‘Thor: Ragnarok’: Tessa Thompson And Other Marvel Stars Want A Female Super Team Movie

BEVERLY HILLS — The review embargo for “Thor: Ragnarok” isn’t up yet, but if you’ve been following social media reactions, it’s clear the breakout star is Tessa Thompson. 

The 34-year-old actress is best known for her work in Ryan Coogler’s “Creed,” but she’s had standout performances in the movie version of “Dear White People,” “For Colored Girls” and HBO’s “Westworld.” In ‘Ragnarok,’ Thompson takes the mantle of the sole remaining Valkyrie, a warrior goddess of Asgard who has become disillusioned with Odin’s reign and meets up with Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on Sakaar, a planet run by the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum).  Thompson practically steals every scene she’s in and the LA native pulls off the British, er, Asgardian accent perfectly.

The good news about Thompson’s performance is that her character is a mainstay in the Marvel Comics Universe. Valkyrie has been around since 1970 and was a longtime member of The Defenders, a one-time Avenger (O.K., Secret Avenger) and had her own title at one point. And Thompson is already returning as Valkyrie in “Avengers: Infinity War” next May.

READ MORE: Taika Waititi Talks Adapting ‘Akira,’ Appears In New ‘Thor: Ragnarok’ Clip

During a press conference for ‘Ragnarok’ on Wednesday, however, Thompson offered up that she and some other female stars of the Marvel Cinematic Universe approached Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige about an all-woman super-hero team movie.

Thompson had been asked if there were any plans for a solo “Valkyrie” movie and Feige had responded, “Pretty good idea.”

The Thompson noted, “Recently I marched up with a couple of other women who work in Marvel and [asked Kevin] “How about a movie with some female superheroes? Like all of them.”

Feige says, “It was a pretty amazing moment to be somewhere and have your shoulder be taped and turn around find every female hero we have is standing there going, ‘How about it?’ And I said ‘yes.'”

That elicited some good-natured laughs and smiles from the other ‘Ragnarok’ stars on the dais, but make no mistake, Feige had a serious look on his face on the subject.

And Thompson added, “There’s a precedent for it in the comics with the Lady Liberators [and others].”

Genuinely surprised, Feige responded with, “Deep cut! Lady Liberators!”

Could a female “Avengers” movie be in the works? Could Marvel have its own “Birds of Prey” in theaters soon?  “Captain Marvel” is coming first, but with the number of women heroes in the MCU finally growing beyond Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) with The Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), The Wasp (Evangeline Lilly), the aforementioned Captain (Brie Larson), Gamora (Zoe Saldana) and even “Black Panther’s” Okoye (Danai Gurira) it’s closer to reality than you might think.

And if the fans demand it?  Well…

“Thor: Ragnarok” opens nationwide on Nov. 2.