Sir James Braddock Sr.- Pierce Brosnan (64)
Lady Elizabeth "Lizzie" Braddock- Kim Basinger (62)
James "Jamie"/ "The White King" Braddock Jr.- David Gandy (40)
Brian "Captain Britain" Braddock- Serge Henir (25)
Elizabeth "Betsy"/ "Psylocke" Braddock- Candice Swanepoel (25)(Original Body)
Kwannon "Agent Revanche" Tatsu- Paula Kawanishi (33)
Meggan Puceanu- Braddock- Emma Rigby (24)
There are plenty of "old money" families in the world- the St. Croix's, the Da Costa's, the Xavier's, but none are as old as the Braddock's. In ancient times, whenever something important happened- the crowning of a new king, a plague, a successful shipping deal, a Braddock has always been involved in some way.
The oldest known ancestors of the Braddock's are Sirs John and William Braddock, brothers from ancient England. William dreamed of more while John was content with being of noble blood and courting young noblewomen. Eventually, William chose to join his fellow voyagers and sailed to America while John married a woman of high birth and continued the family's line of wealth in England. This line of wealth trickled down to James Braddock Sr.
James Braddock grew up to become a renowned scientist and the top name in creating new and innovative weaponry for the British government. It was while building a name for himself in the industry that he met Elizabeth Young who at the time was a college intern. The two of them sparked instantly but Elizabeth would ignore all of James' advances because although attracted to him, she found him arrogant and self-important. But that didn't deter James. He wooed Elizabeth until she finally relented and went to dinner with him and 2 years later, they were married.
James Jr., "Jamie", was the first of the Braddock children to be born and Jamie was smothered with all the love his parents could possibly give. And for a time he was extremely happy. But Jamie was also lonely and begged his parents for a brother or a sister. And he got both.
When Jamie was 11, his parents sat him down one night and told him they were expecting a child and that he would finally have the sibling he always wanted. But to everyone's surprise, Elizabeth had twins. A boy and a girl- Brian and Elizabeth. At first Jamie was elated to finally have siblings, but his elation quickly became resentment when he saw how much his parents doted on his siblings and no longer doted on him. Jamie began to feel forgotten and with it, a rage he found hard to control.
As Betsy and Brian grew older, their connection to each other was evident, and again Jamie was jealous that he had no one to have that kind of connection to.
For as similar as the two were, though, Betsy and Brian grew to be very different. Brian, to his father's joy, grew to have a mind for math and science and wished to eventually head his father's company. Betsy was extremely intelligent but because of her immense beauty let her mind waste, instead becoming vain and rather shallow.
When the twins were 7, Jamie left home to study business and finance in France. While he was away, their parents continued to adore Brian and Betsy. And Betsy soaked up the attention. As the twins entered high school, Brian was known as the quiet, smart kid and Betsy became the popular, beautiful one. Like the sun and the moon, the Braddock twins lived very different lives.
Unknown to them, Jamie had dropped out of college and became a little unhinged. Jamie began doing a number of illegal things, probably in the hopes of getting his parents attention. Drag racing, drug dealing, theft, and gambling were a few of his indiscretions. This led to him becoming an adrenaline junky, willing to do anything for his next 'high'.
When the twins were 16, their powers began to manifest but they manifested in ways that would ultimately make them better people. Betsy manifested empathy, allowing her to interpret the emotions of those around her, something she lacked before. Brian's mutant ability manifested in more physical ways. Everything became stronger, his strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, senses, and reflexes all became enhanced. Despite being a brain, Brian was a very athletic boy but learned that his powers were only as strong as his self-confidence. When he didn't believe in himself, he was only slightly stronger but when he believed fully in himself, his power was incredible.
The manifestation of their abilities changed the lives of Brian and Betsy. Because she couldn't turn her ability off, Betsy became bombarded with the emotions of those around her and she learned she wasn't as popular as she thought. With his new strength and speed, Brian was scouted for his school's rugby team and with it, the genuine type of popularity Betsy could have had if she hadn't been so selfish and superior. This turnaround gave Brian a sense of purpose and confidence he didn't have before and with it, an increase in power. Betsy on the other hand, became overwhelmed by the emotional onslaught and retreated into herself. This didn't go unnoticed by their parents and in an effort to pull the young woman back up, Lizzie reached out to an old friend of hers that owned a modeling agency and sent her Betsy's headshots. By graduation, Betsy was officially booked to Gloriana Model Management and Brian had a full scholarship to Thames University with a concentration in Physics and Biology.
Betsy learned that using her ability, she could become one of the greats and soon her face was gracing every magazine cover, ad campaign, and runway show. She was particularly skilled at releasing feelings of adoration in the audience of every show she walked in and using her skills, she manipulated talent agents into booking her. Soon she was also offered film contracts, commercial deals, advertisements, television shows, and record deals. Brian was also a huge success, surpassing his classmates in everything and all while being a hit with the ladies. It was during this time he met a young Gypsy mutant girl named Meggan Puceanu while out drinking one night with friends.
After becoming friends, the two of them spent a lot of time together but after a while, Brian began to question why he'd never been to Meggan's house or met her parents. Every time he would ask her about it, she would avoid the subject. It then came to light that Meggan was homeless and living in a warehouse. Taking pity on the girl, Brian invited her to stay at Braddock Manor and she reluctantly accepted. But Brian had problems of his own. He had begun to develop a drinking problem and his studies suffered for it.
Meanwhile Betsy, while walking a show in Paris drew the attention of Emma Frost who sensed the girls attempt to manipulate her emotions. Seeing potential in the girl, Emma offered her a place at her Massachusetts Academy of Tomorrow and Betsy, tired of the life of a model accepted. At the Academy, Betsy honed her abilities. Calling herself Lionheart she was a force to be reckoned with. Betsy also found that she enjoyed being a part of something real for once and began a secret affair with her married teacher, Sean "Banshee" Cassidy.
Back in England, Meggan had developed a crush on Brian but because of her insecurities due to experiences from her past, she didn't think he could ever love her back. Unknown to her, her power of emotional shapeshifting had begun slowly morphing her appearance to look like Brian's ideal woman and one night after a night of drinking, Brian came home and had sex with Meggan.
Betsy's time at the Academy was wonderful and she learned a lot about her new powers but Betsy, always the fickle one wanted to be adored by all. When Banshee's wife found out about their affair and he told her he would leave his wife for her, Betsy simply made him hate her and moved on to the next man- Mondo. Betsy soon gained a reputation as a heartbreaker and it was a title she wore with pride.
Everything changed when Mr. and Mrs. Braddock died in a lab explosion. Heartbroken, Betsy went back to England to be with her brother. Brian, of course, had turned to drinking and would frequently get into violent fights. It was after one of his episodes that Meggan brought him back from the edge of insanity and in a moment of emotion, he kissed her. From that point on, the two of them were a couple.
While in England, Betsy was approached by Commander Lance Hunter who offered her a position in S.T.R.I.K.E., which is the European S.H.I.E.L.D. division. Initially, Betsy declined but knew that she missed the life of adventure but still needed to stay in England for her brother's sake. While in S.T.R.I.K.E., Betsy was trained not just physically but mentally. In fact, many of her exercises and missions required her to test the limits of her powers. During an evaluation, Betsy became suspicious of her superiors because of the line of questioning they gave her and made it her mission to investigate. What she found out shocked her. Although they told her it was her exploits with Generation X that made them recruit her, she discovered they had been stalking her for a long time. One of their best agents, Agent Revanche, had been injured while on a mission that left her completely brain dead. S.T.R.I.K.E., valuing the agent's immense psychic powers, thought that they could use Betsy's mind and place it into Revanche's body. After learning this, Betsy tried to run but before she could, they got to her.
After Betsy's disappearance Brian, officially alone in the world, decided to change his life. He decided it was time he made a difference and using Braddock Manor as a base, he created Excalibur which would be Britain's version of the X-Men. Taking the name Captain Britain, Brian along with Meggan, Peter Wisdom, Kurt "Nightcrawler" Wagner, Jimaine "Daytripper" Szardos, and Thomas Cassidy devoted their time to making sure no one else in Britain would suffer.
After forming Excalibur, Brian had to face the hardest decision he's ever had to make. After more than 10 years away, Jamie Braddock finally resurfaced and when Brian excitedly tried to tell him about what he's missed, Jamie revealed what he's been up to. Not only had he discovered he possessed the mutant ability to effect reality itself but he also came to get what he believed he deserved-his share of his inheritance and the company his father built. The resulting battle revealed many things to Brian including the hatred his older brother felt for him but Jamie had a point, he did deserve something. Knowing his father entrusted the family company to him, Brian refused to give it to Jamie but he did give him his share of the inheritance. Jamie took the money and promised Brian he would never see him again. Jamie went on to join the Hellfire Club, becoming their White King.
Sometime later Betsy turned up to battle the X-Men but this was a different Betsy than the girl Emma helped so many years ago. S.T.R.I.K.E. had implanted her mind into Revanche's body, making her their Weapon XX. The once beautiful British woman was now in the body of S.T.R.I.K.E.s top agent and assassin, the Asian Agent Revanche. Having tampered with her memories and mixing them with those of her host body Betsy, now calling herself Psylocke, was a perfect weapon and with her new body came her new powers. Betsy was now an incredibly powerful telepath and telekinetic, able to concentrate her power into a 'psychic knife'.
In the resulting battle, Emma was able to break Psylocke of her mental conditioning at the hands of Weapon X but the psychic intrusion put Betsy into a coma. She now remains in the Medlab of the Xavier-Grey Institute where she's been in a coma since.
Brian and Meggan eventually married but in the wake of M-Day, Brian lost his powers. Despondent, depressed and drunk, Excalibur was disbanded. Eventually Meggan convinced Brian to open the doors of Braddock Manor and turn it into Braddock Academy, a school designed to teach kids with powers how to be heroes. Unknown to everyone, Brian became obsessed with getting his powers back and designed a suit that routinely will inject his body with a refined version of Mist, giving him his powers back. Using this suit, Excalibur is brought back. Back what Brian is neglecting to tell anyone is that his suit is killing him. His now human body cannot handle the constant strain of the suit's power.
He currently has a contract with Weapon X to make identical suits for every major country but he's completely unaware that they are responsible for all the bad things happening to mutantkind and also unaware of what they did to his sister.
With one Braddock on the dark side, one Braddock in a coma, and one Braddock slowly killing himself, the Braddock line may finally come to an end. The question though is will it end with a spark? Or will it end with a bang?
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
I'd considered making Psylocke's history less complicated and just ignoring the mindswitch but I thought that would be a cop out since that's such a big part of who she is as a character.
Similar to the Frosts', I wanted the Braddocks to have a similar powerset so I tweaked their powers a little to match each other. Basically, they all have psychic/ mental abilities with (originally) Psylocke being an empathy, Brian having telekinesis (tactile telekinesis), and Jamie warping reality. I chose Tactile Telekinesis for Brian because it could explain a lot of his powers in a more realistic way- the super strength, invulnerability, and the flight. I gave Betsy empathy because before the body switch, Kwannon was an empath, so I basically reversed their powersets and then set them right.
I mentioned pretty early on in the story (and I think in the timeline in Chapter 1) that Psylocke was in a coma so this just clarifies the whys and the hows. I also don't know much about Captain Britain and Jamie Braddock so I was ignorant to much of their storyline.