Real Name: Elisabeth Braddock
Affiliation: (X-Treme) X-Men Previous Affiliations: X-Men, S.T.R.I.K.E.
Aliases: Lady Mandarin, Captain Britain II (Earth 616)
Status: Deceased (Vargas)
Relatives: Sir James, Sr. (father, deceased), Brian (
Captain Britain, brother),
James, Jr. (brother)
Powers: Psylocke was born a powerful telepath. Originally she was a model, and simply a psycho-blaster with the ability to read minds, a power she used as an agent for the British intelligence team called S.T.R.I.K.E. When her brother Brian gave up the mantle of Captain Britain for a time, Betsy took over, but her career ended when she was blinded by Slaymaster, an enemy of her brother's. Eventually Betsy was given bionic eyes by
Mojo, who used them to spy on the X-Men. Betsy joined the X-Men around the time of the
Mutant Massacre, and valiantly defended the wounded against
Sabretooth. After the X-men died in Dallas,
Wolverine got her Betsy an armored costume to protect her physically during battles. However, after going through the
Siege Perilous Psylocke was used by the
Hand and Lord Nyoirin, an Asian crimelord, to reassemble the mind of his assassin,
Kwannon, who had been injured in a fall. However, Matsu'o Tsurayaba, Kwannon's lover, cut a deal with the time-dancer
Spiral and Betsy's mind entered Kwannon's body. Her mind was slightly merged with Kwannon's and, with the help of Spiral's Body Shoppe, their bodies were made genetically identical. "Psylocke" was given Kwannon's Asian body and martial arts training, and worked for the Mandarin until a plunge into Wolverine's psychosis knocked her out of the brainwashing. At that point, she manifested her power in the form of a psychic knife that she would plunge into an opponent's head to knock them out. In reality, there was only a part (albeit the majority) of Betsy in Kwannon's body, believing herself to be Psylocke. When the remainder of Betsy (including her body) returned as Revanche (who was really Kwannon) and subsequently died from the
Legacy Virus, Revanche returned the rest of Betsy's mind and power to Psylocke and took the missing parts of Kwannon into herself. Later on, as Sabretooth began his escape from the
X-Mansion, Psylocke attempted to stop him, but was critically wounded. To save her life, her lover
Angel, along with Wolverine, Gomurr the Ancient, and Dr. Strange, journeyed into the dimension of the
Crimson Dawn to retrieve some of the magical liquid to save Betsy's life. As a result of her exposure to the Crimson Dawn, Psylocke gained the ability to "teleport" through shadows. This new chance at life came with a price, however. The evil Kuragari usurped control of the Crimson Dawn and tried to make Psylocke into his bride. Fortunately, Gomurr and Angel were able to return the balance to the Dawn and break Kuragari's hold on Betsy. Months later, the
Shadow King tricked Psylocke into initiating a telepathic shockwave that disabled telepaths all over the world, leaving the King in command of the astral plane. Although her astral form was destroyed, Betsy emerged in a new "shadow form" that was certainly a by-product of her exposure to the Crimson Dawn. Invisible to the Shadow King, Betsy was able to free the X-Men he had captured and then taunted the Shadow King until he over-extended himself by trying to corrupt every mind on the planet. Betsy was then able to telepathically contain the Shadow King's core, but at a great cost: to ensure that the Shadow King would never be able to escape, Psylocke was forced to permanently shut down her telepathy. Recently, Psylocke gained telekinetic power from
Phoenix, and no longer has her telepathy. She is powerful enough to move giant beams and fly, but she still has control and stamina problems. She also seems to have lost the ability to teleport between shadows. At the same time, Betsy began flirting with fellow teammate
Thunderbird III, much to Warren's chagrin, leading to his breaking up with her when he realized they really had very little in common. Shortly thereafter, Psylocke joined other members of the X-Men on a secret mission to find the lost Books of Truth, prophecies written by the precog
Destiny, and she and Thunderbird became an "official" couple. On their first mission, however, Psylocke fought the Homo Sapiens Superior named Vargas and was stabbed in the stomach. Though she died almost immediately, her spirit did stay on the mortal plane long enough to provide Bishop with some information as to the mission during a "Dreamtime" before passing into the afterlife.
