Valkyrie

"I've spent years, in a haze, trying to forget my past. Sakaar seemed like the best place to drink, and to forget, and to die. One day." "Well, I was thinking that you drink too much and it was probably gonna kill you." "I don't plan to stop drinking. But... I don't wanna forget. I can't turn away anymore. So... if I'm gonna die, well... it might as well be driving my sword through the heart of that murderous hag."

- Valkyrie and Thor

Valkyrie is an Asgardian who was part of an elite group of warriors called the Valkyries. She resides on Sakaar as a bounty hunter after her defeat at the hands of Hela. Years into her self-imposed exile, Valkyrie found the Asgardian warrior Thor and sold him to the Grandmaster, only to grow towards him when he told her of Hela's new invasion of Asgard. Joining the Revengers, Valkyrie escaped from Sakaar and assisted Thor to defeat Hela, witnessing the destruction of Asgard as a result before she then joined all of the remaining survivors traveling towards Earth.

Defeated by Hela
"My God, you're a Valkyrie... You know, I used to want to be a Valkyrie when I was younger, until I found out you were all women. There's nothing wrong with women, of course, I like women. Sometimes a little too much. Not in a creepy way, just more like a respectful appreciation. I think it's great, an elite force of women warriors. It's about time."

- Thor to Valkyrie

Valkyrie was one of the many Valkyries sent by Odin to drive Hela back to her prison. Riding a winged steed, Valkyrie and her fellow Valkyries engaged Hela in combat. Hela created a vast amount of weapons that she used to kill the Valkyries as they descended on her. Valkyrie was one of the last of the Valkyries, managing to avoid death by the ferocious attack when Hela then personally engaged her but was thwarted by the only other remaining Valkryie. Being all that remained of the Asgardian warrior maidens, Valkyrie exiled herself to the planet Sakaar where she served the Grandmaster as one of his best acquisition specialists under the designation "Scrapper 142." She had an antagonistic relationship with the Grandmaster's bodyguard, Topaz, but was favored by the Grandmaster himself. Scrapper 142 eventually found and brought the Grandmaster the Hulk after he arrived on Sakaar.

Meeting the God of Thunder
"What have you brought me today? Tell me." "A contender." "I want to go closer, I need to get a closer look at this!"

- Grandmaster and Valkyrie

Scrapper 142 brought the Grandmaster a new contender, Thor. Taking him from a group of Sakaaran Scrappers that intended to use him as food, she implanted him with an Control Disk and was paid ten million Units for delivering him to the Grandmaster. Buying alcohol near the gladiator's quarters, she was pointed out by the gladiator Korg as an Asgardian. Thor attempted to hold a conversation with her, telling her of the Siege of Asgard and Hela's return. Thor noticed a tattoo on her wrist symbolising her as a Valkyrie. However, she ignored Thor and left to watch the fight between Thor and the Hulk from her ship. After the duel, Thor once again attempted to enlist her aid to escape the planet but she again refused. Undeterred, Thor broke free by managing to get the controller for the Obedience Disk from her and disarming it. Displeased, the Grandmaster set Valkyrie and Loki to find Thor and the Hulk, who had followed his friend. She argued with Loki who also found out about her Asgardian heritage and used his powers to make her relive the battle against Hela.

Escaping Sakaar
With the memories awakened, Valkyrie decided to help Thor after all. She freed all the gladiators in the Grandmaster's service to start a rebellion, while Thor and Bruce Banner – who she was unaware was the Hulk but felt like she knew – stole the Grandmaster's ship. Using her own vessel, she followed the Commodore and began fighting the pursuit vessels that the Grandmaster had sent after them. Valkyrie's ship was destroyed, and she used her Asgardian abilities to jump from vessel to vessel, destroying them with her bare hands. Thor joined her in her efforts before boarding the Commodore and escaping Sakaar through the largest portal known as the "Devil's Anus."

Battle of the Rainbow Bridge
"The people are safe. That's all that matters."

- Valkyrie to Thor

On Asgard, Thor supplied Valkyrie with her traditional armor. While Bruce piloted the Commodore, Valkyrie used a large laser cannon to try and stop Fenris from attacking the Asgardians attempting to flee Asgard via the Bifrost Bridge. The weapon failed to stop the large wolf, prompting Bruce to unleash the Hulk to stop Fenris. Valkyrie fought Hela's Berserkers on the Bifrost while the Asgardians boarded a spaceship brought to Asgard by Loki. She joined Thor in fighting Hela directly while Loki triggered Ragnarök by reuniting Surtur's crown with the Eternal Flame. As Surtur destroyed Asgard, Valkyrie joined the remaining Asgardians aboard the ship under the leadership of their new king, Thor.

Personality
"You must be a traitor or a coward because the Valkyrie are sworn to protect the throne!" "Listen closely, Your Majesty. This is Sakaar, not Asgard, and I'm a scrapper, not a Valkyrie."

- Thor and Valkyrie

As the leader of the Valkyries, Valkyrie embodied all that they were renowned for; she was selfless, brave, noble, loyal and dedicated to her people, to her Valkyrie sisters, and to Asgard.

Sadly, the massacre of her sisters by the Goddess of Death Hela inflicted deep psychological scars on Valkyrie, traumatizing her greatly. The final blow came as she witnessed the death of her Valkyrie lover after being saved by her from Hela's attack. With the overwhelming grief combined with anger against Odin for sending them against Hela, and with the shame of being the only survivor, Valkyrie abandoned Asgard and fled into exile on Saakar.

Valkyrie's overall personality underwent a drastic change during her time on Saakar. She became a notorious alcoholic, seeking to eventually drink herself to death, and adopted a rude, sardonic, gung-ho and generally selfish attitude towards everyone besides the Grandmaster and Hulk. Feeling no remorse or empathy, she delivered numerous contenders to the Grandmaster for years, filling in any spare time with drinking, fighting, training, or hunting - sometimes all at once. She developed a strong bitterness toward Asgard and the monarchy but her deep-rooted fear of Hela and the trauma from their last encounter remained with her even though she was eventually able to bury the memories of the massacre deep in her subconcious.

When she encountered the Asgardian prince Thor Odinsson, Valkyrie initially remained apathetic and unmoved by his efforts to get her to help him and Hulk escape. Valkyrie took a sharp turn however when in an encounter with Loki, he inadvertently unlocked the memories of the Valkyrie massacre that she had buried long ago, forcing her to finally confront her fear and guilt and enabling her to begin moving past it at last. Thus, Valkyrie finally resolved to help Thor and Hulk escape Saakar and help save the Asgardian people from Hela. By the time she reached Asgard, she was essentially her old self again except her penchant for heavy drinking remained. Nonetheless, she bravely charged into battle against Hela's berserkers and helped distract Hela long enough to cause the Goddess' eventual downfall at the hands of Surtur. Following this, she rejoined her people as a lieutenant of the new Asgardian king Thor.

Powers and Abilities
As an Asgardian, Valkyrie possesses superhuman physical attributes such as strength, stamina, speed, durability and reflexes, and she is an extremely powerful combatant. She wields a double edged sword, which she uses perfectly, either separate as two blades or a single long sword staff.

Powers
Valkyrie possesses all of the various superhuman attributes common among the Asgardians, including superhuman strength, speed, agility, reflexes, durability, and longevity.
 * Asgardian Physiology: As an Asgardian, Valkyrie has superhuman abilities.
 * Superhuman Strength: Like all Asgardians, Valkyrie possesses superhuman strength. However, she possesses far greater strength than the average Asgardian as a Warrior Maiden. As the leader of the Valkyries, her strength surpasses all the other Warrior Maidens, superior to that of Loki, and nearly matching with that of Thor and Hulk, the latter of whom she was able to knock down in a brief sparing match.
 * Superhuman Agility: Valkyrie naturally possesses greater agility, dexterity, balance, and body coordination than that of a normal human being, allowing her to easily jump and fall on her feet.
 * Superhuman Speed: Valkyrie can move at high speeds, allowing her to dodge a powerful attack from Hulk, to deflect a wave of projectiles hurled at her by Hela in rapid succession, and to momentarily incapacitate Hela with a sudden jump on the latter.
 * Superhuman Stamina: Like all Asgardians, Valkyrie's musculature produces considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity than that of humans, which allowed her to fight many Berserkers, and even the more powerful Hela herself, without tiring at all.
 * Superhuman Durability: Valkyrie's body is much more resistant to physical harm than that of a human. hence, she was able to withstand Hela's mighty attacks, falls from great heights, extreme pressures and temperatures and powerful explosions.
 * Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite her body's resistance, Valkyrie can be injured like any other Asgardian. However, her metabolism enables her to rapidly regenerate damaged bodily tissue with greater speed and efficiency than that of a human. Similarly, she is unaffected by drinking large amounts of alcohol.
 * Longevity: Like all Asgardians, Valkyrie ages at a rate that is much slower than that of a human being, allowing her to remain physically young for thousands of years.

Abilities

 * Master Combatant: As the leader of the Valkyries, Valkyrie is one of the most powerful warriors of Asgard with immense training and millennia worth of experience in unarmed combat and swordsmanship, which allowed her to overpower and chain up Loki fairly quickly, defeat several Berserkers with little effort, and to even aid Thor in fighting against Hela herself. In fact, Valkyrie was the only Valkyrie to survive the battle against Hela, whereas her fellow Valkyries who were legendary for being elite Asgardian warriors were massacred by Hela.
 * Master Swordswoman: Valkyrie has proven to be an immensely skilled and formidable master swordswoman, managing to defeat several Berserkers, and to fight off Hela with her sword.
 * Multilingualism: As an Asgardian, Valkyrie is well-versed in the native languages of several alien species among the Nine Realms.
 * Expert Pilot: As a scavenger and bounty hunter, Valkyrie is well-versed with operating various types of spacecraft, including her own ship, the Warsong.

Weapons

 * Dragonfang: The standard issue sword for all the Valkyries.
 * Warsong Remotely-Controlled Gatlings: Activating a pair of holographic devices on her gauntlets, Valkyries is able to remotely controlled the weapons of the Warsong.
 * Daggers: Valkyrie was equipped with duel daggers that she used it against Thor and would later use it while sparring with Loki.

Allies

 * Asgardians
 * Odin † - Former King
 * Thor - King, Former Prisoner turned Teammate
 * Valkyries † - Former Teammates
 * Heimdall
 * Skurge † - Enemy turned Ally
 * Sakaaran Rebellion
 * Korg
 * Miek
 * Biff
 * Hajo †
 * Revengers - Teammates
 * Thor
 * Bruce Banner/Hulk
 * Loki

Enemies

 * Surtur †
 * Hela † - Archenemy and Attempted Killer
 * Berserkers †
 * Fenris †
 * Grandmaster - Employer turned Enemy
 * Sakaaran Guards
 * Topaz † - Situational Ally turned Enemy
 * Sakaaran Scrappers † - Victims

Trivia

 * In the comics, Brunnhilde was selected by Odin to lead the Valkyrior, and she became a long time member of the Defenders. She was based on the Norse mythological figure.
 * Following her introduction in Thor: Ragnarok, an alternative version of Valkyrie that resembles Tessa Thompson's character introduced in the mainstream comic universe, as an Asgardian vigilante and a member of the Exiles.
 * Valkyrie's number among the Grandmaster's Scrappers, 142, refers to the Incredible Hulk #142 issue, where Valkyrie first met the Hulk.
 * During her battle with Hela in Hel, Valkyrie's life is saved by the sacrifice of a blonde Valkyrie more closely resembling the Brunnhilde from the comics.

Behind the Scenes

 * Valkyrie was originally planned to be introduced in Thor: The Dark World, but her appearance was ultimately scrapped.
 * According to Taika Waititi, Tessa Thompson's casting was a not deliberate decision to diversify the film, but to choose the best person: "You're working with comic-book Vikings, so you have to look at the source material as a very loose inspiration. A character's skin tone and hair color doesn't matter. I think the story is king, and you want the best person for the job, and Tessa was the best person."
 * Describing her relationship with Loki, the actress said that ' they have a lot in common; meaning they come from the same place in a sense and have the same chip on their shoulder in a way. There's a thin line between how much they hate and love each other.
 * Tessa Thompson based her performance as Valkyrie on from the movie .
 * Danya Bateman, Tara Macken and Brittany Morris were stunt doubles for Tessa Thompson in the role of Valkyrie.