#barbara norriss

[bluecrowsfly]

Defenders (1972) issue #48

idk much about her yet but Valkyrie looks cool

this is a panel of her making a giant mistake tho lmao

[daydreamerdrew]

Marvel Comics Presents (1988) #83

I really like this moment where Hines yells at Logan to run for his life after he demonstrates that he isn’t mindless.

(Hines pretty consistently referred to Logan as Mr. Logan throughout the story. The exception being an awkward moment in the story in issue #79 where Hines is controlling Logan and directing the other equipment during a test and it feels inappropriate to use his name to refer to ready equipment: “Mister Logan set!- Uh- I mean… Experiment X set twelve!”)

Up until now Hines has been a complacent employee of Weapon X, including, for example, her participation in his surgery in the story in issue #78, which Logan was awake for and felt everything of. I think her only bits of pushback have been saying, in the story in issue #77, of having Logan wait outside in the cold before a test, “He’s been in sub-zero for ten minutes! Can’t we get on with this?” And then later, not concerned about Logan but of the wolves he’s being made to kill, “Professor… can’t we stop it? Now?- Save the animals?”

Dr. Cornelius was the one who expressed ethical concerns about the project in the story in issue #79, which weren’t about Logan’s mistreatment but worries about what he was going to be used for, and Hines told him, “If you need me, Doctor… I will support you… in anything you need to do.”

At the point of this scene in the story in issue #83 Logan has killed a lot of people, including Dr. Cornelius, who Hines liked, but it was made clear to them that this was because an unknown third party had taken control of Logan and not actually because he had broken free of their mind control and wanted revenge. Logan speaking here is the first indication to her that he’s not mindless, and him not attacking Hines when he’s been ordered to kill everyone is his first act of disobedience.

I don’t think it would make sense for Hines to be consciously trying to ruin the Professor’s attempt to use her as bait to kill Logan as an act of revenge against him in this high-stress situation. I think she just recognizes Logan as a person now, and so instinctively tried to help him, even though he killed her friend.

Also, after this Logan has a moment with the Professor where he declares, “I am- Logan! Logan! I am a man!” I’m assuming that he didn’t remember his name after the adamantium fusing and it was actually Hines addressing him as “Mister Logan” here that reminded him of it.

[wanderingmind867]

The Defenders were compared to a support group or therapy group online somewhere, and although I never read the full article on it, I still now can't unsee it. Doctor Strange is the therapy leader, the man with issues but who's mostly got it put together (especially when compared to compatriots). Meanwhile Hulk, Valkyrie and Nighthawk are just three very different people linked by one thing: loneliness and trauma.

Hulk is pursued by everyone. Everybody seems to want to kill him or "cure him" like he's an f*** ng invalid! And as someone with autism, anger issues and a fear of judgement that makes me behave differently depending where I am: hulk is so relatable. Valkyrie is also full of trauma. She's a person suffering severe identity issues. Is she Valkyrie or is she Barbara Norriss? That's the dilemma we see her suffer, and it's a truly agonizing one. And finally, Nighthawk is a rich man with nothing to live for. He's barely involved with his company, his parents neglected him, he's an ex-con, etc. The man has trauma all his own.

So really this team is just four people with issues coming together and learning to be friends due to their shared traumas. It's kind of beautiful. The non-team ends up being one of the best teams, which is incredibly ironic.

[doctorstrangereview]

0104: Defenders #8

Cover Date: September 1973 On-Sale Date: June 26, 1973

Doc didn't appear in Defenders #7 so we're skipping it. Even Clea and Wong only appear for a couple of panels. This issue finishes the story started last issue and ties into the Avengers/Defenders War which is just getting started.

As this begins in medias res here's the long story short on Defenders #7: The Hulk and Hawkeye are getting into a tiff. Namor and Valkyrie get involved. They go to Doc's place who is off saving the universe from Shuma Gorath. They borrow the Sanctum for some purpose. An Atlantean shows up to warn Namor of an impending invasion of Atlantic City by Attuma. Attuma invades Atlantic city, captures Namor and accepts the Defenders' (and Hawkeye's) surrender. Attuma reveals his partner-in-crime, the Red Ghost. Namor shows up again and is about to kill the other Defenders. Now you're caught up.

Namor attacks Hawkeye and Val. He clobbers them quickly and efficiently and they are imprisoned by Red Ghost in metal suit type things. Hawkeye asks why and Red Ghost gets to monologing about his recent history. He ran into Attuma and here we are. Red Ghost reveals that his cosmic ray treatments make animals and fish people his thralls, but kills humans. He then starts bombarding Hawkeye and Val.

Switch back to the Sanctum and Doc has returned from the crumbling Crypts of Kaa-u. Doc is excited to tell that his elevated station of Sorcerer Supreme given to him by the man whose ego he fried not long ago may help him un-statue the Black Knight. Clea tells Doc he must summon the other Defenders for the momentous occasion. Doc's psychic telephone call manages to reach the Silver Surfer and the Hulk, but got busy signals from Namor and Val. Uh oh!

Ghosty assures Attuma that Namor, Val and Hawkeye are still alive and that he has enslaved enough heroes and fish-men for a full-scale invasion of Atlantis. Attuma is so excited he starts to break things.

The Surfer asks Doc to proceed with un-stoning the Knight when Hulk says he knows where Namor and Val are. He then gets mad and goes to leave so Surfer gets all angry and attacks him. (These guys really need therapy.)

Doc entrances Hulk while he's in the Surfer's sleeper hold. Hulk recounts the Invasion of Atlantic City. Hulk was amused so he basically sat down with a bag of popcorn to watch instead of participating. Doc then puts Hulk to sleep while he and the Surfer venture out. Doc was really itching for a ride on that board!

Attuma is now invading Atlantis with Namor, Val and Hawkeye basically smashing everything single-handedly. Suddenly Val starts screaming and everything starts looking to her like she's on a bad trip. Flying over that exact spot of the ocean, Doc manages to pinpoint Val and the two then go underwater to investigate.

It turns out the by trying to subdue Val's personality, Barbara Norriss's insane personality has partially reasserted herself and the two women aren't exactly happy with each other. Doc figures out that Red Ghosty's process needs a continual feed of cosmic rays so he and the Surfer create a barrier that screens out all cosmic radiation from reaching the planet. Doc and the Surfer get a bit philosophical for a moment.

Red Ghost suddenly loses control of his shape-shifting powers and all the creatures under his control are suddenly no longer so. Val, Hawkeye and Namor are pissed! Val and Hawkeye subdue Ghosty and Hawkeye has just talked Val out of carving Ghosty into barbecue. Namor takes the opportunity to beat the tar out of Attuma. The Defenders then head home.

An epilogue takes us to the end of Thor #207 where a blind Loki was tumbling off a cliff. Loki disappears and is suddenly in the presence of the Dread Dormammu.

Dormie recounts his desire to conquer Earth's dimension and recounts his encounters with Doc and his promise never to invade Earth. Dormie has a new plan. He wants to use a device called The Evil Eye to absorb Earth into his own dimension and skirting the rule.

The device was not destroyed, but split into six parts. Dormie and Loki say "What the heck? We'll put it back together again. What could go wrong?"

After the epilogue we see the Defenders gathered at Doc's Sanctum to watch him try to un-petrify the Black Knight. After asides by the Hulk being angry that Doc put him to sleep in the main story and Val being in love with Dane, Doc sends out psychic feelers and attempts to contact the Black Knight's ghost which is floating in some netherworld. The Knight returns the telepathic telegram with no useful information, but it is intercepted by Dormie and Loki.

The evil pair spike the message so it tells Doc that they need to assemble the Evil Eye to reanimate the Knight. And thus the opening shot it the Avengers/Defenders war has been fired.

The main story that wraps up Attuma's invasion is rather meh. I never really liked the 70s Atlantis stories. Red Ghost even seems more boring than usual. There are a couple of bright spots like Doc and Surfer working in tandem to create a barrier that screens out cosmic radiation and Val ready to carve Red Ghost into steak tartare. The more important part of this issue is the start of the Avengers/Defenders war. Dormammu and Loki teaming up is an interesting combination. Dormie calling Loki nearly his equal I imagine is just flattery. There's no way Dormie thinks he and Loki are even close in power or evil. He needs to be subtle and this is one of the earlier examples of him being a schemer and not just relying on raw power and brute force.

Despite Steve Englehart writing both this and Doc's solo series, there is a distinct difference between Doc here and on his own. He has much more personality in his solo series. Englehart uses him more as a plot device than a character in the Defenders. He's trying to balance a large cast, but it would have been nice to have the two appearances be a closer match.

Once you slog through the first part it's an enjoyable issue.

[magpie-murder]

hey weird question, completely off topic from anything but would you by chance happen to know if brynhildr's girlfriend had a name? mcu seems to have entirely just left her as "valkyries dead girlfriend" and that annoys me /np

oh ew, really? i haven't been keeping up with the mcu and the only movie i've watched since the disney+ shows finished was black panther 2, i had no idea

as far as i'm aware, she hasn't had a canon girlfriend (although i don't follow Valkyrie very closely), however. there are some notable names.

Barbara Norriss (deceased, held brunnhilde's powers for a while and then there was consciousness swap stuff)

and if i'm correct in suspecting that Angela will never* make an MCU debut, then Sera could be an option. that's a lot less likely, though, for multiple reasons (the transphobia in the loki show, namely, as well as the storyline complexity. brunnhilde would need her own solo movie for that to work out) and i kind of hope it doesn't happen because i reaaalllyy dont want to see her butchered

[that90ssmshow]

Valkyrie in Marvel Team-Up #34 (1975)

[merrymarvelite]

Cover of the Day: Incredible Hulk #126 (April, 1970) Art by Herb Trimpe

[defenders-core]

[mrrubbersuitman]

First appearance of Barbara Norriss

[docgold13]

365 Marvel Comics Paper Cut-Out SuperHeroes - One Hero, Every Day, All Year…

June 7th - The Valkyrie / Brunnhilde

Brunnhilde led the Valkyrior, a group of warrior goddesses who would appear over the battlefields of mortal worshippers and choose which of the fallen were worthy to be taken to Valhalla, the land of the honored dead. Brunnhilde served Asgard capably in this capacity for centuries, ending when Odin chose to no longer attend to the affairs of Midgard.

Thereafter, Brunnhilde became the prisoner of the powerful sorceress known as Amora the Enchantress.  The Enchantress used Brunnhilde’s guise to travel to Earth and psychically manipulate a group of female heroes into becoming The Lady Liberators; all as part of a scheme to destroy The Avengers.  This plot was thwarted yet Brunnhilde remained The Enchantress’ prisoner.  

Later, Brunnhilde’s consciousness escaped confinement and possessed the body of a human named Barbara Norriss.  In so doing, Norriss was changed physically to resumable Brunnhilde and possessed her same powers of super strength, speed and durability.  

Taking on the name ‘The Valkyrie,’ Brunnhilde assisted The Defenders in defeating the evil sorceress, Casiolena.   She remained with The Defenders for many further adventures whist also having to contend with Barbara's husband, Jack Norriss, who refused to accept that Brunnhilde and his wife were not one and the same.  The process of possessing Barbara Norriss caused Brunnhilde to experience a degree of amnesia where she forgot about her original body trapped by The Enchantress.  Periodically, Barbara’s consciousness would regain control of the body, leaving Brunnhilde with confusing gaps in her memory.  

Later, Barbara was tragically killed; where upon Brunnhilde’s consciousness was returned to her original body.  Back in her own body, Brunnhilde was finally able to break free from the Enchantress’ thrall and she returned to The Defenders for further missions.  She would later act as a member of Steve Rogers’ Secret Avengers team.

In the wake of the Serpent War, Brunnhilde was charged by Odin to locate and safeguard The Serpent's eight remaining hammers, preventing them from once more being used for evil.  To facilitate this task, Brunnhilde formed a team of heroines known as The Fearless Defenders.  

Following a battle with Hela, Brunnhilde traveled to Valhalla in an effort to rescue her fallen teammate, the archeologist named Annabelle Riggs.  With the aide of the sorceress, Clea, Annabelle was resurrected; although achieving this came at a cost.    Brunnhilde and Annabelle were now bonded so that the two shared a body and Annabelle’s mortal form became the new host of the Valkyrie.  As such, Annabelle’s consciousness was transferred to a limbo dimension whenever Brunnhilde controlled the body and they would switch places any time Annabelle controlled their body.  

Brunnhilde first appeared in the pages Avengers Vol. 1 #83 (1970).

[daydreamerdrew]

The Defenders (1972) #68

[wanderingmind867]

I saw this metaphor online before, but I'm not sure where. So instead of hunting down the link, I'll just repeat it in my own words. It was about Steve Gerber's Defenders run, but I may be even broader:

The Defenders are like Group Therapy. Doctor Strange was the therapist and everyone else was the patients. And honestly, I see it. Doctor Strange was the man with his life most put together. He fought demons and warlocks and monsters, but he was in a good place mentally. He had companions and friends, and he seemed to have inner peace.

Meanwhile, the rest of the defenders have issues. Let's look at three or four of them. The Hulk/Bruce Banner has anger issues, loneliness, he's hated by society, he's got a lot of issues. Valkyrie is an immortal discovering earth for the first time, trapped in the body of the mortal woman Barbara Norriss. And Nighthawk is a rich anti-social man with childhood negligence. Hell, even Namor and The Silver Surfer were incredibly lonely!

This team is mostly made up of lonely people with extensive trauma. Or at least, those are always the people who end up coming back to the team. Besides Doctor Strange, a lot of the team's earliest members were lonely people with trauma.

[doctorstrangereview]

0096: Defenders #4

Cover Date: February 1973 On-Sale Date: November 21, 1972

The Defenders get a new member this issue which conveniently solves the issue of the screaming woman they rescued last issue. The Defenders face the Asgardian Enchantress and her on again/off again boyfriend the Executioner. We also get the reintroduction of the Valkyrie who appeared in a couple of previous comics with a different alternate identity. Lastly, Dane Whitman, the Black Knight, shows up to suffer a tragic, albeit temporary, fate.

After returning to Earth and the Silver Surfer flying off into the wild something yonder, Hulk is angry. He believes that Doc hurt Barbara. Doc tries to explain that he didn't know freeing Barbara from the Nameless One would drive her batty, but Hulk doesn't really care. He takes Barbara and jumps into the convenient castle nearby.

Doc asks Namor for advice, who wisely informs Doc that Hulk may unintentionally hurt Barbara and they need to follow him. Namor has mysteriously grown an earring that wasn't present in the last issue.

The pair enter the castle which appears deserted, but they find a burning brazier. As soon as they mention this the brazier flares up and the Executioner appears with a gang of medieval looking knights. It's an interesting mix of mythologies.

Namor and Doc banter about going into battle. After a few panels of this, they do. While Namor and the knights clobber each other. Namor complains about not having any armor and Doc is about to conjure up some when another sorcerer, dressed in an extremely clichéd costume appears from the surrounding mist.

The bold robs Doc of his power and he is beset by the knights. Sadly, this Doc doesn't show the physical prowess of the Doc appearing in Marvel Premiere and he is quickly overwhelmed. Namor is still able to take out most of the knights singlehandedly which irks the Executioner. He finds that he suddenly has strange new powers which he uses to blast Namor. The fish man is then taken out by one of the remaining knights.

Doc and Namor are thrown into a cell where they find that the jolly green giant is spending time as Bruce Banner and Barbara Norriss is still insane. Fortunately, they have neighbors they know. The Black Knight and the Enchantress are just across the hall.

We then get into a flashback to some old Avengers issues told by the the Knight. Enchantress and the Executioner, slyly described as her partner, were banished to another realm. The Executioner decided to try greener pastures and deserts the Enchantress for the realm's queen. Enchantress bounced around a bit, winding up a captive of Zeus, escaping and popping in to visit the Knight. She and the Knight get together and go back to that first realm mentioned above. Apparently she want's her man back. Enchantress winds up being no match for the Executioner's new squeeze. She and Knight are taken prisoner and we're back to the present.

Enchantress then explains her escape plan. Bruce Banner isn't totally impressed.

A pair of mystic bolts later and poor, insane Barbara is now The Valkyrie!

Valkyrie frees all the prisoners and word gets back to the royal pair. The guard's description of the situation is amusing.

Everyone goes into fightin' mode and wreck up the place. Doc's power returns and he takes a piece out of the gaudily garbed sorcerer. Enchantress joins in for the fun of it.

The Executioner starts to bulldoze through the other heroes, but Valkyrie gives him a bump on the noggin to remember. Hulk and Namor finish him off. Executioner's new squeeze gets all uppity and prepares to execute everyone. Valkyrie attacks her from behind but finds she can't hurt another woman. It doesn't matter. Valkyrie provided a distraction so Enchantress could take her out.

With the queen down, the Executioner switches sides again. Enchantress tells Black Knight she's just been stringing him along this whole time. Dane is naturally quite peeved about it. He's about to go all stabby, stabby on the Executioner when Enchantress decides to show the Knight some gratitude. She kisses him and he turns into a statue. What a sucker! Enchantress and the Executioner bolt. Doc tries to undo the spell, but can't. Valkyrie hopes that she some some her mistresses power. After a bit of a Women's Lib talk with Namor she tries and fails as well.

All get ready to head back to Earth. Valkyrie see's the Knight's winged horse, Aragorn, and says "He's not using it. I'll take it until they figure out how to unstatue him. Yeah. That."

The Defenders return to Earth. Doc seals the convenient Garret Castle and they head back to the USA. Doc asks if Valkyrie will continue to take care of Aragorn and she's like "Sure, we're both totally alone. Hey, do you think I could tag along with you?" Doc literally replies "With all due modesty, we are three of the most powerful people in the world. What could we possibly need you for?"

Yup. Doc can still be an arrogant jerk when the mood strikes him. We end with a close up of the timer that's been showing up the last few issues. We find out this is for the Omegatron that was reactivated when Doc cast a super-spell that compromised the one holding it at bay. Looks like they'll need Val after all!

Valkyrie has been a favorite character of mine. Here she's purposely underdeveloped because she's literally new. Bruce Banner calls her a false personality, but we eventually learn this isn't true. She is Brunnhilde, leader of the Choosers of the Slain. In a mere 104 issues, she'll be restored to her full Asgardian glory. This will come at the cost of Barbara Norriss' life.

The Black Knight is another favorite mainly because of the King Arthur connection. Sadly, his fate won't be resolved for about a decade. We will learn that Dane is inhabiting the body of an ancestor during the Crusades. He stone body in the present will get shattered, reassembled, possessed by a demon, shattered again and, when his ancestor's body dies, it puts itself back together turns into flesh again. His sword has a curse that gives him a bad attitude and he gives Doc a smackdown with a shovel. He'll get turned into a statue a few more times after that.

As for the story itself, it's a bit wacky. Probably because Doc is a central focus of the team their adventures lean more toward fantasy than science fiction like the Avengers shenanigans. There are clever moments incorporating plot threads dangling from older stories in other series that dovetail into the introduction of a new member. Both the Enchantress and the Executioner are rats, each fickle and willing to use whomever they need to get what they want. It almost reminds me of the end of the movie The Women when Norma Shearer takes back her cheating husband when his mistress, Joan Crawford, dumps him for what she thinks is a better deal. Enchantress and Executioner go back to shacking up again. There a some good guest stars and it's a prelude to greater things.

[diogenescynic2288]

Good to know.

So, there's this comic book, The Defenders. It's about a group of superheroes who work together to fight great evil, while being technically a non-team. The original non-team line-up was Dr. Strange, the Hulk, Silver, and Namor the Submariner.

One of their adventures involved trying to stop a cult from summoning an evil extra-dimensional being called the Nameless One. One of the cultists was a lady named Barbara Norriss. She got sent to another dimension where she was --the word used was mated-- to the Nameless One, but it involved her head being fused to the Nameless One's body.

Later Dr. Strange was back in that dimension and separated her from the Nameless One. When that happened she went mad and her dialogue was just a string of capital AAAAAAAAs.

Her madness was cured by putting the consciousness of an Asgardian Valkyrie named Brunnhilde in her body. Anytime something happened that brought Barbara Norriss back, she resumed screaming the capital AAAs.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programme for this message:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

That is all!~

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Defenders #8: “... If Atlantis Should Fall!”

September, 1973

So, here we are. Looking at something completely different.

There’s no tiny disappointed Vision judging us. No A that’s gone off exploring the cosmos.

We’re in new waters. Except for Silver Surfer, all these folks have appeared in Avengers before. I think that purple guy on the cover has appeared a few times.

But what we have in the Dynamic Defenders is something quite different. Its the book about the non-team. Kind of like a support group for ornery loners that work best alone. But frequently accidentally team up.

This is part 2 of the Avengers/Defenders War (well technically part 1 since last time was a prologue) but it doesn’t get to that for most of the book. There’s some Red Ghost/Atlantis Nonsense that is more pressing.

Honestly, before I can get to the / War, I need to go over some context. Because Defenders is the book that explains what happened to the Black Knight and why Strange put a Troglodyte-repelling shield around Castle Garrett.

So how did we get here?

It all started when Namor was dropped from the sky in front of Hulk like a limp bag of smelly fish.

Hulk vaguely recalls liking Namor so he went to get Dr. Strange to help him. And it turned out that it was all a plot by Necrodamus to sacrifice Namor to the Nameless One in front of Hulk and Dr. Strange out of revenge for the three of them thwarting the Nameless One at various times and assorted team-ups.

At the end, Namor recalled that Silver Surfer was the one who dropped him out of the sky so Dr. Strange, Namor, and Hulk all go searching for the Surfer. Surfer doesn’t know anything about any of this because he’s been busy teaching some innocent mountain apes about fire and manners. But it turns out that instead of gentle yetis, they’re secret wizards and there’s a big wizard fight.

After, Dr. Strange mentions he might be able to help get the Surfer past the barrier Galactus used to trap him on Earth by taking a shortcut through another dimension. They end up in the Nameless One’s dimension, where after some shenanigans with a macrocosm maelstrom, Dr. Strange discovers that Barbara Norriss, who sacrificed herself to save him once, has mated with the Nameless One and become his third head.

The four heroes manage to trap the Nameless One and Dr. Strange forcibly separates Barbara from the Nameless One. Which sort of drives her insane. Whoops.

They also discover that you can’t circumvent Galactus’ barrier so easily and the Surfer runs off, feeling betrayed. Oh and then Hulk also runs off, pissed that Dr. Strange harmed Barbara.

It turns out that their dimension jaunt popped them out in front of Garrett Castle. Strange and Namor chase the Hulk inside but are transported to a magical realm and captured by the Executioner and an army under his command.

Remember how Executioner dumped Enchantress like a limp smelly bag of stink fish to hook up with a queen? Yeah. That’s important again.

Dr. Strange and Namor find themselves in castle jail with unhulked Bruce Banner, catatonic Barbara, the Enchantress, and Black Knight.

After Avengers #100, Enchantress snuck off the first time Zeus took a nap and wound up at Castle Garrett. She charmed Black Knight into helping her travel to Queen Casiolena’s realm so she could kick her ass for seducing the Executioner away from her.

It didn’t work out.

But, hey! A catatonic woman! That’s just the tide-changing thing that Enchantress can use to change the tide!

Using her powers, Enchantress implants the Valkyrie personality that she used before over Barbara, creating an All-New, All-Different Valkyrie.

They bust out and fight Casiolena’s army again and this time Enchantress kills the queen, with the aid of a distraction from Valkyrie.

Now with no queen, Executioner has no choice apparently but return to Enchantress’ service.

Black Knight is pissed. He loves her because she magically forced him to and now she’s just going to dump him like a stinky bag of Namor? Well, you know what? He’ll fight Executioner for her!

She’s touched by this display of how much he loves her. So turns him into a stone statue to make an eternal monument to how lovable she is.

And then she ditches the Defenders and Valkyrie. So Valkyrie takes Black Knight’s horse and sword and decides that she’s going to join the Defenders, despite protests that its not really a team. And also that they don’t need her anyway.

Dr. Strange seals up Castle Garrett to keep it safe and takes Statue Black Knight back to his Sanctum Sanctorum in Greenwich Village.

From there, some other stuff happens. Valkyrie helps defeat the Omegatron, a doomsday weapon that Dr. Strange once stopped but then accidentally restarted in issue #1. Silver Surfer returns to apologize for being so melodramatic and helps stop Cyrus Black, a second-rate wizard pissed that he can’t beat Strange even in his dreams.

They run into Hawkeye and he asks to join the team after getting into a pointless misunderstanding fight. They learn that Attuma is going to attack the surface world and go to the beach to stop him. Hulk ditches because he doesn’t want to go into the water. The Defenders sans Strange, sans Hulk, sans Silver Surfer, are captured along with a marine biologist. Red Ghost is working with Attuma and is creating a cosmic radiation brainwashed army of fishes and whales. Valkyrie and Hawkeye manage to break out of their cells only to discover that Red Ghost has brainwashed Namor.

And that’s where this issue picks up.

With a brainwashed Namor being ordered to kill Valkyrie and Hawkeye.

Um. It doesn’t go well. For them, I mean.

Hawkeye’s arrows break on Namor’s skin and he’s stronger than Valkyrie. Hawkeye does manage to knock Red Ghost in the noggin with a vase but his elation is short-lived because it doesn’t break the brainwashing.

Brain POW! Haha.

See, the brainwashing is perpetuated by natural cosmic rays, the kind that strike the Earth continuously. Only way to break the brainwashing would be if... I don’t know... the Earth stopped getting hit by cosmic rays. But that’s unlikely to the extreme.

Anyway, Red Ghost is going to use his brainwashing machine on the recaptured Hawkeye and Valkyrie now. I mean, its never worked on humans before. Usually just kills ‘em.

So two weeks later, Dr. Strange returns to his Greenwich sanctum with good news, everyone!

Using the powers he gained from the departed Ancient One, Strange has made some progress on undoing the spell which turned Black Knight to stone.

On Clea’s suggestion, Strange decides to summon the other Defenders to share this good news with everyone.

But only Silver Surfer and Hulk respond to his summons.

Because remember that thing? With Red Ghost? Cosmic ray brainwashing? That’s still happening.

There is some good news there too. Hawkeye and Valkyrie survived the process. But the bad news is that Red Ghost’s brainwashed fish army is big enough to take on Atlantis.

Back in Greenwich, Silver Surfer wants to forget the missing three Defenders and get on with the good news about Black Knight.

But Hulk pipes up that he knows where they are. But he’s not telling because he doesn’t do what dumb magician wants.

So Silver Surfer puts him in a headlock and Dr. Strange puts him in a trance.

Tranced Hulk tells them about how an Atlantean showed up to get Namor because Attuma was going to attack. There was a fight, Defenders got spanked and taken onto Attuma’s water ship, and Hulk left because he didn’t want to go. He doesn’t know how long ago it was because Hulk does not understand time.

So Dr. Strange puts Hulk into a mystical sleep that he will only awaken from when Strange returns. And then Strange and Surfer surf off to try to find the others.

Meanwhile, thousands of leagues under the sea: ATLANTIS. Brainwashed whales and squids come bursting through the walls. Although, what good are walls in an underwater city? You can swim over them.

But the whales strong enough to SHOK through walls with no problem aren’t as scary as Namor leading the charge.

So the three brainwashed Defenders lead Attuma’s forces into attacking the Atlanteans. Even Hawkeye somehow is effective, shooting special underwater arrows. What some might call “spear-gun spears.”

But suddenly, Valkyrie stops fighting and collapses screaming in sheer, stark terror. And she’s seeing everything in acid trip monster vision.

Its explained that only the Valkyrie personality was brainwashed, leading the original Barbara personality to partially break free again. But Barbara is still insane. And apparently the personalities are trying to kill each other.

On the plus side, this allows Dr. Strange to locate her because mental emanations. Sure.

Reading her mind, Dr. Strange learns what happened to the missing Defenders and that the brainwashing process depends upon the continual flow of cosmic rays.

So obviously the solution here is to dam that flow.

Which Dr. Strange can do. Although it does require him combining his powers with Silver Surfer and the pair of them using every iota of strength they possess.

But yeah. They put a barrier around Earth that blocks all cosmic rays.

... Yup. That sure looks like it covers everywhere on Earth alright.

But it does the trick. More than does it. It depowers Red Ghost, leaving him to PLOOG! in some undersea mud. I kind of have to wonder if the Fantastic Four were similarly depowered during this.

Ben Grimm unrocking and a brief shining hope swelling within his heart. And then at the end of the issue, ploog, back into the Thing.

Anyway. The fish army is now amscraying and Valkyrie is charging at Red Ghost.

So he does the sensible thing and flees. Right into Hawkeye swinging his bow like a bat. Which was the healthier alternative. Valkyrie was going to shove the ebony sword through him.

Namor comes to too and is less than absolutely thrilled with what’s going on. And he has former personal history with Attuma so even less thrilled than that.

So he swims over to Attuma and knocks him out with one punch, man.

That sort of thing is always happening to fish jerks though.

So with the day saved, the Defenders return the marine biologist home and then return to Strange’s sanctum for Part 1 of the Avengers/Defenders War.

Dr. Strange explains he convened the Defenders because he has made the first breakthrough in his efforts to undo Enchantress’ stoning spell.

And some of the Defenders respond to the news.

Hawkeye just thinks he had been wondering why his back-stabbing Avengers buddies didn’t replace him with Black Knight. Because Hawkeye.

Hulk is pissed off at Dr. Strange and Silver Surfer for putting him to sleep but he likes Black Knight. He’ll wait to see if Strange can fix him before putting his fist through some Strange face.

And Valkyrie feels an overpowering, irrational love for him. Possibly because the Valkyrie personality and the stoning spell were both created by the Enchantress. This has come up a few times before. She feels conflicted about it. If she’s cracking up, she doesn’t want to take the risk of loving someone.

Anyway. Magic.

Dr. Strange has found Dane Whitman/Black Knight’s soul in the dark realm it fled to when his body became stone. Because that’s how stoning works. And using the Orb of Agamotto, Strange will contact Black Knight.

A torquoise pencil scribble finds Black Knight’s soul floating in the void and contacts him. Telling him that the Defenders are trying to rescue him and asking if he has learned anything from his vantage point that could help break the spell.

Black Knight responds that there’s nothing except desolate emptiness. But time isn’t moving and he isn’t suffering. He’s had faith but now that the Defenders have contacted him, he has certain hope that they will save him.

So the message scribble turns around and heads back to Dr. Strange.

But it is intercepted. It was Dormammu who guided Strange’s psychic feelers so that they found the Black Knight’s soul. So he knew that Dr. Strange would send a message scribble and with his power combined with Loki’s he knew he could alter the message without Dr. Strange realizing it had been tampered with.

We also learn that Loki’s salary for his aid in tricking the Defenders will be the return of his eyesight. We also learn that Dormammu isn’t much for small talk.

So the tampered message scribble returns to Dr. Strange and gives him the message:

“Yes, I can hear you! I can! Knowledge that I’ve assimilated in this mystic realm tells me I can be rescued through the power of the Evil Eye! Hurry, please! I have had faith -- and now I have certain hope -- that you will save me!”

Dr. Strange has no reason to suspect that this is a ruse. Silver Surfer thought that the Evil Eye had been destroyed but if random mystical knowledge tells Black Knight that it’s around, then it must still exist!

So the Defenders vow to find the Evil Eye or perish in the attempt!

Hm. So we have the Avengers and we have the Defenders. We have the / so now where is the War?

Guess we’ll find it next time when we swing back to the Avengers side of things.

[camploah]

Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Ragnarok” has beefed up its cast with an impressive group of actors including Cate Blanchett (playing the mysterious and powerful new villain Hela), Jeff Goldblum (as the eccentric Grandmaster), Karl Urban as Skurge, and the pièce de résistance, Tessa Thompson who will bring the classic hero Valkyrie to life on the big screen!

Mark Ruffalo will also appear in the film, reprising his role of Bruce Banner/the Hulk from “Marvel’s The Avengers” and Marvel’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”

“The continuation of the epic Thor franchise will be powerful and unique, and with the additions of Cate, Jeff, Tessa, Karl, and Mark to the cast we have the makings of his most dangerous and heroic adventure yet,” said Producer Kevin Feige in a previous statement. “The sheer, raw talent each of these actors brings to the screen can’t be quantified. Having any one of them join the Marvel Cinematic Universe would be an honor, and having all of them is incredible.”

So who is this Valkyrie that Tessa Thompson has signed up to play, you ask? Well, according to the Marvel wiki, she’s an Asgardian by birth, also known by her real name, Brunnhilde. She was selected by Odin to lead the Valkyrior. Among her other aliases are Barbara Denton-Norriss, Samantha Parrington, Sian Bowen, and Annabelle Riggs who were all host bodies to the spirit of Brunnhilde. She is also an ally and one-time love interest of Thor. Her superhero abilities include: superhuman strength, endurance, and the ability to convey spirits of the dead.

“Thor’s” new cast members join returning stars Chris Hemsworth in the title role for the fifth time; Tom Hiddleston as Thor’s adversarial, adopted brother, Loki; Idris Elba as the Asgardian sentry, Heimdall; and Sir Anthony Hopkins again portraying Odin, Ruler of Asgard.

“Thor: Ragnarok,” the third installment of Marvel’s popular Norse Super Hero, is directed by Taika Waititi (“Two Cars, One Night,” “What We Do in the Shadows,” “Hunt for the Wilderpeople”). Kevin Feige produces the film, joined by executive producers Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Victoria Alonso, Thomas M. Hammel and Stan Lee.

A release date is set for November 3, 2017.

A first teaser has premiered this morning and is embedded below: