WARNING: Spoilers ahead for Knights of X #4
After years and years of not-so-subtle LGBTQ+ subtext, the powerful X-Men member Rachel Summers, the multiversal daughter of Cyclops and Jean Grey, has entered into an intimate romantic relationship with Marvel’s current Captain Britain, Betsy Braddock the hero formerly known as Psylocke, in the pages of Knights of X #4. This romantic pairing has been a long time coming, and fans of the characters and series are truly delighted that these two complex queer women are finally being allowed to show their obvious love for each other on panel.
While Betsy Braddock has been confirmed bisexual for many years, after entering into a relationship with Fantomex and Cluster (or Lady Fantomex) during her time in Uncanny X-Force, Rachel Summers has always been implied to be queer in some way, but was never made canonically non-straight. X-Men legend Chris Claremont, creator of Rachel Summers, has stated that he always intended to make Rachel and Kate Pryde enter into a relationship, but it never ended up happening on page.
Knights of X – written by the talented Tini Howard with art by Robert Quinn – follows Betsy Braddock and her Knights of X as they journey through Otherworld, fighting back against the evil Merlyn and his army led by King Arthur and the monstrous Furies. All the while they are searching for the infamous Siege Perilous, the “Holy Grail” of mutant artifacts. Finally, in Knights of X #4 Betsy and her team gain access to the land of Mercator, ruled by the powerful mutant Absolon Mercator, who has imbued the entirety of the realm with the power of the Siege Perilous, pulling all the Knights of X into its psychic powers, showing them their greatest fears. Rachel Summers, with the help of an astral projection resembling the friendly Geraldine, manages to escape the psychic clutches of the Perilous and save the rest of the Knights of X before finally finding Betsy. Captain Britain, reunited with a concerned looking Rachel, asks her why she is staring at her, before Rachel pulls her into a powerful embrace and kiss, with gorgeous rainbow butterflies behind her. Betsy makes a funny remark about the rainbow butterflies being a “Bit on the nose…” because of their newfound LBGTQ+ love, but it turns out they are from Absolon Mercator, whose power signature has always manifested as a rainbow butterfly.
Rachel and Betsy officially becoming a couple, and kissing, on panel is a huge boon for queer representation at Marvel Comics, and is an important milestone for a loving friendship that has been a long time coming. While a burgeoning relationship between these two cosmically powerful, and vastly important, women has been teased since early in Tini Howard’s run on Excalibur, Betsy’s initial confusion about the face Rachel makes adds an important layer of complexity in their relationship. The relationship between Captain Britain and the Askani becoming canon is in itself an important step for Marvel’s LGBTQ+ representation, yet the fact that Rachel is now finally canonically queer has even huger implications, reaching back to her introduction in the ’80s. Rachel Summers has always been portrayed as someone who struggles with her femininity and identity, especially because she is the only version of herself in the entirety of the Multiverse, and while she has been in romantic relationships with male characters like Nightcrawler, she has also always been queer coded since her creation by Chris Claremont.
It is simply not enough anymore for comics to “hint” at characters being queer through subtext, and it is long past time that these relationships and sexualities are made canonical. So it is truly a blessing that Tini Howard clearly fought hard for Captain Britain and Rachel Summers‘ important, loving, LGBTQ+ relationship to be made official X-Men canon and that Robert Quinn illustrated their first kiss so beautifully.
Knights of X #4 is available now in stores!
