Cate Blanchett Open to Return as MCU's Hela, Teaming With Thanos

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Cate Blanchett Open to Returning as MCU's Hela, Teaming Up With Thanos

By Ana Dumaraog

Published Sep 8, 2018

Cate Blanchett says she's open to reprising her MCU villain role of Hela, and adds she might be willing to team up with Josh Brolin's Thanos.

Cate Blanchett is open to returning to the MCU as Hela, and possibly even teaming up with Josh Brolin's Thanos. With the fate of the universe in the hands of the remaining heroes following Thanos' deadly snap in Avengers: Infinity War, many are looking forward to what happens next in Avengers 4. And although most are banking on the core Avengers to save the galaxy from the predicament it's currently in, it might be a bit difficult to do that if the Mad Titan gets another powerful ally in Hela.

The first female main villain in the MCU, the Goddess of Death was the big bad of Thor: Ragnarok. Revealed to be Odin's secret first-born child, Hela attempted to take over Asgard following the former king's death. Her plans were foiled, luckily, by the God of Thunder teaming up with Loki. In the end, she was defeated, but It's not clear what happened to her after Surtur destroyed Asgard. With no definitive fate, it's certainly possible that a being as formidable as Hela somehow made it out of the destruction alive.

During a recent interview with FANDOM for her newest film, The House with a Clock in Its Walls, Blanchett was asked about the possibility of reprising her MCU villain role. Before she could even respond, her co-star Jack Black pointed out that people "never actually saw her die. You just saw her go down in a giant ball of flame," although the actress countered him saying that she "looks pretty dead. That looks pretty dead." Despite that, she added that “there’s always a way back, but I’m sure there’s always a way forward, who knows? Sure. I never say no to anything.” When asked for her thoughts on Hela potentially teaming up with Thanos to take on the Avengers if ever she made her MCU return, she said "that would be good," but it would "not [be] nice" for the MCU heroes.

Hela Marching Down The Bifrost - Thor Ragnarok

While many fans would love to see Blanchett back in the role, one wonders how she would fit in the current MCU narrative, especially since Thanos' reasons for wanting to wipe out half of life in the universe were significantly changed. In the comics, the literal personification of Death played a major role in the Mad Titan's quest to collect all six Infinity Stones, serving as his main motivation. While not the same character, Hela - being the goddess of death - could have easily taken over that part in the plot. But since MCU Thanos' reasons were far more complex than just wanting to court Death, inserting Hela into the picture becomes a lot harder.

That said, that doesn't mean that she can't make a cameo of some kind. Last year, Mark Ruffalo (who has accidentally revealed MCU spoilers in the past) shared that he worked with Blanchett (as well as Tilda Swinton, who played the Ancient One in Doctor Strange). While both Hela and Bruce Banner appeared in Ragnarok, they didn't share the screen, giving fans the impression that Blanchett may be up for a surprise appearance somewhere in the franchise's future films.