The Valkyrior, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, first appeared in Thor #133 (October 1966). The team, led by Valkyrie and Misty Knight is the subject of the 2013 series, The Fearless Defenders by Cullen Bunn and Will Sliney. Bun said about his book: "The basic idea of the book is that Valkyrie is choosing a new team of Valkyrior, and she's been asked to choose all these women from the heroes of Midgard, instead of from Asgard. She has completely failed in this task. Valkyrie has been unable to choose anyone that she feels is worthy to be one of the hosts of the shield maidens. So she just hasn't done it. She's dropped the ball. Because she's not done what she said she would do, nature—or supernature, as it is—abhors a vacuum. The absence of the Valkyrior has opened the door to something terrible. Something awful is waking, and Valkyrie finds that it's really her fault that she's put everything at risk".
Fictional history
The Valkyrior are warrior goddesses of Asgard who ride winged horses. Originally, under the leadership of Brunnhilde, they took mortally wounded human heroes from German and Scandinavian battlegrounds and brought them to Valhalla. The Valkyries were no longer able to perform this task when Odin, ruler of Asgard, vowed to the Celestials to restrict Asgardian contact with Earth.[volumeandissueneeded]
In later years, Brunnhilde became a member of Earth's Defenders. The other Valkyries were killed during a war between Odin and Hela. Odin resurrects the Valkyries after retaking Valhalla, but they only have physical form within Valhalla; outside it, they exist only in astral form.[volumeandissueneeded]
During the "War of the Realms" storyline, Brunnhilde and the rest of the Valkyrior, save Mirage, are massacred by Malekith and his forces invading New York. Afterwards, Jane Foster then takes up the mantle of Valkyrie.
