Life did not really start for Libby, as far as she could remember, before being adopted by James & Elizabeth Bradley of Maldon, Essex, England. Elizabeth first came across her future baby's biological mother in one of her classes at the University of Essex where she taught as a tenured Professor of English Literature. The 19-year-old girl, Kwannon, was an exchange student from Japan studying abroad for the academic year. She was several weeks along. Being morally against abortion yet knowing she could not keep the baby, Kwannon made arrangements with Elizabeth for the Bradley's to adopt her baby. Soon after the arrangements were finalized, Elizabeth discovered that she was with child as well, despite what she told her husband a decade ago that she couldn't have children. Ultimately, the Bradleys' biological son and adopted daughter were born mere weeks apart.
Growing up, Libby and Brian got along swimmingly, practically like real twins, even though they were polar opposites in temperament. She was gregarious, a social butterfly, whereas Brian was more quiet and studious. They were both privileged with the best education their social class had to offer. Libby was discovered at age 13, while on holiday in London with her family, by a modeling scout. Since then, interspersed with her schooling, Libby began doing various modeling gigs, from print ads to runway whenever her schedule allowed.
About a year into her modeling career, she returned home early from a fashion show and found a young man she did not recognize in her house. Unbeknownst to Libby and Brian, they have an older brother, Jamie, who is severely mentally ill and housed in a long-term care facility nearby. He was suffering from one of his psychotic breaks and eloped from the hospital to return home. For months before his escape, as his symptoms were worsening, he had seen Libby's photo in one of the magazines lying around the ward and, not knowing she was his adopted sister, fancied himself enamored with her. In his mind, she was a princess from some old Arthurian legend who needed her knight. Seeing her in his childhood home seemed to confirm his delusions and he attempted to assault her. Fortunately, Brian was coming in from the stables and was able to raise the alarm before anything progressed.
Even so, after the traumatic experience of her attack, Libby no longer felt safe in her home. The Bradleys picked up and moved to the U.S. to get away from the upsetting memories. The family settled in New York City under the guise of expanding Mr. Bradley's company into the States and wanting their children to attend an American private high school in order to get into a prestigious college. Her father enrolled her in martial arts classes for self-defense, but otherwise the incident with Jamie was never spoken of again.
Libby became something of a wild child in high school. She drank, she partied, anything to distract from her unprocessed trauma. Once, she sweet talked an older boy into taking her up in his father's mini aircraft. High up in the sky, Libby found that she loved the sense of freedom flying afforded her. It was only in the wild blue yonder that she felt safe. Libby insisted the boy continue giving her private flying lessons until she was able obtain her own pilot's license.
James Bradley, though formally trained as a scientist, continued on professionally as a businessman. One of the many business ventures he was involved in was a government weapons contract. He was working late one night, checking on one of the production factories, when the facility exploded. His wife was bringing him dinner and therefore also in the building at the time of the explosion. In one fell swoop, Libby and Brian lost both of their parents. Now well into their twenties, the siblings were designated the heirs of the Bradley fortune. Brian, who followed their father into the sciences, inherited the property in Essex and much of the military contracts with the US and UK. As such, he moved back to England while Libby opted to remain in the States and continue with the philanthropic aspects of their parents' former work.
Her origins unknown, the woman known as Kwannon was first seen as the prime assassin of the Japanese crimelord Lord Nyoirin, as well as the lover of Matsu'o Tsurayaba, a high-ranking member of a group of ninja mystics called the Hand. When the interests of Nyoirin and the Hand came into conflict, Kwannon was honor-bound to face her lover Matsu'o in combat. During the conflict, she fell from an ocean cliff and suffered injuries that left her brain-damaged and comatose with no hope for recovery. Shortly thereafter, the telepathic X-Man Psylocke was found washed up on the shore of the Hand's island base in the South China Sea after passing through the Siege Perilous. Matsu'o sought the help of the sorceress Spiral, a begrudging servant of Mojo, to save Kwannon. Spiral used her magicks, combined with the alien technology of her Body Shoppe to transfer the two women's minds into each other's bodies, also intermingling their DNA. The result of this merge was that they now physically resembled each other and each possessed half of Psylocke's mutant telepathic abilities. Meanwhile, Kwannon was recovered by her employer Nyoirin (with the assistance of Spiral). Her new body was retrained in the martial arts, and she was sent to the United States to confront Psylocke. The merge of bodies and minds between the two women had left each with memories and personality traits of the other, leading Kwannon to believe that she was truly Betsy Braddock. The two women left for Japan to uncover the truth, accompanied by Gambit and Beast.
Revanche returned to New York with the X-Men, becoming an unofficial member of the team for a short time. On a mission to an island which housed a colony of Legacy Virus victims, it was revealed that Revanche herself had the deadly disease. The Legacy Virus slowly increased her telepathic ability, allowing her to cut through the confusion and distortion of her own memories, revealing the truth: that she was in fact Kwannon inhabiting Betsy Braddock's original body, as Braddock now inhabited hers. Close to death, Kwannon asked Matsu'o to end her life swiftly, in atonement for his transgressions against her and Psylocke, and so that she might die of her own will and not as a victim of disease. Kwannon's epitaph, left by Psylocke and Matsu'o on her grave in Matsu'o's garden, read "Kwannon, love that transcended body and soul".
Revanche recently resurfaced again when the Sisterhood of Mutants stole her corpse and used a magical psychic spell to transfer the life-force of Psylocke into her corpse and reanimate her body. Her reanimated body was under the control of Madelyne Pryor and she was forced to fight the X-Men on her behalf. She was later killed by Psylocke in a battle of psychic wills and Psylocke's mind was returned to her intact Asian body. [SOURCE: Earth-616]
Comicverse Tie-Ins
Many AU parallels to Psylocke's past as a nod to their body swap and merged psyches:
• Birth mother is a Japanese girl named Kwannon
• Adoptive family shares the names of Betsy's family members
• Same first name, last initial, and birthdate as her CV doppelganger
• Lives on a street called Braddock Park
• Favorite color is purple
• Tattoo of a butterfly on the back of her neck, a nod to her and Psylocke's psychic manifestations
Incentives
BOLD indicates unlocked in CV
ITALICS indicates unlocked in AU
ABILITIES
Japanese
Martial Arts
POWERS
Empathy
Telepathy
Psionic Katana
Mind Control
Illusion Casting
GEAR
Costume #1 w/ Twin Katanas
Australian Outback Costume
X-Men Costume
MEMORIES
Memories of Kwannon
Memories of Betsy Braddock
Body Swap w/ Psylocke
Legacy Virus and death
Reanimation
LOCATIONS