Mystery Exiles member revealed to be MCU Valkyrie (more or less)

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Submitted by Mike 'Ace' Maillaro on Tue, 01/09/2018 - 09:21

From the Hollywood Reporter:

The “mystery” member of Marvel Entertainment’s upcoming comic book series Exiles has been revealed, and it’s a character never before seen in comic books … kind of.

The fifth member of the group, which is made up of alternate universe takes of familiar Marvel characters, will be a new incarnation of Valkyrie that closely resembles Tessa Thompson’s version of the character from last year’s Thor: Ragnarok.

“Like everyone else who has seen Taika Waititi’s brilliant Thor: Ragnarok movie, all of us on Team Exiles are big fans of Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie,” series editor Wil Moss said in a statement from the publisher. “So when we realized that we had the perfect series — where the roster is made up of alternate reality versions of Marvel heroes — to introduce a comic book equivalent of that version of Valkyrie, we jumped at the chance! “

...

Curiously, Moss’ statement was accompanied by one from series writer Saladin Ahmed in which he clarifies that the new comic book Valkyrie is “not technically from the Marvel Cinematic Universe reality,” but is nonetheless, “basically the liberalization of the larger-than-her-physical-frame swagger that Tessa Thompson displayed in Thor: Ragnarok, turned up to 11.” File that clarification under potential rights issues, perhaps.

The new incarnation of the character, defined by Ahmed as “the Lone defender of Asgard,” will be canonically gay — he describes her as “maiden-wooing,” wonderfully — and features character design from series artist Javier Rodriguez that combines elements of original comic artist John Buscema’s visuals with the Thor: Ragnarok design.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

Commentary: Curious why they didn't reveal her identity when they announced the Exiles relaunch last week. Personally, I am glad they are including a version of Valkyrie. I have always liked the character from DEFENDERS and more recently FEARLESS DEFENDERS. And being an alternate reality story, I have no issue with making her dark-skinned and a lesbian. I am sure some people will complain about this, but it doesn't bother me all that much. Besides, like I said in my earlier article, it's EXILES (which has always included gay and bisexual characters in it's rosters), so don't get too attached to any of the characters anyway.