YEAR 1970: THE VALKYRIE

Though I don't agree with critics who dismiss Marvel's 1960s superheroines as wimps, I've admitted in some of my ARCHETYPAL ARCHIVE essays (such as this one) that the Valkyrie was one of the few heroines whose power was close to the level of Marvel's "big guns" like Hulk, Sub-Mariner etc.  But as I noted in the above cited essay, the Valkyrie begins life as a put-up-job: as an alter ego for the evil Enchantress (another one for whom I've not yet done an entry).  Much later, an incredibly convoluted J.M.de Matteis story would establish that the image conjured up by the villainess was that of a real Asgardian warrior-maiden, so in a retcon sense, AVENGERS #83 in 1970 is indeed the first apperance of the Valkyrie's image, if not her essence.

The essence would appear about a year later, in INCREDIBLE HULK #142.  I critiqued this story in this essay, which was originally intended to be part of a full-fledged examination of the character's myth-history.  I lost interest at some point, but the HULK story remains the first time the Valkyrie takes on a decisive persona, even if it would take the aforesaid retcon to establish that she was more than just the Enchantress' spell overlaying a mortal persona.

As most Marvel readers know, the most-used version of the Valkyrie would appear about two years later, with the Valkyrie persona overlaying yet another mortal bit-player in DEFENDERS #4.

Arguably this character proved to be the "glue" that held the dysfunctional Defenders together, much as Captain America had been used in the early AVENGERS stories, and for the same reason: neither of them had much of a life outside of their respective groups.  It may also be argued that Valkyrie's potential was never realized, precisely because she remained associated only with that super-group.  Still, she remains a heavy-hitter in all of her incarnations, and marks a shift in Marvel Comics' apparent attitude toward overly powerful heroines.

TOP 50 FEMALE/MALE FIGHTS IN COMICS #5

Thundra looked like a poster child for Amazonian superheroes but in terms of history the Valkyrie takes the prize for being Marvel Comics' first heavy-hitting heroine. Even in the 1940s Marvel's ancestor "Timely-Atlas" doesn't seem to have any heroines on the level of Wonder Woman, and though many post-feminist complaints about the inefficacy of 1960s heroines like Wasp or Invisible Girl were not entirely fair, it must be said that few of Marvel's costumed femmes were especially formidable. Villainesses like Umar, the Enchantress and the Norn Queen were the only femmes who ascended to that rough power-level.

I won't deal with Valkyrie's complicated history here, though I'll note that it's only in her second appearance, INCREDIBLE HULK #126 (April 1970), that Valkyrie is definitely shown to be have Wonder Woman levels of strength. Writer Roy Thomas doesn't quite get adventurous enough to have her equal the titular monster-hero in power, but her ability to fight, rather than being forced to use indirect energy-powers, is central to her character.

Despite the Valkyrie's puissance, I've seen very few good extended battles with the character going toe-to-toe with either male or female antagonists of comparable strength. A battle with Thor in some AVENGERS ANNUAL was handled pretty tiresomely, and a lot of times she ends up being pitted against characters not in her strength-class, which reflects poorly on her reputation as a badass. Nevertheless, her running battle with the super-agile Lunatik in DEFENDERS #56 is a fun fight as essayed by writer Dave Kraft and artist Carmine Infantino. The tongue-in-cheek combat comes across with a bit of a Batman-vs.-Joker vibe, with the super-serious Val continually trying to chase down the elusive nutjob. The moment (not shown) where Valkyrie leaves off her Asgardian magniloquence and just yells "SHUT UP!" at Lunatik while punching him out makes for a cool climax (even though the villain manages to get away for another day).