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Thor: Ragnarok Brings a Different Valkyrie


Ever since new images of Thor: Ragnarok broke out, a lot of questions have popped up for Taika Waititi's upcoming superhero flick.

The first is just how different Thor looks—he does look uber cool, albeit very modern—and the more talked about is how female warrior Valkyrie turned out to be portrayed by Tessa Thompson.

Comic fans will see the differences in portrayals, particularly the lack of a blondness to the warrior, but the director revealed to Entertainment Weekly just what he was thinking for the role.

"I'm not obsessed with the idea that you have to cast someone just to tick a box. You should cast people because they're talented. [With Valkyrie], I wanted to make sure we weren't making a female character that was boring and pretty. What I wanted was someone who was going to play the opposite and be even more of the ‘guy' character than the guys. Ultimately, I thought Tessa was the best person we found."

This kind of thinking also extends into the territory of representation. Thompson also revealed to EW her thoughts about the difference that her Valkyrie has with the comics. For her, this kind of thing had to do with the conversation of representation, and how this was a movement that should consider what's currently happening in the culture now.

"I think the unfortunate thing about a lot of these fantasy movies is when they're based on source material, a lot of these comics were written in a time when that wasn't a part of the conversation as far as having representation… If we were also dedicated to the source material, Valkyrie would potentially be a female Thor but she's fighting in basically a bathing suit, which is also absurd."

This makes great sense. What Valkyrie embodies, after all, is a strong female warrior, the strongest, in fact, of the Valkyrior. And with all the training that she has had and combat that she has encountered, her character in Thor: Ragnarok was supposed to look and feel that strength.

Thor: Ragnarok will be out in theaters on Nov. 3.

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