Samantha Parrington (Earth-616)

Valkyrie
Name	Samantha Parrington
Current Alias	Valkyrie
Aliases	Val, Sword-Girl
Affiliation and Relationships
Affiliation	Defenders
Relatives	Parents: Reginald Parrington (father); Malicia Biederman-Parrington (mother)
Marital Status	Single
Physical Characteristics
Gender	Female
Height	6′3″ (1.91 m) (as Val), 5′7″ (1.7 m) (as Samantha)
Weight	475 lbs (215.46 kg) (as Val), 130 lbs (58.97 kg) (as Samantha)
Eyes	Irises: Blue
Hair	Blond
Origin and Living Status
Origin	Human
Living Status	Alive
Reality	Earth-616
Personal Information
Identity	Secret
Citizenship	American
Occupation	Heiress, adventurer
Creators and Appearances
Creators	Roy Thomas, Herb Trimpe
First	Incredible Hulk #142 (May, 1971)
First	Incredible Hulk #142 (May, 1971)

History

Born into a wealthy family of eccentric philanthropists, Samantha Parrington grew into an idealistic feminist. When her parents adopted the monstrous Hulk as their latest pet cause, Samantha formed a rapport with the misunderstood brute and helped talk him down from the Statue of Liberty, though her father took all the credit for this feat in the media. Miffed, Samantha led her women's group in an anti-patriarchal protest that attracted the attention of Hulk's enemy, Amora the Enchantress. Amora magically transformed Samantha into a raging, man-hating facsimile of the Asgardian warrior goddess Brunnhilde the Valkyrie, whose form and might Amora could replicate at will, having trapped Brunnhilde's soul in a mystical crystal centuries earlier. As the ersatz Valkyrie, Samantha battled the Hulk to a standstill until the spell wore off, returning her to normal just as Hulk reverted to his human form of Bruce Banner. The confused pair parted awkwardly, neither fully recalling their battle, with Samantha half-convinced it was all a dream.

When the rogue god Pluto sought a Valkyrie pawn, he had Amora's sister Lorelei transform Samantha Parrington into the Valkyrie again. However, Pluto tricked Lorelei though, erasing her memory, draining her powers, and turning her into a duplicate of Valkyrie. While Samantha was used by Pluto to turn Earth into a realm of the dead, Lorelei was found by the Defender Nighthawk, who believed she was the real Valkyrie and made her a Defender, though she never spoke. Meanwhile a mind-controlled Samantha served Pluto and Lorelei until they ran afoul of the reunited Defenders and Brunnhilde, who routed Pluto and Lorelei, but only after Samantha battled Lorelei, she was restored to her former self and shook off their control. Happy to have a worthy successor on Earth, Brunnhilde returned to Asgard and Samantha joined the Defenders as their new Valkyrie. Her parents tried to support her new superheroic pursuits by offering the Defenders funding, equipment, and well-intentioned meddling.

Brunnhilde, sadly, was among the many slain during an Asgardian revolt staged by Loki in fulfillment of the Ragnarok prophecies; but her proud heroic legacy lived on through Samantha Parrington.

Brunnhilde has since seemingly returned following Thor's resurrection of the Asgardians; Samantha has apparently dropped out of sight.

Attributes

Power Grid

Powers

• Transformation: Samantha can mystically assume the form of Brunnhilde and gain all of her powers.
  • Superhuman Strength: Samantha is superhumanly strong and can lift 45 tons.
  • Superhuman Durability: Samantha is immune to all Earthly diseases, and resistant to conventional injury.
  • Superhumanly Dense Tissue: Asgardian flesh and bones are about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to all Asgardian superhuman strength and weight.
  • Superhuman Stamina: Her asgardian metabolism gives her far greater than human endurance at all physical activities: she can exert peak strength for an hour before fatigue impairs her ability level.
  • Death Sense: Like all Valkyries, she can perceive and sense the coming of Death. She can see a "deathglow" surrounding a person who is in serious danger of dying, although most Asgardians and human beings cannot see the glow. A person surrounded by the deathglow might still be saved from dying (until he or she meets his or her inevitable end at some later time under different circumstances).
  • Dimensional Travel: She can transport herself and a dying or dead person from the Earth dimension to an otherdimensional realm of the dead, just by willing herself to do so. She can also return through an act of will.

Abilities

• Combat Knowledge: In her Valkyrie form, she has all the powers and skills that Brunnhilde has. The Valkyrie has had extensive training in unarmed combat swordplay, and horseback riding. Her natural fighting ability is unsurpassed among Asgardian women, and is perhaps equaled only by Sif.
• Martial Arts: As Samantha she possesses some knowledge of judo.

Paraphernalia

Weapons

Valkyrie carries two weapons of choice:

• Dragonfang: The blade was fashioned from a tooth of an extra-dimensional dragon.
• An iron spear.

Transportation

Valkyrie rides a winged horse by the name of Aragorn. Aragorn was given to her by Brunnhilde.

See Also

• 29 appearance(s) of Samantha Parrington (Earth-616)
• 4 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Samantha Parrington (Earth-616)
• 1 minor appearance(s) of Samantha Parrington (Earth-616)
• 1 mention(s) of Samantha Parrington (Earth-616)
• 7 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Samantha Parrington (Earth-616)
• 14 image(s) of Samantha Parrington (Earth-616)
• 2 quotation(s) by or about Samantha Parrington (Earth-616)
• 1 item(s) used/owned by Samantha Parrington (Earth-616)

Recommended Reading

• Incredible Hulk #142, 1971: Temporarily transformed into Valkyrie by Enchantress, battled Hulk
• Defenders #2-4, 2001: Restored to Valkyrie form by Pluto and Lorelei, used as pawn against Defenders before shaking off control of Pluto and Lorelei, met original Valkyrie Brunnhilde, given Dragonfang and Aragorn by Brunnhilde, joined Defenders
• The Order #1-6, 2002: Background explored, reconnected with parents, battled The Order alongside Defenders and other allies, helped save world from Yandroth