Of the many purple things we’ve seen so far in Bryan Singer’s forthcoming X-Men: Apocalypse, the most intriguing isn’t Oscar Isaac’s Apocalypse’s passing resemblance to Ivan Ooze (of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie infamy); rather, it is Olivia Munn’s purple-haired, katana-wielding mutant assassin Psylocke. Since she first appeared in the X-Men universe in Marvel Comics’ New Mutants Annual #2 in 1986, Psylocke has become something of a fan favorite, thanks to her blend of psionic powers, martial arts, and Jim Lee’s outrageous art. Judging by the trailers for X-Men: Apocalypse, our first taste of Betsy Braddock and the focused totality of her psychic powers on the silver screen is looking pretty awesome. But we don’t know much about what version of the character we’ll be seeing.
Image via Marvel Comics
Although Psylocke has been a seminal part of the X-Men universe for 30 years now (and the Marvel universe for 40 years), her backstory is more byzantine and unnecessarily complicated than trying to play a single game of Mousetrap. (In history, only one man has ever done it: Byron T. Mousetrap, the game’s creator.) Her sordid saga includes everything from becoming an amnesiac ninja assassin to swapping bodies with a Japanese woman to dying multiple times only to be resurrected, and much, much more. So on the latest episode of The Dan Cave, I’m navigating the narrative labyrinth of Psylocke’s comic book history to tell you everything you need to know about mutantkind’s newest movie star before you see her on the big screen.
What version of Psylocke do you hope to see on the screen? What’s your favorite Psylocke story? Would you tune in for a Psylocke solo movie? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
X-Men: Apocalypse opens on May 27, 2016.
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Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter and ask about his overly convoluted backstory (@Osteoferocious).
