Marvel Gives X-Men Character Psylocke a New Name After 50 Years

Betsy Braddock has one of the most tangled histories of any X-Men character. She debuted in Captain Britain nearly 50 years ago, and in Marvel Comics lore that says a lot. Best known as Psylocke, one of two characters who use the name, Betsy has been shuffled around the Marvel universe and has traded names and bodies with one other important person.

To simplify things, Marvel is now giving Betsy a new codename. Hopefully this one sticks.

Earlier this year, Marvel revealed Maximum X-Men, a new book that comes out of the aftermath of Avengers: Armageddon. It follows a team led by Storm. The roster includes Wolverine, Colossus, Bishop, Iceman, Firestar, Justice and Betsy Braddock. The series announcement originally billed Betsy as Psylocke. That caused confusion, since another woman named Kwannon has largely used the Psylocke name in recent years.

Kwannon and Betsy share a messy, intertwined history in which the two swapped bodies for decades. For years in the comics, Betsy, a British woman, occupied the body of Kwannon, an Asian woman. The swap was eventually rectified, and Kwannon has since taken the Psylocke name that Betsy first used. Betsy most recently went by Captain Britain, another name that several characters have used over the years. So it’s easy to see why her name caused confusion in Maximum X-Men.

Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort revealed on Substack that Maximum X-Men will settle the issue by giving Betsy an entirely new codename: Butterfly. The choice comes from the purplish energy that swirls around Betsy’s face when she uses her powers, which resembles a butterfly. Ironically, X-Men character Layla Miller has already used the codename Butterfly. She isn’t an A-list character, though, and hasn’t used it recently.

What is Maximum X-Men about?

Maximum X-Men positions Storm’s new team as Earth’s last line of defense, taking over from the Avengers after Avengers: Armageddon. That’s a notable shift, because humanity has a contentious relationship with mutants, and the X-Men’s efforts are often less appreciated than those of non-mutant heroes. The team’s first threat comes from the Negative Zone. Teases for the series hint that it is something even more dangerous than Annihilus.

Christopher Yost is writing the series, with Tony S. Daniel on art. Both are X-Men veterans. Yost said this about the new book:

I’ve worked on my fair share of X-Books over the years, but MAXIMUM X-MEN is everything I love about comics rolled into one— it’s underdog heroes saving the world from the biggest Avengers-level threats imaginable, it’s mind-breaking action and drama and everything people expect from X-Men, all with a classic Claremont vibe.

The first issue of Marvel’s Maximum X-Men goes on sale Dec. 2.

Related reading: X-Men star reveals unexpected approach to becoming the MCU’s new Professor X

Source: Polygon