Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War doesn’t make it easy to keep track of the more than 70 existing characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. There are quick cameos that breeze by and even information overload is a factor, so it’s easy to forget what happened to a character. If you found the absence of Valkyrie in Avengers: Infinity War conspicuous, then you aren’t alone. So what happened to the mighty Asgardian warrior that teamed-up with Thor and Hulk in Thor: Ragnarok? We can’t know for sure, but it doesn’t look good for her.
Warning: Spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War follow.
The last we saw of Valkyrie, she was aboard the Statesman ship with the rest of the Asgardian survivors and a few Sakaar gladiators like Hulk and Korg at the very end of Thor: Ragnarok. Which means that she was still aboard the ship when Thanos and the Black Order attacked it at the beginning of Infinity War. (We knew that would happen from the Ragnarok mid-credits scene.) She was quite literally Thor’s right-hand woman.
Valkyrie was ready to serve under Thor's leadership at the end of 'Ragnarok'.
But much like Korg and Meek, we don’t actually see what happens to Valkryie. Heimdall Bifrosts a wounded Hulk back to Earth before Thanos kills him and then Loki. Actress Tessa Thompson isn’t credited in Infinity War, so it’s not like we somehow missed a quick cameo either. So what really happened to her? Well, when a fan wondered as much on Twitter, Valkyrie actress Tessa Thompson had her own fun theory:
In all seriousness, there’s no telling what happened to Valkyrie. Over on the MCU wiki, somebody claimed as much, writing, “Her body, still bedecked in her reclaimed Valkyrie armour, could be seen among the bodies near Heimdall, suggesting she went down fighting.” A “Tara Macken” is supposedly credited as a stunt double for Thompson, and it’s totally possible that lying there dead is a stunt. But we personally didn’t see a body that looked like Valkyrie, so take all that with a bit of skepticism.
Thor does later tell Rocket that “half” his people died in the attack, so it’s possible Valkyrie was among the “survivors.” But based on what we know of Valkyrie, she would never go down without a fight and she certainly wouldn’t be one to leave with the survivors, if there even are any.
When the Guardians of the Galaxy showed up and saved Thor, it looked like the ship was demolished and Thor was the only survivor. So is all this some kind of plot hole? Something that didn’t get fully explained? Did Thanos mix up his math and kill 99.99 percent of the people instead of 50?
Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie in 'Thor: Ragnarok'.
Regardless of whether or not Valkyrie survived that initial attack on the Statesman, later in the movie she had a 50/50 chance of turning to ash just like Groot, T’Challa, Peter Parker and the billions of other people in the MCU after Thanos completed his Infinity Gauntlet. Bummer.
So, if we had to make a rough estimate, there’s probably an 80 percent chance overall that Valkyrie is totally dead. But don’t worry! Nick Fury did call Captain Marvel on a tricked-out pager in the post-credits scene, so she’s bound to do something that will fix his huge mess in the untitled Avengers 4 movie. But will whatever happens also save Valkyrie in the end? Or is she forever dead, along with our dreams for an all-female Marvel team-up movie?
We’ll probably have to wait for Avengers 4 to hit theaters on May 3, 2019 to find out for sure.
