Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain is a 2023 comic book limited series from Marvel Comics. It's written by Tini Howard.
The series, set in the shared Marvel Universe, is part of the wider X-Men line and a Sequel Series to Knights of X, which ended a couple of months earlier. It's part of Destiny of X, the third phase of the X-Men franchise's long-running Krakoan Age saga.
Mutant telepath Betsy Braddock, formerly code-named Psylocke, has now become the new Captain Britain (the previous captain, her twin brother Brian, is now happily married and settled down - he and Meggan are busy raising their young daughter). Betsy's also started a new relationship with Rachel Summers, another former member of the X-Men.
However, Britain's not a good place to be a mutant at the moment. Diplomatic relations with Krakoa are poor, at best, and the mystical Coven Akkaba are conspiring against Betsy. Their ally, the ancient sorceress Morgan le Fay, isn't against the idea of a Captain Britain... but, predictably, she'd prefer it to be someone she controls.
The comic is the first solo Captain Britain series since the millennium, the first published by Marvel US (as opposed to Marvel UK, who created and published the original series) and the first to star Betsy in the role.
Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain contains examples of the following tropes:
- Alliance of Alternates: Some rogue Furies and Morgan Le Fay attack Captain Pretania's home reality, and Betsy leads the charge of the Captain Britain Corps (comprised of alternate versions of Betsy Braddock) against them.
- And the Adventure Continues: After defeating Morgan Le Fay, Betsy attends the Braddock Academy Fair with Rachel. Soon enough, she gets word about the Captain Britain Corps needing help and goes to answer the call.
- Big Bad: Once again, Morgan Le Fay, the mistress of magic, is behind Betsy's problems.
- Blood Magic: Morgan Le Fay and her Coven Akkaba use Micromax's mutant blood to locate other versions of Betsy across the Multiverse for their plans.
- Brainwashed: In issue #2, Morgan Le Fay uses her magic to manipulate Captain Carter, a female alternate Captain America, into attacking Betsy Braddock. She gets better, though.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Faiza Hussain, aka 'Excalibur', returns for the first time in over a year, following her last appearance in The Death of Doctor Strange.
- The four resurrected S.T.R.I.K.E. mutant psychics (Alison Double, Tom Lennox, Vicki Reppion and Kevin Mulhearn) return for the first time since the end of Excalibur (2019).
- Captain Patriotic:
- Conversed in the opening sequence of issue #1: a talk show host named Reginald Cross comments on the role previously held by Betsy's twin brother, Brian, and questions Betsy's version of the mantle.
- Exploited by the Big Bad, who wishes to build a Captain Britain they can control.
- Cold Iron: In issue #2, the alternate Betsy (called Lizzie Braddock) telekinectically hurls her kitchenware against Morgan Le Fay and her doubles to harm them, since Fae people are vulnerable to iron.
- Constantly Changing Name: Rachel Summers assumes the codename 'Askani', which she used once upon a time.
- Death Faked for You: In issue #3, Betsy telepathically tricks a Fury (and other onlookers) into believing it's already killed her brother Brian. It leaves peacefully, thinking its mission is complete.
- Grand Finale: For the overarching Betsy Braddock Myth Arc that Tini Howard began in Excalibur and continued into Knights of X. On a Meta level, this also marks Howard's final contribution to the Krakoa Era (as she went over to DC).
- The Hecate Sisters: Played with. In issue #2, Morgan Le Fay, to outnumber Betsy and Rachel, divides herself into the "triplicate goddess": a maiden warrior, a beautiful sorceress, and a wise witch.
- Improvised Weapon: In issue #2, the alternate Betsy uses her telekinesis to control the kitchenware against Morgan and her doubles.
- Official Couple: Betsy and Rachel are still romantically linked, following the previous series, Knights of X.
- Sequel Hook: While Morgan is finally defeated, Coven Akkaba remains in the wind. Al Ewing is picking up this thread over in X-Men: Red going into Fall of X.
- Sequel Series: It's a direct continuation of Knights of X, which was itself a sequel to Excalibur (2019). All three are written by Tini Howard and Betsy is a key character in the previous team books.
- Sword and Sorcerer: Betsy and Rachel keep this dynamic from the previous series: being Captain Britain, Betsy wields the Starlight Sword, while Rachel can draw on the energy from the Phoenix Force to cast fireballs.
- Time Master: Rachel Summers shows some "chronoskimming powers", which means that she can scan the timestream in search of the original timeline of something or someone. She also uses this power to locate a version of Betsy in another reality.
- Variant Cover: The first issue has three variant covers as well as the standard version, including one by Peach Momoko. All of them focus on Betsy.
- Villain Team-Up:
- At the end of issue #2, Morgan Le Fay makes a toast to her new allies: the Hero Killer Furies, wearing the Captain Britain garb.
- In issue #3, Morgan goes to Latveria to retrieve her castle Mongibel from Doctor Doom.
