History
Linda McQuillan was the costumed adventurer known as Captain U.K., the member of the Captain Britain Corps assigned by Merlyn to protect Earth-238.[citation needed]
The government of Britain on Earth-238 had been taken over by the Mutant megalomaniac Mad Jim Jaspers, who used his powers to warp reality and outlawed all superhumans and had them hunted down by his creation: the Fury. Linda and her husband Rick Dauntless, alias Young Miracleman, were two of the last surviving heroes of Earth-238, and had gathered together in a hideout with several others to make a stand against the Fury. As they lost contact with heroes still outside, the wall of their hideout started to crack under repeated blows from the Fury. The wall exploded and the Fury was among them, quickly murdering Tom Rosetta, Android Andy, and Miracleman. Colonel Tusker reassured Captain U.K. that the Fury had yet to get past his killer toys; seconds later, it slew him. Rick carried Linda to a teleporter booth while the Fury continued its killing, and without time to calibrate the destination, he set it to send her as far away as possible. Her last sight before she teleported was the Fury grabbing her husband by the throat and killing him with a blast to the chest.[1]
A terrified Linda was transported to Earth-616, and kept a low profile there, while her Earth-616 counterpart Captain Britain travelled to her Earth. He was killed there by the Fury (over a grave meant for Linda), and Linda shivered as she sensed it (though Brian was resurrected by Merlyn).
Working as a photographer, Linda was shocked one day to see a newspaper headline - the Jim Jaspers of this Earth had called for superhero legislation, just as he had on hers. Unknown to her, the Fury had followed her to this Earth, but was damaged and had to slowly regenerate itself using the bodies of homeless people.
Linda went to Brian's home Braddock Manor, and, finding a group of other superhumans there with him, panicked believing that events were repeating themselves. The gathering watched a speech given by Jaspers on television that caused Linda to flee - she explained it was the same speech the Jaspers on her world with which he began his genocide. Fearing the introduction of death camps, Linda fled the house, only to face the regenerated Fury. It shot at her, but she was protected by the influence of Merlyn. Captain Britain and the members of the Special Executive came to her rescue and temporarily defeated the Fury, but Linda was paralyzed with fear.
Jaspers set up concentration camps for anyone with super powers, run by the Vixen, who secretly controlled the government agency S.T.R.I.K.E.. A catatonic Linda sheltered with Brian, his sister Betsy, Saturnyne, and other superhumans in a basement. Brian set off to face Jaspers, leaving the others undefended. When armored S.T.R.I.K.E. agents known as Beetles attacked, they killed Betsy's lover Tom Lennox, and captured Betsy and her friend Alison Double. A terrified Linda did nothing to help, and escaped with Saturnyne. Saturnyne told Linda she had to help Captain Britain, and began beating her. Linda finally fought back, snapping her out of her fear. Saturnyne pressured Linda to put her costume on as the world was being consumed by Jaspers' reality warping power.
Linda and Saturnyne proceeded to 10 Downing Street, where they found Jaspers fighting the Fury - it didn't recognize this alternate Jaspers as its maker, and so attacked him. After the Fury had killed Jaspers, it turned its attentions to Captain Britain. The frightened Linda still couldn't intervene, until the Fury pinned Brian down and prepared to shoot him. Reminded of what happened to Rick, Linda was filled with rage, tearing the Fury apart and smashing its remains to smithereens. She and Brian held each other in relief, before being transported to Otherworld by Roma.
Roma explained that Merlyn had used Linda to draw the Fury to Earth-616 so that it would kill Jaspers. She showed them that the superhuman concentration camps were being torn down, before returning them to that world. After a kiss, the two Captains went their separate ways.
Linda was later approached by agents Gabriel and Michael of the government agency R.C.X. and persuaded by them to help them and Brian deal with the Warpies - children who had been given powers and transformed physically by the effects of Jaspers' warp.
For a time Linda acted as the partner of Betsy Braddock when she temporarily assumed the mantle of Captain Britain. Linda helped train Betsy and worked alongside her fighting crime for a time. Soon after Linda decided Betsy was ready to work on her own, however, Betsy was brutally attacked by the villain Slaymaster, who blinded her. Brian killed Slaymaster, and returned to the role of Captain Britain.[2]
Linda met with Roma on Darkmoor, and Roma explained that Linda's presence on Earth-616 was stopping the rift caused by Jaspers' warp from healing fully, thus creating more Warpie children. Roma showed Linda what really happened when she last saw Rick. Instead of being killed by the Fury, Rick had actually been transported away at the last instant by Roma. Linda was reunited with Rick. Roma assigned the two heroes to Earth-794 to halt the rampage of the insane despot Sat-Yr-9, an alternate version of Saturnyne, and Linda and Rick soon freed that Earth from oppression by imprisoning Sat-Yr-9.[3]
Linda was later assigned to Earth-839, where she battled the Red Monarch.
When Brian Braddock was put on trial by the Captain Britain Corps for failing to champion the morality of his Earth, Linda volunteered to act as his defense counsel, even though she risked guilt by association. When it became clear the court was prejudiced against him, Brian resisted the court's authority and was attacked by the rest of the Corps, with Linda being his sole ally in the fight. Before events could progress much further, the fight was halted by Saturnyne, who ordered the Corps to dismiss the case under orders from Roma.
Linda later attended the bachelorette party of Brian's fiancée Meggan, where she helped battle the Crazy Gang and their new Executioner, Brian and Meggan's former Excalibur teammate Feron. Linda attended Brian and Meggan's wedding soon after. She has since briefly served as a member of a short lived version of the team Excalibur.[citation needed]
She was part of the reformed Captain Britain Corps summoned to the Starlight Citadel when it was besieged by daemons from Amenth and helped hold the line along with the X-Men.[4]
Attributes
Powers
- Superhuman Strength: She can lift almost 90 tons.[5]
- Superhuman Stamina: Captain U.K.'s stamina is enhanced far beyond normal human levels.[5]
- Superhuman Durability: Captain U.K. can also generate a personal force field that affords her imperviousness to a great many forms of damage.[5] Blunt weapons like crowbars are insufficient to harm her as they simply deform upon impacting against her body.[6]
- Superhuman Reflexes: Captain U.K.'s reflexes are enhanced far beyond normal human levels.[5]
- Superhuman Senses: Captain U.K. senses are enhanced far beyond normal human levels.[5] Captain U.K. has a superhuman para sense that alerts her to certain unusual phenomena.
- Flight: Captain U.K. is able to fly at supersonic speeds.[5]
Abilities
Weaknesses
Notes
Trivia
See Also
- 44 appearance(s) of Linda McQuillan (Earth-238)
- 2 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Linda McQuillan (Earth-238)
- 1 minor appearance(s) of Linda McQuillan (Earth-238)
- 2 mention(s) of Linda McQuillan (Earth-238)
- 4 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Linda McQuillan (Earth-238)
- 17 image(s) of Linda McQuillan (Earth-238)
Links and References
References
- ↑ The Daredevils #7
- ↑ Captain Britain (Vol. 2) #13
- ↑ Captain Britain (Vol. 2) #14
- ↑ X of Swords: Destruction #1
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #2
- ↑ Captain Britain (Vol. 2) #7
- ↑ Marvel 85th Anniversary Special #1
- ↑ All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 2