"You are not dreaming, Psylocke. Listen. These are the most important words you will ever hear. Your enemy is named Apoth. You must kill a god. Do not ask my name! When Abraham heard the voice of truth, he did not ask. He listened. He placed his child on the slab. He raised the knife. I am truth. And you are not dreaming. You'll wither here, Psylocke. In the bosom of Xavier's peace. Take up this war."
— Fallen Angels #1
Fallen Angels is a 2019 comic book series, starring Kwannon (formerly known as Revanche) as the new Psylocke, alongside X-23, Kid Cable, Husk and Bling. The series is part of the Dawn of X relaunch, and was written by Bryan Hill (Detective Comics (Rebirth)) and drawn by Szymon Kudranski (The Punisher).
Kwannon got her body back due to unforeseen events in X-Men (2018), but still has a connection to the Hand from before she ever met Elizabeth Braddock. Laura and a young Nathan Summers join her on the search for answers concerning several disappeared children, who may have been taken by someone from her past.
The series ended after 6 issues. Hellions serves as a Spiritual Sequel with Kwannon as a main character.
Fallen Angels provides the following tropes:
- 11th-Hour Ranger: The last two issues see Bling (Roxanne Washington) and Husk (Paige Guthrie) joining the team for the Final Battle with Apoth.
- Anti-Hero Team: We have a ninja assassin who once served the Hand (Kwannon), a Tyke Bomb born and raised to be a killer (Laura), and a deadly mercenary who grew up in a Bad Future (Nathan). These are the heroes of the story.
- And I Must Scream: Kwannon reveals that all the time Betsy was using her body, she was still there and conscious the entire time.
- Ascended Extra: Kwannon was always a very minor character in the X-Men mythos, as she hasn't even appeared in 40 issues since her 1993 debut.note Her body was well-known (as Betsy's) for the longest time, but she herself was not. Now, as the new Psylocke, Kwannon receives a massive upgrade in prominence, starting with the fact that she's the main character of her own comic series (which never would have happened before).
- Badass in Distress: Nathan ends up getting captured by Apoth's forces in the penultimate issue, forcing Kwannon and Laura to go to his rescue.
- Big Bad: Apoth serves as the main antagonist of the story, a rogue A.I. that wants to evolve itself into godhood.
- Blood Knight: While Kwannon's investigation into her nightmares starts the mission, it is the trio's fatigue with a peaceful paradise and a need for conflict that led to the team's formation.
- Boobs-and-Butt Pose: Not for nothing is this known as the "Psylocke pose", as the cover of the first issue has her doing it; albeit in a little more realistic and natural compared to Betsy's abnormal spine-bending version.
- Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Among the many things Kwannon inherits from Betsy is a butterfly motif. She discusses the symbolism in the second issue, representing how she is changing as a person. Although literal rebirth is not involved, Kwannon very obviously views the events of Dawn of X as a second chance at life.
- Character Shilling: Kwannon has been hit particularly hard with accusations of this, as she's being put forward as a mentor figure for the already considerably badass X-23 and Cable. While this iteration of Nathan is still a teenager, he's nonetheless a hardened combat veteran, while Laura is a grown woman who is just as experienced as Kwannon (allowing for the time Kwannon has spent either dead or trapped in in her own mind while Betsy was driving her body). Kwannon's dialogue comes across as patronizing at best, with both characters' extensive skills and experiences being subsumed to prop up Kwannon. This has not sit well with fans of either character.
- Child of Forbidden Love: It turns out Kwannon has a secret daughter. Back when she was in training as a Hand assassin, she was with a boy and got pregnant. This was forbidden by the Hand and they executed the boy and took her daughter away as a hostage. The series starts with her being killed by Apoth, by overdosing in Overclock.
- Could Say It, But...: As of the first issue, you have to obtain Magneto's permission before leaving the island in the wake of Charles Xavier's assassination. While he is disinclined to grant it, he may provide some ideas about how to get around that.Magneto: While you may not leave the island, you should go east from here. You'll find Sinister. Tell him of your visions. He may find them of interest.
Kwannon: You gave me a rule and now you're helping me break it.
Magneto: I have no idea what you mean. In my grief over Charles' death, I forget conversations. Officially.
Kwannon: Thank you.
Magneto: Don't thank me. I haven't done anything. - Death of a Child: Apoth exclusively uses children for his experiments with Overclock, and uses them as mind-controlled minions when fighting Kwannon and her team, leading to most of them dying. Kwannon's own daughter is shown to be the one of the first victims of Overclock.
- Fantastic Drug: The arc is set up with some worldbuilding over a new drug on the market in the form of an electronic device that directly interfaces with the brain to do alter consciousness. This is noted to make overdose impossible, since chemicals aren't involved, but still runs the risk of directly inducing psychological damage.
- Flashback: The series often cuts to flashbacks showing Kwannon's past when she was being raised and trained by The Hand.
- Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Inverted. The two girls have melee-oriented power sets, while the one guy is a cyborg gunman who mostly settles his problems at a distance.
- Hotter and Sexier: We once again have a Psylocke with the ninja bathing suit design, thong and all. Before, when Betsy returned to her original body, Psylocke had been heavily desexualized. Even before then, the sex appeal was played down, as she traded the thong for leggings. Either way, this is a definite step up in sexiness.
- I Am a God : The rogue A.I. Apoth grew delusions of godhood once it grew smart enough and gained access to the internet.
- In the Hood: Kwannon's Hand mentor is an old lady who's always wearing a hood, keeping her face framed in shadows.
- Legacy Character: Kwannon is the new Psylocke, following Betsy Braddock moving to the Captain Britain identity and leading Excalibur. It's rather fitting, since her body was Psylocke for a long time, and is far and away the most famous version of it.
- Levitating Lotus Position: Kwannon is shown to meditate in a lotus position while using her powers to keep herself afloat.
- Line in the Sand: In #5, X-23 is training Bling!, Husk, and Cable for the looming fight with Apoth. She pops a foot claw, draws one of these, and challenges them to try to land a hit on her. She takes them all on at once. They don't.
- No Place for Me There: The initial team members Kwannon, Laura and Cable have all fought for mutantkind, but find themselves uneasy living peacefully in the sanctuary of Krakoa and thus take the first clue they can to get away and keep fighting for other causes.
- Recycled Title: Fallen Angels was the title of a very different 1987 comic series featuring Sunspot, Warlock, and Boom Boom, of which this series has no connection to.
- Retcon: Past stories clearly established that Kwannon's consciousness was dead while Betsy was inhabiting her body, whereas Fallen Angels instead states that she was aware and trapped the entire time.
- Sequel Hook: The ending of the first arc has Kwannon and Sinister agree that if he needs any help, he'll call her. This was after Hellions was announced to be starring the two, and even the last page, usually reserved for showing the cover of the next issue of the series in Dawn of X, instead showed the first cover for Hellions.
- Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Apoth takes the form of Kwannon's daughter in a last-ditch attempt to get her to spare him. It doesn't work, and she doesn't hesitate in destroying him.
- Took a Level in Badass: Inverted with Kwannon. She mentioned to Mr. Sinister that her powers aren't as strong with Betsy no longer a part of her and she asked Sinister if he could up her abilities. He declines.
