Captain Britain
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Captain Britain (Brian Braddock), also known as Britannic, is a fictional character, a superhero appearing in the comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe, he first appeared in Captain Britain Weekly, #1 (October 13, 1976), and the series has been produced through the years by many people most notably Alan Moore.
The character was supposed to be the British equivalent of Captain America. Endowed first with the Amulet of Right and then with a costume that provided flight and super strength by the legendary magician Merlyn and his daughter Roma, Captain Britain was assigned to uphold the laws of Great Britain.
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[edit] Publication history
The character is especially notable for a classic 1980s run by British writer Alan Moore and writer/illustrator Alan Davis when both were at the start of their careers in which Captain Britain visited multiple alternate reality versions of England, each guarded by its own member of the Captain Britain Corps. (See Character biography below.)
In 1988, after the cancellation of Captain Britain's solo adventures, Claremont and Davis launched the American series Excalibur, featuring an eponymous team lead by Captain Britain and including his lover Meggan and several one-time members of the X-Men. Captain Britain currently leads a new version of the team in the series New Excalibur.
[edit] Fictional character biography
[edit] Origins
Creators Claremont and Trimpe established Captain Britain as a mystical hero from the onset, establishing a mythic origin story for the character. Born and raised in the small town of Maldon, Essex, Brian is seen as a a shy and studious youth, living a relatively quiet life with his parents and siblings (older brother Jamie and fraternal twin Elisabeth); he grew up lonely, being in a family not wealthy enough to mix with the other aristocrats but too wealthy to mix with lower classes. After the death of his parents (James and Elizabeth) in what seemed to be a car accident, Brian takes a fellowship at Darkmoore nuclear research center. When the facility is attacked by the Reaver, Brian tries to find help by escaping on his motorcycle. Although he crashes his bike in a fatal accident, Merlyn and his daughter, the goddess Roma, resurrect Brian. They give him the chance to be the superhero Captain Britain. He is offered a choice: the Amulet of Right or the Sword of Might. Considering himself to be no warrior and unsuited for the challenge, he rejects the Sword and chooses the Amulet instead. This choice results in his transformation into Captain Britain.
It is later revealed that Braddock is only one member of a much larger, inter-dimensional corps of mystical protectors. Every Earth in Marvel Comics' Multiverse has its own Captain Britain who is expected to defend that version of the British Isles and uphold its local laws; they are collectively called the Captain Britain Corps. For example, on one Earth the Nazis won World War II, so its Captain Britain ("Hauptmann Englande") upholds the Nazi regime. On another Earth, mutants have been eradicated and Captain Britain runs a league of enforcers who hunt down any remaining mutants. In some of these alternate universes Captain Britain is the alternate version of Brian Braddock, in others it is someone completely different. The Earth of the "normal" Marvel Universe is called "Earth-616".
In Alan Moore's run, it was revealed Merlyn had been manipulating Brian's life for years, trying to mould his mind into a specific form so he would be able to withstand the horrors of Jasper's Warp.
[edit] Early career as Captain Britain
As his career as a superhero begins, Brian fights as the champion of Great Britain, often clashing with S.T.R.I.K.E. and Welsh anti-superhero police officer Dai Thomas. During one episode, he learns that his parents did not die in a car accident, but rather were killed by the sentient computer Mastermind. Soon afterwards, Brian travels to America to study abroad. By a strange twist of fate, he rooms with Peter Parker (the spectacular Spider-Man) at Empire State University. As a result, the two began meeting for nightly patrols and training, neither aware of the other's secret identity. Around this time, Brian begins to drink heavily, and it affects his performance both as a student and as a hero. He is able to take control of his drinking enough to graduate with a doctorate in physics, but the demons of alcoholism would continue to haunt him.
As time went on, Brian began fighting more supernatural enemies rather than regular supervillains, eventually being driven to madness and isolation by the demonic Necromon. Existing as a hermit for two years on the Cornish coast, he was eventually called to Merlyn's service again. Alongside the Black Knight and the elf Jackdaw, Captain Britain fought to defend Otherworld from Necromon, finally defeating him with the help of King Arthur himself.
[edit] Jaspers Warp
Necromon defeated, Captain Britain was sent with Jackdaw to the bizarre Earth-238, a madcap dictatorship run by the Status Crew, where he worked with the extra-dimensional Saturnyne to jump-start the reality's development. Just before being sent to Earth-238, Merlyn merged the powers of the Amulet of Right and the Star Sceptre into a uniform to be worn by Braddock.
This led to one of Captain Britain's more memorable adventures by Alan Moore. It was revealed that Earth-238 was being controlled by Mad Jim Jaspers, an individual with the ability to warp time and reality. Through his madness, he distorts Earth-238 and orders the execution of the world's superheroes. To accomplish this, he employs his own creation, an unstoppable "cybiot" known as the Fury, who hunts and murders superhumans. Only Captain UK of that world, Linda McQuillan, escapes execution by fleeing the dimension before being caught. Captain Britain panics when Jaspers confronts him with Winter, a little girl befriended by the Captain but transformed by Jaspers into a blazing, floating head. He falls out of Jaspers flying teapot into the heroes graveyard where the unstoppable Fury tracks him down and incinerates him into the empty grave of Captain UK. Earth-238 is totally consumed in the reality warp caused by Jaspers. Merlyn retrieves a rag, a bone and a hank of hair and Braddock is again resurrected (or, more accurately, reconstructed) by Merlyn and sent to his home Earth. This entire experience proved to be the last part of Merlyn's plan to prepare Captain Britain for the time when the Jim Jaspers of Earth-616 would make his attempt to rule and reshape reality. With the help of Captain UK, his sister Betsy, Saturyne and the Special Executive, Braddock battles both the Fury and the Jim Jaspers of Earth-616, who briefly takes control of Britain. In the end, it is actually the Fury that kills Jim Jaspers. After Jasper's death, Braddock and McQuillan destroy the Fury together.
[edit] Substituted
Due to the pressures put on him after the Warp, Braddock travels abroad for a while and gives up the Captain Britain identity. Government taskforce RCX recruits his sister Betsy to take up the mantle. She manages in the role for a while, but unfortunately she proves no match for Slaymaster, as he tore out her eyes. Aware of his twin's pain through their telepathic bond, Brian rushes back to fight Slaymaster, who he eventually kills. After this episode, Brian resumes the mantle of Captain Britain.
[edit] The Drawing of the Sword
- Main article: Excalibur
After the cancellation of the Captain Britain series, writer Chris Claremont and artist Alan Davis created Excalibur, with Braddock in the role of leader. When the X-Men appeared to perish in Dallas (see The Fall of the Mutants), a group of heroes including Nightcrawler, Shadowcat, Phoenix II, and Meggan join Brian to form Excalibur - Great Britain's premier superteam - in an effort to continue the work of the X-Men.
[edit] Identity Crises
Brian quits costumed adventuring for a time and concentrates on his science, building the Midnight Runner for Excalibur. Eventually, he and Meggan take some time off from the team and get engaged. However, Brian, Meggan, and the rest of Excalibur are soon captured by the R.C.X. and Brian is severely beaten while resisting. Dying, broken and bloody, he is healed by Roma, who fixes the arcane circuitry in his costume to match his body's frequencies. She also removes the "blunder factor" she had cast over him (a curse she had cast on him ensuring that he would need the help of the entire team until he saw the innate value in it). Immediately afterward, Phoenix II reappears and Excalibur journeys to the future to save the world from the Sentinels. On the way back Brian is lost in the timestream. Eventually, his body parts start reappearing in the same space as Rachel's - first his arms, then his chest - for brief flickers. Meggan confronts Rachel about Brian's whereabouts, and with Daytripper's help they open a rift in which Brian and Rachel switch places. Rachel is flung to the far future to become the Mother Askani, and Brian returns home. However, he is flooded with memories of the far future and remains disconnected from the real world. He calls himself "Britannic" for some time, but eventually re-acclimates himself to his old life. After receiving a message of impending danger from Jean Grey, who had found Alistair Stuart running from Black Air, and one from Shinobi Shaw regarding Mountjoy's infiltration into the London Hellfire Club, Brian goes to the Club and claims his father's position as Black Rook, defeating the contender for Red Rook with one punch. When Black Air and the Club made their move, Brian is attacked by the Black Queen and Scribe, who is possessed by Mountjoy. Luckily, Brian is in his newly-refurbished costume, complete with projectable forcefield, and he defeats them both.
[edit] King of Otherworld
Soon afterwards, in a battle with the Dragons of the Crimson Dawn, Brian expends all of his power to stop a dimensional portal from opening. Having lost his powers, he leaves the team for some time, but returns to fulfill his dream of marrying Meggan. After the ceremony on Otherworld, the rest of the team decide to return to the United States. As a result, Excalibur disbands, leaving Braddock and Meggan as Britain's foremost heroes.
Brian soon finds work at the Darkmoor research facility, and it is during one of his tests on the new blade and armor of his friend the Black Knight that Widget reappears with warriors who attack him and Meggan, stating that Roma ordered it done. The heroes (including Psylocke, who is also visiting England) drive the attackers off, then follow them to Otherworld, where they discover that the Captain Britain Corps has been decimated. Together with the survivors - Crusader X and Captain UK - Brian and his comrades attempt to stop Roma from acquiring the Sword of Might. The Sword, together with the Amulet of Right, would have the ability to remake the cosmos. Brian searches for the sword, and ends up finding a computer-filled shrine in a cavern built by his father. A hologram of James Braddock, Sr. explains to Brian that he is the savior and rightful heir of Otherworld with the innate right to wield Excalibur. The hologram re-activates Brian's powers, and as he draws the sword, a fiery cross (similar to the British flag) appears as a mask on his face. Brian then confronts Roma, who is revealed to be his father's sentient and insane computer Mastermind, and defeats him together with the real Roma. Roma then relinquishes control of Otherworld to Captain Britain, and he and Meggan remain in Otherworld as effectives rulers of the multiverse. Unbeknownst to Brian, the events leading up to his assumption of the Otherworld were orchestrated by Kang the Conqueror, for reasons yet to be revealed.
In the "Lionheart of Avalon" storyline in The Avengers, Brian and Meggan appear to Kelsey Leigh, a British mother who has died protecting both her children and Captain America from The Wrecking Crew with Cap's own shield. Braddock offers her the choice between the Amulet and the Sword. Feeling that she could better defend her children with a weapon, she chooses the latter. Although she is changed into a new Captain Britain, she remains cursed by the inability to ever reveal herself to her children. Brian himself had been captured by Morgan Le Fay, who hoped to kill him, thereby destroying England via Brian's mystical connection with the land. Because he transfers his power to Kelsey, however, the plan fails. Later, Brian invits some of the X-Men to his home, where they are attacked by a regenerated Fury.
[edit] New Excalibur
- Main article: New Excalibur
Returning to Otherworld, Braddock and Meggan become rulers of the realm. However, Captain Britain is forced to come back to Earth to stop the House of M reality-shift from destroying all dimensions. During this time, his wife Meggan apparently sacrifices her life to close a rip in time that would have destroyed all existence. This results in Brian becoming active as Captain Britain again and the formation of the all new Excalibur, along with Peter Wisdom, Sage, Juggernaut, Dazzler and Nocturne.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Originally, Captain Britain's powers were linked to the Amulet of Right, worn around his neck, and he used a telescoping staff to vault. Later he depended on the mace-like Star Sceptre to fly. Merlyn changed his costume just before he entered an alternate Earth (Earth-238), removing the Amulet and the Scepter and in turn placing their powers in his new costume.
As a result of the change, Brian Braddock has superhuman strength (able to lift weights up to 90 tons), the ability to fly (can fly at 770 miles per hour), and near-invulnerability and his mystical link with Britain also enhances his stamina, senses and reflexes to superhuman levels. The energy that powers his abilities is drawn from inter-universal space and friction. In addition, Braddock is a brilliant scientist with a Ph. D. in physics.
His power of flight renders him immune to the atmospheric effects of flying at high speeds. His near invulnerability is provided by a force field closely over his skin. This force field can withstand a bazooka shell without any deformation. It is currently understood that repeated impacts will weaken the field and eventually penetrate it. However, the exact weakness of the force field has altered, partly because of a poor grasp of continuity by writers and editors. Although extremely durable, it is not impenetrable. The villain Slaymaster, possessed of no superhuman powers but with a trained martial artist's ability to find the most vulnerable point in any structure breached the field above the Captain's left shoulder. Since then it has been breached in a variety of ways. During Excalibur it was more or less forgotten, and was at one point demoted to a force field to protect him from atmospheric conditions when flying. There also seems to be confusion as to whether the force field is projected by Brian or is part of the suit. From Captain Britain's appearance in The Daredevils, it was an ability he personally possessed. However, it may be that he is not yet aware of this fact and still believes it is an inherent part of the suit. After all, in a later issue of Excalibur he specifically refers to the suit as generating the force field.
Brian is the fraternal twin of Betsy Braddock, resulting in a strong psychic bond between the two. As described by writer Chris Claremont in the Uncanny X-Men House of M story line, the two are in fact immune to each other's powers because of their genetic connection. (See issues of Uncanny X-Men, #462-#465.)
For a time, all of Braddock's abilities were localized to Britain; if he went abroad for too long a time without wearing his costume, his powers eventually diminished to nothing. Not long after he was killed by the Fury, Merlyn remade his body and chose to make Braddock's powers innate and stronger, with his costume merely serving as a "battery" and amplifier. Again this idea has not been consistent and during the appearance of Excalibur in Quasar he states that both Meggan and he will lose their powers outside of the UK, although he is wearing his costume at the time. Indeed, the whole device of Brian and Meggan's powers fading outside the UK seems to flatly contradict episodes in Captain Britain monthly where they consecutively visited Africa, Russia, and ancient South America without any apparent diminution of their abilities.
When he and Meggan destroyed the Otherworld energy matrix at Roma's prompting, the energies that allowed him to retain his power within the UK without his costume were dissipated. Hence, to retain his powers anywhere on Earth, he must wear the costume at all times. His costume acts as an antenna and battery, allowing him to retain his powers wherever he goes.
[edit] Other versions
Notable alternate Brian Braddocks, in addition to those seen as members of the Captain Britain Corps, include:
[edit] Age of Apocalypse
- Main article: Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse, Brian Braddock never becomes Captain Britain, and is one of the members of the Human High Council, alongside Moira Trask, Bolivar Trask, Emma Frost and Mariko Yashida. Braddock is also the most vocal advocate for the extermination of mutants, much to the weariness of Yashida and Frost, who seems much less fanatical in their beliefs. However, Braddock becomes the victim of a mind control device and is forced to act as a mole for Donald Pierce and his Reavers, all servants of Apocalypse. Under the control of Pierce, Braddock proposes the assembly of the entire Council fleet to attack Apocalypse's capital. Braddock dies at Pierce's hands when he overcomes his influence and refuses to kill Emma Frost.
[edit] Ultimate Captain Britain
- Main article: Ultimate Marvel
In the continuity of the Ultimate Marvel universe, Captain Britain is a member of the European Defense Initiative (the EU equivalent of the Ultimates), with Captain Italy, Captain France and Captain Spain, all of whom have similar powers. All four of them developed their powers from the same source: a super powered exo-suit developed by his father, Professor Sir James Braddock, who oversees the EDI super soldier program.
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Television
Captain Britain was briefly seen in the fourth part of the Phoenix Saga from the X-Men animated television series, in the episode, The Starjammers. Psylocke mentions him during Beyond Good and Evil, though she merely says "my brother", hinting also he's a mutant in this continuity.
[edit] Bibliography
[edit] List of titles
[edit] Collections
- Captain Britain: Birth of a Legend (collecting Captain Britain vol.1, #1-23). Paperback, ISBN 1905239300. Published by Panini Publishing Ltd.
- Captain Britain tpb (2002) reprints Marvel Superheroes, #387-388, The Daredevils, #1-11 and The Mighty World Of Marvel, volume 2, #7-13. All stories are written by Alan Moore and drawn by Alan Davis.
- Captain Britain (1988) trade paperback reprints The Mighty World Of Marvel, volume 2, #14-16 and Captain Britain Monthly, #1-14. By Jamie Delano and Alan Davis.
[edit] UK published titles
- Captain Britain Weekly, #1-39
- Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain, #231-253
- Hulk Weekly, #1-63
- Marvel Superheroes, #377-388
- The Daredevils, #1-11
- The Mighty World Of Marvel, volume 2, #7-16
- Captain Britain Monthly, #1-14
- Knights of Pendragon, volume one, #1-18
- Recently Panini Comics have reprinted Marvel UK's Captain Britain monthly material in The Mighty World Of Marvel (vol. 3). They have also produced new material in Spectacular Spider-Man (UK edition) #114.
[edit] US published titles
- Excalibur: The Sword is Drawn (also known as Excalibur Special Edition)
- Excalibur, Vol. 1, #1-125
- Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem
- Excalibur: Weird War III
- Excalibur: The Possession
- Excalibur: Air Apparent
- Excalibur Annual, #1-2
- Excalibur #-1
- Excalibur Vol. 2 #1-4 - a mini series solicited as Excalibur: Sword of Power, and occasionally called by that name.
- Marvel Team-Up, #65-66
- New Excalibur, #1 - present (on-going series, starting November 2005)
- New Mutants, annual #2
- X-Men Archives featuring Captain Britain (1995), #1-7 - seven issues later collected in Captain Britain tpb (2002)
[edit] Significant stories
[edit] See also
- Excalibur
- Knights of Pendragon
- Captain Britain Corps
- Marvel Comics Multiverse
- Marvel Universe
- Marvel UK
