6:55 fighting style=muscle memory and it has been shown in Marvel and DC that when you loose your memory’s you can still speak ANY language you use to know (Bucky or Wolverine for example)
I don't really mind the change since it kinda restores something lost about her character, but it does suck that we have one less Asian superhero in comics.
Hard to say as there's no signs of Kwannon in the upcoming Uncanny X-Men event and she may appear again somewhere down the line. This now pretty much restores the status quo to some extent though getting there was the hard part.
Kwannon isn't a mutant, she is just part of The Hand, so she obviously wouldn't be part of the X-Men. She might reappear as an enemy for Daredevil or Elektra.
+Ziko577 Kwannon was a Hand ninja. So most likely she is being brought back as a villain. Because that is what those that (retroactively) have a problem with Psylocke's body swap clearly wanted, more Asian *Villains.* The half-hearted pandering of this era does make you laugh at times.
Drake, I realize this video predates the current Hickman status quo, but I was just wondering if you had any thoughts on the current handling of Psylocke and Betsy. I personally think it solves the problem really well. Betsy is Captain Britain, Kwannon is Psylocke. Anyway, great video man!
I kinda like the idea of two Psylockes. If Spiderman can be Peter, and Miles, and Gwen, and Ben, and Noir, and Ham, etc., why can't Psylocke be Elizabeth and Kwannon? Sometimes there are many souls in one body. Sometimes it's one soul in many bodies. Many minds. Many times. Welcome to the multiverse ;)
at one point, not long ago, there were 3 Spider-men(mans?) running around modern NYC at the same time, Peter Parker, Miles Morales and Miguel O'Hara(2099). There were also 3 Captain Americas Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson and Roberta Mendez
@@felixmartinez1100 she appeared in the last Spider-man 2099 series where Miguel was trapped in "our" time. She's from Miguel's timeline. She originally appeared, as far as I know, in one of the Secret Wars tie-ins
I think they should keep her asian, since it's the version of the character that seems to have stuck with readers for the longest time. Is it controversial yeah but honestly these days what isn't.
I feel that they might bring back Asian Psylocke because of all the action figures, video games, and models from the 1990s. Look at Archangel, he went back to his original form before Apocalypse turned him blue with metal wings and now he is back to that form again.
I will just say this... Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic, or what have you. They could simply make a entity that jumps from body to body and her actual body could be in a coma. That would solve the problem wouldn't it... I remember her being anglo when I first saw her in the comics. I loved her character and that of her brother. The whole omniverse thing was a bit of a twist. But that is why Brian Braddock was a Champion in England.
Even knowing Psylocke’s backstory and actually buying the Revanche comic new, I still consider Psylocke in the Asian body to be what I prefer, even as a female. Although I totally see the appeal to the male audience. Again body Besty has been the one I have always known. And personally, I thought the Kwannon/Besty Story was super interesting. People get their feeling hurt to easy now a days, and companies making changes to characters bc people are offended is a problem. If things keep going in this direction, things are going to be very boring. A little bit of controversy is interesting and interesting sells comics...🧐
I really think the MCU Psylocke needs to dump her convoluted and problematic origin and just make her a Japanese woman that use to work with captain Brittan for a long time that he thinks of her like a sister. You can still do versions of the drama in her backstory but it doesn't have to be as crazy and might work better if they are going to go this "spy" angle with the UK heroes like what they seem to be doing with Jessica Drew as Spiderwoman.
I think the body swap can be played well. Just make it less convoluted. Rather than all the intricate scheming, maybe play it like a Rogue scenario. She used her psychic powers on a hand ninja and some accident forced their minds to switch.
+IOUT Alternatively, just make the entire body swap the machinations of Spiral and Mojo. Play up to the sexualisation etc of the Ninja Girl angle, instead of decrying "outrage".
I personally think they should have kept her Asian, not just because of the whole representation thing, but because that’s how everybody knows her, including herself which is why her being white makes no sense, so if you get rid of the look of Psylocke it just hurts her brand because most people just know her as that Asian psychic ninja X-Man
@@hybridvigga yeah but that's not even close to the weirdest origin in comics so why not just leave it how everyone knows because people get confused easy
You wish she had been kept Asian cuz that's where she was when you discovered her, I knew she was a Brit and personally this representation thing is being stressed on too much, they change a character instead of giving us a new one to love different and distinctive in his/her own way..... that's the issue
Then why not keep Dr Octopus in Spiderman's body? Its the exact same thing, if you like the Asian character design Kwannon is back in her own body as part of the Hand and is still out there, the same way Spiderman and Dr Octopus are both back now.
That's the thing. Psylocke has been in the "Kwannon" body for longer than her duration in her original. It actually made no sense at all to back peddle on that. In light of this, she still remains the most convoluted X-Man.
When you say psylock, the 90's version pops into my mind eye. I know about her past and everything (even applaud her relationship with sabertooth) but it will be strange not seeing an Asian psylock. It doesn't matter to me what the character looks like and I even look forward to changes but this is a big one that I will complain about because she isn't Asian in the first place.
The loss of only memories of what happened but not memories how to do things is perfectly normal and she simply lost her declarative memory meaning. One example is if you solve the maze then lost your declarative memory of solving that may hurt and say you have short-term memory loss then you’ll still be able to redo the maze as long as you haven’t lost your other kind of memory which I’m forgetting the name of. If you lose your declarative memory of all instances of riding a bike you will still be able to ride the bike perfectly fine but you won’t have remembered anything you did on the bike or how to ride it you will just be able to.
PathsUnwritten please, use a translator, thanks. Spiral hizo un intercambio de los genes de Betsy y Kwanon. Después se conoció que Kwanon originalmente era psíquica de bajo nivel. Por ello Betsy en el cuerpo asiático mostraba al inicio menor nivel de poderes psiquicos, y se enfocaba más en el combate fisico; en cambio Kwanon en el cuerpo británico mostraba más nivel de poderes psíquicos. Tanto así que cuando enfermó del virus Legacy, pudo descubrir la verdad de la manipulación de Mojo, Spiral y Matsuo y dejó sus ojos que funcionaban como cámaras de video a Betsy y supiera esa verdad. Antes de morir le pidió a Matsuo que la matara antes que el virus lo hiciera. Pero le pidió un favor. Después Matsuo absorbió todo resto de la personalidad de Kwanon en el cuerpo asiático y Betsy recuperó todo su nivel de poderes psíquicos, siendo una en mente y cuerpo como siempre quiso. Gracias y disculpe pero no tengo un buen nivel de escritura en inglés.
I like the recent change that Marvel made. To me Psylocke isn't Asian. She's a white person inside of an Asian person. This always rubbed me the wrong way because it felt less like representation and more like exploitation (sexy outfit and all). Now that Kwannon is back, it feels like we finally have proper Asian representation. That's just my take though.
That's a fair point. I figure that her character will be like in the past when she's sometimes a villain, sometime a hero, whichever the writer feels like at the moment. Also in X-Men Apocalypse (most people's exposure to the character), Psylocke is a villain, so it's not that far off base.
+The Kraken Experiment She was a Hand ninja. So that's _just_ villain until: (A) She is killed off, again. (B) Has one story arc before fading into complete obscurity.
Reintroducing Kwannon would be fantastic, honestly. Psylocke could stand to have an opposite number to play off, and who better than the woman with whom she shared both a body and mind?
Great recap of the character...and to answer your question... personal opinion...no, she just looked right in the Asian body...but you know, comics will just be that...comics... she's bound to return to her Asian look sooner or later
Speaking as an old guy, who was reading X-men in high school before Psylocke joined the team or even lost her eyes, her suddenly waking up as a half dressed Asian ninja never felt right, because I read everything I could find on her as a British hero, before she ever became a Japanese anti-hero. So for those of us old enough to remember her, she never looked "right" as an Asian woman, she just looked wrong.
Personally, I always thought it was weird that one of the most recognizable Asian characters wasI actually Caucasian... So I’m happy she’s back to her real self
The new introduction is so much better than the "I have two thumbs and I'm gonna use them" old intro. Good move ! ... and this episode was very interesting. Keep on the good work ! ;)
Let me first preface this by saying that I am not asian, so I don't have a lot of the sociocultural perspective that an asian person may have on asian representation. Personally, I feel like Psylocke should be left white. Particularly because she was originally white and was only put into an asian body to fit the writer's stereotypes at the time. I don't feel that she delivers good asian representation for that fact as well as falling into the asians=ninjas/karate/kung-fu stereotype that so many other asian characters fall into. In my opinion, pigeon holing characters into stereotypes about their race isn't good representation, it's tokenism. (And Psylocke borders in a weird way on yellow face)
I remember both Sue & Psylocke's "new outfits", back when I was a teen. It would've been simpler if Mandarin just used his rings to disguise Betsy. While I like the idea of 2 Psylocke's I think it should be a "fusion". She has the Asian body, but can split into Betsy & Kwannon when needed. Betsy can be the armored telepath/telekinetic, while Kwannon is the more skilled martial artist armed w/ psi-weapons that can do physical/psi-damage.
Giving Elizabeth Braddock back her original white body is a great move that I agree with and was long over-due. This is NOT a loss of asian representation for 2 main reasons: 1. Elizabeth was never actually asian and just had that veneer; 2. Kwannon who is a true asian was also brought back at the same time and continues to be a main character in her own right, so if anything this move ADDED asian representation.
I've been reading comics for years and was there for the Psylocke body swap and i'm happy things are back to "normal". Psylocke rebuilding her original body from atoms just shows how skilled she is in the use of her abilities an having Kwannon back gives Psylocke a enemy. The future story telling for her looks good from where i'm sitting.
The fact that this is an issue at all when talking about a comic book, speaks to how far we've fallen. As geeks and comic book fans, we were the first ones on the diverse and inclusive bandwagon. We were there for strong female characters since Wonder Woman and loved when characters of color first showed up to amaze us like Black Panther. We understood the message behind the X-Men and how it was an allegory for race and being different and we not only embraced that, but we sought more from it and used it as a guide for our real lives. But now we are being lectured to that we're not inclusive enuff and that something as simple as Psylocke getting her old body back, has become a controversy. I loved the video but it's sad that part of the reason u felt u needed to make it was to combat the "Triggering" of so many people out there that got upset about it based on race, when out of everyone, it is geeks like us who have been the most diverse and inclusive groups of individuals for decades.
Uh, yeah. Not to be that guy but comic fans are among the first to throw a hissy fit at the topic of diversity. Sam Wilson's run as Captain America was shat on by comic "fans" so much so they included this controversy in-universe. Miles Morales was a widely disliked character when he first showed up despite being an alternate universe successor not even a main earth one.
Audience opinion of characters will almost always win over, and different characters are handled differently in different mediums or writers, just look at Miles Morales, a lot of people didn't like him or knew he existed, but then Spider-Verse happened and people LOVE him; or that version of him It's the same with Psylocke, she wasn't popular until she was Asian, so whether its representation, good, bad or otherwise, I think she's bound to return to that version of herself because its what the popular opinion is drawn to
As a Gen-Xer who has read his fair share of X-Men comics back in the 90s, I had no idea about Betsy's origins. She was already a part of the X-Men when I first saw her or was introduced to her as a character. Although I was aware that she was/is Brian Braddock's sister, I had no problem, let alone had any difficulty accepting the fact that Brian is clearly Caucasian (re blonde hair) and Betsy isn't. I just assumed that a) they had multi-/bi-racial parents, and/or b) Betsy's hair is dark-blue(/brunette?) because she's mutant.
That issue when Betsy walked into the Blackbird repair bay and frenched a greesed up Scott with Jean looking on was gold ...Also lets not forget all the pain Psylock has suffered over the years dont sweep her history under the rug marvel
#1 As far as I know, her being a White European had little to do with her as a character originally, so much as just being Canadian. #2 White people are just...not a minority. We're not oppressed. Asians certainly are, so not so big of a deal. #3 Her design just looks better, not just sexier...but more "Badass". Also: She FINALLY got to be a major player and character like she deserved. Fans were already hungering for more Psylocke, and this gave it to them.
I love psylocke regardless! This video gets straight to the point. I love all your videos. I was one of the few people to realize the body swap shenanigans. It makes me love her more actually 😂
Her returning to a body resembling her original one was weird, it wasn't even her actual original body since that one died with Kwannon. It felt more like a decision that was made due to so many artists having difficulty drawing her as an Asian...
Sup man! So mad I missed you at Retropalooza this past weekend. I walked past you a few times but you looked so much like my buddy Devin I was sure that wasn’t you. Oh well, maybe next time. Either way, fantastic video as usual! Keep em coming!
Man, sorry I missed you as well. I had a dedicated panel and I was on both of the all guests panels. I'll be there next year so hopefully see you then!
I knew for the longest time about her Anglo heritage and the Asian body swap for years. Compounded by her appearance in the Deadpool game where she looks as Asian as can be and speaks with a British accent. No joke. It's like so many people can't seem to draw an Asian girl's face to save their lives.
I think Psylocke needs.... a redesign. The issue with her is that you can see writers trying to keep up with the times and just dragging her along. And thats led to a character that has a very confused background. This is the issue with a lot of women legacy characters. The men always had agency in their stories and generally good representation (At least the enduring ones.) sure adjustments here or there but the same basic premises. Women however often lacked agency and commentary and critique on how they have been used in stories and media has made.... difficult backstories. Some are fine, Storm for example but others....they need a rebuild. I think what "Should" happen is they should collapse her story and just make her one thing or another. Either...make her Japanese adopted by a European family, or make her European and adopted by a Japanese family. I think making her Japanese and adopted by a Caucasian family provides more intrigue points. Her relationship with that family is going to be different then the other way around and better fuel for the kind of angst Superheroes often have. It keeps the representation as well and gets rid of the whole "Body swapping" thing. (And though Last Stand was awful, and aparently the director sexually assualted Munn on set, Olivia Munn looked fantastic as Psylocke. Shame she had like 2 lines, but still.)
Honestly the simple solution would be to just make Psylocke a legacy title. Betsy was the first, and passed the mettle to Kwannon not unlike how we have Peter and Miles.
It happened real time for me around my Junior year of high school. I had been a fan of Jim Lee since 8th grade (Wolverine guest appearance in Punisher War Journal) and Jim Lee's females all had a kind of asian twist. I just accepted, for years, that Psylocke hadn't become asian but it was a Jim Lee style thing. The Kwannon stuff happened waaay later.
Yes she is part Asian. Quanan (I believe that's her name) & Betsy Braddock was combined by Matsui head of Chinese assassin group called The Hand. Quanan infiltrated the X-Men pretending to be Betsy Braddock until Betsy a.k.a. Psylock showed up. Then after finding out what happened to them both, they confronted Matsui killing him. Then Quanan cought the Legacy virus (a virus created by the mad man Stryfe, a clone of Cable, to affect & kill mutants only. There is no known cure) & died.
Well, *I* loved Asian Betsy. Mostly because of the representation thing (I'm Asian). The fact that she was hot as heck, especially in Capcom's Marvel comics fighting game series, doesn't hurt ;)
I'm a 52 year old comic fan, who started reading X-men in the 80's before Bettsie Braddock joined the team, and became a fan of hers almost immediately. Especially once I began reading Excalibur, and then dove into more Captain Britain stories. And personally, I wasn't a fan of the switch. Not on a racial basis, that's fairly irrelevant in a medium in which a character's look can change radically from artist to artist, but on the basis of her switch in personality. I would've been perfectly fine having Bettsie and Psylocke 2.0 both existing together once the introduced the two characters sharing the same memories, but I was even more upset when they killed Bettsie off again. I think people would've been fine I they had kept both of them, allowed the Bettsie to be Bettsie, even with the name change, and Psylocke remain Psylocke. Each keeping the personalities and powers they were known for, possibly losing each other's memories, and then everyone can be happy. I've actually been out of the comic reading loop for decades, it happens when you marry occasionally, and hadn't realized they body switched Bettsie and Psylocke back again.
Alright, let's take The Punisher example you brought up. Let's say that for whatever reason Frank never became white again and just kept going around as a black man. This is just how he's looked since the 90's up until now. Everyone knows Frank Castle as a black man because he was just an obscure Spider-Man character up until that point. Does that make Frank Castle good representation? No, of course it doesn't. Same case with Psylocke. If they want to introduce her as an Asian woman in the movies or a T.V. show, have at it. (Olivia Munn being multi-ethnic certainly doesn't help clear things up, but she's not going to be in any future movies, so it doesn't really matter. I Personally think, if they are going to use some variation of this bit of her history, that's the sort of casting they should do) But in the comics, Betsy Braddock was her name and identity, and she was a white woman who was turned Japanese. Restoring her old body was the correct course of actions and should have been done ages ago.
I know this is an old vid and I’m impartial on the subject but the fact people are bringing up representation and not debating on whether the new race change affects the character on a deeper level irks me. I’m a minority and never really got the whole representation craze people have about things. I love Halo, I don’t care if none of the playable Spartans are the same race as me. I don’t care that neither Luke Skywalkern or Rey aren’t portrayed by people whose ancestors evolved on a different chunk of dirt from me. Miles Morales is half the same race as me but I still prefer Peter. A character should be judged based on their actions, development, and story alone in my opinion. Period. It is hilarious seeing people trying to use some sort of representation tape measure to see if the ground gained by Asian Psylocke is worth the insensitivity, however. Reminds me of the issue with the MCU Ancient One or Mandarin. Btw I am a sporadic watcher but I love your content, Drake. I am amazed how well you condense so much information from different time periods and media in a coherent way.
Comic book readers come different places all over the world. It’s important for people to see different representations, races, genders, nationalities, zodiac signs, etc. Bad storytelling will always be bad. However, variety is the spice of life.
The ancient one thing was always going to be an issue tho. The director changed him to a white person cause if he didnt people would have complained about the asian stereotype but since he changed the character now he's taking a role away from an Asian person, people were gonna be mad no matter what.
having read hunt for Wolverine has that story continuity been extended to house of X/ powers of 10/ Excalibur and fallen angels? in fallen angels Betsy tries to speak to Kwannon who's having none of it? but it doesn't explain if the split took place during hunt for Wolverine or if professor X just brought the both back in different bodies via those egg things on the island
The retainment of Japanese and martial arts abilities could be explained by DNA encoding containing all languages not to mention practice and muscle memory for the martial arts
the last comic a got was an x-men comic wear psylocke lost her powers fighting shadow king and she was leaveing the x-men. Im in love with psylocke she's my favorite x-men second to wolverine, but her story is confusing the part that got me was the kawanna story, but i always loved the caracter, i just love a sexy bad ass chick and trow in she's a telepath helps alot.
gotta be honest pre swap just wasn't cool like the character really took off in popularity with the change and originally all this body swap stuff wasn't even a thing she was changed magically by mojo and spiral....at the end of the day the character went from a C list X-Man to one of the most popular ironically introducing Kwannon may have really brought more controversey then it solved but it made for a complicated and convulutued reading so it fit like a glove in 90s X books full of clones,time travel,alternate universes and there counterparts,social issues,relationship drama etc
He's also a telepath, but only a very low level one (he has a constant telepathic link with Psylocke while they are both on Earth, that they made while in the womb together), he got given the powers that he uses (flight, immunity to ALL magic, immunity to ALL energy weapons, immunity to ALL telepathy, infinite energy projection as he draws power from the entire multiverse) while in a coma following an accident, from the wizard Merlyn, the same one who gave King Arthur his sword. Plus in some continuities, because his parents were leading parts of the Hellfire Club, while he was in his coma, he got injected with some of the not-quite-perfect Captain America serum (the same one used to create Union Jack) his dad helped develop, which may be responsible for his instant buff physique and physical strength when he came round (like what happend with Steve Rogers, but pumped up to physical perfection for a mutant instead of for a human.) That is why he is so OP. Read the Avengers vs X-Men comics, Captain Britain was part of the small team Iron Man sent into space, and all the other Avengers left on Earth to fight the X-Men were bitching about him going, and how if they had him with them they stood a better chance against the X-Men. Thor, Captain Marvel, Nova (I think), War Machine in god-killer armour and The Sentry were part of the same team sent into space, and the Avengers on Earth were still like 'but please Tony, just let Captain Britain stay.' Then, when the entire rest of the team was dealt with in like a few seconds, Captain Britain, who had stayed back as the last line of defence, went up against the fully-powered, no host to hold it back, raw elemental Phoenix Force on his own, slowed it down for hours, and actually managed to hurt it, all by himself. Even Galactus, with the help of his heralds, couldn't stop or hurt the Phoenix force. Captain Britain fought it to a standstill for hours, and gave it the biggest beating it has had since the universe began a few billion years ago, and we are talking the Phoenix at it's FULL strength, planets and stars burning away to nothing just cos it flew past them, and he took it on all by himself. If the rumours of a Captain Britain film in pre-production are true, Captain Marvel isn't going to be the most powerful Avenger for long.
Marvel could establish that Psylocke is half British and half Japanese. Since she’s James Braddock’s twin, he would be established as mixed ethnicities also. Also, they could be fraternal twins.
They're already fraternal twins cause they're the opposite sex, so that wouldn't be an issue and honestly probably the best way to handle it if they adapt them for the MCU. Or adapt the recent status quo where Betsy is Captain Britain and Kwannon is Psylocke. But that would basically cut out Brian, which tbh I wouldn't be oppose too or have him be Captain Avalon already but idk how they do that without the set up, so that's probably less likely.
I dont like retcons cause it ignores whatever we already know about her. Just move her story forward. I always knew she was caucasian and Im interested in her life before she became an assasin.
Asian representation does matter I can think of four Asian superhero’s and few villains her silk sun fire and Asian Superman also the woman with like 6 arms
Odd thing is after Psylocke was turned back to a white woman, she started using the British broadsword and shield fighting styles instead of the ninja katana fighting styles.
I don't know anything about comics but I like her as the Asian mutant ninja in the 90s because of the Capcom fighting like Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men Children of the Atom. Also she looks cooler. Though if she is like Nikita, being Asian with a British accent, that would be cool.
The EXACT same Asian ninja still exists, she is called Kwannon, she somehow gained a copy of Psylocke's telepathic powers as she is seen making Psyblades upon her return, and she has a Japanese person controlling the body instead of one stolen by a posh white girl. Nobody is losing a Japanese ninja with pink glowy sword hands, relax.
I know you are a fan of the comics and care about continuity based on all of your replies to a lot of these comments on this video, but I feel like you are trying to push your opinion to change my opinion. I just have my opinion based on my experience of the 90s X-Men and their representation in the media. Like I said, I'm not a big comic book fan and if you want her to stay white, that's cool. I'm not trying to be rude, but I kind of feel annoyed by you trying to tell people that she has to be white because that is her original character. Sure this Kwannon exists but that's not the same character to me, even if the comics tell me otherwise. What about Nick Fury? He's only is only black in the Ultimate universe while every other Marvel comic universe, he is clearly white. However, every modern representation of him in the media shows him being black. Are you going to tell them to change their minds and want him to return to being white? You can have your opinion, but I have mine and I understand why you really encourage people to have Psylocke revert to her original state. Heck, I hate how the new Mega Man cartoon doesn't acknowledge the original Classics lore and replace the lovable Roll with a random girl and change Mega Man to be a Japanese human rather than being a robot like he was in the first place but if kids like it, then let them. I still have the games like you have your comics.
I was cool with the crazy story about how she got turned Japanese, and would have been cool if she stayed that way. But they changed her back now. I don't have a dog in the fight with the whole 'make her white again' idea, I AM half British half Asian (not Japanese, Asia is a whole continent not one county) which is what she was mostly drawn as in the comics, cartoons and Capcom games. I'm just explaining to people why she can't have her backstory changed to being adopted, or a family friend, or only Captain Britain's half-sister instead of twin sister, because people in the US don't know the stories where that matters to multiple other characters and not just her. They just know her as a bit-part X-Man and not a leading member of X-Calibur and all the stories related to her family. But like I said, if they kept her in an Asian body, I was cool with it. I mean come on, does my name LOOK like I'm trying to push a 'white is right' agenda or anything, and I got no problem with you wishing they had kept her in an Asian body, but they didn't. Hell, I wish they would have kept Magneto and Professor X combined as Onslaught, and never brought the old X-Men characters out of the past to live alongside the current versions of themselves. You cool kid, I don't feel the need to make you think you're wrong about having a preference, just pointing out that cool looking Asian Mutant Ninja is still out there, she's just called Kwannon now, artistically you still got what you wanted, just with a different name. I don't have Onslaught anymore though :-(
I'm sorry for misunderstanding. That was wrong of me though I was thinking of more of continuity sake rather than 'white is right'. Yeah Onslaught was freaking awesome but he was hard to kill the first time in Marvel vs Capcom, though the boss battle felt like Apocalypse in the X-Men Children of the Atom, X-Men Vs Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter.
Psylocke was never asian, she was always an upper class white British woman, who after dying was mind-raped into a living Japanese Woman's body, stealing it from her. When that body was destroyed, and Psylocke existed ONLY as her thoughts, the body that she rebuilt was the body she ALWAYS saw herself as. Psylocke looking Asian is just a sci-fi version of 'black face' because in her mind she never was Asian, she never stopped being Betsy Braddock.
Watching this again reminds me that this is why the "ghost in the machine" thought experiment exists. If you woke up tomorrow, your mind uploaded into a machine with all of the same memories and knowledge of who you are, but your body is gone, are you really alive? If you said "yes", then you believe the outside doesn't matter. The identity is in the mind, making Betsy British. If you said "no", than you believe Betsy is dead and that the woman bearing her name is another person entirely, at best existing as the daughter of Betsy and Kwannon, making her both Japanese and British. Of course, there is a third belief, she is neither race. There's a British sci-fi comedy called Red Dwarf. In one episode, the mechanoid Kryten was turned human by an advanced piece of human machinery. However, it soon became apparent that Kryten wasn't mechanoid or human, as he got a "double Polaroid" from looking at an appliance catalog. He demeaned his spare heads when they had a disagreement about what he really was. In the end, he returned to being a mechanoid because he didn't feel he was himself anymore. Of course, Betsy didn't have that option(though Professor X probably could have done something about it, but that's just a theory), so it actually makes sense that she would reform her old body, given the opportunity. Anyway, if you aren't confused by any of this, than you probably realize none of this matters, being hypothetical and all that. Still it's fun to think about.
I remember her origins and the sister of Captain Britain, then the Claremont change for 90's X Men series. Interesting she's back in her original form and Kwannon came back as well. This will be an interesting turn of events.
Olivia Munn who played psylock is of white european and asian decent (mix raced) so she is kinda is a good balance for on screen representation
I agree 👍🏾
Yep.
It doesn't matter she's still European.
And no she's not a good balance on screen.
Agreed
6:55 fighting style=muscle memory and it has been shown in Marvel and DC that when you loose your memory’s you can still speak ANY language you use to know (Bucky or Wolverine for example)
Interesting to see where they go with that in her "new" original body... That had next to no fighting ability.
Plus she got psychics power all she needs is to read peoples minds and learn any language she wants is the same with the fighting skill
I don't really mind the change since it kinda restores something lost about her character, but it does suck that we have one less Asian superhero in comics.
I agree but Kwanen was also brought back. Doesn't that mean no was representation was lost?
Hard to say as there's no signs of Kwannon in the upcoming Uncanny X-Men event and she may appear again somewhere down the line. This now pretty much restores the status quo to some extent though getting there was the hard part.
Kwannon isn't a mutant, she is just part of The Hand, so she obviously wouldn't be part of the X-Men. She might reappear as an enemy for Daredevil or Elektra.
+Ziko577 Kwannon was a Hand ninja. So most likely she is being brought back as a villain. Because that is what those that (retroactively) have a problem with Psylocke's body swap clearly wanted, more Asian *Villains.* The half-hearted pandering of this era does make you laugh at times.
You bring up a very valid point. Nice take on this issue :)
Drake, I realize this video predates the current Hickman status quo, but I was just wondering if you had any thoughts on the current handling of Psylocke and Betsy. I personally think it solves the problem really well. Betsy is Captain Britain, Kwannon is Psylocke.
Anyway, great video man!
Olivia Munn is actually half Asian which was basically the movies way of avoiding this complicated af and controversial issue
You Nailed it!
I kinda like the idea of two Psylockes. If Spiderman can be Peter, and Miles, and Gwen, and Ben, and Noir, and Ham, etc., why can't Psylocke be Elizabeth and Kwannon? Sometimes there are many souls in one body. Sometimes it's one soul in many bodies. Many minds. Many times. Welcome to the multiverse ;)
at one point, not long ago, there were 3 Spider-men(mans?) running around modern NYC at the same time, Peter Parker, Miles Morales and Miguel O'Hara(2099). There were also 3 Captain Americas Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson and Roberta Mendez
@@ranwolf7650 ok I don't that was a Captain America named Roberta Mendez, can you elaborate on this if you don't mind?
@@felixmartinez1100 she appeared in the last Spider-man 2099 series where Miguel was trapped in "our" time. She's from Miguel's timeline. She originally appeared, as far as I know, in one of the Secret Wars tie-ins
Now I know why Psylocke's skin was yellow in a handful of games
"Kind of like the time The Punisher become black-" uhm, wait, what!?
Psylocke is one of the coolest X-men character.. i actually find her to be cooler than Emma is she is written well...
Nice umm... thumbnail, Drake...
Psylock and Kwannon are very underrated characters! let's see more of the two in comics!
I think they should keep her asian, since it's the version of the character that seems to have stuck with readers for the longest time.
Is it controversial yeah but honestly these days what isn't.
I feel that they might bring back Asian Psylocke because of all the action figures, video games, and models from the 1990s. Look at Archangel, he went back to his original form before Apocalypse turned him blue with metal wings and now he is back to that form again.
The psylocke I know and like is the sexy Asian ninja girl. So I say keep her Asian, plus there is already a shitload of white superheroes anyway.
There was no reason to change her, not that many people knew about all this convoluted shit anyways. Most people thought she was just asian.
I will just say this... Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic, or what have you. They could simply make a entity that jumps from body to body and her actual body could be in a coma. That would solve the problem wouldn't it...
I remember her being anglo when I first saw her in the comics. I loved her character and that of her brother. The whole omniverse thing was a bit of a twist. But that is why Brian Braddock was a Champion in England.
@sean bowman *feelings*
Even knowing Psylocke’s backstory and actually buying the Revanche comic new, I still consider Psylocke in the Asian body to be what I prefer, even as a female. Although I totally see the appeal to the male audience. Again body Besty has been the one I have always known. And personally, I thought the Kwannon/Besty Story was super interesting. People get their feeling hurt to easy now a days, and companies making changes to characters bc people are offended is a problem. If things keep going in this direction, things are going to be very boring. A little bit of controversy is interesting and interesting sells comics...🧐
Yes! I would very much like a "Captain Britain" video!
Make it the whole family. Jamie gets so little attention. Much like the most powerful (and forgotten) of the Rasputin family, Mikhail.
I really think the MCU Psylocke needs to dump her convoluted and problematic origin and just make her a Japanese woman that use to work with captain Brittan for a long time that he thinks of her like a sister. You can still do versions of the drama in her backstory but it doesn't have to be as crazy and might work better if they are going to go this "spy" angle with the UK heroes like what they seem to be doing with Jessica Drew as Spiderwoman.
Them being twins plays into the whole telepathic link they have. It is the only Mutant ability that Captain Britain has.
Maybe Psylocke was adopted by Captain Britain's family?
I think the body swap can be played well. Just make it less convoluted. Rather than all the intricate scheming, maybe play it like a Rogue scenario. She used her psychic powers on a hand ninja and some accident forced their minds to switch.
+IOUT Alternatively, just make the entire body swap the machinations of Spiral and Mojo. Play up to the sexualisation etc of the Ninja Girl angle, instead of decrying "outrage".
They could be foster siblings.
2:18 pause....Marvelous.
I personally think they should have kept her Asian, not just because of the whole representation thing, but because that’s how everybody knows her, including herself which is why her being white makes no sense, so if you get rid of the look of Psylocke it just hurts her brand because most people just know her as that Asian psychic ninja X-Man
But she wasn't Asian, she was British and white like her twin brother is. Her mind was swapped into an Asian character who was part of The Hand.
@@hybridvigga yeah but that's not even close to the weirdest origin in comics so why not just leave it how everyone knows because people get confused easy
You wish she had been kept Asian cuz that's where she was when you discovered her, I knew she was a Brit and personally this representation thing is being stressed on too much, they change a character instead of giving us a new one to love different and distinctive in his/her own way..... that's the issue
Then why not keep Dr Octopus in Spiderman's body? Its the exact same thing, if you like the Asian character design Kwannon is back in her own body as part of the Hand and is still out there, the same way Spiderman and Dr Octopus are both back now.
That's the thing. Psylocke has been in the "Kwannon" body for longer than her duration in her original. It actually made no sense at all to back peddle on that. In light of this, she still remains the most convoluted X-Man.
When you say psylock, the 90's version pops into my mind eye. I know about her past and everything (even applaud her relationship with sabertooth) but it will be strange not seeing an Asian psylock. It doesn't matter to me what the character looks like and I even look forward to changes but this is a big one that I will complain about because she isn't Asian in the first place.
The loss of only memories of what happened but not memories how to do things is perfectly normal and she simply lost her declarative memory meaning. One example is if you solve the maze then lost your declarative memory of solving that may hurt and say you have short-term memory loss then you’ll still be able to redo the maze as long as you haven’t lost your other kind of memory which I’m forgetting the name of. If you lose your declarative memory of all instances of riding a bike you will still be able to ride the bike perfectly fine but you won’t have remembered anything you did on the bike or how to ride it you will just be able to.
Mutant powers come from a person's physiology. So how could Betsy keep her powers in a body that doesnt have her same mutant gene?
PathsUnwritten please, use a translator, thanks. Spiral hizo un intercambio de los genes de Betsy y Kwanon. Después se conoció que Kwanon originalmente era psíquica de bajo nivel. Por ello Betsy en el cuerpo asiático mostraba al inicio menor nivel de poderes psiquicos, y se enfocaba más en el combate fisico; en cambio Kwanon en el cuerpo británico mostraba más nivel de poderes psíquicos. Tanto así que cuando enfermó del virus Legacy, pudo descubrir la verdad de la manipulación de Mojo, Spiral y Matsuo y dejó sus ojos que funcionaban como cámaras de video a Betsy y supiera esa verdad. Antes de morir le pidió a Matsuo que la matara antes que el virus lo hiciera. Pero le pidió un favor. Después Matsuo absorbió todo resto de la personalidad de Kwanon en el cuerpo asiático y Betsy recuperó todo su nivel de poderes psíquicos, siendo una en mente y cuerpo como siempre quiso. Gracias y disculpe pero no tengo un buen nivel de escritura en inglés.
Marvel: turns Psyloke into a sexy ninja lady
Teenage marvel fans:(like said sexy ninja lady)
Marvel: well I certainly was not expecting that
I like the recent change that Marvel made. To me Psylocke isn't Asian. She's a white person inside of an Asian person. This always rubbed me the wrong way because it felt less like representation and more like exploitation (sexy outfit and all). Now that Kwannon is back, it feels like we finally have proper Asian representation. That's just my take though.
You're assuming of course they don't just make Kwannon a straight up rival/villain to Psylocke now? Which seems the most likely outcome.
That's a fair point. I figure that her character will be like in the past when she's sometimes a villain, sometime a hero, whichever the writer feels like at the moment. Also in X-Men Apocalypse (most people's exposure to the character), Psylocke is a villain, so it's not that far off base.
+The Kraken Experiment She was a Hand ninja. So that's _just_ villain until:
(A) She is killed off, again.
(B) Has one story arc before fading into complete obscurity.
Reintroducing Kwannon would be fantastic, honestly.
Psylocke could stand to have an opposite number to play off, and who better than the woman with whom she shared both a body and mind?
I always wanted Kwannon to join X-Factor. Her personality would have been great with Alex's team. Maybe some how this can come true...because comics.
Out of all superheroes im familiar with psylocke has the most confusing back story I've ever read up on
I dare say Rachel Summers are more confusing .... or Nathan Summers, for that matter.
4:36 get out of my head
Great recap of the character...and to answer your question... personal opinion...no, she just looked right in the Asian body...but you know, comics will just be that...comics... she's bound to return to her Asian look sooner or later
Nah, those days are done. This age people want REAL Representation.
Speaking as an old guy, who was reading X-men in high school before Psylocke joined the team or even lost her eyes, her suddenly waking up as a half dressed Asian ninja never felt right, because I read everything I could find on her as a British hero, before she ever became a Japanese anti-hero. So for those of us old enough to remember her, she never looked "right" as an Asian woman, she just looked wrong.
Personally, I always thought it was weird that one of the most recognizable Asian characters wasI actually Caucasian... So I’m happy she’s back to her real self
The new introduction is so much better than the "I have two thumbs and I'm gonna use them" old intro. Good move ! ... and this episode was very interesting. Keep on the good work ! ;)
I'm glad now both Betsy and Kwannon are on their own bodies and both with their own identities as Captain Britain and Psylocke
I had a bunch of xmen cards as a kid that i didn't understand or recognize every character, but I loved her card.
Let me first preface this by saying that I am not asian, so I don't have a lot of the sociocultural perspective that an asian person may have on asian representation. Personally, I feel like Psylocke should be left white. Particularly because she was originally white and was only put into an asian body to fit the writer's stereotypes at the time. I don't feel that she delivers good asian representation for that fact as well as falling into the asians=ninjas/karate/kung-fu stereotype that so many other asian characters fall into. In my opinion, pigeon holing characters into stereotypes about their race isn't good representation, it's tokenism. (And Psylocke borders in a weird way on yellow face)
I remember both Sue & Psylocke's "new outfits", back when I was a teen. It would've been simpler if Mandarin just used his rings to disguise Betsy. While I like the idea of 2 Psylocke's I think it should be a "fusion". She has the Asian body, but can split into Betsy & Kwannon when needed. Betsy can be the armored telepath/telekinetic, while Kwannon is the more skilled martial artist armed w/ psi-weapons that can do physical/psi-damage.
Giving Elizabeth Braddock back her original white body is a great move that I agree with and was long over-due. This is NOT a loss of asian representation for 2 main reasons: 1. Elizabeth was never actually asian and just had that veneer; 2. Kwannon who is a true asian was also brought back at the same time and continues to be a main character in her own right, so if anything this move ADDED asian representation.
Yes (Kwannon) Psylocke And Betsy Braddock are now diferent people.
Psylocke (Kwannon) get her own story
Betsy Braddock can make her own
I've been reading comics for years and was there for the Psylocke body swap and i'm happy things are back to "normal". Psylocke rebuilding her original body from atoms just shows how skilled she is in the use of her abilities an having Kwannon back gives Psylocke a enemy. The future story telling for her looks good from where i'm sitting.
The fact that this is an issue at all when talking about a comic book, speaks to how far we've fallen. As geeks and comic book fans, we were the first ones on the diverse and inclusive bandwagon. We were there for strong female characters since Wonder Woman and loved when characters of color first showed up to amaze us like Black Panther. We understood the message behind the X-Men and how it was an allegory for race and being different and we not only embraced that, but we sought more from it and used it as a guide for our real lives. But now we are being lectured to that we're not inclusive enuff and that something as simple as Psylocke getting her old body back, has become a controversy. I loved the video but it's sad that part of the reason u felt u needed to make it was to combat the "Triggering" of so many people out there that got upset about it based on race, when out of everyone, it is geeks like us who have been the most diverse and inclusive groups of individuals for decades.
Uh, yeah. Not to be that guy but comic fans are among the first to throw a hissy fit at the topic of diversity. Sam Wilson's run as Captain America was shat on by comic "fans" so much so they included this controversy in-universe. Miles Morales was a widely disliked character when he first showed up despite being an alternate universe successor not even a main earth one.
Audience opinion of characters will almost always win over, and different characters are handled differently in different mediums or writers, just look at Miles Morales, a lot of people didn't like him or knew he existed, but then Spider-Verse happened and people LOVE him; or that version of him
It's the same with Psylocke, she wasn't popular until she was Asian, so whether its representation, good, bad or otherwise, I think she's bound to return to that version of herself because its what the popular opinion is drawn to
As a Gen-Xer who has read his fair share of X-Men comics back in the 90s, I had no idea about Betsy's origins. She was already a part of the X-Men when I first saw her or was introduced to her as a character. Although I was aware that she was/is Brian Braddock's sister, I had no problem, let alone had any difficulty accepting the fact that Brian is clearly Caucasian (re blonde hair) and Betsy isn't. I just assumed that a) they had multi-/bi-racial parents, and/or b) Betsy's hair is dark-blue(/brunette?) because she's mutant.
That issue when Betsy walked into the Blackbird repair bay and frenched a greesed up Scott with Jean looking on was gold ...Also lets not forget all the pain Psylock has suffered over the years dont sweep her history under the rug marvel
The only thing crazier is Valeria Richards parentage(father wise)!
#1 As far as I know, her being a White European had little to do with her as a character originally, so much as just being Canadian.
#2 White people are just...not a minority. We're not oppressed. Asians certainly are, so not so big of a deal.
#3 Her design just looks better, not just sexier...but more "Badass". Also: She FINALLY got to be a major player and character like she deserved. Fans were already hungering for more Psylocke, and this gave it to them.
I would love it if you do a video on Captain Britain.
We have only one solution: give us a mixed Race Captain Britain of Asian heritage
I love psylocke regardless! This video gets straight to the point. I love all your videos. I was one of the few people to realize the body swap shenanigans. It makes me love her more actually 😂
Tera Patrick would make a great Psylocke cosplay
Despite the movies Elizabeth Baddock is a British Anglo-Saxon not Asian check the comic books Not the hollywood versions.
Her returning to a body resembling her original one was weird, it wasn't even her actual original body since that one died with Kwannon. It felt more like a decision that was made due to so many artists having difficulty drawing her as an Asian...
Sup man! So mad I missed you at Retropalooza this past weekend. I walked past you a few times but you looked so much like my buddy Devin I was sure that wasn’t you. Oh well, maybe next time. Either way, fantastic video as usual! Keep em coming!
Man, sorry I missed you as well. I had a dedicated panel and I was on both of the all guests panels. I'll be there next year so hopefully see you then!
I say keep her Asian. She's pretty much a mutant version of Black Widow.
So Olivia Munn was properly casted then! I knew she was white first so was B. Orchid Originally for Killer Instinct.
I knew for the longest time about her Anglo heritage and the Asian body swap for years. Compounded by her appearance in the Deadpool game where she looks as Asian as can be and speaks with a British accent. No joke. It's like so many people can't seem to draw an Asian girl's face to save their lives.
I like her as an Asian, just more iconic. But it’s possible I could get used to her as British. Olivia Munn was so perfect though!!!!
They should’ve left her as is, she should have been the Official Psylocke as soon as they realized she was iconic AND a source of representation.
Hey Drake,I was wondering what happened to your video talking about "How most comics arent kid friendly" I just wanted to share it
I think Psylocke needs.... a redesign. The issue with her is that you can see writers trying to keep up with the times and just dragging her along. And thats led to a character that has a very confused background.
This is the issue with a lot of women legacy characters. The men always had agency in their stories and generally good representation (At least the enduring ones.) sure adjustments here or there but the same basic premises. Women however often lacked agency and commentary and critique on how they have been used in stories and media has made.... difficult backstories. Some are fine, Storm for example but others....they need a rebuild.
I think what "Should" happen is they should collapse her story and just make her one thing or another. Either...make her Japanese adopted by a European family, or make her European and adopted by a Japanese family.
I think making her Japanese and adopted by a Caucasian family provides more intrigue points. Her relationship with that family is going to be different then the other way around and better fuel for the kind of angst Superheroes often have. It keeps the representation as well and gets rid of the whole "Body swapping" thing. (And though Last Stand was awful, and aparently the director sexually assualted Munn on set, Olivia Munn looked fantastic as Psylocke. Shame she had like 2 lines, but still.)
Honestly the simple solution would be to just make Psylocke a legacy title. Betsy was the first, and passed the mettle to Kwannon not unlike how we have Peter and Miles.
Helions was a good story of hers, & New Exiles
It happened real time for me around my Junior year of high school. I had been a fan of Jim Lee since 8th grade (Wolverine guest appearance in Punisher War Journal) and Jim Lee's females all had a kind of asian twist. I just accepted, for years, that Psylocke hadn't become asian but it was a Jim Lee style thing. The Kwannon stuff happened waaay later.
Yes she is part Asian. Quanan (I believe that's her name) & Betsy Braddock was combined by Matsui head of Chinese assassin group called The Hand. Quanan infiltrated the X-Men pretending to be Betsy Braddock until Betsy a.k.a. Psylock showed up. Then after finding out what happened to them both, they confronted Matsui killing him. Then Quanan cought the Legacy virus (a virus created by the mad man Stryfe, a clone of Cable, to affect & kill mutants only. There is no known cure) & died.
Spoke too soon. After combing both then separated them for some reason.
Title: Is Psylocke Asian?
Captain Britain: what?
Comic books are awesome and weird medium
Charlie The Unicorn!
Well, *I* loved Asian Betsy. Mostly because of the representation thing (I'm Asian). The fact that she was hot as heck, especially in Capcom's Marvel comics fighting game series, doesn't hurt ;)
Im wearing an x men shirt rn with her on it lol
The question you ask at the end of the video is a good one and one I myself had been asking myself after learning that Betsy was white again.
I'm a 52 year old comic fan, who started reading X-men in the 80's before Bettsie Braddock joined the team, and became a fan of hers almost immediately. Especially once I began reading Excalibur, and then dove into more Captain Britain stories. And personally, I wasn't a fan of the switch. Not on a racial basis, that's fairly irrelevant in a medium in which a character's look can change radically from artist to artist, but on the basis of her switch in personality. I would've been perfectly fine having Bettsie and Psylocke 2.0 both existing together once the introduced the two characters sharing the same memories, but I was even more upset when they killed Bettsie off again. I think people would've been fine I they had kept both of them, allowed the Bettsie to be Bettsie, even with the name change, and Psylocke remain Psylocke. Each keeping the personalities and powers they were known for, possibly losing each other's memories, and then everyone can be happy.
I've actually been out of the comic reading loop for decades, it happens when you marry occasionally, and hadn't realized they body switched Bettsie and Psylocke back again.
Psylock was very uninteresting until she became an Asian psyblade wielding ninja. Then it was like HAYAAA!!! WOWW!!!
excellent videos
Alright, let's take The Punisher example you brought up. Let's say that for whatever reason Frank never became white again and just kept going around as a black man. This is just how he's looked since the 90's up until now. Everyone knows Frank Castle as a black man because he was just an obscure Spider-Man character up until that point. Does that make Frank Castle good representation? No, of course it doesn't. Same case with Psylocke. If they want to introduce her as an Asian woman in the movies or a T.V. show, have at it. (Olivia Munn being multi-ethnic certainly doesn't help clear things up, but she's not going to be in any future movies, so it doesn't really matter. I Personally think, if they are going to use some variation of this bit of her history, that's the sort of casting they should do) But in the comics, Betsy Braddock was her name and identity, and she was a white woman who was turned Japanese. Restoring her old body was the correct course of actions and should have been done ages ago.
Like how they turned Nick Fury black?
I know this is an old vid and I’m impartial on the subject but the fact people are bringing up representation and not debating on whether the new race change affects the character on a deeper level irks me.
I’m a minority and never really got the whole representation craze people have about things. I love Halo, I don’t care if none of the playable Spartans are the same race as me. I don’t care that neither Luke Skywalkern or Rey aren’t portrayed by people whose ancestors evolved on a different chunk of dirt from me.
Miles Morales is half the same race as me but I still prefer Peter. A character should be judged based on their actions, development, and story alone in my opinion. Period.
It is hilarious seeing people trying to use some sort of representation tape measure to see if the ground gained by Asian Psylocke is worth the insensitivity, however.
Reminds me of the issue with the MCU Ancient One or Mandarin.
Btw I am a sporadic watcher but I love your content, Drake. I am amazed how well you condense so much information from different time periods and media in a coherent way.
Comic book readers come different places all over the world. It’s important for people to see different representations, races, genders, nationalities, zodiac signs, etc. Bad storytelling will always be bad. However, variety is the spice of life.
The ancient one thing was always going to be an issue tho. The director changed him to a white person cause if he didnt people would have complained about the asian stereotype but since he changed the character now he's taking a role away from an Asian person, people were gonna be mad no matter what.
Subscribed
I love them Both
She looks like an aerobic instructor from the early 90s. Who would join her step class?
Captain Britain sister, she was British
Who clicked for the thumbnail be honest
I'll be honest.
Come on, let's be honest
Are you still doing amalgam comics
having read hunt for Wolverine has that story continuity been extended to house of X/ powers of 10/ Excalibur and fallen angels? in fallen angels Betsy tries to speak to Kwannon who's having none of it? but it doesn't explain if the split took place during hunt for Wolverine or if professor X just brought the both back in different bodies via those egg things on the island
She is genuinely my top 3 favorite X-Men. Hell in my top 10 in the whole Marvel Universe.
psylocke is a lightweight in the convoluted department, Donna Troy has a more crazy history.
Magic space ducks sums up the 90's quite well
Interestingly Olivia Munn is half-Asian.
dang that's been mention before i forgot psylocke was actually captian britians sis
The retainment of Japanese and martial arts abilities could be explained by DNA encoding containing all languages not to mention practice and muscle memory for the martial arts
the last comic a got was an x-men comic wear psylocke lost her powers fighting shadow king and she was leaveing the x-men. Im in love with psylocke she's my favorite x-men second to wolverine, but her story is confusing the part that got me was the kawanna story, but i always loved the caracter, i just love a sexy bad ass chick and trow in she's a telepath helps alot.
Marvel should really reboot everything. For real this time
Reboot sucks, they bring more harm then good.
do a video on every single horseman of the apocolypse
gotta be honest pre swap just wasn't cool like the character really took off in popularity with the change and originally all this body swap stuff wasn't even a thing she was changed magically by mojo and spiral....at the end of the day the character went from a C list X-Man to one of the most popular ironically introducing Kwannon may have really brought more controversey then it solved but it made for a complicated and convulutued reading so it fit like a glove in 90s X books full of clones,time travel,alternate universes and there counterparts,social issues,relationship drama etc
This video made me want a captain Britain video I know nothing about him
He's also a telepath, but only a very low level one (he has a constant telepathic link with Psylocke while they are both on Earth, that they made while in the womb together), he got given the powers that he uses (flight, immunity to ALL magic, immunity to ALL energy weapons, immunity to ALL telepathy, infinite energy projection as he draws power from the entire multiverse) while in a coma following an accident, from the wizard Merlyn, the same one who gave King Arthur his sword. Plus in some continuities, because his parents were leading parts of the Hellfire Club, while he was in his coma, he got injected with some of the not-quite-perfect Captain America serum (the same one used to create Union Jack) his dad helped develop, which may be responsible for his instant buff physique and physical strength when he came round (like what happend with Steve Rogers, but pumped up to physical perfection for a mutant instead of for a human.)
That is why he is so OP.
Read the Avengers vs X-Men comics, Captain Britain was part of the small team Iron Man sent into space, and all the other Avengers left on Earth to fight the X-Men were bitching about him going, and how if they had him with them they stood a better chance against the X-Men. Thor, Captain Marvel, Nova (I think), War Machine in god-killer armour and The Sentry were part of the same team sent into space, and the Avengers on Earth were still like 'but please Tony, just let Captain Britain stay.' Then, when the entire rest of the team was dealt with in like a few seconds, Captain Britain, who had stayed back as the last line of defence, went up against the fully-powered, no host to hold it back, raw elemental Phoenix Force on his own, slowed it down for hours, and actually managed to hurt it, all by himself.
Even Galactus, with the help of his heralds, couldn't stop or hurt the Phoenix force. Captain Britain fought it to a standstill for hours, and gave it the biggest beating it has had since the universe began a few billion years ago, and we are talking the Phoenix at it's FULL strength, planets and stars burning away to nothing just cos it flew past them, and he took it on all by himself.
If the rumours of a Captain Britain film in pre-production are true, Captain Marvel isn't going to be the most powerful Avenger for long.
Marvel could establish that Psylocke is half British and half Japanese. Since she’s James Braddock’s twin, he would be established as mixed ethnicities also. Also, they could be fraternal twins.
They're already fraternal twins cause they're the opposite sex, so that wouldn't be an issue and honestly probably the best way to handle it if they adapt them for the MCU.
Or adapt the recent status quo where Betsy is Captain Britain and Kwannon is Psylocke. But that would basically cut out Brian, which tbh I wouldn't be oppose too or have him be Captain Avalon already but idk how they do that without the set up, so that's probably less likely.
I dont like retcons cause it ignores whatever we already know about her. Just move her story forward. I always knew she was caucasian and Im interested in her life before she became an assasin.
Asian representation does matter I can think of four Asian superhero’s and few villains her silk sun fire and Asian Superman also the woman with like 6 arms
Psylocke was and isn't ever gonna be asian representation. You want that? Support the book Kwannon appears in.
Jubilee is Asian.
Psylocke’s mind and the other chick’s mind were put into the new body? So then how did the other chick’s mind also get put into psylocke’s old body?
Odd thing is after Psylocke was turned back to a white woman, she started using the British broadsword and shield fighting styles instead of the ninja katana fighting styles.
I think it would be pretty easy for physic mutant to learn other languages or learn fighting skills
I don't know anything about comics but I like her as the Asian mutant ninja in the 90s because of the Capcom fighting like Marvel Super Heroes, X-Men Children of the Atom. Also she looks cooler. Though if she is like Nikita, being Asian with a British accent, that would be cool.
The EXACT same Asian ninja still exists, she is called Kwannon, she somehow gained a copy of Psylocke's telepathic powers as she is seen making Psyblades upon her return, and she has a Japanese person controlling the body instead of one stolen by a posh white girl. Nobody is losing a Japanese ninja with pink glowy sword hands, relax.
I know you are a fan of the comics and care about continuity based on all of your replies to a lot of these comments on this video, but I feel like you are trying to push your opinion to change my opinion. I just have my opinion based on my experience of the 90s X-Men and their representation in the media. Like I said, I'm not a big comic book fan and if you want her to stay white, that's cool. I'm not trying to be rude, but I kind of feel annoyed by you trying to tell people that she has to be white because that is her original character. Sure this Kwannon exists but that's not the same character to me, even if the comics tell me otherwise. What about Nick Fury? He's only is only black in the Ultimate universe while every other Marvel comic universe, he is clearly white. However, every modern representation of him in the media shows him being black. Are you going to tell them to change their minds and want him to return to being white? You can have your opinion, but I have mine and I understand why you really encourage people to have Psylocke revert to her original state. Heck, I hate how the new Mega Man cartoon doesn't acknowledge the original Classics lore and replace the lovable Roll with a random girl and change Mega Man to be a Japanese human rather than being a robot like he was in the first place but if kids like it, then let them. I still have the games like you have your comics.
I was cool with the crazy story about how she got turned Japanese, and would have been cool if she stayed that way. But they changed her back now.
I don't have a dog in the fight with the whole 'make her white again' idea, I AM half British half Asian (not Japanese, Asia is a whole continent not one county) which is what she was mostly drawn as in the comics, cartoons and Capcom games. I'm just explaining to people why she can't have her backstory changed to being adopted, or a family friend, or only Captain Britain's half-sister instead of twin sister, because people in the US don't know the stories where that matters to multiple other characters and not just her. They just know her as a bit-part X-Man and not a leading member of X-Calibur and all the stories related to her family.
But like I said, if they kept her in an Asian body, I was cool with it. I mean come on, does my name LOOK like I'm trying to push a 'white is right' agenda or anything, and I got no problem with you wishing they had kept her in an Asian body, but they didn't. Hell, I wish they would have kept Magneto and Professor X combined as Onslaught, and never brought the old X-Men characters out of the past to live alongside the current versions of themselves.
You cool kid, I don't feel the need to make you think you're wrong about having a preference, just pointing out that cool looking Asian Mutant Ninja is still out there, she's just called Kwannon now, artistically you still got what you wanted, just with a different name.
I don't have Onslaught anymore though :-(
I'm sorry for misunderstanding. That was wrong of me though I was thinking of more of continuity sake rather than 'white is right'. Yeah Onslaught was freaking awesome but he was hard to kill the first time in Marvel vs Capcom, though the boss battle felt like Apocalypse in the X-Men Children of the Atom, X-Men Vs Street Fighter and Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter.
Psylocke was never asian, she was always an upper class white British woman, who after dying was mind-raped into a living Japanese Woman's body, stealing it from her. When that body was destroyed, and Psylocke existed ONLY as her thoughts, the body that she rebuilt was the body she ALWAYS saw herself as.
Psylocke looking Asian is just a sci-fi version of 'black face' because in her mind she never was Asian, she never stopped being Betsy Braddock.
Quality thumbnail choice.😀
The short answer is No.
I’m super happy Psylocke is back to being her and that they’re keeping Kwannon around
U came 4 the thumbnail don't lie
How about make quanin psylocke say shes an asian mutant and have her take the name
Watching this again reminds me that this is why the "ghost in the machine" thought experiment exists. If you woke up tomorrow, your mind uploaded into a machine with all of the same memories and knowledge of who you are, but your body is gone, are you really alive?
If you said "yes", then you believe the outside doesn't matter. The identity is in the mind, making Betsy British.
If you said "no", than you believe Betsy is dead and that the woman bearing her name is another person entirely, at best existing as the daughter of Betsy and Kwannon, making her both Japanese and British.
Of course, there is a third belief, she is neither race. There's a British sci-fi comedy called Red Dwarf. In one episode, the mechanoid Kryten was turned human by an advanced piece of human machinery. However, it soon became apparent that Kryten wasn't mechanoid or human, as he got a "double Polaroid" from looking at an appliance catalog. He demeaned his spare heads when they had a disagreement about what he really was. In the end, he returned to being a mechanoid because he didn't feel he was himself anymore. Of course, Betsy didn't have that option(though Professor X probably could have done something about it, but that's just a theory), so it actually makes sense that she would reform her old body, given the opportunity.
Anyway, if you aren't confused by any of this, than you probably realize none of this matters, being hypothetical and all that. Still it's fun to think about.
I remember her origins and the sister of Captain Britain, then the Claremont change for 90's X Men series. Interesting she's back in her original form and Kwannon came back as well. This will be an interesting turn of events.
What? No not Beth!
Ghost in the shell?
I consider it to be undoing a decades-long yellowface. Just because there's a sci fi explanation behind it doesn't absolve it of the controversy.