33 Years Later, Marvel Finally Fixes the Most Confusing X-Men Retcon Of All Time

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After 33 years, Marvel is correcting a long-standing and confusing change to the X-Men’s history. The story of Psylocke took a surprising turn in 1989 with Uncanny X-Men #251. Betsy Braddock, the sister of Captain Britain, was a strong telepath who found the magical Siege Perilous. This powerful artifact opened a gateway that could grant someone their deepest wish. The X-Men used it to escape an attack by the Reavers, and each member received a new life as a result.

Let’s talk Psylocke. Her storyline took a wild turn. She essentially got a whole new body – a Japanese one – and became this incredibly skilled psychic assassin. For a stretch, she was even known as ‘Lady Mandarin.’ The story behind it is pretty intense: this ninja clan, The Hand, found Betsy Braddock and decided to transfer her mind into the body of a deceased ninja named Kwannon. It was a full-on merging of souls, and that became her reality for about three years. It’s a bold move for a character, and honestly, it worked. It gave her a completely different skillset and a really compelling backstory.

In 1993, the X-Men Wound Up With Two Psylockes

I’ll never forget reading X-Men #20 back in ’93! Fabian Nicieza was really building up a story where Psylocke was trying to get with Cyclops, and it all exploded when she suddenly attacked and seemingly killed Jean Grey with her psychic blade. But then things got even weirder! The original Psylocke showed up, insisting the ninja version wasn’t the real her, and it took the X-Men ages to sort everything out. Turns out, the Hand had pulled off this crazy body swap, putting Betsy’s mind into Kwannon’s body and Kwannon’s into hers. It was a total mind-bender!

The whole situation was confusing from the start, and it stemmed from a simple error. Writer Joe Nicieza misremembered events from 1989 and then attempted to correct the timeline when he realized his mistake. As he told CBR, he began a plotline involving two versions of the character because of his faulty research, and surprisingly, no one – neither the editorial team nor the readers – caught it for many issues. He notes this happened before the internet made fact-checking immediate and easy.

Originally, Kwannon, inhabiting Betsy Braddock’s body, died from the Legacy Virus. However, Marvel revised the character’s history in 2018. The storyline of a British psychic in the body of a Japanese assassin was considered problematic and culturally insensitive, so changes were made. In the Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #4 comic, Psylocke’s consciousness was fractured by a villain named Sapphire Styx, resulting in two versions of Betsy. Kwannon now uses the name Psylocke, and Betsy has taken on the role of Captain Britain.

Marvel’s Trying to Straighten Out This Confusing Retcon (Again)

The new Psylocke: Ninja miniseries from Marvel, written by Tim Seeley and illustrated by Nico Leon, aims to clarify some long-standing questions about the character’s history. Rather than presenting a brand new story, it revisits past events to explain how Betsy Braddock ended up with the body of a ninja. The series revisits familiar flashbacks, tweaking the dialogue slightly to create a more consistent narrative. A key moment reveals that the Hand organization believed a piece of Kwannon’s spirit would merge with Betsy’s original body during the process that changed her.

The history of Psylocke and Kwannon is notoriously complicated, largely due to an initial mistake in the storyline. While writer Nicieza attempted to correct this error, the fix never fully resolved the confusion. Now, by revisiting the story, Marvel is essentially finishing that correction, giving this character a rare chance to have a truly clear origin. It will be interesting to see where the story goes from here.

The biggest change with the current Psylocke is that she’s now Kwannon, not Betsy Braddock. It’s a strange twist, considering Betsy originally took Kwannon’s body, and now Kwannon has taken Betsy’s identity. It will be interesting to see how the writers, Seeley and Leon, explain and connect all of this.

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2026-01-23 19:12