Spider-Man Created Britain’s Greatest Hero Without Knowing It

Peter Parker’s roommate Brian Braddock turned out to be Britain’s protector Captain Britain – who learned his greatest lessons from Peter!

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Spider-Man has had some pretty lousy luck when it comes to roommates. His friend Harry Osborn went crazy and became the Green Goblin when he learned Peter was Spider-Man. His old sparring partner Boomerang crashed at his place and got him into a lot of trouble. Even when Peter rooms with a hero like the Human Torch, things get a little nuts thanks to Johnny’s love of parties.

At one point, however, Peter ended up rooming with rookie superhero Captain Britain who, in his civilian identity as Brian Braddock, was attending Peter’s university ESU as an exchange student. Although Peter wasn’t a fan of the arrangement, he wound up mentoring Captain Britain in ways that affected Britain’s protector for years to come.

Who is Captain Britain?

Developed as a superhero for Marvel Comics’ Marvel UK imprint, Captain Britain’s adventures were originally only published in the United Kingdom. Written and drawn by popular Marvel writers and artists Chris Claremont, Alan Moore, and Alan Davis, the hero initially seemed to draw a lot of inspiration from Spider-Man. Brian Braddock was a shy physics scholar working at a nuclear research center. When the center is attacked by criminal Joshua Stragg, Brian escapes on his motorcycle, but crashes and is left near-dead.

At that moment, Merlyn and his daughter Roma appear in front of Brian and offer him the chance to be Britain’s champion, Captain Britain. They give him a choice between two magical items – the Amulet of Right or the Sword of Might. As Brian still sees himself as more of a scholar than a warrior, he chooses the Amulet and is costumed in a blue-and-red costume with a golden lion emblem on his chest. Merlyn and Roma caution Brian that the great power of Captain Britain also carries great responsibility.

As Captain Britain, Brian originally transformed into his superhuman alter ego by rubbing the Amulet of Right, which would imbue him with super strength, stamina, and reflexes. He also had a weapon that he called his “Star Scepter” which could generate a protective force field around him and give him the power of flight. Interestingly, Captain Britain’s powers were originally tied to Britain itself, meaning his powers would diminish if he left his native land (although his magical gear could store some of the power for international use).

How Spider-Man Met Captain Britain

Brian had several adventures as Captain Britain in his Marvel UK magazine, but eventually Marvel decided to introduce him to American audiences. In Marvel Team-Up #65-66, Chris Claremont and John Byrne created a story where Brian journeyed to the United States as an exchange student for Empire State University. Because the school wants to cut back on boarding costs for international students, Peter Parker is forced to share his apartment with Brian.

Peter is reluctant to room with anyone, but he agrees after learning he’ll be paid fifty dollars a week. However, that night Brian sees Spider-Man sneak out of the apartment. Fearing that Spidey may have harmed Peter, Brian transforms into Captain Britain and gets into a classic hero vs. hero brawl. Fortunately, the two make up, just in time to team-up against Arcade, a villain who kidnaps both of them and forces them to fight for their lives in his “Murderworld.” After triumphing, the two part as friends.

Amusingly, Peter almost immediately realizes that his British roommate Brian Braddock is Captain Britain because… what are the chances that Britain’s superhero would show up on the same day that Peter got a British roommate? Peter even sees the similarities between Brian and himself and decides they worked well together.

Spider-Man Changed Brian

Although Marvel Team-Up never showed how Brian and Peter stopped being roommates, years later, Captain Britain himself expands on the story in Excalibur #53. After his girlfriend Meggan finds an old photo of Peter Parker, Brian tells her Peter is the reason Captain Britain is the man he is today. It turns out that after their first adventure with Arcade, Spider-Man decided to keep hanging out with Captain Britain and show him how to be a superhero.

However, while Captain Britain was more than willing to follow Spider-Man’s lead, Brian Braddock was not an ideal roommate. Peter would come home to find Brian drunk (as Brian would struggle for years with alcoholism). Brian also left huge messes in their apartment and attempted to escape responsibility for cleaning up after himself by hiring a maid – something that disgusted Peter. Still unaware that Peter was really Spider-Man (or that he knew about Brian’s double life), Captain Britain turned down Spider-Man’s offers to talk about his issues – and went off to find some action.

He subsequently gets in a fight with some foreign exchange students who can turn into mutant dog-people (yes, really), but in a moment of frustration, he uses excessive force and badly injures one of them. Ashamed, he wanders the streets after Spider-Man gets the woman some help, but comes home to find that Peter has packed his bags. Informing Brian that he has a problem with drinking and not accepting responsibility for his actions, Peter kicks him out of their apartment. His words stay with Brian and he ends up paying all of the injured woman’s hospital bills and striving to be a better person, stating, “Although [Peter Parker] couldn’t know it, the great power I had – gave me an even greater responsibility.”

Marvel Team-Up

While the two would never meet again as Brian Braddock and Peter Parker, Spider-Man and Captain Britain had another team-up against Arcade in Spider-Man #25 (where Spidey was happy to see Brian was a more seasoned hero and the team-leader of his own group, Excalibur). The final issue of Excalibur even had Spider-Man send some well-wishes for Brian’s wedding to Meggan (and to remind him that he still owes him a month’s rent from college, indicating the two had finally shared their secret identities with each other).

Spider-Man has always been an inspirational figure for many Marvel superheroes, yet the fact that it was Peter Parker who finally reached Captain Britain is significant. Brian Braddock was originally a very similar character to Peter, being a science student struggling to reconcile power and responsibility, so it’s appropriate that his greatest mentor was Peter Parker himself.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/spider-man-created-captain-britain/