Designing A Suit To Run On Confidence? A Daring Choice

I was wondering about Captain Britain's actions in Secret Avengers. He ignored the Beast, grabbed the Cage off War Machine, then tried to use it to capture the Phoenix off his suit's power. It ended up not working, the cage exploded, and afterward, Hank chewed him out for always being a know-it-all. Rather notably, Brian had succumbed to peer pressure the night before and gone drinking with Thor and Valkyrie, despite his warnings to Thor about being a bad drunk.

So was it the drinking that made Brian rush in? Hank doesn't bring it up during his tirade, but it's worth wondering if that contributed to his lack of caution. I mean, he was drinking with Asgardians, not known for moderation. Still, there is another factor, Brian's confidence, and that's the one that intrigues me. His suit somehow draws magic from the surroundings as a power source, but near as I can tell how effectively it does so varies with his confidence (he says his power depends on confidence, at any rate). If Braddock is shaken from the prospect of facing the Phoenix, then he probably won't be much use. Which means he might try drinking to bolster his confidence, or at least quiet his nerves. If he can drown his fears, then his confidence may come back.

Would the suit be able to sense the difference, that it was false confidence? He told the Torch the suit's power is also determined by his nobility. It seems like getting soused before a major conflict might not be very noble. It would depend on Merlin's definition of the word, and some of Braddock's comments give me the impression he's in the dark.

Which means the drinking could lead to an trapdoor for Braddock where he drinks to alleviate his fears, only to find that either his confidence is an illusion, or that the suit is a teetotaler. Either way, the power he's expecting isn't there, and now the clarity to recognize that and behave accordingly isn't either. When he sees the things going wrong, the Phoenix swatting Thor away, nearly roasting Rhodes inside his armor, he doesn't recognize that the Beast is right, that he's not in a position to make a difference. Not a positive one, anyway.

Or, maybe the drinking is a red herring, one that has nothing to do with his actions. Maybe Braddock thought that if he did something courageous, it would pay off. Fortune favoring the bold. He might tell himself he wouldn't willingly attack the Phoenix unless he truly believed he could get the job done. He's not a suicidal man, he tells himself, just one trying to save the world who thinks he sees a way to do so. So if he's pulling the cage of Rhodes' back and charging towards the Phoenix, then he must be full of confidence, so his suit must be at full power, and surely that'll be enough, right? I could see him doing something ill-advised precisely because he thinks it'll force him to be confident enough to do the job.

The question then is, was it a failure on his and Hank's part not to design the cage where it could more effectively run on his suit, as a failsafe? Was it a failure of his confidence, that he didn't really believe he could pull it off, and that's why the suit didn't have enough power? Or was it that sometimes, a person isn't going to be strong enough? That confidence simply isn't enough to get the job done. It could be that Braddock fully trusted in his power, had as much as he possibly could, but that this conflict is on another level above him entirely.