This was a mid episode. A rehash of Thor with a different setting and characters. Rushed as hell and overall a waste of Cate Blanchett's talents.

I cannot care about this show, no matter how hard I try, really one of Marvel's less good outputs.

I did like the action sequences and Wenwu. Another great MCU character that MS wasted way too fast in Shang-Chi.

I really liked it and found it kind of wholesome. I’ve always abided by the idea that all aggression come from a weaker emotion such as fear and we see that in Hela. She was just raised with a manipulative father and wanted to exert her anger onto someone else. I also really love the transformation at the end

I appreciate the subtle reference to the real-world myth of Ragnarök, where the Fenris Wolf and Odin mutually kill each other.

"He[Fenris] means you no harm."

"Mmm. Not yet. But in time."

Intriguing to see Wenwu's explanation of the Ten Rings's mission as "protection", albeit in a coercive way. Reminds me of some portrayals of DC's League of Assassins and of Ra's al Ghul.

And FINALLY, Odin gets some action. The supporting Asgardians were severely underused in the films, so it's good to see the most powerful of them in a fight.

It seems to be a recurring thing with these episodes for me; I really dig the small main timeline implications/backstories, but I just cannot get behind the stories themselves. This episode was fine, but not amazing.

Timeline notes: Xu Wenwu discovered the Ten Rings about a thousand years ago, in medieval China. Yet, Hela was banished from Asgard in some centuries BC. The most plausible way that those two events overlap is for Xu Wenwu to have had the rings a lot earlier than initially thought, and perhaps Hela's banishment can be fudged a few centuries forward. The hard boundary would be Thor's birth in 965 AD.

This was another creative episode

Also it was fun that this story was based on a Phase 4 story

Also it was creative to see a different version of Hela's story then what we saw in Ragnarok

I also did like this being a sorta rehash of the first Thor movie but it was with Hela

I am utterly surprised that Odin is also capable of destroying Mjölnir not just Hela

Impressive Hela wasn't able to pick up her crown. So I guess Hela's crown is basically the same as Mjölnir only those are worthy can pick the crown up

Funny to see Morris to be the one to rescue Hela and help her escape from Wenwu

Interesting that both Odin and Heimdall are aware of the Ten Rings and seems like they know that they are dangerous. Wonder if Thor has any knowledge of the Ten Rings?

I guess Jiayi was the guardian of Ta Lo before Ying Li or I guess in this universe Jiayi took the place of Ying Li

The battle between Odin and Hela and Wenwu was fun to see because we didn't see Odin in combat in the main MCU timeline

Neat that Odin was able to hold off both Hela and Wenwu with the Ten Rings

Impressive to learn that Hela won the fight against Odin and Odin allowed Hela to have the thrown of Asgard to allow her vision to become true

And now Hela and Wenwu are going to stop Thanos which is an interesting thing to head towards in the end

Now with this story I am not sure if Hela is supposed to be a hero or a villain.

But it was an interesting take on her story. Which I guess also means that if Thor is born into that universe his future will be different as well as Loki

Overall another neat episode

Was I the only one who thought Hela's armor turning white and shiny at the end was a reference to Galadriel? Since Cate Blanchett played both roles

Another What If…? win!

Great episode! The whole Hela storyline was unique and creative (especially with the parallels to the first Thor movie), while Hela’s journey was unexpected, as was the ending. Fun to see Odin again, and it’s neat that they got Idris Elba back for a tiny role. Nice new graphics at the beginning depicting the conquest of the Nine Realms.

That was a great episode of What If?, seeing Hela is becoming from Goddess of Death to Queen of Asgard

The main thing I liked about this episode is how they showed the villainous side of Odin. I already didn’t like Odin after Ragnarok but seeing his flaws that I think about actually be talked about was so satisfying. Like you bred this woman to be a bloodthirsty killing machine for your conquest and then out of nowhere, you have a change of heart and want peace and now you’re mad that Hela remained the way you made her?

But I did have a complaint or two. Main one being that I was probably overhyping myself but I thought Odin was a little underpowered.

Also I wonder who Hela’s mother is or if she even has one.