Captain Britain, A Brief History

Captain Britain:

Since Captain America: Civil War is more than six months away, lets talk about Captain Britain, (see that perfect segue).

In all seriousness though, on the list of the most popular Marvel characters from a poll by Observationdeck.com, Captain Britain came out number 28, above Deadpool, Loki, Namor and Black Panther. Is this correct by any standards? No, I don't know who they were polling, (Probably Britain), but he isn't that popular. However, he has gathered sort of a cult following, and I'll admit, I've always been intrigued by him. So lets take this journey together, to find out who he really is.

Origins:
Brian Braddock was born in Malden, Essex. He was a graduate student in physics from England's Thames University. He worked under his mentor Dr. Travis at the Darkmoor Research Centre. When Darkmoor was raided by The Reaver, (a British Crime Lord), Brian jumped on his motorcycle to get help but was quickly run off the road and crashed by the Reaver's men. Luckily he was approached my Merlin, a man shrouded in mystery with a gift to give Brian. He told him that in order to survive he would need to become Britain's great hero by choosing between two artifacts, The Amulet of Right and The Sword of Might. Brian didn't consider himself much of a warrior so he chose the Amulet. When he touched the amulet he was transformed into Captain Britain with costume and super strength, he was then given the Star Sceptre by Merlin which enabled him to fly. Unfortunately the Reaver caught up with Brian. The Reaver claimed the sword turning him into an armored knight with great strengths. Brian defeated the Reaver and so Captain Britain was born.

Captain Britain in the Early Days

America:

Through his adventures in Britain he had various run-ins with many villains indigenous to Europe and even teamed up with Captain America to defeat the Red Skull during his escapade to England. It wasn't until Brian was studying abroad that he came to New York City and shared a room with Peter Parker at Empire State University. They did not know of eachothers alter egos, but as superheroes they teamed up a lot, finally Spiderman deduced his British Roommate was indeed Captain Britain, though Brian remained unaware that Spiderman was Peter Parker. 

Excalibur:

Upon Brian's return to Britain he would face many other villains but ultimately retire the life of being a superhero to his twin sister Betsy (better known as Psylocke from the X-men), who was quickly blinded while fighting crime in Britain. Through twin telepathy Brian felt her pain and went after the offender, The Slaymaster. Brian killed him and then resumed the mantle of Captain Britain. During the Fall of the Mutants, Brian was so upset over his sisters death that he took to heavy drinking and it wasn't until Nightcrawler threw Brian off of a lighthouse and convinced him that the other mutants needed saving. While successfully saving the X-men, Captain Britain and a few other mutants formed Excalibur, the premier British superhero team.

The Avengers:

After the Skrull invasion Captain Britain joined MI-13. While working at MI-13 he was approached by Steve Rogers at an international meeting and asked to join the Avengers as a reserve member, only fighting if they needed him. He joined despite murmurings from the other MI-13 members. He was just a reserve member at first but soon became a sworn in member of the Avengers at one point.

Captain Britain Corps:

During a multiverse crisis all iterations of Captain Britain banded together in order to fight the evil threatening the multiverse. This group of alternate Brian Braddocks is known as the Captain Britain Corps. During incursions where worlds collide the original Captain Britain was thrown back to his own Earth while the rest of the Corps was wiped out, and Brian losing an eye at some point.

Presently...

Presently Captain Britain is part of the Illuminati, (A think tank organization consisting of Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Namor, Stephen Strange, and other smart minds). He helps them find a solution to the many incursions popping up around earth during Time Runs Out.