Brian Braddock (Earth-616)
From Marvel Database
Contents |
History
Born in the small town of Maldon, Essex. Brian was a college student in England when he got into a motorcycle crash, apparently due to some mob goons who were pursuing him.
Bleeding to death, Brian was approached by Merlin and his daughter Roma, who told him that he could live if he became Britain's next great champion. They offered Brian a choice: The Amulet of Right (or Life) or the Sword of Might (or Death). Being a scholar and not conceiving of himself as a warrior, Brian chose the Amulet.
He then became Captain Britain, complete with costume and super-powers, as well as a golden mace.
Soon afterwards, Brian came to America on a study abroad program. By a strange twist of fate, he ended up rooming with Peter Parker at Empire State University. Parker also had a secret identity, namely Spider-Man, and the two began meeting for nightly patrols and training, each not knowing that the other was his roommate. This was about the time that Brian began to drink heavily, and it affected his performance both as a student and as a hero. He did get it under control enough to graduate with a doctorate in physics, but the demons of alcoholism would continue to haunt him for years.
Some time after Brian returned to England, he gave up the Captain Britain identity, allowing his sister Betsy to take up the mantle. Unfortunately, Betsy was unprepared to be Captain Britain, and lost her eyes in a battle with Slaymaster. Brian heard his twin's pain through her telepathy and a special bond they share, and rushed back to fight Slaymaster, whom he then killed. Brian then resumed the mantle of Captain Britain, and fought evil as Britain's premier superhero.
Then, when the X-Men appeared to die in Dallas (see Fall of the Mutants), Brian was disconsolate over his sister's death. He drank heavily, and scared away his lover Meggan, who went to find Nightcrawler, an acquaintance of hers on Muir Island. Meggan arrived at the same time as the Technet, an interdimensional band of mercenaries who were looking for Phoenix. When Meggan and Shadowcat were captured by the Technet, Nightcrawler went to enlist Captain Britain's aid. However, Kurt found Brian deep in a drunken stupor, completely depressed and uninterested in doing anything anymore. So Nightcrawler pitched Brian over the edge of his lighthouse's balcony and into the ocean. When Brian recovered and flew back, Nightcrawler convinced him to help him find the women. At the successful conclusion of that mission, Cap joined with the other mutants to form Excalibur, England's premier superteam.
Although Captain Britain by rights began to lead the team, it was clear early on that he was not cutting it, and his teammates began to pick up the slack. Then, when Phoenix flew off to America during Inferno, Captain Britain discovered that his powers were linked to England, and would diminish if he left he country for too long. This weakness was partially alleviated when Excalibur went dimension-hopping during the Cross-Time Caper when Captain Britain received the magical costume of Captain Marshall (the Captain Britain of that world) which acted as a battery for his arcane power.
Months later, Brian suddenly began to grow larger as his body absorbed more and more energy. When the team journeyed to Otherworld they found out that Necrom was planning to use the coming Cosmic Convergence to become omnipotent. Using Shadowcat's powers the team merged into Brian's enormous body and fixed the damage Necrom was doing across the multiverse. Then, on Roma's secret cue, Meggan drained Brian of all his excess energy, returning him to normal size, and fired it at the tower which was the linchpin through all the dimensions of the multiverse.
Brian quit costumed adventuring for a time and concentrated on his science, building the Midnight Runner for the team's use. Then he and Meggan took some time off from the team and got engaged, but they and the rest of Excalibur were soon captured by the R.C.X. and Brian was severely beaten when he resisted. Dying, broken and bloody, he was healed by Roma, who fixed the arcane circuitry in his costume to match his body's frequencies, and who also removed a "blunder factor" she had cast over him, ensuring that he would need the help of a team until he saw the innate value in it.
Immediately afterwards, Phoenix reappeared and Excalibur journeyed to the future to save it from the Sentinels. Unfortunately, on the way back Brian was lost in the timestream. No one had a clue how to find him until his body parts started appearing in the same space as Rachel's, first his arms, then his chest, for brief flickers. Meggan confronted Rachel about Brian's whereabouts and with Daytripper's help they opened a rift in which Brian and Rachel switched places. Rachel was flung to the far future to become the Mother Askani, and Brian returned home. However, he was flooded with memories of the far future and seemed disconnected for the real world.
He called himself Britanic for some time, but eventually re-acclimated himself to his old life, although he did quit drinking.
After receiving a message of impending danger from Jean Grey, who had found Alistaire Stuart running from Black Air, and one from Shinobi Shaw regarding Mountjoy's infiltration into the London Hellfire Club, Brian went to the Club and claimed 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 was attacked by the Black Queen and Scribe, who was possessed by Mountjoy. Luckily, Brian was in his newly-refurbished costume, complete with projectable forcefield, and he defeated them both.
He appeared to have come to terms with both his scientific and superhero sides. Soon afterwards, however, in a battle with the Dragons of the Crimson Dawn, Brian expended all of his power to stop a dimensional portal from opening. He has not regained his powers, and it does not appear that he will at any point in the near future. He left the team for a while, but returned to fulfill his dream of marrying Meggan. At the ceremony on Otherworld, the rest of the team decided to return to the States, so Excalibur disbanded, leaving Captain Britain and Meggan as Britain's foremost heroes.
Brian soon went to work at the Darkmoor research facility, and it was during one of his tests (on the new blade and armor of his friend the Black Knight) that Widget reappeared with warriors who attacked him and Meggan, stating that Roma ordered it done. The heroes (including Psylocke, who was also visting in England) drove the attackers off, then followed them to Otherworld, where they discovered that that Captain Britain Corps had been decimated. Together with the survivors, Crusader X and Captain U.K., Brian and his comrades had to stop Roma from acquiring the Sword of Might, which together with the Amulet of Right (which had returned to Otherworld when Brian lost his powers) could remake the cosmos. Brian went in search of the sword, and ended up finding a computer-filled shrine in a cavern built by his father. A hologram of James Braddock, Sr. explained to Brian that he was the savior and rightful heir of Otherworld, and had the innate right to wield Excalibur. The hologram re-activated Brian's powers, and Brian drew the sword, which generated a fiery St. Andrew's Cross (from the British flag) as a mask on his face. Brian then confronted Roma, who was revealed to be his father's sentient and insane computer Mastermind, and defeated him together with the real Roma. Roma then relinquished control of Otherworld to Captain Britain, and he and Meggan remained 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.
Recently, Brian and Meggan appeared to Kelsey Leigh, a British mother who had died protecting her kids and Captain America from the Wrecking Crew with Captain America's own shield, and offered her the choice between the Amulet and the Sword, making her into a new Captain Britain upon her choice of Excalibur. Brian himself was captured by Morgan le Fey, who hoped to kill him, thereby destroying England via Brian's mystical connection with the land, but since his power was transferred to Kelsey, the plan failed. Later, Brian invited some of the X-Men to his home, but he was attacked by the regenerated Fury first, though he survived.
Captain Britain was forced to come back to Earth to stop the House of M reality from coming into existence. During this time, his wife Meggan apparently sacrificed her life to save a rip in time from destroying the Earth. This had resulted in Brian becoming active as Captain Britain again and the formation of the all new Excalibur, along with Pete Wisdom, Sage, Juggernaut, Dazzler and Nocturne.
Secret Invasion
During the Secret Invasion Captain Britain and MI-13 believed that the Skrulls planned to invade Avalon through The Siege Perilous. In taking the magical realm of Avalon the Skrulls would control the Earth's magic. To keep this from happening Brian tried to stop a Skrull nuclear missile head on by sacrificing himself. As British military, MI-6 and Avalon where making their last stand Merlyn resurrected Braddock. Immediately Brian entered Avalon and pulled out Excalibur from the stone. Upon arriving at Brittan’s last line of defense attacked the Super-Skrull Commander. After the battle going in favor of both sides Brian threw the final blow. At the same moment Satannish, who had given Wisdom one wish in exchange for letting him free on Earth, destroyed all Skrulls in the British Isles and any that have and will try to enter.
Following the events of the Skrull invasion, as the new members of MI-13 attempted to adjust and Brian began to grasp how his new powers worked, they were sent to assist Captain Midlands, who was investigating one of the threats that Pete Wisdom had unleashed to defeat the Skrulls, Plokta.Powers and Abilities
Powers
Interdimensional Energy Conduit: His abilities are powered by interdimensional energies which are concentrated around the British Isles of each reality and also in Otherworld; moving too far away from the field will cause eventual power loss unless a power-enhancing costume is worn. After being lost in the timestream for a while, Brian briefly had precognitive flashes, though these eventually abated. For a time, all of his abilities were localized to Britain; if he went abroad for too long a time without wearing his costume, his powers eventually diminished to nothing. His costume acts as an antenna and battery, allowing him to retain his powers wherever he goes. When he and Meggan destroyed the Otherworld energy matrix at Roma's prompting, however, 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.
Originally, his powers were linked to the Amulet of Right, worn around his neck, and he depended on a mace-like Star Scepter to fly. Later on Merlyn changed his costume just before he entered an alternate Earth (Earth-238), removing the Amulet and the Scepter placing the powers in his new costume. Not long after that he was killed by the Fury and had his body remade by Merlyn, who chose this point to make his powers innate and stronger, with his costume merely serving as a "battery" and amplifier.
- Superhuman Strength: While wearing his costume, Braddock's strength is increased to high superhuman levels. At his peak, he's able to lift 90 tons.
- Superhuman Stamina: Braddock's advanced musculature produces considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of a normal human. At his peak, he can exert himself physically for over 48 hours before the build up of fatigue toxins in his blood begins to impair him.
- Superhuman Durability: While wearing his costume, Braddock's body is surrounded by an invisible force field that renders him highly resistant to physical injury. The field allows him to sustain powerful energy blasts, great impact forces such as bazooka shells or being repeatedly struck by superhumanly strong opponents, temperature extremes, and falls from great heights without being injured. However, repeated impacts from sufficiently powerful forces or weaponry will weaken and, eventually, penetrate the field. The field's density, however, is specially designed to allow oxygen and light to pass through it.
- Superhuman Agility: Braddock's agility, balance, and bodily coordination are enhanced to levels that are beyond the natural physical limits of the finest human athlete.
- Superhuman Reflexes: Braddock's reflexes are similarly enhanced and are superior to those of the finest human athlete.
- Superhuman Senses: Braddock can purposely draw upon the energies that give him his other powers to temporarily increase the efficiency of his senses, enhancing them to superhuman levels. He can see objects with perfect clarity at much greater distances than a normal human can. His hearing is similarly enhanced, allowing him to hear further than a human and to detect sounds normal humans can't.
- Flight: Braddock can also channel these energies for the purpose of flying through the air at great speeds. At his peak, he is capable of surpassing the Speed of Sound, 770 miles per hour. The force field that grants him his superhuman durability enables him to withstand the rigors of traveling at such high velocities would have on human tissue without harm, as well as allowing him to breathe normally.
Abilities
Strength level
Currently, his powers are based on his own confidence. The more he believes in himself and what he is doing, the stronger he is, and the less susceptible to damage he becomes. Formerly, Braddock's powers were dependent upon his costume. If he wasn't wearing it, then he couldn't gain access to the interdimensional energies that granted him his powers. Also, though the force field protects him from conventional physical injury, it does leave him vulnerable to attack from "knock out" gasses as they can pass through his force field as easily as Oxygen can.Paraphernalia
Equipment
Captain Britain's costume stores interdimensional energies, acting as a battery for when he is away from the matrix which surrounds the British Isles.Transportation
No known transportationWeapons
Captain Britain originally wielded a quarterstaff (which could produce a forcefield), and later the Star Sceptre (which allowed flight, as well as the forcefield). Merlyn eventually moved these powers into Brian's costume, and eventually into Brian himself.
Brian temporarily wielded the sword Excalibur during the adventure which saw him ascend the throne of Otherworld.Notes
Brian Braddock made his first US appearance: Marvel Team-Up #65.
Links
- Appearances of Brian Braddock (Earth-616)
- Character Gallery: Brian Braddock (Earth-616)
- Images that feature Brian Braddock (Earth-616)
- Fan-Art Gallery: Brian Braddock (Earth-616)
- Quotations by Brian Braddock (Earth-616)
- UncannyXmen.net Spotlight on Captain Britain
- Marvel Directory entry for Excalibur
- Marvel Heroes Classic Role-playing Game Statistics for Captain Britain
Discover and Discuss
- Search News for: Captain Britain · Brian Braddock · Brian Braddock (Earth-616)
- Search Forums for: Captain Britain · Brian Braddock · Brian Braddock (Earth-616)
- Discuss this and other characters on the forums
