Can I just say, as odd and as briefly touched upon as it is, I really like Valkyrie’s relationship with Bruce and the Hulk?
Like, I don’t think we’ve ever seen (definitely not in the MCU anyway) someone who made friends with HULK first? I mean, Natasha was flatly terrified of Hulk (part of the reason their ‘romance’ never landed with me), and even Tony was more just sort of… not afraid of Hulk, very much. When Hulk goes on his rampage in AoU, Tony still tries to punch his lights out.
Valkyrie, though, was pals with Hulk. They liked one another. They hung out and played games and did fun stuff. Even though she’d also pretty much sold him for a bounty, Hulk definitely didn’t seem to have a grudge against her. Heck, given Hulk’s sheer power levels, it’s unlikely that Valkyrie tazered him or anything. She probably just talked him into coming along and finding a place where he could ‘smash lots of things’ and people would cheer instead of scream.
Over the two years they knew each other, she left enough of an impression that Bruce was pretty sure he knew her, even though Hulk had him mentally shut off from events for that whole period of time. So we can glean that Hulk himself must have liked her a good deal. We don’t even really see Hulk disparage her or get angry with her like he tends to do with Thor. Admittedly, though, some of that can be chalked up to not seeing a lot of interactions between them. Hulk is surly by nature, so I doubt it was all rainbows and sunshine. But if they did have disagreements, Valkyrie seems to have taken them in stride. She’s not remotely suspicious of Hulk inviting her over or wanting to spend time with her.
And then she made friends with Bruce, after the fact. As weird as it is for her to wrap her head around the Bruce-Hulk dynamic, Bruce was probably having a bit of a mental trip himself over that whole concept. Someone made friends with Hulk and then got to know Bruce afterwards. Valkyrie is not someone he’ll ever have to prepare for the dark realities of Hulk, she watched him fight in coliseum-style matches beating up whoever came out of the gate for two years. She knows Hulk can be brutal, it’s doubtful that many of his opponents actually deserved to be smashed into a pulp.
And Valkyrie herself is pretty harsh in some ways, and dealing with her own demons. While she definitely has the ‘charming scoundrel’ thing down pat, that doesn’t change the fact that that level of drinking is concerning. Even for an Asgardian. She’s an outcast, too, a career one, and given her somewhat heady mix of valour and remorse, I’d say she and Bruce would probably connect a lot on issues of self-loathing and resentment for their lot in life.
Like, I feel like the two of them wouldn’t have to bother with a lot of pretenses between them. Valkyrie could be a messy grief-stricken drunk and Bruce could be a bitter, anxious mess, and Hulk could be Hulk, and they’d all get along just fine anyhow.
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