Psylocke
Psylocke is a comic book character that first appeared in Captain Britain #8
Psylocke is a mutant with vast psionic powers and a recurrent member of the X-Men. Psylocke was originally a Marvel U.K. character for a 10 year run before joining the American Marvel cast.
Psylocke Publication History
Psylocke made her first appearance in Captain Britain #8, a Marvel UK publication, in December 1976. She made her U.S. debut just under a decade later, in October 1986's New Mutants Annual #2.Origin of Psylocke
Elizabeth Glorianna BraddockA British Girl
Elizabeth Glorianna "Betsy" Braddock's father was James Braddock Sr. and he used to live in a different dimension. He was sent to earth to create the ultimate protector, Captain Britain. He ended up having twins, Elizabeth and Brian. Betsy and her twin brother's lives were anything but normal. Betsy was born and raised in England in a small town called Maldon, Essex. Psylocke was one of the few Marvel characters that were actually given a birth date. She was born a bit after midnight on April 23, 1956. (Since comics characters never age, or age very slowly, the year of her birth varies. Her current birth year is 1982.) Their parents died at a young age and they had many adventures growing up. Her twin brother Brian began pursuing physics as a major during college while Betsy decided to become a charter pilot. One day Betsy received news that her brother Jamie had been injured in an accident, so Betsy called Brian and the two flew back to their mansion in Britain. Their plane crashed after a psychic attack when they began to close in on the mansion.
Betsy's life became a hit TV show for Mojo Productions in his dimension, the Mojoverse. The New Mutants came and saved Betsy from Mojo and brought her back to Westchester, New York. Shortly after, Betsy joined the X-Men, which increased Mojo's ratings. She helped the X-Men many times including a second fight with Mojo in which the X-Men were turned into children and forced to battle the New Mutants. In the Mutant Massacre story arc, Betsy would be able to prove herself to the X-Men. Sabretooth invaded the mansion while the X-Men and New Mutants were away on assignments. Betsy protected the children at the mansion and was able to last long enough until Wolverine arrived to engage in one on one combat with Sabretooth. Betsy would then scan Sabretooth's mind to figure out his plans. It was her bravery in risking her life luring Sabretooth away from the Xavier Institute and the injured inside that earned her Wolverine's respect. During a battle with Adversary, Betsy was killed, then resurrected and teleported away to Australia by Roma. After this Betsy decided to wear an armor to protect herself.
The Body Transfer
They shared the same memories and shared half of Psylocke's telepathic powers.
Betsy was given to The Mandarin to serve as his assassin. While working as an assassin, Betsy changed her armor to a more revealing outfit, and learned to focus her psychic energy and turn them into the "psychic knife". On her first assignment as Lady Mandarin, she had to battle Wolverine. When she stabbed Wolverine in the head with her psychic knife, it showed her his memories and revealed to Psylocke who she truly was. Psylocke then rejected her role as Lady Mandarin and escaped with Wolverine and Jubilee ( Jubilee) to Genosha.In Genosha Psylocke, Wolverine, and Jubilee discovered that the X-Men and the New Mutants had been captured by Cameron Hodge. They also met Havok on Genosha, then they went on and defeated Cameron Hodge. Once the X-Men were free they all headed back to New York.
When the X-Men split into two teams, Psylocke joined Cyclops' team. She eventually started flirting with him and when Jean Grey found out, the two started fighting. They were interrupted when Kwannon (now calling herself Revanche turned up at the Xavier Institute (in Betsy's body) and claimed to be the real Psylocke. Not knowing what or who to believe, the X-Men had no choice but allow her to stay. Revanche then confessed to Psylocke that she had contracted the Legacy Virus thanks to Spiral.Soon after, Revanche was mercy-killed by Matsuo Tsurayaba. Upon her death Betsy gained her full telepathic powers and the and remaining pieces of herself but was still able to retain Revanche's martial arts skills. Kwannon's fractured memories and personality were also removed from Psyocke's mind by Matsuo who gained a small fraction of Kwannon's psychic powers. Afterward, Jean re-trained Betsy to use her telepathy, she also started a relationship with Angel,
The Crimson Dawn and the Red Tattoo
When a demon named Kuragari took over the Crimson Dawn, he demanded a debt be paid for the healing liquid they used for Psylocke. He wanted to corrupt Psylocke and make her his queen. However, in order for Psylocke to be freed, Angel gave part of his essence to Kuragari. Once Psylocke was freed from Kuragari, the two of them defeated the demon. After this incident, Angel and Psylocke retired from the X-Men.
The Shadow King
When Jean tried to help Psylocke deal with the Shadow King, the two ended up switching powers. So Psylocke's telepathy was added to Phoenix's telepathy, and Psylocke gained telekinesis. Psylocke then returned to active duty on the X-Men and began to flirt with Neal Shaara which resulted in a break-up with Angel.
The Death and Life of Psylocke
After Psylocke helped Storm free some people in Africa, she returned to England to talk to her brother, Brian, about Jamie. The Shadow King had returned by then and taken over an alternate reality Professor X. He lured Psylocke to visit him and controlled all the members of New Excalibur - minus Sage - into beating Brian. Psylocke created a telekinetic bubble inside Shadow Xavier's brain to give him a stroke, which freed New Excalibur from his control. Just as Psylocke was about to hit the killing blow with her psychic sword, she disappeared in a flash of light.
Joining the Exiles
Later the entire reality seemingly exploded before Heather's eyes, but in fact Reed Richards actually saved it. Everyone was able to recuperate fully and finally returned to the Exiles command center. However, the entire place was deserted. They discovered that six months had gone by, and since Heather thought the team was dead, she just left and went home to her own reality.
Rejoining the X-Men
Psylocke reveals she has regained her telepathy (while also retaining her telekinesis) and travels back in time with Beast and his X-Club in order to study the birth of mutant kind and find a way to revert M-Day. During Utopia, Betsy is seen trying to handle the riots in San Francisco, later Cyclops gives Psylocke and the X-Club members a mission to install a number of devices on a huge piece of rock under the sea. When the devices are successfully installed Cyclops gives the order to "rise". When risen the rock is identified to be Asteroid M and will now serve as the X-Men's new base of operations called Utopia.
Powers
Psylocke has gone through different types of powers during her life time and she has lost her original powers, gained new powers, and improved old powers.
Original Powers
In her original "British" body, Psylocke had vast psionic powers which, at that time, rivaled other high level psychic mutants.
Basic abilities: mind-control, illusion projection. reading and projecting thoughts over long distances, controlling and suppressing others powers, projecting herself & others into the astral plane
Psychic Scanning: she was able to psychically scan vast distances to learn the status, condition or intentions of others.
Psi-Bolts: bolts of psychic energy that can stun, injure or kill.
Psycho-Blast: a unique ability all her own, Psylocke could shoot a focused beam of telepathic energy at an opponent, knocking them physically while attacking them mentally. This blast was powerful enough to pierce the psi-proof helmet of the Juggernaut, a feat Professor X couldn't accomplish upon his first encounter.
Precognitive Powers: she could randomly and infrequently perceive visions of future events.
Butterfly: When using her powers, a butterfly shaped aura would appear around her face. When in her astral form, she would take the form of her butterfly aura sometimes depicted with eyes within its wings.
Body Transfer
After Psylocke's soul was transferred into Revanche's body (permanently after Revanches eventual death), Psylocke could manifest her powers in a new way by creating a psychic knife. She called this weapon "the focused totality of her telepathic might". With the knife, Psylocke could excite the pain receptors in her opponents and while not actually damaging tissue, the knife could cause her victims to become stunned, or even killed depending on the amount of power she used. When stabbed in the head, the knife allowed Pyslocke to read the thoughts of her opponent. - Telepathy (half strength after body-swap; full after Revanche's death)
- Martial Arts (learned)
- Psychic Knife (learned)
Crimson Dawn
Psylocke gained new abilities when she used the Crimson Dawn's healing liquid. It gave her the red dagger tattoo on her left eye and allowed her to hide and teleport through shadows. During a fight with the Shadow King, appeared to have been killed on the Astral Plane, but the Crimson Dawn allowed her to came back in a shadow like astral form. She gained the ability to hide her allies in shadows as well.
Psylocke lost the ability to use her telepathy in order to keep the Shadow King imprisoned. She focused all her telepathy to keep him contained. When Jean tried to help her, it caused Jean to give Psylocke telekinesis.
Gained
- Shadow Teleportation
- Shadow Stealth
- Shadow Astral Form
- Telekinesis (Gained from Jean)
- Psychic Katana
Lost
- Telepathy (After imprisoning the Shadow King)
Current Powers
When Psylocke was resurrected again by her brother, Jaimie Braddock, she lost her Crimson Dawn tattoo and the powers that came with it. Her other powers, however, were drastically improved. Jamie also altered her mind so that it was impenetrable to manipulation of any kind, which also had the side effect of making telepathy a useless way of communication. Since her resurrection, she has yet to demonstrate any telepathy of her own. Her telekinesis is also much more powerful now, she can use it to levitate herself and others, create force fields, and also to enhance her speed, strength, and agility. She can lift several tons with her telekinesis. Jamie also altered her mind in order to protect it from invasion. Psylocke has become immune to psionic and mental manipulation including telepathic communication, invisible to all forms of electronic detection, and also resistant to the effects of reality manipulation. Psylocke started to create a telekinetic katana instead of the psychic knife. The katana is much more powerful, but she can no longer gauge the level of its intensity. The katana will short-circuit the nervous system (working the same way as as her knife), while slicing through almost any form of inanimate material. For example, she can use the blade to cut through a person in armor, and only cut the armor while stunning the person inside. When Psylocke was resurrected again by her brother Jamie Braddock, she lost her Crimson Dawn tattoo and the powers that came with it. Her other powers improved drastically though. Jamie altered her mind so that it only generated telekinesis. Since her resurrection, she has yet to demonstrate any telepathy.All this happened when her brother Jamie resurrected her and enhanced her in order to fight the Foursaken. During House of M, Psylocke was able to form two psionic katanas. It has yet to be explained how powerful they can be or if she can actually use them now that reality is restored.
After her return to Earth 616 and her encounter with the Sisterhood Psylocke regained her telepathy and retained her telekinesis. She can now summon both the psychic knife and the psychic katana.
- Telekinesis (strengthened after death)
- Telekinetic Katana (strengthened after death)
- Resistant to reality alteration
- Immunity to all psionic attacks
- Invisibility to all electronic detection devices
- Limited Telepathy
Status
Citizenship: U.K.
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: Adventurer; former charter pilot, super model, government agent, assassin
Education: University graduate
Place of Birth: Braddock Manor, England
Characteristics
Hair: (originally) Blonde, dyed purple; (currently) black, often dyed purple
Eyes: (originally) Blue; (cybernetic) purple; (currently) purple
Height: 5'11" (both bodies)
Weight: 155 lbs. (both bodies)
Gender: Female
Alternate Realities
Ultimate Psylocke (Earth-1610)
Psylocke made her first Ultimate Universe appearance in the World Tour story arc. She was Agent Betsy Braddock from the British Secret Service. Betsy was an extremely powerful telepath and she also has her “psychoblasts.” However they appear to be stronger then their 616 counterpart, as she is able to use those blasts like a grenade inside a brain and detonate it anytime she wants. Betsy was to help Professor Xavier search for his missing son David, later known as Proteus. When they finally encountered David, he possessed Betsy’s body and used her powers to wreck havoc and kill many people. Betsy was able to regain control and begged Xavier to kill her while he had a chance. Xavier declined but Colossus showed up and dropped a car on her. Betsy’s consciousness was able to survive and moved to the comatose body of an Asian Girl named Kwannon. Luckily for Betsy, Kwannon was dying and ready to go to the after life while donating her body to Betsy. It was later revealed that Betsy’s old body had breast cancer that would eventually have killed her anyway. Betsy was then supposedly trying to build a SHIELD division in Britain called STRIKE. She is one of the many heroes to die during Ultimatum.
Earth-295 Age of Apocalypse
In the original Age of Apocalypse, Psylocke was never mentioned and therefore it was at first assumed that she had been one of the telepaths that became part of Apocalypse’s psychic defense. In the mini-series for the 10th anniversary of the Age of Apocalypse, Psylocke was however introduced. In the AoA world Psylocke is an Asian ninja with black hair and blue eyes. She was still a telepath and was able to manifest two psychic knives at the same time. Her psychic knives are also able to cut through solid matter. Psylocke could also hide in the shadows but it is doubtful that it is due to the Crimson Dawn tattoo as she does not have it on her left eye. Psylocke came in as an acquaintance of Weapon X from the past. Psylocke rescued Logan and the X-Men that were captured. She first released Charles and helped the rest of the captured groups escape. She talked with Logan for a bit after they were rescued and she showed a grudge against Logan. She later reappeared and defeated some of the enemy while trying to save the X-Men from brainwash. In the end, Psylocke returned to Japan to undo the damage that was caused by Apocalypse in Japan.
X-Men: The EndEarth-41001 The End
Psylocke was among the joined forces of the X-men and the Shi'ar who fought against Cassandra Nova who was consumed by the Phoenix. As Cassandra gets worse on her rampage, Jean Grey who was fused with Madelyne Pryor have said that she was an X-Man and she does not fight alone. Psylocke then appeared behind Cassandra and stabbed a psychic blade to Cassandra's head which have disrupted her powers. Jean then told Betsy to stop and thanked her saying that Betsy's part in the fight was done. She then disappeared and was brought back to Earth. The remaining X-Men have continued fighting Cassandra. After 20 years, Psylocke was among the mutants who remained and listened to President Pryde's speech. 
Earth-9997 Earth X
Psylocke never switched bodies with Kwannon. She trained under Merlyn and Roma. Her training and increased powers were vital in the final battle against Mephisto. With the help of Merlyn and Doctor Strange, they weakened the demon well enough to be kill by his brother, King Britain.
Earth- 58163 House of M
Psylocke was Princess Royal Elisabeth Glorianna Braddock, sister to the Monarch of England. She was actually the elder of the twins, and thus the rightful heir to the throne. However, she chose to abdicate in favor of her brother so that she could travel the world with her "lady-in-waiting", Rachel Grey.Earth-21993 Cable Has Destroyed the X-Men and Magneto Took Over the U.S.A.
Psylocke joined Wolverine's group of X-men to avenge for the death of professor X in the hands of Cable. She witnessed how Wolverine killed Cable. However, she became tired of their revenge after the encounter with the Nasty Boys. She then confronted Storm and it was revealed that the mutant race is in danger because of the future that might happen following some events. Together with Storm, they have confronted Magneto in his White House. Though, Magneto became hesitant about the information and destroyed the Sentinels proving that the mutant race's safety is still existing. Accidentally, he destroyed a Sentinel with explosive properties and it killed Psylocke with Magneto and everyone present in the White House.
Earth-982 MC2
The Psylocke of the MC2 universe acted as a guardian, trainer and godmother of Wolverine and Elektra's daughter, Wild Thing. She also had trainings regarding her psychic powers.
Earth-?
Aside from that Earth-616 Psylocke briefly was Captain Britain there is at least one other reality where a counterpart of Psylocke is a member of the (Captain Britain) Corps.
Earth-811Earth-811 Days of Future Past
Psylocke was mentally corrupted and was a member of Shinobi Shaw's Hellfire Club. She became their Red Queen. The team have sought the Scarlet Witch. Following some events, Wolverine led a group against her team and wounded her. Logan then took her to Brian Braddock, her brother in order to see if her old ego would be restored. 
Earth-1081 Friend of Morph
Psylocke is a member of the X-Men and also one of Morph's friends 
Earth-9620Earth-9620 Days of Future Tense
Psylocke, and others such as Wolfsbane and Tangerine, were members of the X-men. She had a relationship with Archangel but broke up. For her to move on, she moved back to United Kingdom. Meanwhile, her former team were killed. Psylocke then joined Pete Wisdom's Excalibur and became a valued member of the team. Their former team mate Douglock was abdusted and to save him, their team have to operate a mission. During this mission, they were trapped inside the base and were defeated by Secret Service Black Air, Douglock's kidnappers and were able to kill most of the team including Psylocke. 
Earth-93600 Hulk Had Killed Wolverine
Psylocke was a member of the X-Men and the team had a mission in Dallas, Texas where they must fight a villainous being called the Adversary. Killing most of the team, Psylocke had tried to communicate with Hulk who was in companionship with Adversary. Due to the violence and aggressiveness of Hulk, Psylocke experienced difficulties and led to a mental backslash. The Adversary then disguised as Wolverine whom he killed before, he have killed Psylocke along with Destiny.Earth-2182 Nocturne's Home Reality
Psylocke was a member of the X-Men. The team including her have fought the Exiles led by Cyclops.Earth-70105 Bullet Points
Like most of the super heroes existing in this reality, she have made a part in defending Earth from Galactus. Earth-10291 Bladeless Sword
Psylocke's family was attacked by an Ovi. Psylocke, unfortunately was bitten and caused her to be given the power of superhuman strength and was also virtually immortal. However, she seeks for human flesh. Appearances in Other Media
X-Men: The Animated Series (1992)
Psylocke makes her first appearance in this animated series in season 4 episode 54 entitled, "Beyond Good and Evil Part 2: Promise of Apocalypse." In this episode, Psylocke was attempting to steal valuable property from Archangel's castle. She battles Archangel when he discovers what she was doing. Psylocke would be able to defeat him and escaped in his car. She later runs into Wolverine, Mystique, and Sabretooth. As Psylocke tried to flee, she would be captured by Magneto. She later reappears in episode 56 entitled, "Beyond Good and Evil Part 4: End and Beginning." She is shown to be captured by Apocalypse. Psylocke would be eventually freed by the X-Men and joins them to defeat Apocalypse.
Wolverine And The X-Men (2009)
Psylocke appears in the episode Time Bomb. In the beginning of the episode she is seen using her powers on a traffic warden who gives a woman a ticket, effectively making the warden eat the ticket. Psylocke is seen to use her butterfly katana here. It is hinted that Quicksilver rescued her from a mutant prison, as he asks her to do a favor for him. That favor is to keep a mutant, Nitro, power's under control whilst traveling to Genosha. The X-Men arrive to stop the Brotherhood and Psylocke is effectively taken out by Emma Frost, very early in their " battle ", Emma also calls Psylocke an amateur after defeating her.
Video Game Appearances
- X-Men 2: Fall of the Mutants (1990): Playable character in her original British body.- X-Men: Children of the Atom (1994): Playable character.
- X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse (1995): Playable character
- X-Men 2: Clone Wars (1995): Playable character
- Marvel Super Heroes (1995): Playable character
- X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1997): Cameo in Cammy's ending.
- Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes (1998): Support character
- Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes (2000): Playable character.
- X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 (2001): Playable character.
- X-Men: Next Dimension (2002): Playable character
- X-Men Legends (2004): Playable character
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance (2006): Cameo in story mode.
- Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 (2009): Playable Character
Movies
Psylocke's name can be seen on Stryker's computer as Mystique scrolls through it. Also she is seen in the novelization, she's at a fashion show when Dark Cerebro is used on mutants. Sending her into a coma. After it is used on humans Psylocke is seen awaking from the coma and using her telepathy to see what is happening.
X3: The Last Stand
It had been widely speculated by fans that Psylocke would be in X3: The Last Stand, and that she would be portrayed by Meiling Melançon. However, there have been many confusions on who this character really is. In an interview with Wizard magazine, she told that she played Psylocke and had the ability to change into shadows and use her psi-blades. However, the psi-blades were nowhere to be seen in the movie, and her only ability shown was phasing out of a wall, even though there was no shadow near there. Writer on X3, Zak Penn told in a Q&A section that the character Melançon played was never meant to be Psylocke, as the writers were still throwing names out for Melançon's character. There was even more confusion when X3: The Last Stand came out on DVD, and in the Brett Ratner commentary, he stated that Melançon was playing Psylocke.
| Super Name: | Psylocke |
| Real Name: | Elisabeth Glorianna Braddock |
| Aliases: |
Elisabeth Glorianna Braddock Elisabeth Braddock Lady Mandarin Captain Britain Betsy Braddock |
| Publisher: | Marvel Publishing |
| Gender: | Female |
| Character Type: | Mutant |
| 1st Appearance: | Captain Britain #8 |
| Appears in: | 586 issues |
| Birthday: | |
| Died: |
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X-Men: The Last Stand
The final film of the original X-Men trilogy. Sort of followed the Dark Phoenix Saga storyline.
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