Excalibur (comics)
The initial Excalibur roster, which was featured in the first eponymous series from 1988 to 1998, consisted of original Captain Britain Brian Braddock and his lover Meggan, along with three former members of the X-Men: Shadowcat, Nightcrawler, and the second Phoenix, Rachel Summers.Another Claremont-written series entitled Excalibur, though with no connection to the original team, chronicled the efforts of X-Men founder Professor Charles Xavier and his former nemesis Magneto to rebuild the mutant homeland of Genosha.Beginning with Excalibur #42, Davis returned to the series, this time as both writer and penciller, and resolved many plotlines that Claremont had left unconcluded.In a jarring transition, Captain Britain was lost off-panel, Meggan was suddenly catatonic from losing him, and the newer members were summarily dispatched.Lobdell also introduced Douglock, an amalgam of two previously deceased members of the New Mutants: the techno-organic alien Warlock and the linguistic savant Cypher.Revisions made under Warren Ellis included reverting Britannic back to Captain Britain and adding Pete Wisdom, a cynical British spy who could manifest solar energy in the form of "hot knives" that could be shot out from his fingers.At the insistence of Marvel editors, Ellis also added Wolfsbane, a Scottish werewolf-like young woman from the New Mutants and X-Factor, and Colossus, the Russian X-Man who can turn his flesh into organic steel.[2] In 2004, Marvel Comics launched a new ongoing series titled Excalibur, this time dealing with the efforts of Professor Xavier and Magneto to rebuild the devastated mutant nation of Genosha (which was destroyed at the beginning of Grant Morrison's X-Men run).New Excalibur has more in common with the original series than the Genosha-based book had, for it features Captain Britain and Peter Wisdom as main characters and takes place in London.Since the incident with Psylocke, New Excalibur has met up with a repowered Chamber, visited and saved Camelot (while the Black Knight temporarily traveled with them), and have attempted to help the Juggernaut with some troubles stemming from his powers that he received from the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak.Saturnyne then promises to free Albion from jail to lead the Corps, while Sage and Nocturne switch teams with Longshot, who now remembers the highlights of his past.As revenge, Rogue kills Apocalypse, who is later resurrected on Krakoa by the Five and arrives in Camelot to convince Morgan le Fay to allow them to settle their grievances with a duel between Captain Britain and her brother.Brian, freed from Morgan's control finds that he is no longer fit to be Captain Britain and officially bequeaths the title to Betsy.[15] Apocalypse and Exodus request that Excalibur obtain warwolf heads as they have magical qualities, leading the team into conflict with Cullen Bloodstone, is also hunting them.Apocalypse tasks Excalibur with planting a gateway in the Starlight Citadel, which brings them into conflict with Lady Saturnyne, who refuses to accept Betsy as the new Captain Britain.[16] During the X of Swords event, Apocalypse reveals that his motives for powering the External Gate was so that he could reach Arakko, an island that was once part of Krakoa, where his wife Genesis and their children, his original Four Horsemen have been trapped thousands of years fighting demons.A rescue mission similarly goes awry but the fighting is stopped by Saturnyne, who declares that a tournament be held between the champions of Krakoa and Arakko in order to avoid all-out war which could potentially destabilize Otherworld, of which she is regent.During their search, Saturnyne expresses her hatred for Betsy, locks her in prison and states that she is unworthy to be Captain Britain because she did not have to choose between the amulet and the sword as is tradition because she was simply given it by Brian back in Avalon.Excalibur team up with Pete Wisdom to defend the Lighthouse from Clan Akkaba, who have turned the British people against Betsy, a mutant Captain Britain who abandoned them for Krakoa.Emma Frost arrives and declares that the Krakoan Council attempted to arrange an audience with Saturnyne but, as they did not have a Captain Britain to represent them, their request was refused but, now that Betsy is back, she must do her job.[18] Other members of the Captain Britain Corps attempt to search for Betsy until one of them, Elspeth Braddock, finally locates her consciousness and traps it in a lamp.[19] During the Hellfire Gala, Betsy attends a meeting with Professor X, Emma Frost and the UK ambassador, who is secretly a member of Clan Akkaba.Rictor is sent into a spiral when Shatterstar appears and tries to reconnect, causing him to cleave the piece of land where the Lighthouse stands into a new island off the coast of the UK.[20] From an alternate Earth where the Nazis have won World War II, and led by Hauptmann Englande, the Lightning Force team consists of Meggan, Shadowcat, and Nightcrawler.