Marvel's mysterious newest Valkyrie is actually the oldest Valkyrie

Marvel has been teasing the debut of a new, as-yet-unnamed Valkyrie in January 2021, and we now know that while she's new to readers she's actually one of the oldest.

In the solicitation for March's King in Black: Return of the Valkyries #4, the publisher continues to drop breadcrumbs on this mysterious new Valkyrie by revealing how she fits in the pantheon of Valkyries.

"Brunnhilde. Jane Foster. Dani Moonstar. Hildegarde. And the mysterious stranger who's worn the title longer than any of them," reads Marvel's solicitation for this final issue of the limited series. "The Valkyries are united, and at last they have a plan – but so does the King in Black. Every soul in existence is at stake – including the Valkyries' own!"

King in Black: Return of the Valkyries #4 is written by Jason Aaron and Torunn Grønbekk, with art by Nina Vakueva.

But before you go thumbing through longboxes…. No, you didn't miss something. Although she has some history in the Marvel Universe according to this solicitation, based on what Marvel's shared, none of this Valkyrie's life has been actually shown in a comic book (yet).

"Emerging just as Knull's takeover begins, this new Valkyrie's past holds dark secrets that will change everything you thought you knew about this group of Asgardians and reveal what their future in the Marvel Universe holds," reads the solicitation for King in Black: Return of the Valkyries #1.

Here are designs of the character by Mattia De Iulis:

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First teased back in November, this new Valkyrie not-so-coincidentally looks like Tessa Thompson's MCU Valkyrie from Thor: Ragnarok. A Marvel Cinematic Universe-esque Valkyrie that homages Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie already appeared in 2018's Exiles series but has not reappeared since.

Look for more on this when King in Black: Return of the Valkyries #1 (of 4) goes on sale on January 6.

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Chris Arrant covered comic book news for Newsarama from 2003 to 2022 (and as editor/senior editor from 2015 to 2022) and has also written for USA Today, Life, Entertainment Weekly, Publisher's Weekly, Marvel Entertainment, TOKYOPOP, AdHouse Books, Cartoon Brew, Bleeding Cool, Comic Shop News, and CBR. He is the author of the book Modern: Masters Cliff Chiang, co-authored Art of Spider-Man Classic, and contributed to Dark Horse/Bedside Press' anthology Pros and (Comic) Cons. He has acted as a judge for the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, the Harvey Awards, and the Stan Lee Awards. Chris is a member of the American Library Association's Graphic Novel & Comics Round Table. (He/him)