Tessa Thompson Details Valkyrie's New Powers in Thor: Love and Thunder

Thor: Love and Thunder is set to bring a new skill set to Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While she won't be inhabiting the bodies of other people as comments were once thought to be suggesting, Valkyrie is seen in trailers for the fourth Thor film wielding Zeus' lightning bolt weapon. This new power is going to enhance Valkyrie's fighting skills as the characters are setting themselves up for a faceoff with Christian Bale's Gorr the God Butcher. Speaking to ComicBook.com, Thompson opened up about learning to wield the new weapon but also shared some fun insights about seeing Zeus actor Russell Crowe do the same. 

"There's some new moves," Thompson admits. "I'll be honest, I didn't like get to... I wish I had had more time. Val doesn't get as much time as she would like to with the Thunderbolt, but it was very fun. I hope Russell doesn't mind me saying this, but he's amazing with it obviously because it is his weapon so he really learned how to wield it. Sometimes he would rehearse outside of my trailer and I would watch him rehearsing, which was really fun. I also remember like when I first was playing Valkyrie  and training for her and like with my sword with dragon Fang, I would just like take that thing everywhere and practice. So, it was very sweet to watch Russell win a tennis skirt, practicing his wielding abilities."

Sequences seen in promotional materials for Thor: Love and Thunder see Valkyrie wielding the golden Thunderbolt weapon in the midst of a sequence displayed in black and white. Typically, Valkyrie is using a sword as a weapon which was seen in Thor: Ragnarok. However, Thunderbolt will not be the only new strength Valkyrie displays in the upcoming film. Thompson sees the strength in Valkyrie's vulnerability.

"I mean, it's also my favorite thing about the comics," Thompson says of exploring Valkyrie's trauma. She has quite a few of those comics, by the way, especially the issues which have been published since Marvel Comics redesigned the character to look like the actress and her version of the character from films. Watch the full interview on the Phase Zero channel to hear more about that collection!

"It's something that Stan Lee would talk about," Thompson says. "This idea of the things that sort of, our trauma is also our source of power. It can be the source of good power or bad power depends on how we decide to wield it. But those things that have happened to us, that we carry with us sort of create who we are and make us extraordinary in our own way. And I always thought that that's the most inspiring thing to, you know, in comics and why so many people feel seen inside of them. So I really love getting to explore those facets of Valkyrie and of all these characters. And I think in this film in particular, you get to really see kind of the pathos of these characters."

Whether or not there is another Thor movie, there is hope from fans for Valkyrie to show up elsewhere in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. if Thompson has her way, we might just see her interacting with Mark Ruffalo's Hulk somewhere down the line. "[Valkyrie and Bruce Banner are] really good friends," Thompson says. "They're pen pals and they text each other and, and they're on various group chats, but they definitely check in. They'll FaceTime each other occasionally just to see, see how the other is doing."

Are you excited to see Valkyrie in action for Thor: Love and Thunder? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Twitter! For more Thor and Ms. Marvel interviews, subscribe to ComicBook.com's Phase Zero channel on YouTube. Thor: Love and Thunder opens in theaters on July 8.

(Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)