WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Excalibur #8 by Tini Howard, Wilton Santos, Marcus To, Sean Parsons, Roberto Poggi, Victor Nava, Erick Arciniega and VC's Joe Sabino, on sale now.
Ever since Betsy Braddock transformed into the new Captain Britain, she and several other X-Men have turned their attention to the mystical side of mutant affairs. After Apocalypse requested the heads of Warwolves for his grand experiments, the mutant heroes of Excalibur found themselves in an old-fashioned English hunt as they competed with Cullen Bloodstone, who was more interested in hunting mutants than Warwolves. In the midst of this hunt, Excalibur #9 drops a quick tease for the X-Men's next major crossover: "X of Swords."
Deciding to no longer play Bloodstone's game, Excalibur decides to split into smaller groups in the hopes of collecting the rest of the Warwolve heads they need. With Captain Britain, Rictor and Jubilee going in one group, Jubilee brings down a Warwolf But as the creature lies before them, Jubilee turns to Betsy for help in removing its head.
Captain Britain shows some frustration about having to remove its head. Jubilee asks, “What would I even use? It’s not like I bring a sword around with me.” To which Captain Britain responds by saying, “Maybe you should start.”
Over the past few months, swords have become unusually important elements to the world of mutants. Within the pages of Excalibur, Betsy has found herself wielding the Sword of Might, as did her brother Brian, in addition to her psychic longsword. With the upcoming "X of Swords" crossover, several unidentified X-Men will take up some of the most famous blades in the Marvel Universe.
While Captain Britain's comments here are most likely a throwaway joke, this line reflects a far more ominous sentiment that's spread throughout the X-Men's world.
While the X-Men once preached the ideas of mutant and human coexistence, Krakoa has been built around a more isolated stance that harshly deals with any possible threats to the future. The image of the sword speaks to the more brutal position of the X-Men in the fight for dominance. Perhaps, this line serves as an indication that Jubilee may need to prepare herself for more grisly acts in service to the mutant nation in "X of Swords" and beyond. This also falls in line with Crucible, the X-Men’s new ritual that utilizes a sword in a brutal manner, in a process that allows former mutants to reclaim their heritage.
While details about "X of Swords" are still largely unknown, the looming specter of the event still casts Captain Britain's words in a decidedly different light. Given her existing importance to the more supernatural side of the Marvel Universe, Betsy seems likely to have a major role in the upcoming crossover. And with her sly warning here, Betsy could be teasing the idea that Jubilee might have an important role to play too. For the moment, Betsy and Jubilee are merely serving on a team named after a sword, but it might not be long before both of these X-Women have to pick up swords of their own.