WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Excalibur #14 by Tini Howard, Phil Noto, VC’s Ariana Maher, and Tom Muller, on sale now.
Things aren’t going well for any of Krakoa’s Champions in the X of Swords tournament, but they’re going especially bad for Betsy Braddock, the current Captain Britain and former Psylocke. She faced off against Isca the Unbeaten in the first round of the tournament in Excalibur #14. Though James Jaspers gave Braddock 30-1 odds of surviving, Isca broke the mutant’s sword, and her body shattered with it.
The resurrection protocols that the X-Men set up on Krakoa are no longer working as well. Even if they were, X of Swords has made clear repeatedly that any who dies in Otherworld can’t be brought back without incorporating other versions of themselves from across the multiverse. There might be another way to bring Braddock back though in the form of Emma Frost.
She isn’t the first X-Men to be shattered. In New X-Men #139 by Grant Morrison and Phil Jiminez, Emma Frost suffered a similar fate. The issue started with Jean Grey discovering Cyclops and Frost having a psychic affair. It ended with Beast knocking on Frost’s door. When she didn’t respond, he opened it to discover that she’d been shattered in her diamond form. While Bishop investigated what they all thought was a murder, Beast painstakingly reassambled Frost’s shattered body in the medical bay. Grey entered and used her powers as the Phoenix to fuse Frost’s body back together. Frost’s consciousness came back to her body and she screamed the name of her killer: Esme Cuckoo. Frost’s protege had psychically forced Angel Salvadore to shoot her mentor with a diamond bullet.
The New X-Men storyline could be the key to Braddock’s resurrection. The last time she’s shown, the former Psylocke is on the ground in pieces with Saturnyne walking over her. It’s visually similar to Frost’s near-miss. Additionally, Frost and Braddock are both psychics, which was key to Frost’s resurrection, as her mind was still alive on the psychic plane. The details aren’t exactly the same though. Frost’s diamond form is part of her mutation, while Braddock has no physical ability related to her shattering. Beast isn’t there to put Braddock back together either, but she is well loved by her teammates. Any of them could do the work of reassembling her, and Jubilee is there with nothing to do after she attacked the castle. The bigger missing element is the Phoenix Force, which was last seen in Avengers #38 by Jason Aaron and Ed McGuinness. Thor and Blade watched the cosmic entity after Moon Knight gave up its power. It’s searching for a new host among Earth’s superheroes, which excludes the Champions of Krakoa because they’re in Otherworld.
There are other cosmic entities in Otherworld that may be able to help though. Saturnyne, who’s running the tournament, seems like she would have the power to bring Braddock back. That possibility seems unlikely, given that Saturnyne was unhappy that Betsy Braddock was Captain Britain. Betsy’s brother Jamie also may have the ability to resurrect her, but given his madness, it’s hard to guess if he would. Jaspers is a third being with reality manipulating powers attending the X of Swords. His interest in the tournament seems to be enriching his Crooked Market, which makes the question how much it would cost the X-Men for him to bring Braddock back.
There’s always the possibility that she’ll stay dead as well but that’s something the X-Men aren’t very good at. Everyone from Jean Grey to Wolverine to Banshee to Thunderbird has found their way back from the dead, and in this case Emma Frost could be the key to bringing Captain Britain back to the fight.