While serving as the end of an ongoing cut short, Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #5 also functions as the finale to the story that writer Tini Howard has woven over five years across Excalibur, Knights of X, and Betsy’s first solo title. Howard partners with her fellow creators Vasco Georgiev, Erick Arciniega, VC’s Ariana Maher, and Sarah Brunstad to bring this story home. By the end of it all, Captain Britain has made the heroine’s journey, and the Marvel Universe is the better for it.
Excalibur tracked the revelation of mutant magic, the reintroduction of Otherworld, and Betsy Braddock’s fitful beginnings as the new Captain Britain. So much ground was covered in each of these areas, and Knights of X served as a beautiful cap on many of the magical and Otherworld-centric plot threads of this journey, as well as debuting Betsy’s romance with Rachel Summers in all its glory. Betsy Braddock then becomes the final piece of this puzzle, returning to face the consequences of Betsy’s new gig back on British soil. Redefinition and rediscovery have been potent themes across this entire tapestry, and that remains true here in the solutions that Betsy finds here on the brink of international war.
A large part of this issue is devoted to scheming and enacting a bit of spy-craft on Morgan Le Fay by Captain Britain and her allies. While she’s definitively moved beyond her days as a covert ops ninja, having Betsy return to the secret agent stratagems of S.T.R.I.K.E. is a good nod to her history. When coming for the former queen of Avalon, one cannot afford to miss, and this leads Betsy to strange bedfellows as she, Gloriana, Captain Avalon, Askani, Excalibur, and S.T.R.I.K.E. team up with the Furies to ensure their assault on Morgan doesn’t result in international nuclear war on the part of Le Fay’s own ally, Doctor Doom.
Speaking of Captain Britain’s comrades, her girlfriend Rachel Summers has played a role throughout this special series. In exploring what it truly means to be Askani, Rachel’s chronoskimming abilities have developed a new function. As a protector of the Sacred Timeline, Rachel knows where and when she must be in reality at any given moment, although the what, how, and why of her actions in that setting remain entirely up to her. So long as she ends up in the same bed as Betsy at the end of the day, I doubt her girlfriend will have much of a problem with that.
Credit: Marvel Comics
Though her adventures in Knights of X and Betsy Braddock have kept our hero largely displaced from the goings on of Krakoa, the themes of redefinition present in the larger arc and the Krakoan sense of limitless possibility combine at the issue’s climax. Through a bit of nearly-synchronous sword work, Faiza Hussain and Betsy pull a final move that resets Morgan Le Fay connection to Britain. Breaking away from monarchical and imperial myth that Le Fay thrived on as a villain, her very being is connected with the actual land itself, and it’s a bond that Betsy hopes will lead to brighter days for the sorceress as well as the isles.
Of course, hats off to Georgiev and Arciniega, whose art brings Howard’s writing to life in this final chapter. Small details like the inclusion of Maggie’s superhero figurines tie this issue back into the five-year arc that has been spanned here. At the same time, embellishing Askani’s power signature to include more Phoenix-esque elements and the debut of Morgan Le Fay’s redesign are feasts for the eyes. Plus, there’s more tender kissing between Rachel and Betsy – what more could you want?
Betsy Braddock #5 finishes the series about as strongly as it began. The only opportunity for improvement in this finale might have been a bit more time fleshing out the new Askani mythology a tad bit more. What makes Rachel’s duty to the Sacred Timeline different from the Captain Britain Corps’ duty to the multiverse? It seems that is a story for another day.
Full of heart and drama, Betsy Braddock: Captain Britain #5 is a fitting finale for the Braddocks and their assorted allies. Dark days may be ahead for mutantkind, but Captain Britain has found a happy place for her story to resolve for the time being. Telling a story this long, this queerly, this magically, in the state of current corporate comics creation is a thing worth celebrating, and this finale is a job well done.
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