MCU-Inspired Valkyrie Joins Marvel Comics Exiles Team

A Tessa Thompson-inspired Valkyrie will join the new Exiles.
A Tessa Thompson-inspired Valkyrie will join the new Exiles. Marvel/Player.One

The new Exiles book from writer Saladin Ahmed and artist Javier Rodriguez brings a character from the Marvel Cinematic Universe to join the team… sort of. The mysterious fifth member of the Exiles, a group of Marvel characters from alternate realities, is Valkyrie. As you can see, this version of the character is heavily influenced by Tessa Thompson from Thor: Ragnarok.

“Valkyrie's a character who's always appealed to me. Her iconic warrior-woman look -- spear! sword! flying horse! -- but also the juxtaposition of a kickass ancient fantasy hero operating in contemporary New York City. She's a classic Marvel heroine,” said series writer Saladin Ahmed in a press release. “But the Exiles version of Valkyrie is a bit different from what we've seen in comics thus far. Our Valkyrie is known as the Lone Defender of Asgard, and she's a tankard-draining, maiden-wooing, giant-slaying thunderbolt of a woman. Though she's not technically from the Marvel Cinematic Universe reality, she's basically the literalization of the larger-than-her-physical-frame swagger that Tessa Thompson displayed in Thor: Ragnarok , turned up to 11.”

“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,” said series editor Wil Moss. “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! And how great is series artist Javier Rodriguez’s design? Such a nice combo of the classic Valkyrie look and the MCU’s, yeah?”

The new Exiles team will be led by Blink from the Age of Apocalypse reality. She will lead Kamala Khan from an alternate future, Iron Lad who is actually an alternate Kang the Conqueror, and Wolvie who is from, as Ahmed clarifies, “ a TV show created by Mojo’s rival Veech to be an even more appallingly cute replacement for Mojo’s original X-Babies” in a mission to save reality.

Exiles will drop in stores April 11.

So what do you think of the complete team of Exiles? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and check the awesome character design from Javier Rodriguez and covers by David Marquez and Mike McKone.

The first cover to Exiles #1
The first cover to Exiles #1 Marvel Comics/David Marquez
The cover to Exiles #2
The cover to Exiles #2 Marvel Comics/David Marquez
An alternate cover to Exiles #1 featuring Valkyrie.
An alternate cover to Exiles #1 featuring Valkyrie. Marvel Comics/Mike McKone
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