Meet Psylocke, Mutantkind’s Deadliest Psychic Assassin

Throughout X-Men history, many mutants have charted their own path onto the iconic super hero team. While some mutants graduated onto the X-Men after studying at Xavier's School, the assassin known as Kwannon found herself on a strange journey that put her on a collision course with the elite mutant squad.

Kwannon was pulled into the X-Men's orbit when she swapped bodies with Betsy Braddock, the original Psylocke. After years of having their lives and powers tied together, Kwannon and Betsy finally found their own selves once again. Since then, Kwannon has reclaimed the title of Psylocke for herself, becoming one of mutantkind's most fearsome fighters and capable leaders.

From her difficult beginnings to her present role with the X-Men, let’s take a closer look at Kwannon. We'll break down what makes Psylocke stand apart from other mutants just as she embarks on a new solo mission in PSYLOCKE (2024) #1 by Alyssa Wong and Vincenzo Carratu.

WHO IS PSYLOCKE?

As a child, Kwannon learned to fight under the Hand, who trained her as one of their assassins. Her telepathic mutant powers allowed her to delve into her targets’ minds, giving her a reputation as one of Japan's deadliest killers.  

When Kwannon lost both her partner and daughter, she chose a more empathetic path and turned against her masters. Despite this, Kwannon did not sever all ties with the criminal underworld. She operated as an assassin for Nyoirin, a crime boss, and entered a romantic relationship with Matsu'o Tsurayaba, a leader within the Hand.  

When her duties to Nyoirin forced her into face-to-face combat against her lover, Kwannon fell off a cliff and into a deep coma. In this critical state, Kwannon’s mind would soon find itself in Betsy Braddock's body.

PSYLOCKE'S BODY SWAP

A British aristocrat, Betsy Braddock joined the X-Men as the telepathic Psylocke before she ever crossed paths with Kwannon. Around the time Kwannon fell into her coma, Betsy went through the Siege Perilous, a mystical portal that dropped her near the Hand’s stronghold.  

With help from the six-armed sorceress known as Spiral, Matsu'o tried to use Betsy to heal Kwannon through their mutual telepathic abilities. Sickened by the love that Matsu'o and Kwannon shared, Spiral tricked the mourning crime lord and swapped the minds of the telepaths instead, as revealed in X-MEN (1991) #31 by Fabian Nicieza and Andy Kubert.

In Kwannon's body, Betsy was brainwashed into serving the Mandarin before returning to the X-Men as Psylocke. Meanwhile, trapped in Betsy’s body, Kwannon began to believe she was, in fact, the British mutant. She eventually returned to Nyoirin and took the name Revanche in X-MEN (1991) #20. 
 
After swapping bodies with Betsy, Kwannon developed several powerful psychic abilities, from some telekinetic capabilities to strengthened telepathy. Most notably, Kwannon began channeling her power into a psychic blade or katana that could cut through the minds of her opponents.

Kwannon later decided to join the X-Men to work through her entangled life with Betsy. During this time, she contracted a lethal mutant disease called the Legacy Virus. As the virus progressed, Kwannon tore out the bionic eyes that Spiral had placed in her head and traveled to Japan to ask Matsu'o to kill her.

Following Kwannon's death, Betsy confronted Spiral and Matsu'o to finally untangle her connection with Kwannon in X-MEN (1991) #32. 

THE RETURN OF KWANNON 

While Betsy stayed in her borrowed body for years with the X-Men, Kwannon eventually reclaimed her original corporeal form.

During an excursion in Japan, Betsy encountered a psychic vampire named Sapphire Styx, who sent her soul into a telepathic graveyard. Betsy overpowered the vampire and used the villain's energy to build herself a new version of her original body in HUNT FOR WOLVERINE: MYSTERY IN MADRIPOOR (2018) #4 by Jim Zub, Thony Silas, and Leonard Kirk. Kwannon’s spirit then returned to her now vacant body.  
 
With confusion clouding her memories, Kwannon sought out the X-Men. She found the team in the midst of a confrontation against Joseph, Magneto's clone, who posed as the real master of Magnetism and commanded the Brotherhood of Mutants in UNCANNY X-MEN (2018) #16 by Matthew Rosenberg and Salvador Larroca.

Sensing the clone to be part of a wider scheme against mutants, Kwannon decapitated Joseph. Although the X-Men initially took her into custody, Wolverine freed her and recruited her in the fight against Emma Frost and the Hellfire Club.

PSYLOCKE AND KRAKOA 

When most of the world’s mutants came together to form the nation of Krakoa, Kwannon carved out a new place in the X-Men's world. While Betsy took over her brother's mantle as Captain Britain, Kwannon reclaimed the codename Psylocke.  
 
After an evil artificial intelligence called Apoth killed her long-lost daughter, Psylocke found an unlikely ally in Mister Sinister, who helped her take revenge against the A.I. in FALLEN ANGELS (2019) #1 by Bryan Edward Hill and Szymon Kudranski.

When Krakoa’s Quiet Council gave Sinister oversight of a group of mutants who deemed too dangerous to roam Krakoa without supervision, Psylocke became that team's leader in HELLIONS (2020) #1 by Zeb Wells and Stephen Segovia.  
 
Sinister bought Psylocke's continued loyalty by dangling the possibility of resurrecting her daughter in front of her. On one occasion, he ordered Psylocke and her team to destroy one of his old labs to prevent its secrets from falling into the hands of Madelyne Pryor.

When Krakoa and the long-lost mutants of Arakko went to war, Psylocke and the Hellions retrieved mutant genetic material from the forgotten mutant civilization. Sinister also sent Psylocke and the Hellions into a trap set by Arcade, who forced Psylocke into a simulation where Betsy relentlessly pursued her for years.  
 
Once free, Psylocke helped Betsy with a mission on her team, Excalibur, and the two telepaths made peace in EXCALIBUR (2019) #19 by Tini Howard and Marcus To. 

PSYLOCKE AND THE FALL OF X 

Although Psylocke came close to leaving Krakoa and the Hellions, she took on a larger role as one of the Great Captains of Krakoa, one of the nation's prominent military leaders in INFERNO (2021) #1 by Jonathan Hickman and Valerio Schiti.

While the Hellions drifted apart after their final mission, John Greycrow—a lethal mercenary and longtime associate of Mister Sinister—confessed his romantic feelings to Psylocke, and the pair started a relationship. During this time, Psylocke also joined the second incarnation of the Marauders, Kitty Pryde's team, which protected mutants in deep space and the distant past.

When the mutant-hating group Orchis brought down Krakoa and left most of the world's mutants missing, Psylocke remained as one of the few mutant survivors on Earth. To present a united front against anti-mutant sentiment, Captain America brought together several X-Men and Avengers to form a new Avengers Unity Squad, which Psylocke joined in UNCANNY AVENGERS (2023) #1 by Gerry Duggan and Javier Garron.

Psylocke helped the team take on the Mutant Liberation Front and Captain Krakoa, an evil doppelganger of Steve Rogers. In the X-Men's final battle against Orchis and its allies, Psylocke struck the decisive blow against Omega Sentinel by telepathically purging her of the programming that guided Orchis.

PSYLOCKE AFTER KRAKOA 

After the fall of Krakoa, the X-Men split up and went their separate ways. Accompanied by Greycrow, Psylocke returned to Japan, where she fought a ghost-like entity called the Stilt-Mouthed Woman in X-MEN: BLOOD HUNT – PSYLOCKE (2024) #1 by Steve Foxe and Lynne Toshii. Psylocke and Greycrow confronted the Yokai and beheaded the dark spirit.  

When Cyclops began building a small team of mutants at an abandoned Sentinel factory in Alaska, Psylocke joined the new X-Men team in X-MEN (2024) #1 by Jed MacKay and Ryan Stegman. As one of the group's main telepaths, Psylocke and her team have been investigating 3K, a shadowy organization consisting of Cassandra Nova that appears to be activating latent mutant powers in adults.

Not one to sit still when off X-Men duty, Kwannon now also embarks on missions of her own in PSYLOCKE (2024) #1, available now.

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