The Most Epic Fantasy and Sci-Fi Website

Thor: Ragnarok’s Tessa Thompson Responds To Fans' Negative Reactions Towards Her Version of Valkyrie


Comic book movie fans tend to be very particular about how film adaptations stay true to their source material, complaining once they find a movie casting an actor or actress far different from the actual character in the comic books.

Though most Marvel fans immediately fell in love with Thor: Ragnarok after Marvel Studios sent out the film's first trailer, others started going ballistic after they found out that Tessa Thompson would be playing Valkyrie, a white-skinned, blonde-haired Asgardian hero selected by Odin to lead the Valkyrior. Though Thompson is a capable actress, fans weren't pleased when they heard that a Norse mythological figure was being "race-swapped" by Marvel for the sake of diversity.

Speaking in an interview with Comicbook, Thompson was asked about her thoughts regarding the controversy surrounding her casting. According to the Westworld star, balancing the concerns of cultural authenticity and the progressive agenda of Marvel wasn't an easy matter at all.

"I mean it's a tricky thing...I think as an actor there's this idea sometimes that you just don't want to read anything but then when you're entering something like this universe, this cinematic universe that people are so diehard about, you actually can learn a lot from the fans when you're doing research about a character.

I've posted a picture of Valkyrie in the comics on my Instagram and there were fans like oh she's going a more "Ultimate Valkyrie," interesting [LAUGHTER]. I'm just reading the comics [LAUGHS], and I posted ... my practice sword and they're like "Ooh Dragon Fang is black, ooh." [LAUGHTER] No, no, no, it's just black plastic. [LAUGHTER] 'It's not what Dragon Fang looks like. It's cool and blue,' is what I want to say but I don't. But you can actually learn a lot from the fans, so I didn't have the thing of like I'm never going to read anything, but then when people were posting about sort of the race swap and the implications of that and they were very upset.

Some very upset people [LAUGHS] about how this doesn't honor Norse mythology and you're like 'Read Norse mythology, it doesn't make sense."

It is a minefield really. Sure, there is a desire for diversity in Hollywood, however, viewers want film adaptations to cast their actors and actresses based on their characters actual cultural ethnicity. Still, we're pretty sure that Thompson would be able to play a strong Valkyrie.

Thor: Ragnarok hits cinemas November 3, 2017.

Read: Thor Ragnarok: Chris Hemsworth Almost Lost The Role Of Thor To His Brother Liam

For more articles like this, take a look at our Fandoms page.