Psylocke
Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock

Powers

Limitation

Talents

Martial Arts -All, Tumbling, Acrobatics, Stealth, Thief, Espionage, Oriental Weapons

Contacts

Captain Britain, The Hand, X-Men, Crimson Pirates, Hellfire Club, Undercloaks

History

Elizabeth (Betsy) is the younger twin of Brian Braddock (Captain Britain) and youngest sibling of older brother, Jaimie Braddock. Elizabeth was as much an extrovert as her brother was introvert. When Brian persued an education and carreer in science, Betsy found work as a fashion model, and even dyed her hair lavender purple. At some point, Betsy discovered her psychic talents, and, while Brian adventured as Captain Britain, Betsy became involved with the British government's ESPer psi-unit in the secret organisation, RCX.

It is not clear at which point Betsy knew of Brian's superhero identity, but she was on hand, with other members of RCX, when Captain Britain confronted Mad Jim Jaspers and his otherworld's analogue's creation, the Fury. She stayed at Braddock Manor with her brother for a while after that, but when an identical dimensional counterpart briefly replaced Brian, she had to kill him to stop him from raping her, traumatizing her. Soon after, RCX wanted to house the Warpies in Braddock Manor, (later housed at Cloud 9,) and Betsy agreed even though it drove Brian to abandon the Captain Britain identity. RCX and Captain U.K. convinced Betsy to take up the identity of Captain Britain, and she adventured under this guise with Captain U.K. for a brief period, before being accosted by Brain's archenemy, Slaymaster. Slaymaster overpowered her, and slashed her eyes, blinding her. Betsy gave up the mantle of the Captain, and Brian resumed its identity, killing Slaymaster in revenge. Although blind, Betsy soon learned to compensate for her blindness with her psychic abilities, aided by a similarly blind psi friend and her new beau, Thomas from RCX. She later left for a world tour with Thomas.

At some point, however, she was captured by the extra-dimensional entity Mojo, and he implanted bionic eyes into Betsy, even though the eyes would also broadcast the same images to Mojoworld an air in its worldwide television-centered society. She was then "rescued" by the New Mutants and stayed in the X-mansion with them, taking the code-name Psylocke and developing a friendship with many and earning the crush of Doug Ramsey (Cypher.) At the same time, the X-men were attacked by villain Sabretooth, after being severly injured by the Marauders. Betsy held her own against the villain and was instrumental in twarting the foe. Betsy was soon invited to join the X-men, and she readily accepted.

Betsy stayed with them for a long time, and after apparently dying with the team during the so-called "Fall of the Mutants," stayed in Australia with them, eventually adopting a defensive armor and more agressive stance (sometimes subversively acting as team leader.) When faced with insurmountable odds when the Reavers wanted to take back their base, Psylocke convinced the other X-men to jump through the Siege Perilous' portal, where they would be replaced in other bodies/identities. Psylocke ended up washed ashore in Japan, and was rescued by a curious assassin, Kwannon (later, Revanche.) This contact made the two breifly switch bodies and somehow merge personalities, but left Psylocke (in Kwannon's body) virtually amnesiac. She was found by Matsuo Tsuyaba, agent of the Asian gang, the Hand, and he reconditioned her into a cutthroat assassin to be presented as a gift to the would-be conqueror, the Mandarin. Psylocke was rescued and revived by Wolverine and Jubilee, and the three travelled the world before helping the X-men against the Shadow King on Muir Island and re-joining their number.

Psylocke adventured with the X-men's "Blue Team" for some time, but her merged personality began to allow Kwannon's influence to emerge more and more, and she even found herself attracted to teammate Cyclops, to the chagrin of Jean Grey. Eventually, Kwannon, calling herself Revanche, showed up in Betsy's former body, now riddled with the Legacy Virus. After a bit of an identity crisis that brought her and her team against the Silver Samaurai, Psylocke reaffirmed her identity just before Revanche's death.

Continuing to adventure with the team (and developing a mutual affection with Angel was on hand when Sabretooth, hospitalized at the X-mansion, broke out. Psylocke was severly injured in the battle, and would have died if Wolverine and Angel hadn't sought the mystical energies of the Crimson Dawn. These energies saved her, but she continued to rehabilitate, and came out changed by the energies-- with a tattoo-like mark on her eye and strange new powers.