See Psylocke Control Minds While Getting Mind Controlled Herself

A picture really is worth a thousand words... That's why today's entry focuses on a single panel from the past, but this time using a lot more words and a bunch of extra pictures to fully explain the magnitude of the mind control involved...

Case in point:

"I return these things... won in fair combat... to their rightful lord and master... who has for now and for all time... become mine."

Back in 2008, this image from Uncanny X-men # 256 was included as part of  a previous entry, but there's so much more mind control to cover from that issue. How did Psylocke go from a British, pink haired telepath and member of the X-men to an Asian assassin subservient to the Mandarin?

Well, remember how she mind controlled the X-men into entering the Siege Perilous, effectively having them commit suicide so the Reavers wouldn't ambush and kill them? Psylocke went through the mystical reincarnation gem as well, only to resurface in Uncanny X-men # 255.

Literally.

She washed ashore on a very familiar island, now controlled by the Hand. Naked and absolutely amnesic, no one knew who she was, until local crime kingpin Matsuo Tsurayaba arrived and got a good look at her...

"She is the mutant X-man Psylocke. And by all the gods who ever were...
I know full well what the Hand may do with her."

Tsurayaba's big plan unfolded in Uncanny X-men # 256 when he visited the Mandarin with an intriguing proposal: after some proper modification (read: mind control) Betsy would be ideally suited to be the Mandarin's mind reading premiere assassin. Taking care of his enemies ánd learning all their hidden secrets in the process.

Intrigued, the oriental warlord tentatively accepted Matsuo and the Hand's offer. They began Betsy's mental reconditioning using a combination of mystical influences and sensory deprivation, .

"Our ambition is to reconfigure her mental mosaic into a more... useful pattern"

Mind control by any other name, really.

Incidentally, probably the biggest reason the Mandarin appears in this storyline at all is the fact Uncanny X-men # 256 happened to be the first of three Acts of Vengeance crossover tie-ins. 

The big idea behind this Summer event was simple, yet elegant: tired of getting beaten by their archenemies, the villains decided to swap and attack heroes who weren't used to fighting them... Daredevil got Ultron, the Punisher fought Dr. Doom and the X-men had the Mandarin show up.

So, how was Psylocke's mind control going?

Honestly, who knows? Claremont writes a rather hard to grasp, perhaps purposely disjointed string of scenes that depict Betsy in the various stages of her life.

You remember how she started out as Captain Britain's blonde twin sister? Here she is, little more than a child, sitting in a prop Spitfire airplane on a carnival ride, imagining about really flying and killing Germans... And then the fantasy becomes all too real.

"A monster. A demon... No... Coming to claim me. No. No. Body and soul... No no no..."

After leaving the carousel, she finds a pretty ring. And pretty soon afterwards, she finds another. These are the ten rings of the Mandarin she is somehow collecting. But she's a bit too busy getting pushed around in her own mind to notice the villain's presence... or the rings' powers. Until she gets a make over that is...

"THERE you are, my naughty, naughty toy!"

By this time, she'd miraculously grown to adulthood, started wearing skin tight black leather outfits. 

"We can't have a westerner running the Hong Kong underworld. Art as life... I do love it so!"

By now, it's obvious we've reached the part of Psylocke's life in which she was under Mojo's thrall. Back in New Mutants Annual # 2, the ruler of the Mojoverse already mind controlled her and even transformed poor Betsy in a copy of himself. 

"And yet, for all that's changed... the oldest hurt remains"

And here we have the debut of the Asian style Psylocke.

There are just a few problems here: for one, all of this allegedly only plays in her mind. Changing Betsy's mental form should have no impact on her physical body. And yet it does. Also: what's with all the memories she has to work through? Didn't we establish earlier in the same issue she washed ashore a complete amnesiac?

Ah well, onward and upward... Betsy's about to resume her quest for the rings. And now, she knows they're powerful ánd that her former friends the X-men have them. With Storm conveniently enough standing next to her, she starts with Ororo who refuses... And this is when a mind controlled Psylocke uses mind control to get what she wants...

"You have no will but mine... That's my girl. Give it here."

So, a proven, strong telepath also uses the Mandarin's mind controlling 'mento-intensifier' ring (not to mention a flame blast) to get her hands on Storm's bauble. Well, one might call that overkill, but hey... whatever works.

Psylocke then goes on to kill Colossus, Dazzler and Havok for their rings. And, in a nice, foreshadow heavy nod to a future storyline, she doesn't have to fight Rogue, because she's already fought Ms. Marvel to the death...

Her brother Captain Britain would have been next on Betsy's hitlist, but then the unexpected happened:

"The impact beam is mine, Psylocke... And so now my pretty, at long last, are you!"

The disembodied voice belonged to the Slaymaster, a Captain Britain villain from back in the day who fought Betsy when she took over for the titular hero and was blinded by him in the process. The appearance of Slaymaster wasn't part of the mind control strategy the Hand and Mandarin had set out.

The whole idea was to force Psylocke to actively kill off everyone she cared for in her old life, so she would be hurt, vulnerable and open to whatever the villains wanted her to do. The Slaymaster threatened to throw the proverbial monkey wrench in that scheme. Luckily, Betsy overcame her fear for the villain and struck back, discovering not everything is quite as it appeared...

Smashing the Slaymaster's helmet, the face of the Mandarin was revealed. He immediately used whatever rings he still had left (count em in the upcoming panel, if the story makes any sense he could only have two out of ten). Not that he'd have time to count, because Psylocke was about to end him.

But even when caught at a distinct disadvantage, the mastervillain still tried to come out on top...

"Cast aside your boulder, Psylocke... And acknowledge the Mandarin as your lord and master."

Looks like he now has all his rings back. How come Psylocke doesn't have any left? Also why are Mojo and Spiral there, hovering in the background? And, more importantly, did Betsy just say 'no'?

"Your mind may control the ring... But mine... through my telepathy... controls your thoughts."

Ooh snap.

So, even while she herself is busy getting mind controlled, she controls others a record total of two times in the same issue. That girl sure is a pro. But surely, she wouldn't actually follow through on that threat now, would she?

Well, guess she would.

So, judging from this story... after witnessing her coming to terms with being changed against her will, after seeing her face and deal with childhood trauma and insecurities, not to mention having her stare down her greatest fears while fighting the Slaymaster ánd beating the tale's actual villain in the process... You'd think ... It's only logical to assume Betsy would end the issue a free woman.

Yeah, you'd think...

And so, with Psylocke killing everyone who tried to control or shape her, we come full circle, with this scene: Psylocke fully submitting to the Mandarin's rule after all. It makes very little sense indeed.

Y'know, not unlike an actual ring of the Mandarin.

Beware the Brain Blasted Bratpack

Its New Mutants Annual # 2 and some explanation might be in order. This annual actually preceeds the Uncanny X-men annual covered in the previous post. That book introduced Longshot to the team, this particular tale is usedbring Psylocke in the Marvel Universe proper.

Introduced in 1976 as Captain Britain's mildly telepathic sister, Betsy Braddock had been through through a rather tumultuous decade before this 1986 annual made her an unwitting pawn of Mojo and Spiral. Long story short: Betsy had just recently been blinded by the assassin Slaymaster. While struggling to deal with her new situation, she was abducted by Mojo who outfitted her with bionic eye implants that also served as cameras that allowed everyone in the Mojoverse to look through her eyes in real time.

In retrospect, this single story idea makes Claremont responsible for the world's first ever reality tv show. But this being Big Mojo rather than Big Brother, the producer needed a little more excitement and decided to stir up some mischief for ratings through the medium he knows best: the airwaves.

With Psylocke firmly in his thrall, Mojo made his 616 television debut on a kids' show that swayed a rather eclectic bunch. Some of the New Mutants showed up, joined by Karma's siblings Leong and Nga and last but not least Butch, Darla and Alfie who had previouslyappeared in the Longshot limited series.

Mojo and Spiral already pretty much controlled their minds by the time they showed up, but Mojo decided they weren't quite there yet so he had Psylocke use some previously unknown and never mentioned again super power to empower Karma's brother and sister so they would, well...

By artificially ageing the mind controlled Leong and Nga, Mojo unlocked their superpowers which were a variant of their psyche controlling sister Karma. The siblings were able to mind control and reshape everyone they came across...

Calling themselves the Bratpack after a popular band of 80s actors, they waited around for the New Mutants to come looking for their missing team members. Leong and Nga, calling themselves 'Template', proceeded to use their powers and controlled the team.... with some noteable exceptions.

Only Magma seemed unaffected by Template's mind control whammy. After Doug and Warlock fled the scene, she tried to make a stand on her own. Guess how that turned out? 

With Magma properly subdued, Template can finally add some new members to Mojo's Bratpack.

Magma, however, is still less than convinced.

Her desperate pleas fall on deaf ears, as the New Mutants actually declare to love their new adult lives. Frustrated by the situation, she runs off. In the meantime, Doug and Warlock decided to join  forces in a rather extreme way that is by no means related to mindcontrol at all... *coughs*

Doug and Warlock quickly discover the Bratpack is being mind controlled by Psylocke, who has been transformed into a Mojo-like creature. Despite gaining new powers through their union, the boys still aren't up to the task of taking her down.

 Mojo Betsy yanks their minds out of their bodies and Doug/Lock finds himself in a hellish mindscape that allows penciller Alan Davis to show just how demented the situation really is.

"...We all float down here..."

Allusions to Stephen King aside, the notion of having Mojo's mind controlled victims represented as helpless merry-go-round rides is a brilliant one.

Naturally, Mojo Betsy tries to force Doug/Lock to take his place on the carousel, but he refuses and in the ensueing fight it turns out the demonesque Betsy on top of the roundabout is actually Spiral who has danced her way into Betsy's brain. Guess what happens when the team manages to free Betsy's actual mind...

Look at Spiral making a case for slavery... "Sure, there's no freedom but at least you'll still have eyes."  Betsy doesn't buy into this 'generous' offer and forcibly removes Spiral from her mind. And once she's gone, everyone wakes up... naked. 

Mojo left Betsy with her bionic eyes intact, which she didn't know were actually cameras, and despite her best efforts she can't force herself to claw them out. The annual ends with Betsy deciding to stay at Xavier's school for gifted youngster for the time being, setting up the sequel in the Uncanny X-men Annual we covered HERE. 

Forever young... and mind controlled!

Oy... its like a bad 1980s fantasy film. So, how did we end up in this particular pickle?

Chris Claremont must have written Uncanny X-men Annual # 10 with tongue firmly in cheek. It almost reads as a pastiche to those movies where teens and adults switch bodies like Tom Hanks in Big, Lindsay Lohan in Freaky Friday and most recently Zac Effron in 17 Again. But of course, this annual has that typical Claremontian twist so there's plenty of mind control.

How did the X-men get turned into younger versions of themselves, you wonder? Well, during an otherwise uneventful training session in the Danger Room, the X-men and Magneto got covered in some weird form of ectoplasm when someone just teleported in, along with all that goo.

The mysterious stranger would turn out to be Longshot. But he doesn't really play any part in this story, spending most of it in a coma in the X-men's med-bay. And its not like the X-men or New Mutants have any time to focus on him... the X-men appear to be deaging at an alarming rate. 14 year old Kitty Pryde is turned into a young girl overnight. This prompts Warlock and Cypher to research this change. Of course by merging together... mind control by any other name...

The 'team surpreme' is able to deduce what's causing the X-men's problems but alas... the young X-men appear to be under someone's influence because they act rather irrational.

Nice to see forced infantility hasn't dulled Magneto's mean streak. The soon to be X-toddlers commandeer professor Xavier's limousine as they seek out Mojo and Spiral. Note the dialogue in the last panel. Apparently Kitty's reverted to a pre-potty trained state. Charming. Still, diaper changes or not, the team soon locates Mojo at an old theatre downtown. And he's more than happy to see them.

"Please, sir... may we come in and play?"

"Of course, little wind-rider... That's why I am here... to play with you!"
Mojo luring in a bunch of innocent, googly eyed children with a sadistic smile and the promise he wants to 'play' with them just seems... wrong. Lets just agree any sexual undertones are completely unintended and move on.

Meanwhile back at Xavier's, the New Mutants had recovered from Magneto's whammy and figured it was up to them to save the X-men from whatever evil scheme Mojo was up to. This prompted the X-babies to consider themselves replacement X-men. Figuring they had to take up the mantle, the teen team decided to dress for the part and donned their graduation uniforms for the rescue mission.

Just look at those Art Adams designed costumes. Fair's fair, Cypher's costume makes him look like an off colour Cyclops, Warlock basically mimicks Superman and Mirage's impossibly tall legs in that outfit make her look like a cross between a stripper and an extra from a Cher video.

But the designs for Magma, Karma and Wolfsbane are actually pretty decent. Adams really went to bat designing these, as it turns out, one off costumes. And yet, the design for Cannonball proved to be inspirational to, of all people, Rob Liefeld, when he designed Sam's first X-Force garb.

Anyhoo, Magik uses her, well, magic to locate Mojo and her teleportation powers allow the new X-men to pop right into the theatre Mojo is using as a hideout. As it turns out, the place isn't as deserted as they had expected. In fact, there's a huge crowd waiting for some action... And action is what everyone is about to get when the all new X-men meet their all screwy predecessors...

"... Let the play truly begin!"

Ahhh, yeah... Part of Mojo's de-aging whammy was a mind control spell that bound the X-men to him as they regained their lost years. Of course, that meant they were dressed as twisted versions of themselves. Just look at Magneto, a former victim of the third reich, wearing the uniform of a Nazi soldier. Rather jarring.  But as set ups to exciting fight scenes go, this one's a doozy...

In an interesting twist, Karma actually realises she has the power to possess people. So she should be able to take over the Mojo controlled X-men, right? She first tries that trick on Wolverine, who doesn't seem too fazed at first, even uttering the ironic "Nothin' can hold me!" as he's still under Mojo's influence.

Meanwhile Mirage and Sunspot are having similar problems with Rogue...

You might wonder why the audience hasn't fled during this obvious fight to the death. Well, that's because there's mind control involved there as well...

Spiral mind controls the crowd to stay put... After all, what's a resounding victory really worth without a captive audience to witness your triumph? Unfortunately, the battle goes poorly and the crowd gets restless which forces Mojo to act.

In the end, the former New Mutants are able to reign in the X-men and together they manage to turn the tables against Mojo and force him to retreat to the Mojoverse. The semblance of order restored, Mojo is allowed to close out the story in style...

Rachel's Grey For Mind Control

Before Chris Claremont focussed his mind control heavy attention to Sage (as chronicled here), there was Rachel Grey, aka Rachel Summers, aka Hound, aka Baby Phoenix aka "oh, never mind who you really are, your mind, heart and soul will belong to someone else by next issue".

Don't believe me? Well, buckle up for the first of a two parter covering all the occasions Chris Claremont felt it was necessary to mindjack that sweet, innocent red headed girl. Some of these examples have been covered in earlier blogs, but are included here again to tell the complete story.

Rachel made her first appearance in the classic Days of future past storyline back in Uncanny X-men # 141. She was the red headed telepath that used her powers to send Kate Pryde's mind into the past so she could warn the X-men of the imminent assassination of senator Kelly.

Back then, no mention was made of Rachel's origins. Yet, she really is the daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, born in an alternate future in which Jean (or, rather, the Phoenix force posing as Jean) survived the judgement of the Shi'ar in Uncanny X-men # 137. 

Young Rachel grew up at Xavier's school for gifted youngsters and enjoyed a relatively joyful early childhood... that is, until the political climate took a turn for the worse and the school was attacked by anti-mutant troops. Rachel was taken prisoner and, when her telepathic powers manifested themselves, she was placed in a special project that made the following disturbing scene possible.

Rachel was subjected to intense mind altering drugs and hypnosis that did a real number on her mind and might possibly have made her more susceptible to other forms of mind control. It would certainly explain what was to follow...

She was forced to use her telepathy as one of the first Hounds, mutants enslaved by the government to hunt or kill their own. And, in true Claremontian style, it only made sense that a Hound would wear a costumed made of studded, black leather and a leash. Sigh.

Somehow overcoming her conditioning, Rachel reconnected with Kate Pryde and they went on one, final desperate mission together to infiltrate a military base in which a new, deadlier generation of Sentinel was being developed. And yet, even here she wasn't safe from mind control...

Kate Pryde had hypnotised Rachel, planting a hypnotic suggestion in her mind that would force her to push her powers to the limit and actually transport herself into the past... As seen in this rather realistic flashback from Uncanny X-men # 192.


Rachel actually arrived half a dozen issues earlier in issue #184, yet her first contact with the X-men of this era occured in New Mutants # 18, which showed a newly arrived and clearly malnourished Rachel returning home to Xavier's school, only to discover things aren't quite the way she remembers them...

Mulling over this some more, Rachel returned to New York city in Uncanny X-men # 184, in which her  potent mutant energies caught the attention and appetite of the vampire Selene. She went after Rachel several times, trying to turn her into her heir or, failing that, lunch...

Selene had associated herself with the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club by that time. She also had some interest in the New Mutants, particularly Magma and Moonstar, due to a shared history covered HERE. 

So when Rachel and Magma happened to be on a field trip to New York in Uncanny X-men # 189, they talked it over and decided to enter the Hellfire Club and have a little revenge on Selene for all she put them through. Now, you just know the following was bound to happen:

Still, take a little time to appreciate the subtle symbolism of this panel. Rachel and Amara had attempted to infiltrate the Hellfire Club by wearing servants' uniforms, complete with black fishnet stocking and a collar. Selene added insult to injury by having them leashed and presented as gifts to Sebastian Shaw, the leader of the Inner Circle. 

Wow. Just. Wow.

All these encounters left Rachel pretty mad with Selene. So mad in fact, that she decided to have another go at killing her... This time taking a page out of the old mind control manual... 

Uncanny X-men # 207 saw Rachel mind controlling Hellfire Club member Friedrich von Roehm.

Mind controlling three people on one page? And managing to fit into another one of those skintight, raunchy-as-can-be French maid's uniforms? Ow Rachel, you truly got it all worked out. She managed to surprise Selene in her sleep and almost succeeded in killing her, if not for the timely intervention of fellow X-man Wolverine. Lets see how he persuaded her to stop...

If at first you don't succeed... SNIKT!... SNIKT! again.

Rachel actually survived Wolvie's attempt to calm her down. She was hurt though, fleeing the Hellfire Club, using her telekinesis in a desperate attempt to keep her fatal wounds from opening up. Pursued by both the X-men and the Hellfire Club, she came across a weird manifestation in Central Park. 

Rachel unknowingly entered the Body Shoppe, an interdimensional conduit into the Mojoverse, ran by none other than Mojo's flunky Spiral. She ever so gently managed to lure Rachel away from her worries...

"The girl you were is gone, the life you led is no more! Both girl and life are mine to play with. What comes next, I decide!"

Well... not really, Spiral... Its actually Mojo who decides what happens next to Rachel. As we'll see in part two...