Thor: Ragnarok
Marvel Comics ’ rendering of Valkyrie made her alive - natural action debut inThor : Ragnarok , leaving many fans to inquire : “ Who is Valkyrie again ? ” Well , pricey reader , leave us to be of aid .
Like Thor , Loki , and the rest of her Asgardian compatriot , Valkyrie has cryptical roots in Norse mythology , stimulate her one of the oldest fiber on Marvel ’s roster ( historically address ) .
The loss leader of the Valkyrior , Brunnhilde was select to be a shieldmaiden by Odin himself , escorting those killed in battle to Valhalla , where the expectant heroes rest and look for Ragnarok , the final struggle at the end of the macrocosm .
finally , though , Odin cut down a deal with the Celestials , banning the Valkyrior from Earth , and he and Valkyrie had a devolve out . The Norsewoman soon detect herself cast to the kingdom of Midgard , as a card - carrying member of the Defenders . Of course , as we ’ll soon explicate , the journey was n’t quite so straightforward .
Traditionally trace as a braided , Junoesque woman in silver-tongued armor and a dismal cape , Valkyrie is , more significantly , distinguished by her forcefulness and feminist doctrine , refuse to be seen as anything less than equal to her male match – ideal that current Valkyrie , Tessa Thompson , has in nigger .
So grab your sword and your winged steed , because here are the15 thing You Did n’t Know About Valkyrie InThor : Ragnarok .
She’s Been a Villain (Kind Of)
Amora the Enchantress , after trapping Valkyrie in a watch crystal , gained the power to replicate Val ’s flesh at will . She give jaded feminist Samantha Parrington the powers of the shieldmaiden .
Samantha - Valkyrie used this newfound strength to immediately aggress theHulk , angry that the gullible giant ( and her father ) get all the credit for saving the Statue of Liberty , even though her plan was the one that did the saving . Sam - Val and the Hulk competitiveness to a standstill , then go their freestanding ways , neither exclusively sympathise what the heck just happen .
Decades later , after getting her own soundbox back , Valkyrie is working with the Fearless Defenders to get the better of the Doom Maidens , Odin ’s mad OG execution team . Along the way , Val discovers that she ’s actually one of them : the Maiden of Rage .
rap into that power ( by siphoning vigour fromDani Moonstar ) Val goes full ancient berserker and defeats the other Maidens – hurrah – only to depart wail on her teammate – boo – which , at this spot , is most of the ladies in the Marvel universe of discourse .
In the end , Valkyrie ’s cure by the power of beloved – but not before killing her girlfriend , Annabelle Riggs , in the process .
She Can Sense Death
As one of the Valkyrior , Odin ’s swear shieldmaidens and the Choosers of the Slain , Brunnhilde has the immensely fun ability to sense impend death and doom . Called a “ deathglow , ” the ability induce a variety of royal aura to surround a before long - to - be cadaver , and , uh , that ’s really it .
Valkyrie does n’t bang how someone ’s going to die , and there ’s usually not anything she can do to stop it . The glow is essentially just a dinner party Alexander Melville Bell , letting the Valkyrior roll in the hay that it ’s time to mount up and start show folk to Valhalla .
speak of , since escorting souls is the chief task of the Valkyries , it ’s probably not a surprisal to find out that Val can transport herself ( and any stagnant multitude nearby ) to Valhalla at will . No pesky rainbow bridges or asking Heimdall for help for her . Eat it , Thor .
Her Origin Story Comes Directly from the Norse Völsunga Saga
“ Tales of Asgard ” was a hunt down back - up feature in earlyThorcomics that basically illustrated old Norse myths and made them Marvel canyon . A few long time in , these back - ups became so popular that , starting withJourney Into Mystery#104 , they became the main tarradiddle . Why would n’t they ? Norse myth are nuts .
TheVölsunga Saga , a 13th hundred Icelandic textbook , andNibelungenlied , a gamey German epic poem , specifically , were the foundation for Valkyrie ’s early day – both of which seemed to have been based on existent - spirit sixty 100 Merovingian world-beater Brunhild .
Marvel cleaned up their interpretation a turn , shift a few name and egest all the nipper murder and wife - swap , but the nub is this : Brunnhilde had a brief and perfervid affair with Siegfried , the deadly avatar of Thor . Then thing went sideways and everyone died .
Incidentally , those same text edition also informed Wagner’sRingcycle opera , which is , at least part , where we get the expression “ It ’s not over ‘ til the fat lady sings . ” That fat lady , by the way , is Valkyrie .
She’s the Last of the Valkyrior
After years of watching over the field of Germany and Scandinavia , the Valkyrior are , all of a sudden , forbidden from contact lens with Earth . Odin , it seems , made a deal with the Celestials , and the warrior women were part of the deal .
Valkyrie does n’t take too kindly to this and , resolve to will Asgard , turn to Amora the Enchantress for assistance . or else , because she ’s vicious , Enchantress traps Brunnhilde ’s soul in a lechatelierite for a couple hundred years . In the meanwhile , the persist Valkyrior are killed in a monolithic war between Odin and Hela ( something that looks like it will toy out in the upcomingRagnarok ) .
Odin finally restores the Valkyrior to life , but only within the paries of Valhalla – which , as far as the counterbalance of the world is concern , does n’t count . As a result , Valkyrie is tasked with discover young Valkyrior , something she decidedly does not do .
Instead , she team up up withMisty Knightand form theFearless Defenders , a team made up of half the women in the Marvel universe – many of whom are already in the Marvel Cinematic Universe , hint hint .
She Battled Two of Her Duplicates (at the Same Time)
Greek god Pluto go to the Asgardian Ice Queen , Lorelei , and asks for his own Valkyrie . The queen obliges , stuff the core of Valkyrie back into Samantha Parrington , feminist and former Hulk - combatant .
Pluto think that ’s groovy and all , but he still goes in advance and mindwipes Lorelei , flim-flam her into think that she ’s the real Valkyrie . Both of them are sent to Earth .
The Defenders ’ leader Nighthawk find Lore - kyrie and , think she ’s the real Valkyrie ( Brunnhilde ) invites her to bring together the team again . Sam - kyrie , meanwhile , is trying to lift an United States Army of the dead for Pluto . Both sides meet and fight and then the factual Valkyrie rolls up with a fleet of Valkyrior to set things right . Also , Zeus is there .
Anyway , once the dust settles , Lorelei is herself again , Sam - kyrie is the new Valkyrie , gifted with the real Val ’s steel and fly horse , and Brunnhilde goes back to chill in Asgard – at least untilThe Defendersgot bring up again .
Ultimate Valkyrie is Kind of Awful
For anyone not in the know , Ultimate Marvelwas an embossment of Marvel Comics , featuring re - imagined and updated versions of most of the company ’s characters .
Originally existing as its own separate matter , the Ultimate universe was merged with the real Marvel world at the end of “ Secret Wars . ” Some masses quetch , but not many , because all the near mind ( like Miles Morales ) were kept , while all the nonsense was jettisoned .
speak of nonsense … Ultimate Valkyrie was , in her first appearance , a teenage Valley Girl with no superpowers . Still , she acted like she had them , joining the equally as terrible Ultimate Defenders and calling herself Thor - Girl .
Later , she was given actual super major power and a sword and a yoke kick - prat moment , but she was still just a ditzy light-haired for some reason .
Her Sword Was Carved From a Dragon’s Tooth
Asgardians are n’t exactly known for their tact . No , Thor and friends are famous for having demented weapon system and strike things real good . Valkyrie does not disappoint on either front .
Brunnhilde is one of the greatest fighters in all of Asgard , and that ’s saying something . Trained in unarmed combat and blade fighting , she ’s second only to the Lady Sif when it comes to brawl , and has exit toe - to - toe with Thor , Hela , and Odin and lived to walk off .
away from her fists , Valkyrie also has an iron shaft , a flying gymnastic horse identify Aragorn ( that she “ borrow ” from Black Knight ) , and a illusion , perdurable sword . Said steel , Dragonfang , was , as you ’ve perhaps already hazard , chip at from the tooth of a tartar by an primordial sorcerer .
Originally possessed by the Ancient One , the blade was bequeathed toDoctor Strange , who then rebequeathed it to Valkyrie . Which , really , is probably where it should have been from the scratch .
She’s the MCU’s First LGBTQ Character (on the Big Screen)
To cite Tessa Thompson : “ YES ! Val is Bi in the comics & I was close to that in her depiction . But her gender is n’t explicitly cover in Thor : Ragnarok . ”
Even though we may not see it meet out on - screen , that still cook Valkyrie the first openly LGBTQ character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – with stiff emphasis on “ cinematic , ” of class .
Secret Warriors member Joey Gutierrez ofAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.andJeri Hogarthof the Netflix Marvel show are both openly braw on the small - screen door , and have been for a couple of twelvemonth now .
Speaking of years , despite being around since the seventies , Valkyrie ’s hermaphroditism has only been deal late in the funnies , start in 2013’sFearless Defenders . She had a ( very ) abbreviated crack with archaeologist Annabelle Riggs before wile forced the two to immix bodies and , well , things got a small complicated .
She’s Been on the Defenders More Than Anyone Else
Despite being a “ non - squad , ” the Defenders have been around for just about forever , in over a half - dozen iterations at this point .
Originally just Doctor Strange , Hulk , Namor , and occasionally theSilver Surfer , the squad was chop-chop taken over ( and made more popular ) by a bunch of B - conference superheroes in the seventies , before disbanding and rebanding , with the most current “ seriously - we’re - not - a - team ” made up ofLuke Cage , Jessica Jones , DaredevilandIron Fist .
Even with the front of all those more celebrated heroes , it ’s Valkyrie that ’s the dead on target affectionateness of the team . First appearing inThe Defenders#4 , Val was the first addition outside of the original four , and stayed with the first ravel of the book for over a tenner , through roll change and the squad ’s rebranding asThe New Defenders , decently up until its cancellation and everyone ’s death .
Over the years , she ’s made several other appearances , including joining full - metre for the 2001 reunification and headlining her ownFearless Defendersin 2013 .
She’s BFFs with Hellcat
As a nigh - immortal demigoddess from another plane of being , you ’d plausibly look Valkyrie to pal up around with someone like Thor or Sif , or at least Hercules . However , nope , reverse out Val ’s close friend isPatsy Walker , aka . Hellcat .
The two first meet as members of the Defenders in the 1970s , hitting it off almost directly and even sharing an apartment together in later effect .
Even after that version of the team disbanded , Valkyrie and Hellcat have continue to stay in ghost , with Hellcat come out as part of Val ’s Fearless Defenders , and Valkyrie help ( or just getting burgers with ) Patsy duringPatsy Walker , a.k.a . Hellcat!The two most notably teamed up to take down Casiolena , an Asgardian sorceress and one of their first foes with the Defenders .
Valkyrie just ca n’t seem to shake those evil sorceresses .
