Hulk & Valkyrie to co-star in Thor: Ragnarok

Edited by Robert Beach

One of the biggest problems facing Marvel’s Phase 3 slate is what to do with the Thor franchise. Thor was one of the bigger hits of phase one, both financially and achievement wise. It was the first film to cement the idea Marvel could integrate the truly out-there and bizarre aspects of its comic continuity to the big screen; however, when Thor: The Dark World rolled around in 2013, things took a decidedly sour turn.  The film is the lowest-grossing Marvel sequel to date and thoroughly failed to find real engagement from audiences.  

Thor in phase 1 had firmly carried the banner of Marvel merchandising and Marvel cosmic weirdness, but now at the close of phase 2, Thor toys have been a bit of a non-starter and Marvel’s much more successful Guardians of the Galaxy now carries the banner of cosmic weirdness. Given all this, it’s not surprising that Marvel is walking on eggshells about the upcoming third Thor film: Thor: Ragnarok.  The title alone promises major shake-ups to come for the God of Thunder along with heavy ties to the ongoing Thanos saga leading up to Avengers: Infinity War.  Now Marvel has made their concerns about the film even clearer by officially adding The Hulk and Valkyrie as additional main characters.

Who is Valkyrie? 

I’ll talk about Hulk in a bit. First, I want to talk about Valkyrie because she’s actually one of my favorite Marvel heroes. Valkyrie is a lot like Lady Sif or the current female version of Thor with the main difference being Valkyrie is a bit more cosmically removed and aware. She’s an Asgardian with all the same amazing powers as Thor and Loki only she’s also linked to death within the realms of Asgard.  

This is actually part of Norse myth in real life. The idea that there were shield maidens of the Gods called Valkeries. They would collect the souls of heroes who died in battle and bring them to the halls of Valhalla where the brave live forever. Marvel took this concept and boiled it down to one character, Valkyrie.  As such, Valkyrie has always been more aware of the intricacies of death within the Marvel universe than her fellow Asgardian counterparts, though she’s every bit as fierce and powerful a warrior as Lady Sif or Thor.  She’s appeared in various stories throughout the Marvel canon, though she was most important during the ‘70s as a member of Marvel’s mystic superhero team the Defenders.

The Original Defenders 

Speaking of which, let’s talk about The Defenders because it seems like Marvel is naturally heading in that direction lately.  Though Marvel is using the same name for their street-level team of Luke Cage, Daredevil, Jessica Jones and (for the moment) Iron Fist, the original team was a lot more cosmic in nature. The original Defenders were formed as almost a group of anti-heroes, certainly anti to the Avengers at the time. The original membership was Dr. Strange, Silver Surfer, Namor, and the Hulk, forming after the Hulk was chased out of the Avengers.  

The roster eventually branched out to include Valkyrie, Son of Satan, Hellcat, Gargoyle, Beast, Moon Knight, and Nighthawk. Even though the team wasn’t exactly popular in their time, they’ve gained a serious cult status among comic fans and many of their stories remain some of the best examples of ‘70s Marvel comics. There’s no guarantee Marvel is planning a Defenders-esque team, but the fact that 2 of the core heroes are thrown together in an upcoming film with Dr. Strange, and Moon Knight waiting in the wings strikes me as a pretty clear sign. 

Hulk's Place in Asgard

Which brings us to the big, green elephant in the room that is the Hulk. Throwing the Hulk into the rigmarole that is the Norse apocalypse strikes me as a great idea; one that would really highlight Marvel’s unique ability to blend genres. If they can pull off dropping a man-sized mad science kaiju into the middle of an epic fantasy setting like Asgard, it’d be a pretty impressive victory lap for the phase 3 circuit.  

Additionally, we know Thanos has to be involved with Thor: Ragnarok to acquire the Space Gem held in Odin’s Treasure Vault, so it would be a good way to establish Thanos’ actual power levels against someone as incredibly strong as the Hulk. not to mention a good way to sideline the Hulk before Thanos even gets to Earth in search of the Mind Gem. The biggest questions this raises are of course how Hulk will get to Asgard, and what he’ll be doing there. 

We know Thor’s brought humans to Asgard before during The Dark World, specifically he sought the aid of scientists like Jane Foster. It’s possible he’ll conscript Bruce Banner’s help for some reason. Most likely he’d need Bruce’s aid tracking down the 2 remaining Infinity Gems as he was responsible for finding the Mind Gem in Avengers. Alternatively, Thor could be seeking Hulk’s help to stand against the oncoming apocalypse of Ragnarok.  

A big part of the distinction is going to come down to how much Marvel wants to define Thor’s reality as epic fantasy rather than science fantasy. Overall, they’ve remained fairly ambivalent about this difference, using ideas like space warps and whole planets and spaceships to obfuscate whether we’re dealing with a legitimate mythology or simply an alien race. If they do decide to go in for a full-on Ragnarok with Surtur the fire demon, that’ll force the film to ground the Thor mythos in the realm of fantasy more than ever before. There’s also the lingering question of whose side Hulk will be on when things go inevitably sideways in Asgard.

So far we’ve all been assuming Hulk will be on Asgard to help Thor, but if Bruce Banner was brought there for his intellect, there’s every possibility he could end up being used as a pawn of destruction by Thanos. That’s a fairly common occurrence in the Marvel universe at this point. Given the popularity of the Hulkbuster fight from Age of Ultron, I wouldn’t be surprised if Marvel was keen to pit Hulk against more heroes. If Hulk doesn’t end up in the thrall of Thanos, perhaps even being turned into the Gray Hulk in some capacity, it seems most likely to me he’d be dropped onto an alien world Planet Hulk style. Anything to ensure that he isn’t around to help during Infinity War part 1.

Whatever happens with Hulk & Valkyrie’s roles, it’s becoming increasingly clear that Marvel either don’t have faith or patience for Thor himself. Chris Hemsworth has been one of the more vocally dissident actors over Marvel’s practices. And with the character’s diminishing audience interesting and receding financial success, it’s not surprising they’d try and use his possible last film as a launching pad for more diverse or popular characters of the Marvel stable. 


if you liked this article please like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter