Even in a Marvel Universe filled with clones and parallel timelines, body swaps can be more than a little confusing. One of these body swaps saw two characters trade places in one of the most famously confusing X-Men stories ever, where the telepathic Psylocke swapped bodies with a Japanese assassin Kwannon for decades.
However, the British mutant Betsy Braddock recently returned to her original body while Kwannon, the Japanese ninja with whom she originally switched bodies, also got her original body back. With both X-Men taking on new roles within the ongoing Dawn of X relaunch, we're taking a closer look at how these two got tangled up in each other's lives.
Originally introduced by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimoe in 1976's Captain Britain #8, Betsy Braddock was the twin sister of the series' hero Brian Braddock. Largely removed from the goings-on of tof the X-Men, Betsy more served as a supporting cast member for the British hero before briefly donning the mantle of Captain Britain herself. Under Claremont, Betsy eventually migrated to the main cast of teh X-Men, where she was a telepathic underdog who went through frequent costume changes.
Years after that, a Japanese mutant assassin named Kwannon was introduced in X-Men #17, by Fabian Nicieza and Andy Kubert. As one of the elite assassins of the Hand, she had deadly skill with a blade and held psychic mutant abilities of her own that gave her low level telepathy and empathy. Kwannon's relationship with the Hand's leader, combined with her reputation and ability, made her a significant member of the organization.
The stories of the two women collided in Chris Claremont and Jim Lee's Uncanny X-Men #256, when Psylocke's body washed up on a Japanese shore where she was found by the Hand's leader who Kwannon shared a relationship with. With the assistance of the six-armed witch Spiral, the Hand performed the body-swap between the comatose Kwannon and Betsy. The Caucasian Betsy was in Kwannon's Japanese body while Kwannon herself was in Betsy's body. At first brainwashed by the Hand into their service, Wolverine broke Betsy from their mind control and returned her to the X-Men's ranks.
When Kwannon arrived at the X-Mansion in Betsy's body claiming to be the original article things started to get very confusing. Part of what complicated the situation was writer Fabian Nicieza missing story details as he wrote X-Men comics in the early '90s and going back later to explain his own mistakes. After Kwannon briefly took the mantle Revanche, Nicieza tried to simplify the situation by killing her off. Betsy's original body contracted the Legacy Virus and died, killing Revanche's mind along with it. Betsy persisted in her Japanese body and went on to have a rich superhero career over the next two decades.
Of course, no one in comics truly stays dead forever. In last year's Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor a battle with the character Sapphire Styx involving Betsy's soul saw the restoration of her original body and the return of her mind into it. With her own original body now freed, Kwannon's own soul was resurrected in her original body by the story's end. While a little complicated in practice, the end result was simple enough: Both Betsy and Kwannon were back, and both of them in their original forms.
Now, both Betsy and Kwannon have taken on leading roles in a pair of ongoing X-Men titles as part of Marvel's larger Dawn of X relaunch. In Excalibur, Betsy has taken on her brother's role to become the new Captain Britain. Somewhat confusingly, Kwannon has adopted Betsy's old codename, Psylocke, in the pages of Fallen Angels, where she's assembled a team of aggressive mutants.
While much of the backstory involving each characters adventures out of and back to their original bodies is complicated enough, the new status quo should be easy enough to understand for new and old fans alike. For the first time in a long while, both Betsy and Kwannon are back in their original bodies, and hopefully, things will stay that way for the foreseeable future.