Hela

"It's come to my attention that you don't know who I am. I am Hela, Odin's firstborn, commander of the legions of Asgard, the rightful heir to the throne and the Goddess of Death!"

- Hela

Hela Odinsdottir was the Asgardian Goddess of Death and the former Executioner of Asgard. Imprisoned in Hel for millennia by her father Odin, Hela was released from her prison following his death and set out to exact vengeance against those responsible while simultaneously engaging in a series of encounters with her younger brother Thor. Gaining power from Asgard, Hela set about massacring Odin's armies and enslaving the people, recruiting the foolish Skurge as her Executioner. Eventually however Thor then returned with the newly formed Revengers and engaged Hela, resulting in Loki unleashing Surtur who destroyed all of Asgard by finally causing Ragnarök and also killed Hela as a result.

Conquests with Odin
"Odin and I drowned entire civilizations in blood and tears. Where do you think all this gold came from? And then, one day he decided to become a benevolent king. To foster peace, to protect life. To have you!"

- Hela to Thor

The oldest child of Odin Borson, Hela served as her father's executioner and the leader of the Einherjar, helping him conquer the Nine Realms. Odin, however, after realizing that bringing peace was the true way to unite the Nine Realms, saw Hela's over-ambitiousness, combined with her formidable powers, as a threat and ultimately Hela became too ambitious and attempted to take over the throne sometime after Odin became a peace-time king. According to Valkyrie, Hela massacred many Asgardians in the Palace and attacked Odin, who finally was forced to accept that Hela had grown too dangerous and battle her in the process. After defeating Hela but also showing that he was incapable of killing her, Odin banished her from Asgard by imprisoning his only daughter in Hel for millennia with his life force acting as the lock to her prison.

Odin then proceeded to write her out of Asgard's history, even going so far as to replace the mural depicting her conquests in the throne room of his palace with images of his new children.

Failing to Break Free
"Her power comes from Asgard, same as yours. When it grew beyond Odin's control, she massacred everyone in the palace and tried to seize the throne. When she tried to escape her banishment, he sent the Valkyrie to fight her back."

- Valkyrie to Thor

Hela once attempted to escape from Hel, prompting Odin to send the Valkyries to stop her. She was successful in overpowering the Valkyries and, with the exception of their leader Brunhilde, killing them all,but was overpowered when Odin intervened and reimprisoned.

Confrontation in Norway
"Kneel." "I beg your pardon?" "Kneel... before your queen."

- Hela and Loki

In the wake of the death of Odin, his power over Hela's imprisonment waned until their was no force keeping her at bay. She stepped out of a portal-like gateway soon after, musing that she would have liked to see her father die. Confronted by Thor and Loki, she mockingly noted when Thor introduces himself as her sibling that he does not look like Odin at all.

When Loki had attempted to make a truce with her, Hela sarcastically stated he sounded more like Odin than Thor did. Forgoing all civility, Hela authoritatively ordered both her younger brothers to kneel down before her, as she is their new queen of the Nine Realms. Thor then defiantly refused and promptly launched Mjølnir towards her, but as the hammer's first wielder, she easily caught it.

Skirmish in the Bifrost
Thor, incredulous, declared such a thing impossible, but Hela cruelly sneered that he had no idea of the possibilities that await, followed immediately by her proceeding to destroy the hammer with her bare hands and restoring her headdress. In a state of surprise and panic, Loki ordered Fandral to take him and Thor back, but Hela swiftly followed them, leaping into the light of the Bifrost after the two, where she knocked Loki out of Bifrost Bridge after catching and throwing back his knife. She proceeds to chase Thor, subduing him and knocking him out of Bifrost as well. Assuming the two princes of Asgard had died, she arrives at Heimdall's Observatory shortly after.

Siege of Asgard
"I thought you would be glad to see me."

- Hela to Hogun and the Einherjar

Emerging into Heimdall's Observatory, Hela encountered Volstagg and Fandral, whom she promptly executed in cold blood. Skurge, who had observed the murders from a distance, knelt as Hela approached him. Declaring him to be a "smart boy", the Goddess offered him a job before crossing the Rainbow Bridge that led to Asgard. Upon reaching the city's entrance, Hela found Hogun and the Einherjar waiting for her. She revealed her identity before giving them the chance to become her allies only for Hogun to state they would never recognize her as their leader and led the Einherjar in charging towards her.

The disappointed Goddess proceeded to summon her Necroswords and engage the army in combat, using her powers of telekinesis and weapon manifestation to slaughter them as well as destroy several Asgardian Skiffs.

When the last of the army was taken down and killed, Hela slowly made her way through the courtyard, relishing in her reawakened bloodlust as a horrified Skurge followed her in silence. Hogun made a final attempt to stop her, only for Hela to cut him down easily.

With Asgard defenseless, Hela took the throne and destroyed the mural of her father above it, revealing the original behind it. She then broke into the trophy room, declaring the Infinity Gauntlet as a fake, the Casket of Ancient Winters as a useless object, viewed Surtur's Crown as 'smaller than she thought', became interested in the Tesseract but declared the Eternal Flame the greatest of them all.

She smashed through the floor to the mausoleum underneath and revived the fallen Asgardian soldiers as well as her pet wolf Fenris using the power of the flame, turning them into her Berserkers, before dubbing Skurge her executioner and gifting him with an obsidian axe she created with her powers of weapon manifestation.

Duel in the Asgardian Palace
"I am not a queen or a monster. I'm the Goddess of Death. What were you the god of again?"

- Hela to Thor

Unbeknownst to both Hela and Skurge, Heimdall returned to Asgard and stole his sword that controlled the Bifrost Bridge, which prevented Hela from conquering the Nine Realms. Discovering this, Hela set about punishing the people of Asgard with her Berserkers until Heimdall surrendered the sword. It worked and soon Hela assaulted the fortress where Heimdall and the remaining Asgardians opposed to her rule were, only to discover they had fled shortly before her arrival. Thor and the Revengers returned to Asgard in order to evacuate its people and fight Hela. Thor went to the throne room and awaited Hela's arrival. She arrived soon after and they discussed Odin and his faults and engaged in a duel resulting in the loss of one of Thor's eyes. She forced Thor to watch as her undead army and Fenris assaulted his allies and the remaining Asgardians on the Bifrost only for Loki to arrive with a massive ship and several Sakaaran gladiators. But even with those reinforcements, Hela's army was still slowly overwhelming them. Hela began taunting Thor, claiming she will soon take Heimdall's sword and unleash her army on the Nine Realms. Thor, however, experienced a vision of Odin encouraging him and that "Asgard is not a place, it is a people.". Thor then unleashed a massive lighting blast, destroying a ledge of the royal palace and temporarily stunning Hela. He then leapt down to the Bifrost to fight off Hela's Berserkers and rescue his people.

Battle of the Rainbow Bridge
After recovering from Thor's blast, Hela arrived onto the Rainbow Bridge where Thor and Valkyrie attacked her. Despite Thor having his powers in full force, Hela was able to overpower him. She sent an oversized spike towards the spaceship containing the Asgardians, to let her army of Berserkers furiously attack the ship, but they were fought off by Skurge, who betrayed Hela. Seeing that, Hela murdered Skurge with her blade.

Destruction of Asgard
"Whatever game you're playing, it won't work. You can't defeat me!" "No I know. But he can."

- Hela and Thor

Hela resumed her battle with Thor and knocked him down. Hela sarcastically stated that Thor could not beat her, but Thor responded that "he" could. Hela turned to see Surtur emerge from the palace. Valkyrie then leapt on Hela, knocking her down. Thor sent another lightning blast, destroying part of the Rainbow Bridge, causing Hela to fall into the waters.

Hela emerged from the water after a while, to see Surtur laying waste to Asgard. Hela generated oversized blades to pierce Surtur, but they simply annoyed the fire demon.

Surtur raised his Twilight Sword and stabbed towards Hela, killing her, and also destroying Asgard.

Personality
"Asgard is dead and it will be reborn in my image."

- Hela

Hela has a raging, impatient, volatile, and supremely ambitious personality, which makes her prone to killing or maiming anyone who stood in her way. During Asgard's violent conquest of the Nine Realms, she was an effective and brutal wartime leader due to these traits, and therefore essential to Odin's conquest being a success. However, when Odin transitioned into a peace-time King, he realized that Hela could not, for her ambitions had grown out of his control, and her formidable powers made her a threat to his new society. Hence, he banished her from Asgard, and later imprisoned her personally when she revolted against him.

After her freedom, she immediately conquered Asgard with little effort, and Heimdall himself described her as being so power-hungry that, if she could access the Bifrost Bridge, she would conquer all of the Nine Realms and even the entire Cosmos. Though Thor acknowledged Odin's paternal deficiencies, during a heart-to-heart confrontation between him and his sister, he still confessed he believed that their father's decision to imprison her instead of letting her rule was an accurate one - Hela made it clear that she would exterminate her entire nation if they stood in the way of her resuming her conquests. She even went as far as to state that she was neither a Queen nor a monster, but the Goddess of Death, which in turn revealed that she was quite content to rule over a dead nation of dead soldiers completely loyal to her.

Hela was also extremely resentful of her imprisonment at the hands of her own father, Odin, whom she was initially loyal enough to willingly execute his will, and even help him conquer the Nine Realms. She gleefully mocked his death, and openly expressed her wish to have been able to see it herself. However, it was evident that she still felt a high level of betrayal from Odin due to her imprisonment, for she was quickly angered by the concealing murals that displayed only Odin, Thor, and Loki, as well as his peaceful conquering of the Nine Realms. In fact, she was so provoked by them that she immediately threw her swords at those false images, shattering them to reveal the truth of Odin's violent deeds.

Apart from her ambitiousness, Hela's most prominent feature would be her hubris: during her first encounter with her brothers, before crossing swords with them, she already made it clear that she viewed them as inferiors who were no match for her, and she later also demonstrated no fear at all when confronting Asgard's army. Though she subsequently proved her point by crushing Mjølnir with only one hand, and slaughtered the entire Asgardian army with ease, Hela's hubris also turned out to be her downfall - she underestimated Thor's wisdom, which ultimately led to her being destroyed by Surtur.

Powers
"Our sister destroyed your hammer like a piece of glass. She's stronger than both of us, she's stronger than you; you don't stand a chance! Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"

- Loki to Thor

Hela possesses all of the various superhuman attributes common among Asgardians. However, being part of Asgard's royal family, (more specifically the eldest child of Odin), her attributes are significantly superior to those of any other Asgardians, even her younger brother Thor, as she can draw power from Asgard itself to increase her own might, with the coming of Ragnarök being necessary to take her down. This makes Hela incredibly powerful, and an almost unstoppable foe for Thor and the Revengers, with only Surtur at full power, and Odin in his prime, having enough power to defeat her.
 * Asgardian Physiology: As the eldest child of Odin, Hela has tremendous superhuman abilities and supernatural powers, far superior to those of any other Asgardian, even her younger brother Thor. It appears only the late Odin in his prime surpassed Hela's power among Asgardians, making Hela the second most powerful Asgardian of her time and one of the most powerful beings in the Nine Realms.
 * Superhuman Strength: Hela possesses tremendous levels of superhuman strength, which allowed her to single-handedly wipe out all of the Valkyries (with only their leader barely surviving), and to even easily catch Mjølnir with one hand after it was thrown at her with full speed, before crushing it in her hand with no visible effort, in spite of it being one of the most powerful weapons in existence, causing it to explode in a blast of lightning. Hela later slaughtered the Warriors Three, Skurge, and the combined might of the Einherjar with ease. Furthermore, she was able to easily physically dominate Thor himself in two of their three battles, sending him flying with her attacks, and proved to have enough strength to injure the nearly invulnerable Asgardian, easily overpowered and tossed Valkyrie. away. Even after Thor gained his full powers, Hela proved to be still too strong for him. Only a fully-empowered Surtur and Odin at his prime was stronger than Hela, with Odin imprisoning her in Hel and Surtur managing to destroy her by destroying Asgard..
 * Superhuman Durability: Hela's body, much like that of Thor, appears nigh-invulnerable, although her durability surpasses even her brother's, which allowed Hela to easily block spear strikes from a Gungnir-wielding Thor with her bare hands, and to even catch Mjølnir without injury. Hela was even unharmed after grabbing a handful of the Eternal Flame, impaled through the torso with Einherjar's sword and stabbed with Gungnir by Thor without her body or her clothing being damaged, and emerged completely unharmed after a fully-empowered Thor hit her with massive lightning bolts. Indeed, only revived and enhanced Surtur's Twilight Sword was able to crush her, thus sending the Goddess of Death into oblivion.
 * Superhuman Stamina: Like all Asgardians, Hela's musculature produces considerably less fatigue toxins during physical activity than the musculature of humans or normal Asgardians, allowing her to defeat numerous Asgardians, as well as fight against the combined might of Thor and Valkyrie without tiring.
 * Superhuman Speed: Hela can move at exceptionally high speeds, as she was fast enough to keep up with and even outpace Thor and Valkyrie in combat, as well as even being fast enough to catch Mjølnir with one hand.
 * Superhuman Agility: Hela naturally possesses greater agility, dexterity, balance, and body coordination than that of a human, and even most other Asgardians, with her managing to dodge and outpace Thor and Valkyrie's attacks for the majority of her battles with them and easily jump through a crater and land fully on her feet.
 * Extended Longevity: Due to her connection to Asgard and to Hel, Hela is immortal and will not die, so long as the realm of Asgard exists.
 * Supernatural Connection: As the firstborn of Odin, Hela has a supernatural connection to the realm Asgard, and can draw power from Asgard itself to perform incredible supernatural abilities. Hela can manifest various physical structures out of thin air, ranging from weapons to ground structures to even her own armor. She can even draw power from Asgard to enhance her natural abilities.
 * Life and Death Manipulation: Hela was exiled for all eternity in the afterlife realm of Hel where the souls of those who died without being honored are driven to.
 * Weapon Manifestation: Hela can manifest various weapons out of different parts of her body, though she would usually generate Necroswords, daggers, spears, and axes. These weapons are incredibly durable and sharp, enough to not only instantly kill the likes of Warriors Three and Skurge, but also even pierce right through Thor's nigh-invulnerable body, with Hela thus gouging his right eye out with a Necrosword. She also manifested the Bloodaxe, which she then gave to Skurge. Hela later launched oversized blades into a large gate to a secret cave where the fleeing Asgardians were hiding, allowed her to bring it down by telekinetically pulling the blades down along with the gate. She was also able to generate these spike-like constructs from the ground to pierce Surtur with, but that ultimately proved ineffective against the Fire Giant.
 * Structure Manifestation: Hela could manifest metallic, blade-like structures from the ground surrounding her, as seen when she attempted to prevent Loki's spaceship containing the Asgardians from launching from the doomed realm, and later when she attempted to gain elevation during her short battle with Surtur.
 * Armor Manifestation: After being freed by Odin's death, Hela was able to repair the damage to her clothing and make her headdress appear and disappear from her head.
 * Necromancy: Hela, as the self-proclaimed "Goddess of Death", demonstrated being able to resurrect her allies, using a handful of flame from the Eternal Flame and tossing it against the ground to create a huge blast of green infernal energy. As such, she was able to revive her pet wolf Fenris and her Berserkers after discovering their corpses under Odin's Vault. She has ruled in the realm of Hel, where the souls of those who died without being honored are driven to.

Abilities

 * Master Combatant: Hela was an immensely formidable and deadly warrior in both armed and hand-to-hand combat, as she was the original owner of Mjølnir and the chief of the legion of Asgard as well as Odin's Executioner. Her skills are so tremendous that she easily managed to singlehandedly slay the entire Einherjar army of Asgard, as well as swiftly slay all of the Warriors Three whom were among the greatest warriors of Asgard. Indeed, Hela's combat skills are superior to even Valkyrie and Thor who are immensely skilled and powerful Asgardian warriors in their own right, with her notably able to battle both of them simultaneously, and beat Thor into submission in two of their three battles, even gouging out Thor's right eye with her Necrosword, as well as easily defeating Valkyrie in battle while she single-handedly slaughtered the Valkyries. While a fully-powered Thor (after receiving guidance from Odin's spirit) was able to almost match her to a stalemate, Hela still proved herself too much for him, necessitating Loki to resurrect Surtur and start Ragnarök . Only Odin was ever able to defeat Hela in battle, having been the one who cast her out of Asgard and imprisoned her in Hel.
 * Master Swordwoman: While Hela usually prefers to fight with her bare hands and telekinetically hurled weapons, she is also an tremendously skilled swordswoman, typically wielding a Necroswords. Indeed, Hela's skills allowed her to easily slaughter all of Asgard's Einherjar and Valkyries and even gain the upper hand over Thor using Gungnir and easily disarm him of his blades.
 * Arcane Lore: Hela has been shown to have an encyclopedic knowledge of mystical artifacts and energy and also has great skill in handling them, as demonstrated when she easily caught Mjølnir (due to being the hammer's original wielder) and shattered the nearly indestructible Asgardian Hammer, withstood repeated attacks from Gungnir, and withstood grabbing a handful of the Eternal Flame. She was also quickly able to tell that the Infinity Gauntlet in Odin's Vault was a fake replica, that the Casket of Ancient Winters was a weak relic, and that the Tesseract could still be useful to her.
 * Expert Leader: As the Chief of the Legion of Asgard and Odin's Executioner, Hela was known to be a very effective and brutal leader, with her skills in leadership being essential in Asgard's violent conquest of the Nine Realms.

Equipment

 * Mjølnir (formerly): Hela was the first owner of Mjølnir as the Executioner of Asgard and King Odin's first-born, until she was imprisoned in Hel by her own father. After her banishment, it was passed down to Thor, until she herself destroyed it after Thor threw the weapon at her upon her freedom.
 *  Necroswords: Hela is capable of manifesting Necroswords from her body, which she usually uses as throwing weapons but she also is exceptionally capable with using these swords for melee combat. These swords are more than strong and durable enough to instantly kill the Warriors Three each with a single stab, and even harm Thor.
 * Bloodaxe: Hela conjured this weapon, but never used it, rather lending it to Skurge for his job as her executioner.
 * Eternal Flame: Hela utilized the power of the Eternal Flame to resurrect her undead warriors as well as her loyal pet Asgardian wolf, Fenris.

Family

 * Buri † - Great-grandfather
 * Bor † - Grandfather
 * Odin † - Father and Enemy
 * Frigga † - Possible Mother
 * Thor - Brother, Enemy and Attempted Victim
 * Loki - Adoptive Brother, Enemy and Attempted Victim

Allies

 * Fenris † - Companion
 * Berserkers † - Subordinates

Enemies

 * Surtur † - Killer
 * Asgardians - Subordinates turned Enemies and Attempted Victims
 * Einherjar - Former Subordinates turned Enemies and Victims
 * Valkyries - Former Subordinates turned Enemies and Victims
 * Brunnhilde/Valkyrie - Attempted Victim
 * Heimdall
 * Warriors Three - Victims
 * Volstagg †
 * Fandral †
 * Hogun †
 * Skurge † - Executioner turned Enemy and Victim
 * Revengers
 * Bruce Banner/Hulk
 * Sakaaran Rebellion
 * Korg
 * Miek

Trivia

 * In Norse Mythology, as in the comics, Hela is the illegitimate daughter of Loki. She was raised in the care of Asgard for a time until she was appointed as ruler of Hel and Niflheim by Odin.
 * Additionally, the Marvel Cinematic Universe's version of Hela presents some elements of Gorr, the God Butcher, a vengeful killer of gods who has the power of the All-Black the Necrosword,  and Angela, Odin's first born who has been the Queen of Hel in the comics.
 * Hela is the first female main antagonist in a Marvel Cinematic Universe film.
 * Hela is the first main villain in the Thor films and the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have been defeated by another villain instead of the protagonists.

Behind the Scenes

 * Hela was originally conceived as the main villain of Thor: The Dark World, instead of Malekith.
 * To prepare for her role as Hela, Cate Blanchett studied, a Brazilian martial art.
 * Cate Blanchett accepted a role in this movie to please her children, who are Marvel comics fans. Blanchett's eldest son Dashiell John Upton suggested she take the role of Hela, saying it'd be a career boost.
 * One of the film's producers, Brad Winderbaum had described Cate Blanchett's performance as "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." In addition, he explained that Hela's appearance in Infinity War is uncertain now.
 * was considered for the role of Hela.
 * Zoë Bell was a stunt double for Cate Blanchett in the role of Hela.