Cate Blanchett Wants More Female Villains In The MCU

Between them, Justice League and Avengers: Infinity War effectively brought the Internet to a standstill last weekend, after Warner Bros. and Marvel showcased their costumed crusaders to those in attendance at San Diego Comic-Con. There’s no doubt about it, those were the two titles that stole the entire show, drawing the most eyeballs and generating the most discussion, but following incredibly close behind was Taika Waititi’s upcoming threequel, Thor: Ragnarok.

Stripped of Mjölnir and flung to the other side of the universe, where he winds up on the alien planet of Sakaar, it looks as though Thor will be pushed to the absolute brink once the film gets going in earnest. But he won’t be going up against Hela alone; as the recent sizzle reel attests, Waititi’s galactic adventure sees Thor buddy up with his estranged sibling Loki (Tom Hiddleston), along with the Incredible Hulk and Tessa Thompson’s fearless warrior, Valkyrie.

It’s set to be quite an epic ride then, and without a doubt, one of the biggest draws of the threequel is Blanchett’s Hela. Not only does she look fantastic in the role, but this marks the first time that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has had a main female villain. On the film side, at least.

That’s something which isn’t lost on the actress, either, and as she told E! News in a recent interview that she hopes Hela is the start of a new trend for the franchise, saying that Marvel’s been a bit “tardy” in putting their female villains on the big screen.

“I didn’t realize… I was inhabiting the first female Marvel villain onscreen. I thought, ‘Surely not… well, no actually that’s true.’ There’s been many, many, many [female villains] in the comic books, but they’ve been a little tardy in bringing them to the screen, so hopefully there will be a lot more villainesses.”

We 100% agree with Blanchett’s comments here. After all, there are a number of female villains who could be brought into the MCU going forward and should audiences respond well to Hela, which it looks like they will, it’s easy to see the studio heading down the villainess route again at some point in the future.

Thor: Ragnarok opens on November 3rd. At 100 minutes in length, it’s reportedly on course to become the shortest instalment in the MCU to date, one in which the God of Thunder is at his comedic best. As always, watch this space for more.