The Hunt for Wolverine is on in four miniseries spinning out of the one-shot issue that announced Logan’s return to the Marvel Universe. However, it turns out the Mystery in Madripoor miniseries may bring a major change for another X-Men character.
We really want to stress that there may be some HUGE SPOILERS ahead for the end of the series, even if we’re only working with incomplete information. So, be warned and only continue reading if spoilers don’t phase you. Even then, please don’t deliberately spoil the issue for anyone else.
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Possible SPOILERS for Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #4 by Jim Zub, Thony Silas, and Felipe Sobreiro follow.
Following the events of the Hunt for Wolverine one-shot, Kitty Pryde convenes a team of the X-Men (specifically female X-Men) who were closest to Logan – herself, Psylocke, Jubilee, Rogue, and Storm, plus Domino, who basically invites herself – to head to Madripoor to investigate whether Magneto is responsible for stealing Logan’s body from its grave.
The X-Men are caught off guard when the psychic named Mindblast masquerades as Magneto long enough for a group of “Femme Fatales” working for Viper – Wolverine ex-wife, former Madame Hydra, and Madripoor crime lord – to strike. The ambush is mostly successful and Storm, Rogue, and Psylocke are all taken prisoner while Domino, Kitty, and Jubilee escape. The story since then has been primarily about the escaped X-Men trying to rescue those who were captured, including the real Magneto.
However, there’s another subplot taking place while the X-Men fight the Femme Fatales. One of Viper’s henchwomen, Sapphire Styx, hungers for human souls and has made Psylocke her latest prey. Betsy seemingly died, but her telepathic powers were revealed to still be at play, even apparently manifesting a psychic version of Wolverine as his Patch persona from his adventures in Madripoor to fight alongside the X-Men.
This is all set to come to a climax in Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #4, the final issue of the series. Here’s the issue’s synopsis:
“ONE OF THE X-MEN IS CHANGED FOREVER! Past and present clash in final battle on an island of secrets and sin! What darkness lies within Sapphire Styx? Can a ghost from the past save Psylocke from oblivion?”
One of the X-Men is changed forever? Well, Terry Dodson’s recently revealed variant cover for the issue seems to have spoiled what that change is. Take a look:
So it looks like after 30 years in the body of an Asian ninja, Betsy Braddock will be returning to her original caucasian body. How this transpires is anyone’s guess at this point. During the events of Mystery in Madripoor, Sapphire Styx took Psylocke down while she was in the midst of focusing the “totality of her psychic power” into her psychic knife. Perhaps that’s the trigger for the body swap?
If you haven’t been reading X-Men comics for decades, then this may be a bit confusing and you may understandably assume that Psylocke has always been Asian. She hasn’t. Betsy Braddock is a white British woman. In fact, she’s Captain Britain’s sister, but after stepping through the Siege Perilous – a kind cosmic get out of jail free card in the form of a mystic gateway that we really don’t have the time to try to explain here – Betsy washed up on the shores of The Hand’s island base in the South China Sea.
The Hand’s leader at the time had just lost his best assassin and lover, a woman named Kwannon. With the help of the sorcerer Spiral and some Hand magic, the amnesiac Psylocke was brainwashed and given Kwannon’s body while Kwannon was given Betsy’s original body. That’s how they’ve remained ever since.
The last time Kwannon was seen, she had been resurrected again in Psylocke’s body by the Sisterhood of Mutants but died once again. Kwannon hasn’t been seen in Mystery in Madripoor at all, so if she is somehow involved in this twist, then that too will be a surprise.
Hunt for Wolverine: Mystery in Madripoor #4 goes on sale August 22nd.
