Captain Britain Corps
The Captain Britain Corps is an organisation that features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
History
The Captain Britain Corps was an organization that defended Great Britain, Otherworld and the Multiverse. (Excalibur v4 #13)
Members of the Corps were tasked with tracking the Jasper and found himself alongside Merlyn. The Corpsmen attacked Jaspers who easily defeated his foes and transformed them into further copies of the Fury. (X-Men: Die by the Sword v1 #1) This became part of a targeted campaign against the Captain Britain Corps and its Guardian Roma. (X-Men: Die by the Sword v1 #2)
After the death of a reborn Apocalypse by Fantomex, the Corps was called to arrest the supersoldier and put him under trial for his actions. James Braddock brought his sister Psylocke to the Corps home where he requested her to join him and that she resume her destiny as Lady Britain. Ultimately, the trial concluded Fantomex was guilty and the sentence was death by way of retroactive molecular deconstruction. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #20)
At some point, the Corps came to determine that there was an unknown threat destroying entire sections of the Multiverse with them looking to gather forces to investigate the nature of this danger. Around this time, Spider-UK also detected another threat posed by the Inheritors to the Web of Life and Destiny but he was dismissed by the Majestrix though he was given a tool to investigate the danger on his own. (Amazing Spider-Man v3 #7) The greater threat to the Multiverse was not responded to until the loss of twenty corpsmen in the span of a single week which galvanised their efforts. As a result, four months ago the Captain Britain Corps began to investigate the collapse of the Multiverse. This led to them eventually managing to capture a Mapmaker where instead of following its harmonics it was Saturnyne who had it modified to construct a beacon. This became a signal that the Ivory Kings could detect where they dispatched all their forces that overran the Starlight Citadel and destroyed the Corps in a matter of hours. Brian Braddock of Earth-616 was the only survivor after he was embedded with the secrets of the Citadel and sent back to his world by Saturnyne as she was overran by the enemy. (New Avengers v3 #30)
Afterwards, the Corps was considered destroyed and the protection it gave to reality had vanished. This saw the doors of the Starlight Citadel closing to outsiders with Saturnyne sequestering herself within the structure. (Excalibur v4 #9) In this time, she along with her Priestesses defended the Starlight Citadel in place of the defunct Captain Britain Corps. Within the Starlight Citadel, a monument to the fallen Corps was made though Saturnyne had foreseen that they would rise up once again in the future. (Excalibur v4 #13) During the Contest of Swords, Captain Britain Betsy Braddock was seemingly killed where she shattered into pieces during her match against Isca the Unbeaten. The broken pieces were gathered by Saturnyne who attempted to re-assemble them and thus the Starlight Sword which led to the recreation of the Captain Britain Corps based on her. (Excalibur v4 #15) They arrived at the conclusion of the tournament where Annihilation refused to surrender and instead called forth the demons from Amenth to invade Otherworld. Thus, the Corps went in defence of the Starlight Citadel leading to a battle against the Horsemen of Apocalypse along with those fighters from Arakko that remained beside Genesis. The X-Men later arrived at the scene to provide reinforcements against the Amenti horde where they unleashed the extradimensional Vescora against the invaders. A number of Corpsmen were killed in the fight but ultimately Amenth was defeated when Apocalypse claimed the Helm of Annihilation and forced its surrender in the tournament. This allowed Saturnyne to turn the helm into a spear that was a less corruptive form of Annihilation with Krakoa being declared the victor in the Contest of Swords. With the crisis over, the Captain Britain Corps stood behind Saturnyne as her protectors. (X of Swords: Destruction v1 #1)
Overview
In appearance, the Captain Britain Corps was an interversal team of defenders that protected Great Britain, Otherworld and all of reality from interior and exterior threats. (Excalibur v4 #13) They were the knights of the Starlight Citadel and forever bound to the Omniversal Majestrix. (X of Swords: Destruction v1 #1)
Typically, the many members of the Corps were alternate versions of Brian Braddock from a different reality. Each went through the trial of having chosen the Amulet of Right or the Sword of Might with the latter choice being the wrong one to take by the champion. In some cases, the Brian Braddock of that world failed to make a choice leading to another taking the mantle and this having some degree of success. (Excalibur v4 #13) Each member of the Corps had a responsibility both as a Guardian of the Dimensional Interface that was the Gateway between Realities and as Champion of the Highest Values of their Earth’s Morality Code. (Excalibur v1 #44) All members of the Corps had the ability to absorb and metabolise the energy from the dimensional matrix with this being the source of their powers. There were multiple interfaces around each alternate version of Earth but the matrix itself existed by the British Isles due to the unusual proximity of the field. (Excalibur v1 #45)
Upon recruitment, a new Captain Britain can attend the Corp’s training lectures. (Excalibur v1 #45)
A records department was present that consisted of the Master Artistarchivist that was responsible for providing the details of individuals across the Multiverse leading to information on every super-being in comprehensive files. (Excalibur v1 #24)
There was only a single Corpsmen per every 10 realities that were dedicated in stopping threats to the Omniverse itself. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #20)
There were a number of regulations that governed the Corps with ignorance of them not being an excuse to avoid punishment for a breach. One key feature was the Morality Code which each reality having its own standard of morality. On certain worlds, murder was legal whilst in others the plucking of a flower was considered an act of brutality. (Excalibur v1 #44) One code of conduct was detailed under the Morality Code where #9222765 paragraph 476W allowed for the arrest of a Corpsmen and court martial if they ever injured an innocent. The accused were forcibly arrested and taken to Otherworld for judgement. (Excalibur v1 #43) At court, the accused was allowed a fellow Corpsmen to represent them. If found guilty, both the accused and their representative were subjected to punishment. Under Article 56/6377253A, executive action was permitted in the defense or revenge of Otherworld descendants. (Excalibur v1 #44)
Criminals were at times arrested by them and placed under trial with a defense along with prosecution deciding guilt. For more extreme cases, guilty subjects could face the death penalty whereby one sentence was molecular deconstruction. (Uncanny X-Force v1 #20)
Data storage devices known as a Crystex were used to store immense amount of information that included science that required a different range of perception. These data crystals could contain such densely packed information matrices that some of the finest cybernetics could only access a fraction of the data. (Fantastic Four v3 #10) They possessed certain machines known as Scanners that allowed them to view different areas of the Multiverse for dangers and threats. These devices were located in rooms whereby a user sat in a chair and wore a helmet as images were displayed to them with the machine responding to verbal queries. (Amazing Spider-Man v3 #7)
When operating outside the matrix field, the arcane circuitry within a Corpsman’s uniform came into effect where it functioned as an antenna, amplifier and battery. (Excalibur v1 #45)
It was said that the Citadel was sentient and that its personality was a reflection of its Guardian. The structure possessed a defensive array that could easily lay waste to an entire dimension. (Fantastic Four v3 #8)
One important structure was the Tower Omniverse whose doors accessed every plane of existence(Uncanny X-Force v1 #20)
Members
- Roma :
- Saturnyne : Omniversal Mastrex.
- Captain Britain :
- Lady London : (Excalibur v1 #24)
- Centurion Britannus : (Excalibur v1 #24)
- Captain Cymru : (Excalibur v1 #24)
- Spider U.K. :
- Justicar Druidica : (X of Swords: Destruction v1 #1)
- Violet Swan : (X of Swords: Destruction v1 #1)
- High Priestess Celtia : (X of Swords: Destruction v1 #1)
- Captain Amphibian: (X of Swords: Destruction v1 #1)
- Britannica Rex : (X of Swords: Destruction v1 #1)
Notes
- The Captain Britain Corps were created by Alan Moore and Alan Davis where they made their first appearance in Daredevils v1 #6 (June, 1983).
Appearances
- Daredevils v1: (1983)
- Captain Britain:
- Excalibur v1:
- Fantastic Four v3:
- X-Men: Die by the Sword v1:
- Uncanny X-Force v1:
- Amazing Spider-Man v3:
- Excalibur v4:
- X of Swords: Destruction v1: (2020)
External Links
This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.
