Excalibur

A super-squad consisting of British heroes and mutants, Excalibur headquarters in the United Kingdom and protects that part of the world from threats traditional, supernatural, and extraterrestrial.

A Team Forged

Other teams are founded, but Excalibur was forged. Following a plan prepared by her seemingly deceased father Merlyn, the Omniversal Guardian Roma forges links between British heroes Brian Braddock, AKA Captain Britain, his paramour, the metamorphic Meggan Puceanu, AKA Meggan, and the American-based X-Men. Roma covertly arranges for Brian’s sister Betsy, AKA Psylocke, to join the latter group and ensures the X-Men’s seeming deaths are broadcast across the globe. As a side effect, it pulls Brian and Meggan closer to surviving X-Men Kurt Wagner, AKA Nightcrawler, and Kitty Pryde, AKA Shadowcat (later Kate Pryde), who had been recovering from a prior battle on Scotland’s Muir Island.

Roma then engineers the escape of abducted former X-Man Rachel Summers, AKA Phoenix (now Marvel Girl), from Mojo’s realm as a catalyst to unite the five as a team, initially working together to prevent both Roma’s agents the Technet and Mojo’s Warwolves from recapturing his former prisoner. Unaware of Roma’s machinations or that they were intended as a weapon to fight Merlyn’s old foe Necrom, the group sets up base in Captain Britain’s lighthouse home. Though from the start, individual members experience several reality slips within the structure, warning signs of Necrom’s approaching apotheosis.

Elsewhere in the U.K., the mysterious, robot-like Widget (a mentally-scrambled amalgamation of Earth-811 Kate Rasputin-Pryde and a Sentinel) is also inadvertently facilitating travel between realities. Among others, he sends young mutant Colin McKay to Ee’rath (Earth-148), UFO hunter Rupert Holloway to Earth-794, and brings deposed tyrant Opul Lun Sat-Yr-9 to the Excalibur’s Earth (Earth-616).

Meanwhile, Excalibur’s earliest escapades see them stop Cain Marko, AKA Juggernaut, from escaping prison, and take on the Crazy Gang and Arcade in Murderworld. They build alliances with the Weird Happenings Organization (W.H.O.), its commanding officer Brigadier Alysande Stuart and her brother, the scientist Alistaire Stuart, add Widget to the team officially, and ally with Commander Dai Thomas of Scotland Yard. However, Brian’s old flame Courtney Ross is killed and replaced by Sat-Yr-9, her doppelgänger.

Excalibur soon clashes with Lightning Force, Nazi-counterparts of themselves who desire to retrieve some of Widget’s other dimensionally displaced victims. While returning the Nazis to their home dimension (Reality-597), Widget’s powers accidentally lead to Excalibur and Alistaire embarking on a prolonged caper across the timelines, struggling through numerous alternate realities as they struggle to find their way home.

Back on Earth-616, “Courtney” uses Jamie Braddock, Brian’s deranged reality-warping brother, to take over the crimelord Vixen’s organization, and befriends Kitty when she returns home ahead of the rest of the team.

Banding Together

The original Excalibur team includes leader Brian Braddock as Captain Britain, Meggan, Nightcrawler, Marvel Girl, Kitty Pryde, and Lockheed. Roma strategically places them together in response to the destruction of the X-Men by the mystical entity Adversary. Led by Captain Britain—though unknown to all of them, they are gathered by Merlyn’s daughter Roma who hopes to defeat Necrom, an extradimensional sorcerer who desires the Phoenix Force within Rachel Summers.

Nightcrawler and Shadowcat band together with Captain Britain and Meggan to help Phoenix defeat the villain Mojo’s Warwolves and the Technet bounty hunter team, and the group decides to form a permanent team to honor the legacy of the X-Men, and names it after King Arthur’s legendary sword. Excalibur’s ranks grow to include Cerise, Piotr Rasputin, AKA Colossus; Amanda Sefton, AKA Day Tripper (though her real name is Jimaine Szardos, AKA Magik); Warlock, AKA Douglock (later just Warlock); Feron, Colin McKay, AKA Kylun; Lockheed; Dr. Moira MacTaggert, Scott Wright, AKA Micromax; Katherine Anne Pryde-Rasputin, AKA Widget; Peter Wisdom, and Rahne Sinclair, AKA Wolfsbane.

Love triangles cause big problems for Excalibur. Just prior to Colossus joining the team, he discovers his former flame Kitty kissing Peter Wisdom and Colossus nearly beats him to death out of jealousy. The team takes him on anyway. In the team’s earlier days, Nightcrawler and Captain Britain fight over the bewitching Meggan. When she and Captain Britain are finally married, Excalibur falls apart. Though Captain Britain twice reforms the team, with different members each time: the Otherworld and New Excalibur teams.

The Otherworld team includes returning leader Captain Britain and his now wife Meggan, as well as new members Dane Whitman, AKA Black Knight, Linda McQuillan, AKA Captain U.K., Bran Braddock, AKA Crusader X, Brian’s sister, Betsy, and James Cremens, AKA Sir Benedict.

The New Excalibur team is led by Captain Britain with team members Alison Blaire, AKA Dazzler, Juggernaut, Kelsey Kirkland Leigh, AKA Lionheart, Longshot, Talia Wagner, AKA Nocturne, Tessa, AKA Sage, and Peter Wisdom returning. They go their separate ways again after a battle with manipulative magician Merlyn. Several members go on to team up under the British intelligence agency MI-13.

But their end was another team’s beginning. Much later, Betsy revitalizes the team by taking the Amulet of Right to become Captain Britain when her brother becomes a pawn of the mystical sorceress Morgan le Fay, who lays siege in Otherworld. The team includes En Sabah Nur, Apocalypse, Jubilation Lee, AKA Jubilee, Julio Richter, AKA Rictor, Anna Marie LeBeau, AKA Rogue, and Remy LeBeau, AKA Gambit. Together, they defend Britain, Earth, and Otherworld.

Excalibur’s Enemies

Excalibur faces the villain Mojo’s Warwolves and the Technet bounty hunter team. They take on foes such as Galactus, Jason Wyngarde, AKA Mastermind, Earth-8908’s Alfie O’Meagan, and Nightmare. Mesmero temporarily takes control of their minds, using them to battle Fenris (Strucker twins), until Shadowcat returned to the fold and freed them. Reunited, Excalibur takes on Arnim Zola, Silver Sablinova, AKA Silver Sable and her Outlaws, Thor Odinson, AKA Thor, the Wrecking Crew, and, with the help of the Avengers, Victor Von Doom, AKA Doctor Doom.

Unknown to the team, they were forged by the Omniversal Guardian Roma to defeat her father Merlyn’s nemesis Necrom, a powerful sorcerer. Necrom desired to compress the multiverse into a singularity as well as the Phoenix Force that resides within Excalibur team-member Phoenix (Rachel Summers). Necrom merges with the life-destroying Anti-Phoenix before attacking Excalibur. To combat his attempt at compressing the universe, the team’s founders physically merge to stop it while Phoenix faces him alone and defeats him.

The team goes up against the covert Black Air agency and the London Branch of the Hellfire Club. Some of the team infiltrates Hellfire’s ranks to avert a terrible future and they succeed at stopping them. The team disbands shortly thereafter but a newly formed Excalibur survives the reality-warp of M-Day and face off a couple times with the Shadow King and come up against Black Air again.

Later, Merlyn—displeased with his protégé’s Roma and Captain Britain—sends the killer Rouge-Mort and her Janissaries to Earth-616 to slay Brian and encourages the reality-warping Sir James Jaspers to attack Roma’s Starlight Citadel. There Merlyn decimates the Captain Britain Corps and apparently slays Roma but she survives in Sage’s mind and New Excalibur defeats Merlyn causing him to flee.

Stronger in Number

Occasionally Excalibur teams up with members of the government agency FI6 as well as the Avengers, X-Men, and Exiles to go up against the world and the multiverse’s most dangerous threats.

While the Omniversal Guardian Roma manipulates Excalibur into forming and has designs for the team to defeat Necrom, the team still protects her as she is still a guardian of the multiverse. After Excalibur defeats a tyrant threatening Otherworld, Roma abdicates her rule and hands leadership over to Captain Britain and Meggan for a time.

Excalibur’s Era

Upon returning to Earth-616, the team faced new foes from the world-eater Galactus and the Fear Lord Nightmare to the mind-controlling Mesmero. Mesmero divided the team by taking over their minds and it was Shadowcat that returned to the fold and saved them. Reunited, Excalibur battled many more villains once teaming up with the Avengers against Doctor Doom.

Nightcrawler developed feelings for Meggan, leading to tension between him and Captain Britain, which eventually erupted into a brawl. As a result, Brian was snatched by the Captain Britain Corps, a group composed of the various “Captain Britain”-type heroes created across the multiverse by Merlyn; as Earth-616’s representative, he was taken to Otherworld and tried for breaching their rules by attacking a member of the population he was assigned to defend. The case was dropped at the request of Roma, but while there Captain Britain learned of her involvement in the creation of Excalibur, and that his lighthouse was an interdimensional energy focus stretching across the multiverse.

Meanwhile the warrior Kylun (the now adult Colin McKay) flushed Necrom from his hiding place on Ee’rath. Necrom fled to Earth-616, where his preparations to awaken the life-destroying Anti-Phoenix drew the attention of Excalibur and government agency FI6. Necrom merged with the Anti-Phoenix, and slew most of FI6 before flying to the Lighthouse to attack Excalibur. There he faced both the founding members and their new allies: Kylun, who had followed him from Ee’rath; surviving FI6 agent Scott Wright, AKA Micromax; the extraterrestrial Shi’ar, AKA Cerise; and Feron, last in a line of mages bred for generations to face the Anti-Phoenix. While these allies battled Necrom, the Excalibur founders physically merged with one another to undo his attempt to compress the multiverse into a singularity. Once this was done, Phoenix faced Necrom alone; he was destroyed attempting to absorb all her power, but she was rendered comatose. Merlyn revealed he was still alive, but, angered at his manipulations, the team destroyed the lighthouse rather than let him use its energies.

They relocated to Braddock Manor, and soon afterwards the Phoenix force removed its injured host Sat-Yr-9 then revealed her true colors, attacking the team and their friends, but she, Jamie Braddock, and her agents were driven off. Subsequently Excalibur teamed up with the X-Men to rescue the mutant Alchemy from the Troll Associates, fought alongside some of the Avengers in Wakanda against Dr. A’Kurru U’mbay, AKA Icon, and Brian finally proposed to Meggan. Government agency Resources Control Executive (RCX), which had gathered the super-powered victims of a reality warp which had once afflicted Britain, turning these “Warpies” into a private army, became alarmed at the rise in the number of freelance superhumans operating in the U.K., and at the sudden power loss affecting many of their Warpie agents (a result of the destruction of the lighthouse). RCX tried to forcibly co-opt the services of Excalibur until the heroes managed to impose a change of leadership within the organization. Then Phoenix returned, her mind healed, to take the team to her own dystopian future, where, allied with surviving heroes of that reality, they reprogrammed the ruling Sentinel regime to preserve all life. However their return from Earth-811’s future saw Captain Britain lost in the timestream.

Cerise subsequently returned to the Shi’ar to do penance for war crimes, Feron accidentally turned himself into water, washing away and taking some time to regain his true form; the others assumed he had simply wandered off. Kylun also left the team to find his parents, Micromax departed for a job in America. It soon became clear that Phoenix and Captain Britain were somehow linked, with the missing hero’s features intermittently switching places with some of Phoenix’s. The team relocated to Muir Island and added Doctor Moira MacTaggert to their ranks, and began to use that facility’s equipment to try to retrieve Brian. With the help of Nightcrawler’s old flame, sorceress Amanda Sefton, now calling herself Day Tripper (and later Daytripper), they rescued the lost hero, with Phoenix taking his place in the time stream. However his travels had changed him; plagued with memories of the future, Brian took the new identity of Britannic.

Excalibur went on to battle D’Spayre and Stryfe’s agent Zero, and gained a new member in the techno-organic Douglock, before facing the threat of the Phalanx. Shadowcat learned the magical Soulsword she had become bonded to when her friend Illyana Rasputin, AKA Magik, seemingly died was too dangerous for her to keep. It was capable of bringing out her dark side, and coveted by mages such as Gravemoss, so Day Tripper passed it to her mother Margali Szardos, not realizing that she would then use it to kill other sorcerers to advance her own rise to power. Former spy Peter Wisdom joined the team when Excalibur made a trip to Genosha; Wisdom and Shadowcat soon became lovers after working together to investigate his old employers, the covert ops Black Air. Not long after this both Rahne Sinclair, AKA Wolfsbane, and Piotr Rasputin, AKA Colossus joined Excalibur.

Meanwhile, as Brian gradually became his former self and abandoned his Britannic identity, he suffered one last prophetic vision, which hinted at a terrible future that would come to pass if Black Air and their allies in the London Branch of the Hellfire Club were not stopped. Brian used his family connections to infiltrate the Club and resumed the role of Captain Britain. As the villains attempted to use a kidnapped Douglock combined with Hellfire-member Margali’s magic to take over Britain, Excalibur opposed them with support from the X-Men, thwarting their plans and averting the catastrophic destiny Brian had foreseen.

A short time later Brian renewed his proposal to Meggan, but before she could answer, they were attacked by the Crimson Dawn, who wanted to use Brian’s powers as a key to eroding the barriers between Earth and the dimension their group had once been banished to. Aided by Excalibur, Brian and Meggan managed to stop them, but at the cost of Brian’s powers. In spite of this, a few months later the pair was married in Otherworld at a wedding attended by many of their friends. Sensing the time was right, Excalibur disbanded, with many of its members returning to America and the X-Men.

A new team was briefly formed when the computer Mastermind was reprogrammed by Nathaniel Richards, AKA Kang the Conqueror, and attacked Otherworld; disguised as Roma and at the head of an army of Warpies, Mastermind slaughtered the Corps, imprisoned the real Roma, and took over the realm. With many of the Corps dead, Linda McQuillan, AKA Captain U.K. fled to Earth-616 and enlisted the aid of Brian Braddock, Meggan, Psylocke, and Dane Whitman, AKA Black Knight. They returned to Otherworld to confront the tyrant. Brian reclaimed the powers of Captain Britain, and with the addition of Bran Braddock, AKA Crusader X, and Sir Benedict, this new Excalibur freed Roma and liberated the realm. Afterward Roma abdicated the throne of Otherworld to Brian, who was crowned King.

Later, when Wanda Maximoff, AKA Scarlet Witch, engulfed Earth-616 in a reality warp, Captain Britain and Meggan returned from Otherworld to prevent their home reality’s destruction. Despite being assimilated into the Scarlet Witch’s new “House of M” reality, Captain Britain and Meggan saved Earth with the aid of old allies Psylocke, Peter Wisdom and Rachel Summer, AKA Marvel Girl, former foe Juggernaut, and Nocturne (Talia Wagner of Earth-2182, the daughter of an alternate reality Nightcrawler); however, Meggan seemingly sacrificed herself to seal an interdimensional rift, preventing the warp from destabilizing the multiverse. The Scarlet Witch subsequently reversed her warp, but simultaneously depowered most of Earth’s mutant population. Unaware of the cause, mutants across the globe woke on “M-Day” to find themselves powerless. Few recalled the House of M, and Brian retained only a vague impression, leaving him confused regarding his return to Earth, his wife’s sacrifice, and why he could not return to Otherworld. Peter Wisdom, one of the few remaining British mutants, believed that M-Day left the UK vulnerable and in need of Captain Britain to defend it. Following up their own vague recollections of the House of M, Nocturne, Psylocke, Juggernaut and Excalibur veterans Nightcrawler, Shadowcat and Marvel Girl came to check on Captain Britain.

Meanwhile, the cracks in reality permitted the Shadow King—whose Earth-616 aspect had been imprisoned and then banished by Brian’s siblings Elizabeth and Jamie—to bring his Earth-6141 host, Charles Xavier, to 616 in search of vengeance, accompanied by his minions, perverted versions of the X-Men later dubbed Shadow-X. They initially targeted Roger MacEwan of Fraser’s Bank, perhaps because his employer, was “Courtney Ross” (presumably still her assassin and imitator, Sat-Yr9), the combination of a fellow extradimensional with ties to a Braddock drawing the Shadow King’s interest. The former X-Man Dazzler, tried to help a terrified MacEwan escape Shadow- X, only for both to be slain. News of Alison Blaire, AKA Dazzler’s demise galvanized Brian’s visitors to investigate. Some of the group checked the crime scene, reviving a Dazzler inexplicably hanging on to life, while the others went to MacEwan’s intended destination to question Courtney Ross. While questioning Ross did not help identify Dazzler’s assailants’ identities, it did leave the heroes uncertain whether the true Courtney might have been restored in the wake of M-Day. Shadow-X attacked the gathered heroes, but with Sage’s added assistance the villains were defeated and taken into custody. Wisdom took down the Shadow King’s host body, firing energy blades through his brain, helping Marvel Girl to defeat him on the psychic plane.

Afterwards, Wisdom tried to convince his allies to re-form Excalibur to defend the UK. All but Nocturne declined or ignored the offer, with Nightcrawler, Psylocke, Shadowcat and Marvel Girl returning to America. Old Excalibur enemies Black Air sent the body-stealing Warwolves to eliminate the remaining heroes before Wisdom could win them over. Meanwhile, Captain Britain’s return drew other attention—Bran Bardic, AKA Albion of Earth-70518’s war-torn England, like Brian, had been picked by omniversal guardians Merlyn and Roma to defend his world as one of their cross-dimensional Corps only to be swiftly rejected after choosing empowerment from the Sword of Might, symbolizing the path of violence, rather than the Amulet of Right, the path of reason. Raging at this perceived abandonment, Albion had sworn vengeance against the Corps, eventually finding his way across the multiverse to Earth-616 where he recruited Kelsey Leigh Kirkland, AKA Lionheart (formerly Captain Britain), Brian’s chosen successor as 616’s guardian when he ruled Otherworld. Like Albion, Kelsey had chosen the Sword, only to be embittered when Brian informed her that her choice would forever estrange her from her children. As the Warwolves attacked Wisdom, Dazzler, Sage, Nocturne and Juggernaut, simultaneously Albion and Lionheart battled Captain Britain. The Warwolves were swiftly captured and the renegade Corps members retreated before Brian’s allies interfered. In the wake of these attacks, the group acknowledged the need to reassemble Excalibur, moving into a base provided by MI-13 at Empress Matilda Docks.

Subsequently, Black Air equipped Juggernaut’s former criminal partner and depowered mutant Black Tom Cassidy with new technological powers. He assailed most of Excalibur with mechanical vines while they were rescuing survivors of a terrorist bombing at Shepherd’s Cross Railway Station, set by Squadron Leader Colin Hardy of the Scarlet Knights. Meanwhile, across town, Tom and his Black Air allies hijacked the transport moving Shadow-X from Wormwood Scrubs Prison to the more secure Crossmoor facility. Tom slew Dazzler, but she again mysteriously revived, and despite the diversion, Excalibur disrupted the jailbreak. Black Air escaped with Shadow-X but left behind the Shadow King, while Juggernaut convinced Tom to surrender. Transferred to Crossmoor, the Shadow Xavier soon demanded to see Psylocke. When she visited his cell accompanied by Excalibur, the Shadow King revealed he was in control of Xavier and then telepathically took over Excalibur, intending to make Psylocke watch them slay Brian. In response, Psylocke telekinetically induced a stroke in Xavier, but before she could slay him, she was snatched out of reality, recruited into the extradimensional Exiles, Nocturne’s previous group.

Wisdom later visited the hospitalized Jonothan Starsmore, AKA Chamber, whose sudden “M-Day” depowering had caused him catastrophic injuries. Wisdom told Chamber that Excalibur was working on ways to heal him, adding that he hoped Chamber would join them once he recovered; however, ancient mutant Apocalypse’s follower Ozymandias of Clan Akkaba restored Chamber for his own reasons. Chamber subsequently rejected both Clan Akkaba and Excalibur, preferring to find his own path. Brian sought to recruit the Black Knight into Excalibur, but Dane was temporarily possessed by his ancestor Percy of Scandia’s ghost who informed Excalibur that Camelot had been prematurely destroyed by dragons. The Lady in the Lake’s magic sent Excalibur back in time, where alongside Merlin and King Arthur they defeated the dragons, actually Makluan aliens, preserving their own timeline (and diverging the one where Camelot was destroyed into Earth-6120). Back in the present, Cyttorak, the mystic entity who empowered Juggernaut, had grown displeased with Cain’s forsaking destruction to become a hero. Cyttorak telepathically played on Cain’s doubts over reforming, tempting him to return to his Korean temple to restore Cain’s recently reduced powers by claiming the Ruby within. Excalibur and the Black Knight followed, finding Cain moments after he had defeated a new Juggernaut chosen by Cyttorak to replace him; however, Cain resisted returning to Cyttorak’s service. Learning from Cyttorak that Cain had murdered the previous Juggernaut (Jin Taiko) and an entire innocent village to gain his powers years ago, Excalibur considered expelling him upon their return home, but Wisdom, no stranger to a dark past, overruled them, unaware that Cain had taken Cyttorak’s Ruby from the temple. Meanwhile, the Black Knight declined Excalibur membership, setting off on a quest to find his stolen Ebony Blade. Shortly after this, Excalibur helped repel an invasion of extradimensional Martians from Earth-691.

While foiling a bank robbery, Dazzler was again killed then spontaneously revived, but before the team could fully investigate this phenomenon, Nocturne suffered a stroke; her teammates subsequently helped her begin the slow process of recovery. Concurrently, Albion and Lionheart had forged an uneasy alliance with Black Air and Shadow-X, and were recruiting depowered mutants into the Shadow Captains, Albion’s version of the Corps. Learning of this, Sage infiltrated Albion’s group using the persona of Diana Fox, aka Britannia. Lionheart and Shadow-X broke into Crossmoor to free the Shadow King, but when Shadow-X offered Lionheart to their master as a new host, Lionheart slew the Shadow King, then escaped as Excalibur arrived to capture Shadow-X. Using the Crossmoor incursion as a diversion, Albion led his Shadow Captains in a raid to steal a mystic staff capable of disrupting all advanced technology within Great Britain. The undercover Sage tried to prevent Albion activating it, but Lionheart intervened, and a magical backlash from the artifact temporarily extinguished Sage’s true personality, leaving her a loyal follower of Albion. Shadow-X and Excalibur joined forces to stop him, eventually succeeding at the cost of Shadow-X’s lives. During the final battle, Sage overcame the Britannia persona and Lionheart switched sides, realizing that Albion was wrong and that she could not betray her children, her country or its people. Captured, Albion was sent to Crossmoor, while Lionheart was given a second chance, remanded into Excalibur’s custody and reunited with her children.

Learning that the Hulk was attacking the X-Men in pursuit of his step-brother Charles Xavier, Cain invoked Cyttorak, promising to do whatever was asked of him if first Cyttorak could restore him to full power and swiftly transport him to face the Hulk; however, Cyttorak only did the latter, and Cain was swiftly defeated. Realizing that to have a chance he had to give in to his desire for destruction, Cain finally gave in and accepted that he was Cyttorak’s avatar. Restored to full power, he returned to the fight, proving a match for the Hulk until his opponent tricked him into running into a lake. By the time Juggernaut emerged, the Hulk had left. Rebuffing his step-brother’s gratitude, Cain left for parts unknown, warning Xavier that no one should come looking for him as they wouldn’t like what they found.

Merlyn, apparently angry at his successors Roma and Captain Britain, sent the killer Rouge-Mort and her Janissaries to Earth-616 to slay Brian and encouraged the reality-warping Sir James Jaspers, an old foe of Brian’s recently resurrected during the House of M, to attack Roma’s Starlight Citadel. Jaspers, unknowingly infected with the essence of the Fury—the unstoppable killing machine that had previously slain him—transformed many of the defending Corps into pseudo-Fury’s, decimating their numbers.

On Earth-616, Excalibur were still celebrating their victory over Albion and an unexpected but welcome reunion with Brian’s sister Psylocke and Nocturne’s former lover John Proudstar, AKA Thunderbird, both members of the Exiles, when Rouge-Mort attacked. Though swiftly driven off, Rouge-Mort gravely wounded Brian, who was rushed to the Exiles’ extradimensional base for medical treatment. To her surprise, Dazzler discovered her long-missing husband Longshot among the Exiles, rendered amnesiac by their old foe Mojo, leading her to wonder if Mojo was also responsible for her recent apparent immortality. Learning of Jaspers’ assault on Roma, the two teams rushed to her aid, with Wisdom and Psylocke recruiting Albion from Crossmoor to replace the injured Brian. Roma transferred her memories to Sage moments before Merlyn apparently slew her. Battling Albion, Jaspers transformed into the Fury, but with the timely assistance of a recovered Brian and the Exile Blink, the Fury was seemingly destroyed. His allies defeated, Merlyn fled, but not before he was apparently infected by the Fury’s remains. Having regained some of his memories during the conflict, Longshot elected to return to Earth-616 with Dazzler, while Sage, struggling to cope with Roma’s memories, chose to stay with the Exiles. With Longshot and Dazzler’s return to the United States, Excalibur apparently subsequently disbanded under undisclosed circumstances.

When evil sorceress Morgan le Fay possessed Brian, Betsy took up his mantle as Captain Britain, leaving her Psylocke alias behind to her successor and Otherworld ahead of her. Gathering her allies, she remade team Excalibur with fellow mutants Gambit, Jubilee, Rogue, Rictor, and Apocalypse, former foe turned ally after the formation of Krakoa, the mutant sovereign island nation. Together, they forged a path to save Brian, locked up le Fay, faced dangerous enemies, where one attack badly wounded Jubilee’s son Shogo, and encountered the ire of Omniversal Majestrix, Opal Luna Saturnyne who had wrestled Avalon from Merlyn’s control. In the process, they sought unimpeded passage into Otherworld. Their plan to plant a permanent Krakoan gate went awry when Saturnyne’s priestesses attacked the team and Rictor jumped through an incomplete Krakoan gate. He survived but eventually succumbed to some injuries. He was later resurrected in Krakoa.

Meanwhile, the champions of Krakoa were selected to retrieve swords for Saturnyne’s cross-dimensional tournament against the champions of Arakko, a tactic to prevent open warfare. Betsy was chosen as a champion but had not yet found her sword. When she did it was the Starlight Sword, made from a piece of the Starlight Citadel in Otherworld, home to countless doorways to other realities. The older is protector and defender of the Omniverse but as soon as Betsy used it in the tournament, it shattered and so did she shortly afterward. Apocalypse remained in the battle, pitted against his long-lost wife Genesis/Annihilation, and ultimately won. The war over, Apocalypse was chosen to stay in the hellish reality Amenth while an Arrakkan would remain in Krakoa. Apocalypse chose the island of Arakko with its millions of mutants.

Meanwhile, it turned out when Betsy had shattered just like her sword, she had actually been stranded in another dimension where she became the Queen of England. Excalibur leapt to find her, but she was soon returned but with a guest in her own body—the mutant psychic entity called Malice. Psylocke helped free Betsy of Malice though she escaped to Krakoa where she threatened the nation. Besty faced her and killed her, and Malice was soon resurrected by Krakoa’s Five and given a second chance. The Hellfire Gala came and went, and afterward, the UK broke their agreement with Krakoa, thanks to Otherworld ambassador Reuben Brousseau. Rogue was elected to join the X-Men and Pete Wisdom was murdered by an anti-mutant group, Coven Akkaba who had Merlyn’s backing. Together, they freed Morgan le Fay and stirred up Avalon while Merlyn magically controlled the famed King Arthur, with goals to expel mutants from Otherworld. Otherworld residents started attacking mutants, dubbing them “friends of Mordred,” Arthur’s doomed son, a mutant, but Mordred was nowhere to be found. Merlyn and Arthur take the Starlight Citadel and Betsy fought with everything she had left, leading the Captain Britain Corps.