COMICS · STORY NOTES

Uncanny X-Men #256

In Hong Kong, Matsu'o Tsurayaba approaches the Mandarin with an offer of an alliance between his organization and the Hand, a ruthless clan of assassins. Matsu'o's deal is for the Hand to help the Mandarin build an empire unparalleled by any in the past, in exchange for gainful employment in its service. To begin their alliance, Matsu'o offers a gift; that of an ultimate assassin.

Description adapted from Marvel Database contributors, Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 256 · CC BY-SA 3.0. Text adapted for this entry.

Uncanny X-Men

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Complete story — includes the ending

In Hong Kong, Matsu'o Tsurayaba approaches the Mandarin with an offer of an alliance between his organization and the Hand, a ruthless clan of assassins. Matsu'o's deal is for the Hand to help the Mandarin build an empire unparalleled by any in the past, in exchange for gainful employment in its service. To begin their alliance, Matsu'o offers a gift; that of an ultimate assassin. This assassin is Psylocke.

What follows next is a surrealistic "dream" sequence as Betsy relives details of her life, undergoes a physical transformation from British to Japanese at the hands of the Body Shoppe (with nightmarish versions of Spiral and Mojo causing the transformation) and her being set against her teammates, who she murders in order to obtain each of Mandarin's ten rings. In the end, Psylockes defeats Mandarin himself (who takes the form of Slaymaster) and it is revealed that the "dream" was a sensory deprivation brainwashing experiment that the Hand used to finalize their assimilation of Psylocke into their organization. In the end, she returns the rings to Mandarin, to whom she pledges her undying loyalty.
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Source and revision history ↗ · Adapted from Marvel Database contributors, Uncanny X-Men Vol 1 256. Illustrations and reference markup removed; synopsis paragraphs combined. · Content license