Although she is initially depicted as a precognitive telepath, Betsy is later established to be a mutant, a subspecies of humans born with an "X-gene" that grants superhuman abilities, when she joins the X-Men in 1986 and becomes one of its most prominent members as Psylocke.

A 1989 story written by Claremont and illustrated by Jim Lee redesigned Betsy as a Japanese woman, which was retroactively revealed years later to be the result of a body swap with the ninja assassin Kwannon.

After she is rescued by the X-Men's Wolverine and overcomes her brainwashing, the character retains the combat skills granted through the Hand's modification techniques[7] as well as the ability to manifest her total focused telepathy in the form of a "psychic knife".

Beginning in November 2009, Betsy Braddock was featured in X-Men: Psylocke a self-titled four issue miniseries written by Christopher Yost and drawn by Harvey Tolibao; Matsu'o Tsurayaba and Wolverine are central characters in the story.

[40] The X-Men moved to the Reavers' Australian Outback base, from where they took on the Brood,[41] Genoshan Magistrates,[42] Mister Sinister and the Goblin Queen,[43][44] M Squad,[45] Mr. Jip and the Serpent Society,[46] Master Mold and Nimrod,[47] Nanny and Orphan-Maker,[47] and Zaladane and the Savage Land Mutates.

[53] Betsy rejected her role as Lady Mandarin and escaped with Wolverine and Jubilee, eventually going with them to the island nation of Genosha, where the New Mutants had been kidnapped along with the X-Men's leader, Storm, by Cameron Hodge.

[72][73] With her new abilities Betsy fought Belasco,[74] the Neo,[75] the Goth,[76] the Crimson Pirates,[77] the Twisted Sisters,[78] and the Prime Sentinels,[79] then aided her brother freeing Otherworld from Mastermind's Warpie army.

[104] Betsy also led the X-Club in a mission to raise Asteroid M, which was at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, to serve as the X-Men's new base of operations and a haven for mutantkind, called Utopia.

[116] Soon after, Captain Britain learned of Betsy's activities with X-Force through their bond and decided to retrieve her to Otherworld, where Jamie Braddock was revealed to be alive, and punish Fantomex for his crimes.

[118] As a member of Cyclops' Extinction Team, Betsy dealt with the fallout from Archangel's machinations in Tabula Rasa[119] and sided with the X-Men against the Avengers once the Phoenix Force returned to Earth to reclaim a host.

[136] During this time, Betsy started focusing her powers into different weapons of psychic energy such as a bow and arrow,[137] a crossbow and a grappling line[138] and a flail,[139] mentored a small group of students consisted of Hellion, Anole, Broo and Rockslide[140] and kept a relationship with a virtual boyfriend created in the Danger Room.

[141] In the wake of a terrorist attack known as the Alexandria Incident, which claimed 3,000 lives, Cable re-formed the mutant black ops team X-Force so that mutantkind not only had a continued place in the world, but also had a stake in it.

[156] Once Ulysses, an Inhuman with the ability to forecast the future, emerged, Betsy briefly changed alliances, siding with Storm's X-Men in opposition to Magneto's team, who wanted to eliminate the boy.

After the X-Men foiled Someday Corporation's plans to weaponize mutants, Betsy quit the team, vowing to keep an eye on Magneto's operations and putting an end to them if he ever crossed the line.

[167] Betsy was also selected by Kitty Pryde to join a team with Storm, Rogue, Jubilee and Domino and hunt for a resurrected Wolverine, facing Viper and her Femme Fatales along the way.

It appears also, that she is focusing more on developing her returned telepathic powers and that the various immunities that were granted to her by her resurrection at the hands of her brother seem to have vanished or at least greatly diminished, as during the Necrosha event Proteus was not only able to possess Betsy but also was able to alter her body structure.

[224] During the "Second Coming" storyline, Betsy has once more been depicted using her telekinesis for considerable feats: such as making a shield to protect herself and X-23 from bullets, ripping a Nimrod robot in two and even achieving what appears to be a form of flight or levitation.

[226][227] As shown in the events of the Psylocke miniseries, she still appears to be an unusually strong and powerful telepath, with a range of abilities similar to what she possessed at her introduction, as well as manifesting her trademark psychic knife.

[228][229] After the events of "Second Coming", Betsy establishes that her psychic abilities fluctuate in strength; if her concentration is divided as a result of a telepathic response to her environment, it has an adverse effect on her telekinesis.

[249] Betsy later battles Dagger, defeating her quickly, and uses her psychic blades to counteract the brainwashing of some of the X-Men; first on Jean, who is released from Mr. Sinister's influence, and then on Kirika, which allows the young mutant to remember that Logan and Mariko Yashida are her parents.

[250] In Age of X (Earth-11326) storyline of X-Men: Legacy, Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock, created by Mike Carey and Clay Mann, is still in her original Caucasian body, having never switched with Kwannon.

[261] Her training completed, she rejoined her brother, King Britain, on Earth at some later point, as she, Merlyn and Doctor Strange used their powers to weaken Mephisto, allowing Brian to kill him.

[262] In the alternate reality of the 2005"House of M" storyline (Earth-58163) created by the Scarlet Witch, Betsy found herself as Princess Royal named Elizabeth Glorianna Braddock, sister to the monarch of Britain.

In fact, Betsy was actually the rightful heir of the throne, being a few minutes older than her twin brother Brian, but she had stepped down in his favor, as she preferred traveling and adventuring with her lady-in-waiting, Rachel Summers.

Agents Betsy Braddock and Dai Thomas, were assigned to aid Xavier in his search for his son, David, a powerful mutant who could physically possess the bodies of others and manipulate reality.

Betsy has been voiced by Grey DeLisle, Heather Doerksen, and Tasha Simm in cartoons, and by Laura Bailey, Kimberly Brooks, Catherine Disher, Melissa Disney, Kim Mai Guest, Erica Lindbeck, Junk Luk, Masasa Moyo, and April Stewart in video games.

Several statuettes of Betsy Braddock as Psylocke were produced by various manufacturers, including by Bandai in 2005,[304] Hasbro in 2008 (Marvel Super Hero Squad Wave 7),[305] Kotobukiya in 2010[306][307] (redesigned in the Japanese bishōjo style by Shunya Yamashita[308]) and 2011,[309] Bowen Designs in 2010,[310] and Sideshow Collectibles in 2010[311] and 2011.

"[330] Betsy Braddock was included in IGN's "Battle of the Comic-Book Babes" contest in 2005,[331] winning the first two rounds against Aspen Matthews and then Natsumi and Miyuki, before losing to Emma Frost (the eventual champion of this edition).

[336] That same year, UGO ranked her ninth of their list of "superhero power upgrades that kicked complete ass"[337] and also featured her among 25 "hot ninja girls" and called her an "eye candy that's less lollipop and more atomic warhead".

[347] In 1996, MAXIMUM reported Betsy Braddock as being possibly the most popular X-Men character in Japan, where Capcom games have introduced the franchise to general public, "due to her Japanese appearance...and ninja-esque martial arts moves".