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Comics in the 80s were, uh, wild, and these days, some of that wildness is pretty cringey to look back on. For example, the Marvel Comics character of Betsy Braddock - who was known for a time as Psylocke - underwent a body swap in 1989, transforming from white to Asian (I feel weird just for typing that, reader). Later, Braddock was returned to her original form, and a new character called Kwannon - the current Psylocke - was created to explain where she got a new body. And if you think that makes the character's history difficult to tackle, well, you're not alone - Marvel's longest-serving editor agrees with you.

Tom Brevoort is the editor in question, as you might know if you've spent any time here on the Popverse. Recently, Brevoort sat down with the good folks at Adventures in Poor Taste, and at one point in their discussion, AIPT mentioned that fans of Braddock's character were wondering what her place was in future X-Men comics. Keep in mind - right now, there is a Psylocke comic on shelves, but without Braddock as the character.

"I like Betsy Braddock," began Brevoort, "But Betsy Braddock is hard and kind of a messy situation."

"Everybody was well-intentioned throughout all of her storytelling," he continued, "But that whole thing is a mess. And in coming to the table where it was set when I got here, I made what, to me, felt like the only choice I could make at that point, which is, Kwannon is Psylocke, that’s the state of play. That’s what we’re going to commit to. Psylocke is Kwannon, and she’s in X-Men. Betsy is Captain Britain, she’s with Rachel Summers, and she’ll be in X-Force."

Maybe it's not a perfect solution, maybe it is - no matter what he'd do with her character, Brevoort would no doubt get some very angry emails from comic book readers. And the way the current X-Men captain tells it, Betsy's weird history isn't even the only thing that makes her adventures require special care.

"Even among the Betsy fans," he concludes, "When you actually listen to what they say, they’re all over the road, too. We want her back, but we want her back in this iteration, and we want her back, but not like this. So even they’re trying to figure out what’s the right thing for the character and the story."

Psylocke: Ninja #5, by Tim Seeley and Nico Leon, comes to comic book stores everywhere May 27. 

Want more? Make sure you've read our list of all the best Marvel Comics stories of all time, and get ready for all the free Marvel comics coming as part of this year's Free Comic Book Day 2026 / Comics Giveaway Day  2026 events.