One of the X-Men's most famous storylines is Chris Claremont and John Byrne's "Days of Future Past." This landmark event warned of a potentially dark future in which mutants were almost eradicated and hunted down by deadly Sentinels. Eventually inspiring a movie of the same name, the story would have a dramatic impact on the X-Men franchise and Marvel in general, cementing dark possible futures as a cornerstone of the X-Men franchise and inspiring dozens of direct and indirect sequels and other follow-ups.
The events of this apocalyptic world would be set up by a 1997 prequel mini-series titled Wolverine: Days of Future Past, by John Francise Moore, Joe Casey and Joe Bennett. This Wolverine-centric prequel made the X-Men's Psylocke into a much more tragic figure, warping her usual history and turning her into a villain. Now, here's how the psychic butterfly become one of Logan's deadliest enemies in Marvel's most infamous future.
Psylocke in Days of Future Past
Wolverine: Days of Future Past takes place after the initial cataclysmic events that trigger Days of Future Past, but before the bulk of the story itself. The story opens with Magnetoneeding to team up with the older Jubilee and seeking Wolverine in an attempt to help stave off the global catastrophes wreaking havoc on the planet. Wolverine had been in the ironically cosmopolitan future Russia, asking info from the former Crimson Dynamo to find his former ward. But before Logan and Jubilee cross paths, Logan is beaten and left mentally derelict by a woman who seems to work with the Hand ninjas.
This is in fact a ruse, though, and the woman is actually the psychic Red Queen, a now-evil Betsy Braddock. Wolverine recognizes the former Psylocke before he is disabled by her attack and is reduced and healed by Mangeto, Jubilee and Emma Frost. Psylocke works alongside Shinobi Shaw, the son of Sebastian Shaw and the new leader of the Hellfire Club. Together, they seek to control and manipulate what's left of the Earth, using a captured Scarlet Witch to throw Earth's weather systems into chaos.
Psylocke, the Red Queen
Psylocke and Shinobi Shaw begin to enact their plans to rule the world, with the former reminding Shaw that it would not be possible had it not been for Shaw finding her on one fateful day. Also working under Psylocke is Amiko, a young former ward of Wolverine's who now took the moniker Midnight. She ends up helping Wolverine and the others defeat the Hellfire Club, with Leech and Synch helping to temporarily depower Psylocke. Magneto officially becomes the team's leader, but at a huge cost, as his legs are permanently broken after an altercation with Shaw.
The reason for her sudden heel turn is only glimpsed at, but it ultimately stemmed from the death of her former teammate and lover Angel, not to mention how horrible things had gotten for the world in general. This heavily traumatized her psyche, and the moribund X-Men have her taken to her brother Brian at the story's conclusion to help her recover.
This version of the character also shares the changed Asian body of her mainstream counterpart, as well as martial arts training. This recalls her attempted brainwashing by the Hand and Matsu'o Tsurayaba, which would explain both her feigned connection to them and also further her reason to turn against the X-Men.
It's unknown what became of this particular version of the character afterward, especially as the future of that world become even darker. Things had already gotten quite dark for Betsy, however, with the loss of her lover and many of her friends seeing her turn to a dark and hellish place for a sense of stability.