045/3075444-9179808705-55475.jpg this outfit]].
* StatuesqueStunner: She's one of the taller Marvel female characters at 5'11" (she's actually the exact height and weight as Kwannon, the ninja body of Psylocke) and she was a former model.

* StrongAsTheyNeedToBe: Her ninja self's competence was always heavily DependingOnTheWriter. Ninjas do evade a lot of attacks, unlike her previous, armor-clad self, plus her psychic blade in combination with her superior telepathy proved often to be a GameBreaker. However, her newfound martial arts skills meant she now fought in front line, where she was much more prone to be kicked around (TheWorfEffect mentioned below).

* TwinTelepathy: She and Brian share special bond through her telepathy.

* ''ComicBook/Hellions2020'' (Kwannon is one of the leads)

* ''Uncanny ComicBook/XForce'' Vol. 1

* ''[[ComicBook/HuntForWolverine Hunt For Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor ]]''
* ''ComicBook/Excalibur2019'' (becomes Captain Britain)

In the aftermath of ''ComicBook/HuntForWolverine: Mystery in Madripoor'', Betsy regained her original British body after causing the psychic vampire Sapphire Styx to explode using the power of her victims' souls.

As part of the ''ComicBook/DawnOfX'' initiative, Betsy will now take up the identity of ComicBook/CaptainBritain alongside her brother Brian while Kwannon will take over the identity of Psylocke.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/250px_uncanny_psylocke.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:After and before the [[FreakyFridayFlip body swap]].]]

* ZettaiRyouiki: In her ninja costume.

* NinetiesAntiHero: Her body switch turned her into this: an exaggeratedly sexy kunoichi who wielded an impossibly cool psionic shiv and loved to beat people down.

* RaceLift: Justified due to her FreakyFridayFlip with Kwannon. She turns from British Caucasian girl to Asian. Inverted with ''Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor'' where Betsy rebuilds her original body from the remains of the psychic vampire Sapphire Styx.