Warning: SPOILERS for Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #1One fan-favorite X-Men has a backstory that is simply far too complicated and convoluted for the MCU, and unless the company changes one key element, Psylocke will never return to the big screen. The character made an appearance in 2016's X-Men: Apocalypse but never returned to the Fox X-Men films and has yet to arrive in the MCU. Unfortunately, Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #1 reveals that the backstory of the character will prevent that from happening for a very long time.
Written by Tini Howard with art by Vasco Georgiev, Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #1 chronicles the life of Braddock herself, now known as Captain Britain. But as a talk show host interviews her, the reader is reminded of Psylock's complicated history which spans decades. "You've been a supermodel, a charter pilot, a ninja, a body snatcher, a mutant, and a twin," says the interviewer. "Now you continue to wear that which isn't yours, calling yourself Captain Britain while you've not in favor with Britain at all."
Psylocke's History Is Just Too Much For The MCU
Psylocke has indeed worked as a pilot and a ninja, and she is a mutant. But the truth is far more complicated: Psylocke is actually two people, not one. Betsy Braddock was first introduced in Captain Britain comics in 1976, but appeared in New Mutants Annual #2 a decade later as Psylocke. She eventually joined the X-Men, was captured and became the brainwashed assassin "Lady Mandarin" (receiving a new body in the process). But it wasn't a newly created body, but the body of a woman who already existed named Kwannon.
It is here that the story of Psylocke gets even more complicated. Kwannon claimed that she was the real person and Psylocke was an imposter. To make matters worse, Kwannon died but was eventually resurrected in the same story that un-swapped the bodies of herself and Braddock. As of 2019, Betsy Braddock is Captain Britain and Kwannon took the name Psylocke, and the two have remained separate ever since. The entire affair is simply too long and convoluted for the MCU to ever adapt faithfully...unless Marvel merges Braddock and Kwannon into one person.
The identities are different, however, and it is more likely than not that Marvel will simply ignore Psylocke's character for now. The X-Men have plenty of other characters never before seen in film, such as Sunspot or Polaris, who could replace Psylocke's role on the team in film. Regardless, if Psylocke ever does appear in the MCU, expect her backstory to be radically changed from that of the comics.