Hela Will Be Thor’s Toughest Opponent Yet

The excitement for Thor: Ragnarok is palpable.

After ruling over social media rankings for months, Taika Waititi’s cosmic threequel was officially named as 2017’s most-anticipated fall movie earlier this week, beating the likes of Justice League and Blade Runner 2049 to the #1 spot. It’s a relatively minor coup in the grand scheme of things, given Fandango’s survey only polled 1,000 film fans, but it does set the stage for an interesting tussle between Ragnarok and Justice League – between Marvel and DC – ahead of November. A rising tide raises all boats, or something to that effect.

Regardless, it is Thor: Ragnarok that will be arriving first (November 3rd), and now that Marvel has lifted the embargo on all those many set visits, Screen Rant is bringing us some juicy new details on Hela. Brought to life by Cate Blanchett, there’s a great deal of excitement swirling around the character, given that she’s the first major female villain to rule over the MCU. Not only that, but according to Waititi, she’ll really push Thor to his breaking point.

Cate is the first female villain. And if I’m honest for me, 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.

She’s amazing. Her character, you know, she is very tough. Amazing powers. She IS Hela, and she wears the cowl, and she has the antlers, and she looks amazing in the concept art and stuff. Thor in the films has never fought anyone tougher than this lady.

While Marvel’s always had a problem with producing worthy and formidable villains, it certainly sounds like the Goddess of Death is about to put Thor through his paces. Stripped of his prized Mjölnir, the God of Thunder is all set to embark on a “journey of self-discovery,” as he cobbles together a team of reluctant heroes – namely Loki, Valkyrie and the Incredible Hulk – to restore Asgard to its former glory.

This November, Thor: Ragnarok heralds the hero’s wildest adventure yet, and we can hardly wait. It’s been a long time coming, too, given that Chris Hemsworth’s Norse god remained on the sidelines in Captain America: Civil War – ditto for Mark Ruffalo’s Hulk. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait as long for Thor’s next on-screen appearance, as the Phase One Avenger will be filing into Infinity War in time for its release on May 4th, 2018.