Shuri's Gone, Valkyrie Lives

By Joelle Monique | Film | March 26, 2019 |

By Joelle Monique | Film | March 26, 2019 |

Marvel revealed the casualties of the Thanos snap and the fandom lives in chaos. Master secret keepers, Marvel has been tight-lipped about anything that happens after the twenty-minute marker in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame. So even the slightest symbols or reveals cause grand ripples across the social media sphere. The loss of the greatest mind Earth had to offer spells big trouble for the remaining 50 percent of the planet.

Shuri, the smartest person in the MCU perished in the snap. As Wakanda’s weapons and defense specialist, Shuri would have been a huge help to the remaining Avengers. With Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) still around, the team will be scientifically capable. However, Shuri figured out how to remove the stone from Vision’s head in five minutes. It took her more time than they had to complete the task, but she could have done it. Banner struggled to figure out how to solve the problem.

they told us in the very first trailer that shuri was dead but we didn’t believe them,,, now we all look like boo boo the fool. pic.twitter.com/Had5rKCYXD

— sylvia. (@stellarcarol) March 26, 2019

Some point out that in previous versions of the trailer for Endgame, Shuri exists on the list of the missing. However, Ant-Man’s (Paul Rudd) photo also appears on the list. There’s no way the Avengers could know who was truly missing. The post credit scene in Ant-Man and the Wasp revealed that Scott Lang survived the snap. He appears in multiple versions of the Endgame trailer. The list is basically just a headcount. The new poster contains the only concrete evidence that Shuri didn’t make it.

I didn't need this news about Shuri.

I need her to save the world! https://t.co/gAcKHb88CW

— Geek "I have nothing to prove to you."Girl Diva (@geekgirldiva) March 26, 2019

Some fans have expressed outrage over Shuri’s absence for a myriad of reasons. Not only is the team down a member but Shuri represented the kind of carefree, girl-power, STEM-ready young woman many hope to see their daughters aspire to. Letitia Wright’s performance as Shuri, filled with humor, familial love, and stinging wit gave hope to fans who seek out three-dimensional women in superhero films. Seeing Shuri save the universe would have made me immeasurably happy. Peter Parker is gone, was it necessary to lose Shuri, too?

Perhaps.

Trying to succeed without the smartest person in the room makes the Avengers fight that much more fraught. Her absence also leaves Wakanda very much at risk. Having just opened their borders TO THE ENTIRE GLOBE, they now sit without their vibranium dome (it was destroyed in the fight against Thanos in Infinity War) and sans a leader. A shaken and divided Wakanda makes for a great jumping off point for Black Panther 2. Coming February 21, 2021?

This dark cloud’s silver lining arrives in the form of Tessa Thompson. Valkyrie was abundantly missed in Infinity War. Introduced in Thor: Ragnarok, the fallen soldier turned drunken slave trader won over Hulk’s heart with her ability to drink insane amounts of liquor, fight better than anyone else, and her capacity to grow as an individual. By the end of Ragnarok, Valkyrie helped smash Hela and became a powerful ally to Thor; now the leader of the people of Asgard. But when Thanos destroyed half the Asgardians at the beginning of Infinity War, Valkyrie was nowhere to be found. It was like Ragnarok never happened.

Having only had her for a single film, it’s hard to know what or where Valkyrie might be. Safe to say, if she had been on the ship with Thor, she’d have been in the fray with Thanos. Perhaps she was helping protect a new home with the other half of the Asgardians while Thor took the rest of them to seek additional help? Every proposed outcome can only be viewed as a wild fan theory at this juncture. But if Valkyrie is getting her own poster, she should play a much more prominent role in the outcome of Endgame.

There are some interesting survivors on the poster. Okoye (Danai Gurira) is, like, the last person with power in Wakanda. Wong (Benedict Wong) is still guarding the Sanctum Sanctorum. Could Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Happy (Jon Favreau) be interpreting the messages Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has been sending back from the ship? We’ve only got a couple weeks left to find out. Avengers: Endgame is in theaters everywhere April 26th.