WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Excalibur #17 by Tini Howard, Marcus To, Erick Arciniega & VC's Ariana Maher, on sale now
Since the events of X of Swords, the X-Men have been without a Captain Britain -- leaving Krakoa's relations with the United Kingdom coming under fire as a result. The heroes have been doing their best to locate their missing teammate, but it turns out that Captain Britain was able to figure out how to get home -- with some help from an unexpectedly peaceful world.
While trapped in another reality, Betsy Braddock discovers that by accessing any gate to Otherworld, she can seemingly be returned to her home reality in Excalibur #17.
During the tournament between Krakoa and Arakko in X of Swords, Captain Britain was one of the first combatants. Going up against Isca the Unbeaten, Captain Britain's Starlight Sword was shattered -- resulting in the apparent death of Betsy as well. In reality, however, her seeming demise had been orchestrated by Saturnyne as part of a plan to restore the Captain Britain Corps. While it did regrow the multiversal army of heroes -- albeit now as countless versions of Betsy Braddock instead of Brian -- it also didn't return the Earth-616 Betsy to her proper place in the multiverse. Instead, it shunted her away into another reality within the multiverse.
In this reality, Betsy is surprised to discover that she's become the Queen of England. On top of that, the England of this reality is decidedly pro-mutant in a way Earth-616 has never been. In this reality, Betsy is beloved by the people and has fostered a strong working relationship with Prime Minister Peter Wisdom. She's begun a romance with the Angel of this reality -- who here never went through the traumatic experiences that resulted in him becoming Apocayplse's Horseman of Death. Betsy is also revealed to have never gone through her body-swap with Kwannon -- who in this reality became a mutant-for-hire and actually had a romance with Angel that resulted in divorce.
Queen Betsy even turns out to have some experience with the multiverse, as she arranged for a special letter to be written up and left for any other alternate-universe versions of Betsy Braddock who end up in her place. In essence, this is a world where Betsy was able to help lead the mutant-race into turning Britain into their version of Krakoa -- speaking to the potential Betsy could have if moved into positions of power. Quickly, Betsy goes with Kwannon to infiltrate the King James III Memorial Intelligence Center, otherwise known as the Lighthouse. It's also home to the conduit to Otherworld, which could make it the only surefire way for Betsy to return to her home reality.
The pair successfully sneak through the building and past the security, making their way to the Otherworld gate. Although Betsy tries her best to take this chance to work out some lingering problems she has with her world's Kwannon, she's forced to move on through the gate -- causing a massive burst of energy at the Lighthouse on Earth-616 and interrupting a fight between Excalibur and Coven Akkaba. Although she appears weakened, Betsy is seemingly restored to Earth-616 in the process, moving through the waters and being found by her teammates.
While there may still be some lingering issues for Betsy (with the possibility of this even being Queen Betsy who arrived on Earth-616 while the core Betsy makes her way home), it's still clear that there's at least a way to bring Captain Britain back to the core Marvel Universe, even if she's across the multiverse. So long as a port to Otherworld can be found, then Betsy Braddock has a way home.
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