Captain America - Every National Hero In Marvel Comics Explained
7. Captain Britain (& The Corps)
The multiverse established in Marvel Comics provides an infinite number of realities to the franchise. The main one is dubbed Universe-616 – and so Marvel can pursue multiple possible plotlines. There are also an infinite number of all your favourite Marvel characters, and no one exemplifies the possibilities better than Captain Britain.
Earth-616’s Brian Braddock is effectively the “main” Captain Britain, as the son of one Sir James Braddock, an Otherworld guardian sent to Earth to father a great superhero. Another Otherworld being Merlyn (yes, as in King Arthur and his Round Table), his daughter Roma bestowed Brian Braddock with his Captain Britain gifts via the Amulet of Right, which transformed Braddock into a super-powered hero.
He would soon discover he was just one of an infinite number of “Captain Britains” spanning the multiverse; many realities have a version of Captain Britain. A far from exhaustive list includes Captain UK, Albion, Captain Airstrip (so Orwell gets a look in), Cap’n Brit, and most unusually, a Hauptmann Englande who hails from a reality where the Nazis won World War 2.
Together, they formed Captain Britain Corps under the leadership of Merlyn and Roma, and work to keep the multiverse safe.
Even within his own reality, Brian wasn't the only Captain Britain. His mutant twin sister Elizabeth "Betsy" Braddock has currently assumed the mantle while leading the latest incarnation of Excalibur, further enshrining the link between the Corps and Mavel's X-Men.