Cate Blanchett is the Mysterious & Powerful Villainess HELA!

[Iceman]

And this is only what they're allowing us to see in the trailer too, just imagine what insane acts of badassery we could have in store from her yet.

Some sweet Hela, Proxima Midnight and Black Swan fan art:

I hope this fan is getting work in comics!

 

[Bren]

Indeed!!!

 

[HammerDown]

Impressive fan art.

 

[Iceman]

Another one who should be getting a call from Marvel or DC asap!

 

[HammerDown]

Cate Blanchett (Hela)

When asked why she wanted to play the big bad in “Thor: Ragnarok” Blanchett was direct: “A) It was Taika. B) It was the goddess of death. And C) There's never been a female Marvel villain.”

Calling the shoot an “exercise in tone,” the actress revealed that her biggest struggle transforming into Hela was trying to feel powerful and credible as a villain -- while wearing a motion-capture suit. “The headdress is such a huge part of when she comes into the height of her powers in the film,” Blanchett said. “I only wore that really in the photo shoots. I had to sort of imagine what it was like being a reindeer.”

Karl Urban (Skurge)

Every great baddie needs a good lackey; enter one tattoo-headed Skurge. The Asgardian warrior has been operating the Bifröst bridge in the absence of Heimdall (Idris Elba).

“Then Hela turns up, and Skurge quickly realizes that he either has to join her or die,” Urban said. “He's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's bright enough to make the right choice for him. He's a survivalist.”

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-ca-mn-sneaks-thor-newcomers-20170903-htmlstory.html

 

[Finarfiniel]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainmen...sneaks-thor-newcomers-20170903-htmlstory.html

"I had to sort of imagine what it was like being a reindeer." That photo of Cate and Karl Urban is crazy hot, what an awesom Big Bad and her Lackey combo they make, Marvel knocks it out of the park with casting yet again.

One part of a Taika quote in that article I find really interesting is this: "That sort of captures it all. We've got the Incredible Hulk, and a giant woman with antlers. We've got aliens and spaceships. It's almost like a bunch of kids were asked what they wanted to put into a movie, and then we just did that."

Giant woman, huh? Interesting. In the earlier comics, Hela towered over Thor and was usually presented as being around 7 feet tall, being the child of two Giants. In the trailers so far she doesn't look any taller than Thor or Loki, but maybe she's able to change her size and at some point in the film we'll see her increase in height?

 

[Finarfiniel]

Forgot to post this, from People magazine:

"Villains can be delicious. If you can understand why they're bad, it's more interesting and complex - even if it is silly."

That's all I'm asking for, don't make Hela a one note doomsday villain like Malekith, give her a personality and interesting motivation. That's why Loki works so well as a villian. From what we've seen so far, they definitely seem to be doing that so I couldn't be happier. t:

 

[HammerDown]

[/I]Giant woman, huh? Interesting. In the earlier comics, Hela towered over Thor and was usually presented as being around 7 feet tall, being the child of two Giants. In the trailers so far she doesn't look any taller than Thor or Loki, but maybe she's able to change her size and at some point in the film we'll see her increase in height?

In the lego set "Battle for Asgard" she actually is kind of a giant. I guess it could be another "form/version" of her. Like what happens with Surtur for example.

 

[Loki882]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-ca-mn-sneaks-thor-newcomers-20170903-htmlstory.html

Ah there's the trademark "Cate Blanchett evil smirk." Love it.

 

[HammerDown]

I guess Hela has some kind of fiery powers too. That would explain the flames surrounding the dead asgardians when she goes around says "I've missed this".

 

[Iceman]

If so then she really is going to have a range of exotic powers.

 

[metaphysician]

I imagine she has a similar powerset to Odin, which is to say, "do mostly anything". She just prefers to have a creepier ambience, with stuff like "endless black weapons" and "green flame", rather than "auras of rainbow energy".

 

[Finarfiniel]

I guess Hela has some kind of fiery powers too. That would explain the flames surrounding the dead asgardians when she goes around says "I've missed this".

She's also surrounded by flames in the concept art on the 'Art of Thor: Ragnarok' book:

I'm starting to get the feeling that Hela and Surtur will have a much closer connection in the MCU than they do in the comics, what with MCU Hela seemingly having fire based powers and the middle part of her headdress looking near identical to the horns on Surtur's 'faceplate' (seriously, look at it!), I wonder what the connection could be?

I imagine she has a similar powerset to Odin, which is to say, "do mostly anything". She just prefers to have a creepier ambience, with stuff like "endless black weapons" and "green flame", rather than "auras of rainbow energy".

I've seen some theories that Hela could actually be Odin's sister in the MCU and the two of them could pretty much be two sides of the same coin, Odin being the light side (being the 'Sky King' and the King of Asgard who is seen as being the protector of the Universe) and Hela being the dark side (being the Goddess of Death and the ruler of the Underworld). I could see that. It could mean they have pretty much the same power level.

 

[HammerDown]

I hope we get some Hela and Surtur moments together. They cast Clancy Brown to do the voice of Surtur so i am guessing he will do quite a bit of talking. Even though Hela seems to have some control over fire i still think that the fire wave we see devastating Asgard is most likely from Surtur. I would absolutely love and hope to see Surtur in his full glory stomping around Asgard. That would be epic.

Surtur's faceplate will be on Asgard together with the Eternal Flame which is in Odin's vault. If those 2 things get put together and that seems to happen... then all hell breaks loose with Surtur in his prime form.

 

[MbJ]

They talked about Hela here. They confirmed they took her ability to create weapons from Gor the God Butcher.
http://collider.com/thor-ragnarok-comics-differences-explained/

 

[metaphysician]

Its not a bad idea. I like Hela, but in the comics, her powers often fall into a Generic Magic User aesthetic, at least when she's not raising undead or draining life with her touch.

 

[HammerDown]

Collider

As for Jason Aaron’s God Of Thunder, the design for Hela [Cate Blanchett’s villainous character] came directly from the comic. In God of Thunder, “The villain Gorr has the very specific power of being able to manifest an infinite number of weapons. We’ve drafted that idea and are doing a version of that for Hela in our movie.”

As suspected Hela as some Gorr traits which i'm totally fine with. It just enriches her as a character and the visuals from that are insanely awesome.

 

[HammerDown]

ign

...I'm allowed to run our on-set interview with Tom Hiddleston where he spoke of the scene we'd seen being filmed between Loki and Hela. According to Hiddleston, he has very minimal screen time opposite Blanchett. "We actually shared another scene, but this is the first two-hander we had," Hiddleston said.

The scene I'd observed being filmed between them is, according to a humorous Hiddleston, "about them recognizing each other; recognizing that we prefer anarchy to order; recognizing that chaos is more fun, if a little exhausting. Uh, recognizing the aesthetic value of green capes, the inimitable elegance of a headdress. If you're gonna be bad, you might as well be bad with style, but they are defined by a red line between them."

Hiddleston said he believes every character in the film "completely underestimates (Hela's) power, and they underestimate the secret she has which blindsides them all, the idea that she has been lying in wait all this time, for the stage to be set for her return and she is invincible. She is all powerful, and so everything about her is surprising to Loki and to Thor as well."

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/09/07/what-we-can-and-cant-tell-you-about-thor-ragnaroks-climactic-battle

There has to be some kind of connection between Hela and Loki. And by the sound of it Hela wipes the floor with our heroes. "Invincible." Enough said.

 

[MbJ]

“When villains are just bad, you’re like ‘Yeah okay cool, but it’s boring,’” Hemsworth told Screen Rant during a set visit. “But she has worked really hard. At the start of the film, or sort of pre-production, I was saying ‘Yeah, but what does she really want?’ What is it that Cate can kind of relate to here and say ‘Oh okay, I get what she is and her frustration, what’s driving her’… It’s so far from anything I’ve seen before, and as intimidating and scary as it is interesting. And you have an empathetic view, or feeling toward her a lot of the time from what she’s doing. You go ‘Ahh… she’s got a point maybe’ [Laughs]. And then you’ve got to remind yourself ‘No, she’s trying to kill us all.’

Ragnarok’s director, Taika Waititi, feels the same. During the same set visit, Waititi promised Blanchett will give fans “the most interesting villain that [Marvel has] had. Because she’s multidimensional. She’s layered. She’s troubled. She’s really funny. And you know, it’s not just like ‘[evil laugh] Now if I can finally get the thing, then this will happen!’ There’s a little bit of that, but there’s so many other things going on for her. So I think it’s going to be really satisfying for people. And she’s amazing. That her character, you know, she is very tough. Amazing powers.

http://www.cbr.com/thor-ragnarok-hela-great-villain-says-hemsworth/

 

[Finarfiniel]

Okay, all of this new info on Hela is making me crazy excited, but this paragraph in particular made me actually fist pump:

Ragnarok’s director, Taika Waititi, feels the same. During the same set visit, Waititi promised Blanchett will give fans “the most interesting villain that [Marvel has] had. Because she’s multidimensional. She’s layered. She’s troubled. She’s really funny. And you know, it’s not just like ‘[evil laugh] Now if I can finally get the thing, then this will happen!’ There’s a little bit of that, but there’s so many other things going on for her. So I think it’s going to be really satisfying for people. And she’s amazing. That her character, you know, she is very tough. Amazing powers.

That's exactly what I wanted, for Hela to be three dimensional and interesting as well as a fierce badass goddess and it sounds like we're getting it. Thanks to our weird and wacky lord and saviour, Taika Waititi. t: The stuff about Hela being all powerful, invincible and having a big secret is also majorly intriguing. Could her secret be her [BLACKOUT]potential ties with Thanos maybe?[/BLACKOUT]

Also, kudos to us all for catching the Gorr connections months ago.

 

[HammerDown]

Brad Winderbaum:

"What we hope, if we do our jobs right, is that Hela is one of the best villains we’ve had - maybe the best, hopefully. Cate has been delivering an incredible performance. She’s really scary and really charming. She’s very easy to watch, very fun to be around. But very murderous and horrible at the same time."

 

[Finarfiniel]

So much interesting stuff about Hela coming out at the moment. Two quotes that interest me, the first from a Collider article posted today:

We had the opportunity to see Blanchett's performance of Hela in the film's final fight sequence, demonstrating how she was more than capable of defeating the Valkyries – a highly-stylized flashback sequence impossible to miss in marketing. Yet the sequence hints at two important truths about Hela in the MCU: that she’s more than lethal in a fight, and that she hails from a time and place far beyond anything Thor has ever encountered, let alone opposed. It’s for that reason that director Taika Waititi claims Blanchett’s antagonist is, at least in his opinion, the most "interesting" villain in the Marvel Universe so far.

Does this indicate that Hela is maybe even older than Odin? And woah, really? Considering the Dark Elves apparently existed before the Universe as we know it, that's a pretty impressive claim.

Also, that awesome moment when Brad Winderbaum brings up Thanos when talking about Hela:

Brad Winderbaum, one of the film’s producers, kept his cards close to his chest.

"Obviously we always think about the movies as standalones, even if they do set up a movie down the road or pay off something from a previous film," he told ComicBook.com. 2

"What we hope, if we do our jobs right, is that Hela is one of the best villains we've had - maybe the best, hopefully."

Spilling on Blanchett's performance, he added: "Cate has been delivering an incredible performance. She's really scary and really charming. She's very easy to watch, very fun to be around. But very murderous and horrible at the same time. You're right that those are things that Thanos values. But when and how she plays into the future of the universe is uncertain now."

'Uncertain', yeah right. To the audience maybe, but not to you guys behind the scenes.

 

[HammerDown]

Apparently there is also an interview with Cate Blanchett from that Set Visit as well that hasn't been released yet by all of these news outlets. Marvel hasn't given the green light to release that particular interview because probably she is the main villain and they want to keep her secrets a bit tighter to the vest and also because it can be dropped later on with a bigger impact on it's own than coming out with all of this new information we got.

 

[BigThor]

If Hela does have fire powers I would hope her flames are green to differentiate from Surtur.

 

[HammerDown]