Earlier this month reports came out about the Thor: Ragnarok star Tessa Thompson pitching to Marvel Studios to make an all-women superhero movie. Now the actress who plays Valkyrie in the film revealed that she wasn’t alone in approaching Marvel President Kevin Feige as she was joined by Scarlett Johansson, Zoe Saldana, Pom Klementieff, Karen Gillan and Brie Larson to push the case.
“I think in that group was Brie Larson, myself, Zoe Saldana, although she ran off to the bathroom, I think, so she came midway through the pitch, but she had been in the rev-up to it,” Thompson told CBR. “Scarlett Johansson. Pom [Klementieff] and Karen [Gillan], who are both in the Guardians movies. Yeah, I think it was that group. We were just sort of all in a semi-circle talking, and it just came up, because none of us really worked together – well, I suppose Zoe, and Karen, and Pom – and wouldn’t it be nice if we could all work together?”
“And we were sort of speculating on the ways in which it might happen in Infinity War, or might not happen,” she continued. “And we thought, ‘No, we should just have a whole movie where we know every day we’re going to arrive and get to work together.’ So we just ran right up to Kevin Feige and started talking about it.”
Thompson claimed that Feige is generally receptive to new ideas about the future of MCU. “That’s the thing that’s so fantastic about Kevin is you always get general interest from him,” she said. “At least when you start speaking, and then you might get 10 minutes in, and you sense that maybe something is not as exciting. But no, he’s really open to collaboration and wants to hear what we’re interested in.”
During the discussion about an all-female MCU project, a part of Marvel Comics history was spoken about, and that was Lady Liberators, an all-female team from the 1970s instigated by Enchantress who took the form of Valkyrie to fool the other female heroes into acting upon her wish. The original story included other MCU characters such as the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, and Black Widow. The team was redone in 2008 with She-Hulk becoming the leader.
Thor: Ragnarok will release in North America this Friday and the Taika Waititi directed film features Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Cate Blanchett as Hela, Idris Elba as Heimdall, Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Karl Urban as Skurge, MarkRuffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk and Anthony Hopkins as Odin.
