“She’s not only strong and all of that and beautiful but she’s also funny. “She’s destroyed the idea of your typical villain,” says Waititi. There’s a bit of mischief in there and playfulness.” She also sometimes doesn’t want to kill people. “We agreed that we didn’t want her to be predictable, and we were open to the random sides of her. “I liked that Taika was really open to all the possibilities of her,” says Blanchett.
I felt the role could be really exciting.”īringing Hela to life on screen was a collaboration between Blanchett and the director, Taika Waititi. Then after doing a little bit of research, I realized that there hadn’t yet been a female villainess in one of the Marvel movies before. “I was trying to play cool, but I was so excited because you don’t get offered these things very often. “I got a call from my agent who said that Kevin Feige wanted to send me a package,” says Blanchett. She even manages to destroy Thor’s beloved hammer. Portrayed by Oscar®-winning actress Cate Blanchett, Hela is the first lead female villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and casts a large and fearsome shadow across Asgard. With a mysterious and savage army at her side, Hela intends to usher in a new era of cold brutality for Asgard and the universe at large. Armed with the ability to unleash unlimited weapons in astounding and deadly ways, Hela is now back to seek vengeance on those who cast her out. The situation: Hela’s power is unlike anything else in the Nine Realms. I like the idea that Thor and Loki, the protagonist and the antagonist, these eternally warring brothers, are thrown into hot water together and have to somehow overcome their differences, or at least acknowledge their differences, to try to save Asgard.” They are completely out of their depth, out of their element. “All of the things that have anchored them to their own reality are gone. “For Thor and Loki, the stakes are so high in this story,” says Hiddleston.
Of course, it all comes back to the rivalry and strained relationship between Thor and Loki, a Shakespearean struggle of epic proportions. He adds, “When I put on the costume, the makeup, and wig for the first time for this film and looked in the mirror, I thought to myself, ‘Wow, there he is.’ It was like seeing an old friend. He’s cunning and transformative and changeable, and will do everything he can to survive. I think that is the thing that keeps him interesting in a way. “When he seems to get close to what he wants-power, acceptance, belonging-he changes direction. “I’ve spent six or seven years of my life trying to get to the bottom of what exactly it is that he wants,” he says. Hiddleston describes Loki as a mercurial character. However, when Hela makes her terrifying grand entrance, Loki must use his silver tongue and skill with a blade to battle for his own survival. The situation: Disguised as his father, Odin, Loki has taken over Asgard as its king. We love surprising audiences with how the tone of a franchise can change.” With a third Thor adventure, we wanted to do something very, very different from Thor: The Dark World, with new characters, new villains and new locations for this new adventure. As Marvel Studios President and Producer Kevin Feige explains, “Thor’s supporting characters, his villain roster, and the family drama that comes between Loki and Odin really gives us some of the richest story lines with any of the Marvel characters. This third offering from the Thor franchise is a fresh, funny take on the classic Norse royal family, giving us new villains to fight and old family squabbles to settle. Who can forget his unceremonious pounding by the Hulk, where he was swung and smashed around by his ankles? Ouch.įans rejoice, because Loki is back in Marvel Studios’ Thor: Ragnarok, bringing with him all the wit, humor and mischief he’s known for, although, perhaps, not quite as much treachery this time. Fueled by jealousy, rage, and hurt, Loki mounted an all-out assault on Earth in 2012’s Marvel Studios blockbuster Marvel’s The Avengers. Played by Tom Hiddleston, Loki quickly became a fan favorite, helped, in large part, by his sympathetic and complex family history-adopted into a royal family but never equal to his older brother, Thor. Marvel Studios’ original Thor film gave us one of our most memorable-and beloved-villains ever to terrorize the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Loki, God of Mischief, brother of Thor, and an über troublemaker.