"I could more easily do this telepathically from a distance. But I like the thrill of physical combat."Although born last of her three siblings, to wealthy parents, Beth Bradford did not let the identity of her parents and brothers precede her. The eldest, named after their father, took the role seriously, acting as the responsible one and doing what was practical and expected. The middle child, Brian, was barely so--born just a few minutes before Beth, he always made sure to remind her of such. Though he meant well, he was more in-your-face than his siblings. But Beth, she was a free-spirited child. She would usually find something interesting to do, and become completely enveloped in it until she learned and did all she could, and then it was on to the next thing. It originally started with football (soccer to you yanks), then writing, then choir (she couldn't carry a tune in a bucket, but bless her, she tried). Academia came easiest to her, if only because she treated it like any other challenge she faced in her life--she aimed to win.
She attended University of Greenwich, taking every possible class she could. Though her degree was in Transport and Logistics, she often took other subjects that were not required, just for the sake of learning. Well into her collegiate career, Beth's parents were involved in a horrific murder in their home. Investigators determined that it was simply a home invasion gone horribly wrong; Beth was adamant that was not the case, as nothing of monetary value was stolen from her parents' mansion. Unfortunately, the so-called "thieves" were never identified, thus never being brought to justice. To ease her emotional pain, Beth began learning to fly planes. What originally started as an interesting hobby turned into a full-fledged love affair with the science of flight. And, after graduating university and gaining flight certification, she had her sights set on a new conquest: New York City.
However, a chance opening at Logan International Airport in Boston quickly changed her mind. Granted, it was a position for an on-call pilot, it was something. She gladly took the job with no living situation sorted, and not much money after the purchase of a one-way ticket. To make ends meet, while a pilot during the day, she danced at a gentlemen's club in Boston at night, just until she could get on her feet financially. She loved the attention she received--from men and women alike--and though she knew the potential money she could be earning from dancing, her pilot schedule began to pick up. Eventually, a full-time position was made available, which allowed her to end her short-lived dancing career. Though she was met with a fair amount of attitude regarding her accent, paired with sexism (she was often mistaken for a stewardess), Beth found it easy to put on her bitch face and do her job well. She was in the business for her love of flying, not making friends. Once reaching the age of 25, Beth was granted her inheritance from her parents' trust funds. With this money, she took the opportunity to buy a larger apartment as well as a hangar in a private airport just outside of Boston. She kept a little bit of money for spending, then tucked the rest away into savings.
Though Beth was always a caring person, she never felt the need for a steady relationship. Sure, she wooed men and women throughout her life, but she never felt a serious connection with any of them--until Joseph. She'd seen him round the airport once or twice, donning a captain uniform like herself, but he wore it much better in her opinion. On one particular day, just before their flight to London, her regular co-pilot had called out sick; lo and behold, Captain Warren stepped in without a second thought. Not one to waste a good opportunity when it came about, Beth spent the entire flight getting to know her temporary co-pilot. On a whim, near the end of the flight, she asked her handsome co-pilot to stay in London for a few days, as part of her own tradition. To her surprise and delight, he agreed, and they spent a wonderful few days together. She fell fast and hard for him, unlike anyone she'd ever met in her life. But, tragedy struck Joseph's family--his father had suddenly passed away with no warning. She wanted nothing more than to be there for Joseph, to do whatever she could for him, to show him that she, too, had been through the loss of a parent just the same. But after struggling with keeping his father's business afloat, he eventually disappeared, leaving behind only a note to say he needed time. It stung Beth, but she understood. However, weeks went by, followed by months, and eventually Beth, heartbroken, gave up on the one true love she had ever had in her life. After keeping what little she'd had at Joseph's place packed away in a box, she quietly moved herself back to her spacious apartment that remained on standby, swearing to never let herself become vulnerable again.
With money in the bank and steady flying experience, she was eventually able to quit her job as a pilot. Not being one to flaunt her money, she kept that information to herself, including hiding it from many of her friends. Though, anyone who would visit her apartment might have an idea. After Joseph's departure, she started drinking heavily, and things started to become hazy. Near the end of 2014, she began to lose chunks of her memory. In the process of this, she began quietly dating a man named Pete Lord, who she'd met at the gym several years ago. He'd always been there for her when she needed emotional support after Joseph's abrupt departure, as well as when holidays would come round and she had no one to spend them with... In January of 2015, she and Pete got married in Las Vegas during a particularly hazy week that's become more and more clear as time has gone on. With the failure of Beth's dance studio, she'd begun a tailspin in her life similar to Joseph's, and had contemplated running off to London to start life anew... but she recalled how she'd felt when he had disappeared out of her life just as abruptly, and she couldn't do that to her husband. Instead, she pulled herself out of her funk and made herself useful at her good friend's tattoo shop, running the business while he took time off for the birth of his first child.
Betsy Braddock was Sir James Braddock's second child, and like her twin brother Brian, her life was secretly manipulated by Merlyn. The twins shared a close connection, but as they matured the adventurous Betsy also grew close to their elder brother Jamie. By the time their parents died, apparently in a lab accident but really murdered by the computer Mastermind, Betsy had become a charter pilot. When Mastermind's agent Doctor Synne tried to kill Jamie, a concerned Betsy fetched Brian, but as she flew them home, Synne's psychic attack caused her to crash. When she awoke, Synne's illusions made Betsy attack her brothers, seeing them as monsters. After Synne was defeated she and Jamie were taken hostage by the Red Skull's agents. Freed by Captains America and Britain, Betsy learned the latter was her brother Brian. Perhaps because of Synne's mental intrusions, Betsy began to develop precognitive powers. She took up modeling, while her powers grew to include telepathy. Agent Matthew recruited Betsy into S.T.R.I.K.E.'s Psi Division, and she became fellow psi Tom Lennox's lover. Because her father had been a member, she was sent to infiltrate the Hellfire Club, but was warned off by Tessa for her own protection.
When the crimelord Vixen secretly usurped S.T.R.I.K.E., she hired Slaymaster to eliminate the Psi-Division before they could expose this. The telepaths fled, but Slaymaster continued to pick them off; only a handful were left when Betsy sensed Brian's return and called on his help. He defeated Slaymaster and the three surviving psi's (Betsy, Tom and Alison Double) moved into the holographically hidden Braddock Manor. In short succession this hideout was found by the Special Executive, Captain U.K. and the Fury; as the last of these battled Brian and the Executive, Betsy foresaw a future where superhumans were imprisoned in concentration camps. Soon the U.K. became a fascist state ruled by the insane reality warper Sir James Jaspers, with S.T.R.I.K.E. "Beetle" squads rounding up those with powers. While Brian confronted Jaspers, the Beetles found the others' hideout. Tom died trying to buy his friends time to escape; Betsy was in Tom's mind when he died, and was captured. After being freed, she was nursed back to health by fellow camp inmate Victoria Bentley, who taught her to use her experiences to strengthen her powers. When Kaptain Briton, Brian's Earth-794 counterpart, tried to rape her, Betsy fried his mind, killing him. The same night, Mastermind informed the twins of their father's non-terrestrial origins, and the Resources Control Executive (R.C.X.) asked them to billet Warpies, children transformed by Jaspers' warp, at the Manor. One of the R.C.X. agents was Matthew, now codenamed Gabriel. Betsy overruled Brian and let R.C.X. and the Warpies move in. When Brian went overseas, Gabriel convinced Betsy to become the new Captain Britain, wearing Kaptain Briton's modified costume. Working with Captain U.K. (Linda McQuillan), the duo became public sensations, but after several months Betsy went solo. Vixen lured her into a showdown with Slaymaster, who brutally beat her, then gouged her eyes out. Brian felt her pain, flew to her rescue and killed Slaymaster. Betsy refused R.C.X.'s offer of cybernetic eyes, preferring to rely on her psychic abilities; she and Gabriel got engaged, and went to Switzerland for Betsy to recuperate.
Betsy was kidnapped from the Alps by Mojo, brainwashed, given cybernetic eyes, and, as "Psylocke," became the star of his new show "Wildways." Brian and the New Mutants rescued her, after which Betsy moved to the X-Men's mansion to recover, exactly where Roma (Merlyn's daughter) needed her to be. When the Marauders attacked the Morlocks, and Sabretooth invaded the mansion, she used herself as bait to lead him away from the injured until Wolverine got there. Impressed by her bravery, Wolverine nominated her to join the X-Men, beside whom she met Mephisto, Dr. Doom, the Fantastic Four, and Horde. The X-Men later battled Freedom Force and the Adversary in Dallas, and, in a televised battle, sacrificed themselves to allow Forge to bind the Adversary; Roma secretly restored them to life, and gave Betsy the Siege Perilous, which they could use if they ever wanted to start new lives. The X-Men moved to the Reavers' Australian Outback base, from where they took on the Brood Boys, Genoshan Magistrates, M Squad, Mr. Jip, the Serpent Society, the Abomination, Master Mold, Nimrod, Nanny, the Orphan-Maker, Zaladane and the Savage Land Mutates. As they were about to depart the Savage Land, Betsy had a precognitive flash of the Reavers killing the team. To prevent this, she sent them through the Siege Perilous.
Betsy reappeared amnesiac on an island near China, where the Hand found her. Matsu'o Tsurayaba, their leader, saw a chance to save his brain-dead lover, Kwannon, and had Spiral's Body Shoppe swap their souls. This inadvertently blended their minds, leaving each with the same memories and telepathic powers. Tsurayaba brainwashed Psylocke and gave her to the Mandarin as his assassin, Lady Mandarin, until Wolverine restored her memories. Back with the X-Men Betsy took on Cameron Hodge, Warskrulls, the Shadow King and cosmic cleaner Edifice Rex; she also informed Brian she was alive. The next few months saw battles against Magneto, Fenris, Mys-Tech (alongside new ally Dark Angel), and a Brood-infected Ghost Rider. Visiting Brian, Betsy helped Excalibur fight Sat-Yr-9 and the now insane Jamie, whom Betsy struck comatose. Encounters followed with the Troll Associates, the Mutant Liberation Front, Stryfe, Omega Red, and the Soul Skinner.
Then Kwannon arrived at the Mansion in Betsy's original body, claiming to be the real Psylocke. Unable to discern which was truly Betsy, both stayed with the X-Men, maintaining an uneasy coexistence, with Kwannon taking the name Revanche. Learning she had the Legacy Virus, Revanche had Matsu'o kill her, after which Betsy regained her soul's missing piece. Having become involved with her teammate Angel, the following months saw her fight the Phalanx, try to reach Jamie's comatose mind, battle Legion in Israel, and combat Gene Nation. When Sabretooth gutted Psylocke, Angel, Wolverine, Doctor Strange and Gomurr the Ancient retrieved a magical liquid from the Crimson Dawn dimension which healed her and gave her new powers, but also marked her with a red tattoo over her left eye. Kuragari, Proctor of the Crimson Dawn, tried to claim Betsy as his bride, but was thwarted with Gomurr and Angel's aid, freeing Betsy of the Dawn's influence. Subsequently she aided Storm against the Shadow King, who tricked Psylocke into initiating a psychic shockwave which disabled all other telepaths, leaving him unchallenged on the astral plane. Her own astral form was destroyed, but her exposure to the Crimson Dawn gave her a new shadow form with temporarily enhanced powers, which she used to trap the Shadow King's core. To keep him trapped she was forced to constantly focus her telepathy on him, effectively rendering herself powerless. After attending Brian's wedding, she was kidnapped to take part in the Coterie's contest of champions. When Apocalypse and his Horsemen sought to gather the Twelve, Psylocke used Cerebro to boost her powers, so that she could use them and still keep the Shadow King imprisoned, allowing her to free the brainwashed Wolverine. Jean Grey's attempt to help Betsy deal with the Shadow King somehow swapped their powers, leaving Betsy telekinetic. With her new abilities Betsy fought Belasco, the Neo, the Goth, and the Prime Sentinels, then aided her brother freeing Otherworld from Mastermind's Warpie army.
After ending her relationship with Archangel, Betsy joined Storm's X-Men team in the search for Destiny's Diaries. In Valencia, Spain, they encountered the enigmatic Vargas who killed her. Later, in a dream, Bishop saw Betsy's spirit being snatched by a skulled figure. Much later, Betsy was returned alive to the site of her death. Reunited with the X-Men, she helped them against the Saurian Hauk'ka, Mojo and Spiral. She has also been reunited with Brian during a recent reality storm. It is now known that her brother, Jamie, had brought her back to life to fight a great evil and had reconstructed her to be immune to attacks meant to control her mind, reshape her body, or affect her basic quantum structure. Recently, she has joined the dimension hopping group, the Exiles.
SOURCE: MARVEL.COM