This article contains spoilers for Excalibur #18 by Tini Howard and Marcus To.
The X-Men have been infiltrated by a Multiversal foe – what appears to be an alternate reality version of Betsy Braddock, aka Captain Britain. The X-Men’s Excalibur sub-team is still reeling from the consequences of X of Swords, which saw Betsy Braddock apparently shattered into Multiversal fragments – used by Saturnyne, ruler of Otherworld, to create the new Captain Britain Corps.
The X-Men are unsure what to make of this. They are reluctant to consider Betsy dead, given the chaos on Otherworld, and as a result, they won’t initiate the Resurrection Protocols. Fortunately, their suspicions appear to have been proved correct, when an exhausted Betsy suddenly emerged near Excalibur’s lighthouse and collapsed in front of her team-mates. But Excalibur #18 reveals there’s something badly wrong with this version of Betsy – and the mutant nation of Krakoa appears to have been infiltrated by a hostile force.
Rogue is suspicious from the start, but it is Betsy’s brother Brian who truly senses something is wrong. Unfortunately, the infiltrator takes his concern as the moment to up the ante; she takes telepathic control of him, sending him back to Otherworld, and then steps through the Gateway to Krakoa. There, she is shown scouting out the area in a disturbing manner, moving through the shadows with a remarkable sense of stealth. Curiously, though, before she goes she gives Rogue a psychic tag to ensure she is pursued.
The infiltrator moves with the kind of speed and skill Betsy used to demonstrate when she possessed the body of a ninja warrior, but she is also far more acquainted with her powers as Captain Britain than Earth-616’s version. She comes close to killing Rogue – but fortunately, she is interrupted by Kwannon herself, the woman who has now regained that ninja body. “That is not Betsy Braddock,” Kwannon confirms. “And you are going to need a real psychic to watch your back here before you get yourselves killed.” No doubt Kwannon sensed the familiar and yet subtly different psychic presence and was drawn to it.
It looks as though the X-Men are about to see the ultimate grudge match, a battle between one version of Betsy Braddock’s Captain Britain and Kwannon’s Psylocke. This is a fight readers have been eager to see ever since the two women were separated – albeit one with a surprising Multiversal twist. The X-Men have been successfully infiltrated by some force from another dimension, and the fate of Krakoa – indeed, even this entire plane of reality – may depend on the outcome.
