The last Captain Britain run published by Marvel UK (the Marvel Comics imprint that first created the character) was a collaboration between creators Alan Davis and Jamie Delano.
As with Marvel UK's previous Captain Britain series, it starred the first version of the character - Brian Braddock, a British physics student who was empowered by Merlyn and is now a superhero, part of a wider "Captain Britain Corps" that spans a large number of alternate universes. The comics are set in the continuity of the shared Marvel Universe.
When previous writer Alan Moore left Captain Britain after concluding the long "A Crooked World" saga, artist Alan Davis (who had illustrated every story since the character's relaunch at the start of A Crooked World) opted to stay with the character, with Jamie Delano joining as the new writer.
After three more issues of The Mighty World of Marvel Anthology Comic (the same series which had serialised the end of the A Crooked World saga), the Captain Britain stories became the lead story of a new anthology series, the eponymous Captain Britain Monthly (sometimes referred to simply as Captain Britain).
Davis and Delano were simply credited as co-creators for stories in the Captain Britain Monthly series, rather than artist and writer, and when Delano eventually left Davis wrote the last couple of stories by himself.
(Delano and Davis had initially decided to leave the series at the same time, but when Marvel UK chose to cancel Captain Britain Monthly rather than risk an entirely new creative team, Davis stayed on for a couple of extra issues, to ensure the story had a proper finish)
Their run is a direct continuation from the end of Moore's, keeping a similar style and using much of the same supporting cast. Although the key villains of A Crooked World, Jim Jaspers and the Fury, are gone, their legacy shapes many Delano and Davis stories, with visitors from alternate worlds and the recurring presence of "Warpies" - young Britons given superhuman abilities and reshaped into monstrous forms by Jaspers' powers.
All of the Davis and Delano Captain Britain stories were initially published in black and white (although they've since been coloured for most collections and reprints).
Mighty World of Marvel (volume 2) #14, the first issue of the Delano and Davis run, was released in July 1984. The first issue of Captain Britain Monthly was released in January 1985. The last issue of Captain Britain Monthly (#14) was released in February 1986.
Tropes appearing in the Delano and Davis Captain Britain run:
- Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: "Tea and Sympathy" takes place after a teenager died as Collateral Damage in one of Captain Britain's battles, and centres around Brian's visit to the boy’s family. A bunch of armoured villains do appear out of nowhere towards the end, but are dealt with in a single page.
- An Arm and a Leg: Doctor Crocodile lost an arm and, judging by the prosthetics, most of one leg when a Warpie exploded in his arms.
- Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: When Jamie's many crimes are revealed, Brian is angry enough to kill his brother, but Doctor Crocodile stops him, saying that it's his responsibility to deal with Jamie, not Brian's.
- Beautiful All Along: Meggan returns, shedding her inhuman appearance for a much more traditionally attractive form.
- Bed Trick: Exaggerated but still played for drama. Brian is captured by the Technet, wakes up in a luxurious room in another world, and ends up in bed with Saturnyne.
- However, this is Opul Lun Sat-Yr-Nin, the fascistic Evil Doppelgänger of the Saturnyne he met in previous stories.
- ...and she genuinely believes that Brian is actually her world's equivalent, her ex-lover Kaptain Britain.
- Blob Monster: Two very different examples.
- Technet member Pandora is a sentient slime who devours Life Energy and is only unleashed as a last resort. She has to be hoovered up and helped back into her containment sphere once she's fed.
- Fern, one of the Cherubim Warpies, has a human head atop a malleable blob body that can grapple her foes.
- Body Horror: Sydney's infection and transformation, caused by a minor wound inflicted by the Fury in the previous A Crooked World arc.
- Bulungi: Doctor Crocodile is the hereditary ruler of the fictional African nation Mbangawi, which is portrayed this way.
- The Chessmaster: Mastermind, the Artificial Intelligence running Braddock Manor. It's got some noble aims, but tends to be manipulative in ways that slide towards Well-Intentioned Extremist.
- Chest Burster: Gatecrasher finds herself with a stomach full of parasite eggs which will lethally and messily hatch if her body temperature isn't kept very cold. Brian and Meggan manage to find a cure and save her.
- Collateral Damage: Two related examples, played in very different ways.
- Teenager Micky Dean is killed when scaffolding collapses on him during a battle between Captain Britain and Meggan.
- When Brian visits Micky's family to offer his condolences, mercenaries attack him and seriously damage to the house. Which is seen as a good thing, as it's government-owned council housing in slums - the damage will force the council to move them to a better house.
- Also, Dai Thomas's dislike of superheroes is depicted as a reaction to the death of his wife during a battle of "superbeings." Though only visible in silhouette, these were obviously Thor and the Hulk. We're told that they were "carelessly oblivious of the life snuffed out in their wake" (which, really, doesn't even fit the Hulk's character, let alone Thor).
- Comic-Book Time: Averted. Exact dates are given for current and past events. We even get a full date of birth (23 April 1956) for Brian and Betsy.
- Crush Blush: Brian ends up recounting some of his recent adventures to Meggan and the Scott family. Joan Scott then comments that he seems very fond of this "Saturnyne" and blushing ensues.
- Disproportionate Retribution: One of the berserker pirates propositions Gatecrasher at Elmo's wake. She finds his offer crass, so immediately beats him to death with her beer tankard.
- Ditto Aliens: Downplayed. When Brian first meets the Technet, he thinks he recognises squat, green-skinned alien Legion, who he'd encountered with the Special Executive. They do look identical, but the alien responds that, no, Legion's another brother.
- Evil Doppelgänger:
- Byron Brah-Dhok, Kaptain Briton. One of Brian’s Alternate Universe counterparts, Brah-Dok is physically identical, and manages to knock Brian out and swap places.
- Saturnyne herself isn’t exactly good, but her murderous fascist alternate Opul Lun Sat-Yr-Nin is definitely evil.
- Foreshadowing:
- When Captain Britain first clashes with Meggan, she's just made an unprovoked attack on homeless alcoholic Sydney Crumb. Meggan's friends later say that she attacked because he stank "like a dead animal", and Sydney himself mentions a skin rash. The rash is the start of The Corruption and when he next appears he's been transformed into something monstrous.
- Dai Thomas's dossier on Brian mentions that there is no record of his parents prior to World War II, foreshadowing the reveal that they're not just a mundane, if wealthy, English family. Brian's father isn't actually from Earth.
- Frame-Up: Mastermind and the RCX send Doctor Crocodile information suggesting that Brian's complicit in his brother Jamie's crimes. It's cleared up pretty quickly, but it gets Brian out of the way while their other plans take shape.
- Funetik Aksent:
- Glaswegian assassin Shoulders McGill has his dialogue written to reflect his strong accent.
- Sat-Yr-Nin pronounces some words starting with C as if they start with K: Kontract, Kommended and so on.
- Government Agency of Fiction: The Resources Control Executive (RCX), the UK's latest agency looking after superhuman matters (replacing S.T.R.I.K.E., which held a similar role until it was undermined in a previous arc).
- Gladiator Games: Sat-Yr-Nin celebrates Kaptain Briton's return with battles in the arena.
- Hard Light: Mastermind, the manor's Projected Man AI, can manifest this way.
- Hybrid All Along: Mastermind tells Brian and Betsy that their father wasn't human, and was actually one of Merlin's agents from Otherworld.
- Identical Twin Mistake: Although Evil Doppelgänger Kaptain Briton pulls a deliberate Twin Switch, the Kaptain's jilted lover, the villainous Sat-Yr-Nin, genuinely believes that Brian is her Kaptain, even after he's fought his way to freedom alongside the Technet.
- Ignored Expert: Special Executive member Cobweb is a telepath who's linked to past and future versions of herself. When their current leader launches a complex scheme to recruit a new member three centuries before she's scheduled to join the squad, Cobweb tells him it won't work. He tries anyway and gets an I Told You So from her when it inevitably fails.
- I Know What You Fear: Lump, one of the Cherubim, can cause his targets to perceive others as their own worst fear come to life. Unfortunately for Lump, using this power on Brian, Betsy and Linda just leads to a brief Unstoppable Rage when they see the Cherubim as Jaspers and the Fury.
- Inspector Javert: Dai Thomas returns in this role (at least initially), having worked out that Brian Braddock and Captain Britain are the same person.
- Killed Off for Real: Returning villain Slaymaster, who'd appeared in several previous Captain Britain runs, blinds Betsy and is promptly killed by Brian. As of 2022, he's still dead.
- A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: When Brian's Evil Doppelgänger Kaptain Britain attempts to rape Betsy, she scans his mind and gets a montage of the horrible things he's done. Among other things, one image suggests that he's already killed his own world's version of Betsy. She immediately kills him with a desperate Psi Blast, but the experience leaves her very shaken.
- Mr. Exposition: The first story in the new Captain Britain Monthly comic has Chief Inspector Dai Thomas playing this role, presenting his superiors with a summary of Brian's history, along with evidence that he's actually Captain Britain. All of which serves as a thorough introduction for new readers.
- Mushroom Samba: Following a Frame-Up by the RCX, Doctor Crocodile gives Brian a face full of hallucinogenic gas, bringing him a vision of past crimes and murders. He eventually realises that the monster he sees behind them is his own brother Jamie.
- A Nazi by Any Other Name: Sat-Yr-Nin and Kaptain Briton come from a reality with very familiar fascist trappings. Aside from the murderous beliefs, that includes their distinctive salutes, their fashion sense and a red and black emblem in a circle, worn as an armband. There’s no reference to World War II or actual Nazis in their history, but they clearly share the same philosophy.
- No Name Given: Downplayed, as he's largely behind the scenes and doesn’t directly face Captain Britain, but we never get a name for the Special Executive's current leader.
- People Puppets: A rare heroic example. After Vixen captures Brian, Slaymaster tries the Captain Britain costume, attempting to tap into its powers. Brian tells him he needs to wear the helmet, as it's mentally controlled. He does, only to discover that it's mentally controlled by Brian, not him. Once he's been forced to free Brian, the costume flies him into a wall.
- Projected Man: Mastermind, the Braddock Manor AI. Sometimes he's just a hologram, sometimes he's Hard Light. He eventually constructs an android body as well, but still mostly relies on this.
- Pull The Trigger Provocation: After his sister Betsy replaces Brian as Captain Britain, Slaymaster savagely beats and blinds her. An appalled Brian arrives to save her and the battle ends with Brian holding a huge, jagged rock over a prone Slaymaster’s head. At the last moment, he pauses. At which point Slaymaster taunts him - and the rock comes crashing down.
- Putting on the Reich: Just to reinforce her fascist Nazi by Any Other Name nature, Sat-Yr-Nin wears a distinctive red, white and black outfit with a stylised cross pattee (Iron Cross) pendant and a red and black sigil in a circle on an armband.
- Quirky Mini Boss Squad: Gatecrasher's Technet are definitely in this category. Individually, they're not that much of a threat, but as a team...
- Reassigned to Antarctica: After their failed attempts to apprehend Kaptain Britain, Sat-Yr-Nin has her Blitzers literally reassigned to their world's Antarctica. Which is also a warzone.
- Reformed, but Not Tamed: The Mastermind Artificial Intelligence is no longer a murderous villain, but it can still be manipulative and pragmatic in pursuit of a greater good (conspiring with the RCX and framing Brian for some of his brother's crimes, for example). It doesn't quite slip into Well-Intentioned Extremist territory, but it's often portrayed as if it could.
- Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Two slightly different examples.
- Dai Thomas is one of the few normal humans to remember Jim Jaspers, the Reality Warper villain of the previous A Twisted World arc.
- After Roma changes the past to rescue Captain U.K.'s husband from the Fury, the Captain seems to recall both versions.
- Significant Birth Date: Brian and Betsy were born on April 23rd, Saint George's Day.
- Sinister Spy Agency: The RCX has elements of this. When Detective Chief Inspector Dai Thomas makes it clear that he intends to keep investigating Brian Braddock, agent Michael punches him in the face, has him restrained and explains that he can just make Thomas disappear if he doesn't stop asking questions.
- Sole Survivor: Sat-Yr-Nin emerges unscathed from the bodies and slime, seemingly the only survivor of Pandora's attack on her forces.
- Superior Successor: Roma reassigns Captain U.K. to replace Kaptain Britain and she promptly liberates the world and overturns Opul Lun Sat-Yr-Nin's fascist regime.
- Take This Job and Shove It: Most of the Technet quit after Gatecrasher's leadership first gets Elmo killed on the were-worlds, then leaves them penniless after she kills someone at his wake and they’re forced to pay the victim's family blood money.
- Time Travel Escape: Roma adjusts the past, rescuing Captain U.K.'s husband Rick an instant before the Fury killed him. Captain U.K.'s memories start to shift accordingly, remembering both versions.
- Tragic Monster: Sydney Crumb after his infection by the Fury and subsequent Face–Monster Turn. He's vaguely aware of his condition and he knows he needs help, but he's also trapped in his unhappy memories and unaware of the people he's hurting and killing.
- Twin Switch: Brian's Evil Doppelgänger Kaptain Briton carefully plans one of these, letting the Technet capture Brian instead.
- Walking Wasteland: A downplayed variant. Roma reveals that Captain U.K.'s presence on Earth-616 is preventing the world from healing after the Jaspers Warp. As long as she stays there, more mutated Warpies will be born.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Omniversal mercenary squad the Special Executive launches a complex scheme to recruit their future-colleague Fascination from rivals the Technet three centuries ahead of schedule. It doesn’t work, much to their leader's frustration.
