She is the Asgardian goddess of death, ruling over the realms Hel and Niffelheim.
As one of the few major female villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, viewers can expect Cate Blanchett to make a lasting impression in her big screen debut as the terrifying Hela in “Thor: Ragnarok”.
Just like the character in the comic books, Blanchett’s Hela is a powerhouse. The actress revealed that her character will not only wear her infamous ornate headdress but she’s also been given the special ability to generate weapons directly from her body.
“She’s able to manifest weapons. Her headdress can be weapons. She can manifest weapons out of different parts of her body. I won’t tell you which – I’ll leave that hanging,” the 47-year-old actress told Entertainment Weekly.
Given the look at the headdress, it’s interesting that it can be used as a weapon instead of a mere decoration. Similar to Loki‘s illusion-casting, it is likely that Hela will conjure her weapons by tapping into the Asgardian magic.
When asked about being the 1st major female baddie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Blanchett replied, “Can you believe we’re having this conversation and it’s 2017 and we’re talking about the first female villain? It’s ridiculous. There’s so much untapped potential villainy in women. It’s really exciting. I think finally it’s beginning to be acknowledged that women and men want to see a diverse array of characters, and that’s race, gender across the sexual spectrum.”
“Well let’s face it: as a woman, these opportunities have not in the past come up very frequently and I think there’s a revolution happening from within Marvel. I’ve seen so many of the Marvel franchises, particularly being the mother of 4. They tend to be the only type of film particularly having young boys,” the Oscar winner shared.
Blanchett revealed she became well-versed in her villainess character by turning to the comic book backstory, saying, “There are so many iterations of the origin story. For any of these characters, there’s never 1 origin story. Most of the time she was masked. So that’s what I really talked to the Marvel team and Taika about was when we would chose to have her masked and when she wouldn’t be masked“.
“Thor: Ragnarok” will smash its way into theatres on 3rd November 2017.
Sources: Cinema Blend, Screen Rant.
