Hela () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is based on the goddess Hel from Norse mythology, and was first adapted by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in Journey into Mystery #102. Hela is the Asgardian Goddess of Death who serves as the ruler of Hel and Niflheim. The character is usually depicted as an adversary of the superhero Thor.
Hela made her live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Thor: Ragnarok (2017), portrayed by Cate Blanchett. Blanchett also voiced alternate versions of the character in the animated series What If...?.
Publication history
Hela was adapted from Norse myths by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in Journey into Mystery #102 (March 1964).
Fictional character biography Hela was born in Jotunheim, the land of the giants. She is the child of Loki (albeit a different incarnationMarvel Graphic Novel 15: The Raven Banner who died during a previous Asgardian Ragnarok) and the giantess Angrboða. When she came of age, Odin appointed her as the Goddess of the Dead, giving her rulership over the dead in the realms of Hel and Niflheim.
Queen of Hel Hela often tried to expand her power to the dead who dwell in Valhalla as well. These attempts often brought Hela into conflict with Odin or his son Thor. She once appeared to Thor while he was on the verge of death after battling the Wrecker, who knocked a building onto him while he was depowered.Thor #150 She failed to tempt Thor into entering Valhalla, despite an image of one that dwelled there.Thor #154
Later, she stole a portion of the sleeping Odin's soul while he was on the Sea of Eternal Night due to Loki planning to take over Asgard, thus creating a powerful entity known as Infinity.Thor #177 Hela then unleashed Infinity upon the universe. Infinity even took control of Odin.Thor #184 Hela killed Thor, who was restored to life by the sacrifice of her servant, the Silent One.Thor #186 Odin then killed Hela to save Thor, but then Odin returned her to life after Thor convinced him to restore the natural balance of life and death. Hela kills Thor again after tracking him down by putting humans in danger, but restored him to life after Sif offered to die in his place.Thor #189-190
Hela later battled the Olympian Death-god Pluto for the right to claim Odin's soul, as Odin had been killed by the monster Mangog.Thor #199-200 As a result, Hela restored Odin to life to prevent Pluto from claiming him.Thor #201 Hela plotted with Loki to bring about Ragnarök by killing the god Balder then attacking Asgard. She summoned Volla's spirit before this to tell her and Loki about Ragnarok, after which she prepared an army of monsters to attack Asgard. However Odin used his powers to prevent Balder dying.Thor #277-278 Later Balder was restored after the Asgardian's death and resurrection battling the Celestials.Thor #301
During this fight with Thor, in revenge for his defiance and invasion of her realm, Hela cursed Thor with a dark form of eternal life, making him incapable of dying while also making his bones weak and brittle so that they would break more easily and wouldn't heal from the damage inflicted, Hela reflecting in satisfaction at the image of Thor coming to long for death while she refuses to grant it.Thor #373 Hela then contested against Mephisto who attempted to possess Thor's soul.Mephisto #4 Thor creates special mystical armor as protection,Thor #378 (April 1987) but after battling and defeating the Midgard Serpent, his body is pulverized into jelly.Thor #380 (June 1987) Thor eventually forces Hela to lift the curse by using the Destroyer as his host body to invade Hel, forcing Hela to restore his body to life and health before he could destroy her.Thor #382
From time to time, Odin would enter a magical sleep in order to bolster his powers. It was during one of these sleeps that Hela made a plan for power. She corrupted the Valkyrior, mentally and physically, transforming them into fire-demons. This also included Danielle Moonstar, of the New Mutants, who was on Earth at the time, who Hela set against the New Mutants.The New Mutants #77-78 Moonstar and her team were eventually brought over to Asgard. Hela sent the Valkyries against the dwarves and New Mutants in Asgard.The New Mutants #79 The New Mutants skirmished with Hela's forces again and again, even rescuing the prisoner Hrimhari, an Asgardian wolf prince. Hela forced the dwarf Eitri to forge a sword of Asgardian metal "uru". One of Hela's spells split the group. This resulted in a more efficient recruitment of resistance force, which included the Warriors Three. Hela sent Mirage to kill the sleeping Odin. While most of the Asgardian forces battled Hela's soldiers, the mutants ventured to Odin's very bedchambers, saved Odin's life and foiled Hela's plans. Hela was defeated when the uru sword was destroyed.The New Mutants #80, 82-85
Hela on Earth Hela was awakened from her mortal guise after Ragnarök by Thor, albeit due to Loki's machinations.Thor vol. 3 #5 She now lives in Las Vegas, maintaining a lair where she can feed on the souls of random unlucky people, and agrees to use her powers to aid Loki in bringing him back in time to Asgard to complete his own sinister plans for Asgard.Thor vol. 3 #12
Hela meets with Mephisto, Blackheart, Satannish, and Dormammu about a disturbance created by the newly resurrected Magik, who is looking for the soulsword and the original Bloodstone amulet. Belasco's daughter Witchfire appears during the meeting and reveals she is now the current owner of the original amulet and vows to take her father's place as ruler of Limbo and seat at their table.X-Infernus #1
When Norman Osborn attempts to subdue the X-Men, Cyclops sends Danielle Moonstar to Las Vegas where she approaches Hela for a boon. Hela warns her that the price of the boon is a heavy one, but Moonstar accepts, requesting "a new ride home and a big ol' sword."Dark Avengers #8 Later, Hela is summoned to Utopia by Hrimhari to save his lover Wolfsbane, who is pregnant and likely to die in childbirth. Faced with a moral dilemma, to save his child or Wolfsbane; Hrimhari asks Hela to restore Elixir to full health so Elixir may heal them both and to take him instead. Hela agrees and takes Hrimhari away.X-Force vol. 3 #23
Siege of Asgard During the Siege of Asgard, Loki appears before Hela asking if she has made arrangements for the dead. Hela points out she is without a Hel so she cannot take them in and plans to let the dead wander Midgard forever. Loki provides her with proof of the Disir, banished, cannibalistic Valkyries who once belonged to Bor whom he cursed for dining on the flesh of other Asgardians to only be able to feed on the souls of gods. Using his extraordinary swordsmanship skills Loki was able to make a group of 13 submit to him. Meeting with Mephisto, Loki strikes up a deal granting a portion of his netherworld to Hela for one thousand and one years, as her new Hel. In exchange for this, Hela erases Loki from the Books of Hel, thus he is no longer tied to Hel or Asgard, gaining absolute freedom. Unknown to Hela, Loki had manipulated these events in his favor as he had the Disir in his services and had leased them out to Mephisto for one hundred and one days after demonstrating their skill to the demon lord.Siege: Loki #1 Hela summons Danielle Moonstar to repay her debt and to gather the spirits of the Asgardians who died in battle with Norman Osborn's forces as quickly as possible so they do not fall prey to the Disir.New Mutants vol. 3 #11
The Disir, still hungry, attack Hela's new Hel as it was not the true Hel they were banished from. Sensing the Disir's assault on the dead Asgardians, Hela attempts to protect them using the sword Eir-Gram, but she is disarmed and her arm sliced off brutally. Hela is quickly overwhelmed and her own remaining power insufficient to counter theirs. Absorbing the dead into her body, Hela creates a fortress around herself to protect them and asks Thor for help through the recently deceased body of an Asgardian.Thor #611 With the help of Thor and Tyr, they manage to kill and banish the remaining Disir, whose souls are claimed by the triumphant Mephisto.Thor #612-614
Avengers Prime In the aftermath of the Siege of Asgard, Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor are mysteriously drawn into one of the other Nine Realms, eventually revealed to be the Hel-realm of Hela.Avengers Prime #1 Thor, after a fierce struggle with the Enchantress, engages in open combat with the Nightsword-armed Hela, and though managing to hold his own against her and her forces for some time, ultimately falls to her immense and evidently vastly enhanced power.Avengers Prime #2-3 Amora, after teleporting herself and Hela away to save Thor's life, herself challenges Hela using all her strength, but Hela defeats her twice in quick succession, attempts and fails to destroy Mjolnir, despite summoning Bor himself to her aid, and apparently kills the Enchantress after revealing that she now wields the Twilight Sword of Surtur.Avengers Prime #4
After Thor reunites with Iron Man and Captain America, he manages to persuade many of his former Asgardian enemies into rallying behind him into an army against Hela and her own forces. Hela attacks Thor and his allies, defeating and nearly killing him with the power of the Twilight Sword, but the Enchantress intervenes and saves him, teleporting him away to re-claim Mjolnir and using her own powers to help Thor fight Hela. Thor ultimately manages to claim the Twilight Sword and uses it to restore the Nine Worlds back to their former harmony and order while banishing Hela, but refuses to set Asgard back into the sky, as Amora asks, claiming that using such unholy power for his own ends would make him the same as Hela herself. A grateful and healed Amora then returns Thor and his friends back to Midgard after Thor promises her that her allegiance will not be forgotten.Avengers Prime #5
Chaos War During the Chaos War storyline, Hela breaks into Pluto's throne room in the Underworld to warn him of Amatsu-Mikaboshi's army decimating the death realms, joining forces with him in a desperate and a seemingly futile attempt to repel the massive assault on their domains.Chaos War #2 Hela, along with Pluto, Satannish, and many other rulers of Earth's various netherworlds, are shown to be slaves of the Chaos King after he obliterates the realms of Hell itself.Chaos War: Ares #1
"Fear Itself" During the 2011 "Fear Itself" storyline, Cyclops sends Danielle Moonstar to what is left of Las Vegas to look for Hela while the X-Men fight Kuurth. Hela had taken to living in a Las Vegas casino. When Moonstar does find Hela, she teleports Moonstar to Hel in order to defend it.New Mutants vol. 3 #29 When her teammates try to invoke dark magic to summon a portal to follow Moonstar, they end up in Hell instead of Hel. They encounter Mephisto, who says that he will get them to Hel if Magma goes out with him.New Mutants vol. 3 #30
Queen No More Following the death of her lover, Sera, Angela petitions Hela to free her soul. When Hela refuses, Angela launches a campaign to conquer her realm, assisted by Hela's handmaiden, Leah. Angela eventually succeeds in besting Hela and takes her crown, becoming the new queen. However, she quickly abdicates her position and installs Balder as the ruler of Hel, while a bound Hela is taken prisoner.Angela: Queen of Hel #1-5