Thor: Ragnarok, the third Thor movie, is set to hit theaters in the United States on November 3^rd. The story picks off two years after Avengers: Age of Ultron and reveals what the almighty Thunder God and giant green Hulk have been doing since.

Not only will be we learn about our beloved Avengers, but we will also be introduced to a whole new set of characters, and one monstrous villain. Played by Cate Blanchett, the villain known as Hela is hungry for revenge and has her dark heart set on Asgard. She wants to reclaim the land as her own and take control over what she believes is rightfully hers.

Hela is no doubt, “hela bad” and will give Thor a run for his money. According to Blanchet, “She’s been locked away for millennia getting more and more cross, and then, with a mistake, she gets unleashed and she ain’t getting back in that box.”

Who exactly is Hela and where did she come from? Read on and you’ll find out all you need to know before watching her dominate the screens in Thor: Ragnarok.

So, get ready for a deadly lesson in evil and sweet revenge. Here are the 15 Things You Didn’t Know About Hela.

She is Thor and Loki's Sister

There’s no doubt that the Thor movies are littered with family problems (mostly due to Odin’s poor parenting skills), but Thor: Ragnarok adds another crazy, revenge-seeking family member to the mix.

In the comics, Hela is allegedly the daughter of the Asgardian God of Mischief, Loki, and the sorceress Angrboda. However, we can expect to see a mix-up in the upcoming new movie.

During an interview on The Project with Chris Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo, the TV host refers to Hela as Thor’s sister multiple times and Hemsworth slams his hands on the table saying, “You can’t say it’s his sister. You can’t give that away”. Ruffalo then follows by saying “ixnay on the istersay” which means “don’t talk about the sister” in Pig Latin.

So, thanks to the major spoiler by The Project host, we can expect that Hela will appear in Thor: Ragnarok as Thor and Loki’s sister.

Hela is expected to make her return to Ragnarok seeking what is rightfully hers, and she does it with another one of her family members by her side. Fernis Wolf, who will also make an appearance in Thor: Ragnarok is actually Loki’s son and Hela’s brother in the comics.

She Can Manifest Weapons From Her Body

Earlier this year, Cate Blanchett told Entertainment Weekly what it was like to portray an evil villainess. However, in her interview, she revealed a strange power that the cinematic Hela will possess in Thor: Ragnarok.

On the topic of Hela’s headdress, Blanchett said, “She’s able to manifest weapons. Her headdress can be weapons. She can manifest weapons out of different parts of her body. I won’t tell you which – I’ll leave that hanging”.

Although Hela is an extremely powerful goddess with many different powers, transforming body parts into weapons is not one of them.

This power is similar to one held by another Marvel character, Gorr the God Butcher. In fact, the weapon Hela carries in the movie also resembles Gorr’s All-Black the Necrosword, and her “What are you the god of again?” line that has been permeating through the trailers is actually Gorr’s line in the comics.

At a press visit to the set of Thor: Ragnarok, the executive producer, Brad Winderbaum said, “A lot of the design of Hela is a combination of the early Jack Kirby stuff but also… especially his power set, the villain Gorr.”

Her Strength and Limitless Stamina Forced Blanchett t0 Learn Capoeira

As an Asgardian, Hela has superhuman strength and can lift over 100 tons. Her body also produces less fatigue toxins than humans and other Asgardians, which means that she has almost limitless stamina. Not only does she never tire, but she is also extremely fast, making her a great match for Thor.

To prepare for the intense role, Blanchett trained with legendary stuntwoman Zoë Bell. Bell, who is best known for her work in Grindhouse, Kill Bill, and Inglourious Basterds, helped Blanchett learn capoiera, a Brazilian martial art that combines elements of fighting, dancing, music, and acrobatics.

Blanchett told Entertainment Weekly, “I did as much as was humanly possible for a middle-aged mother of four. I learned so much. All sorts of capoeira stuff. All the stunts and the fights were really interestingly choreographed. But I did train, ostensibly, so I wouldn’t injure myself.”

She is the Ruler of Hel

On the day of Hela’s maturity, Odin decreed that Hela would become the Goddess of Death and Ruler of the Dead. She rules two of the nine Worlds, Niflheim – the dark underworld where dishonored souls go after death – and Hel – where those that are not honorable but not entirely dishonorable are sent.

When a hero dies in battle, he or she is sent to Valhalla by Odin’s Valkyries. However, when a dishonorable soul dies, it remains in the body until Hela condemns it with her touch of death. This touch draws out the soul and sends it to its respective underworld.

Although Hela generally waits for the body to die from fatal wounds or by outside causes, she can also kill perfectly healthy Asgardians with her touch and claim their soul. She however must contact the person’s bare skin to make them die. Hela can also strike her enemies with mystic bolts to cause them to age and ultimately die.

Her Look in The Movie Was Inspired by Cosplayers

Blanchet did a lot of research before putting on Hela’s headdress. Not only did she read the comics, but she also went straight to the fans.

During an interview with Yahoo, the actress said, “When I was starting to think about how she might look, I went back to the fanbase. All these girls were doing Hela makeup looks on YouTube. I thought about what their takes on her were.

I spoke to Marvel about what she would look like when she would be unmasked, so she wasn’t a faceless, generic baddie. They were open to everything.”

Blanchett wanted to give the Marvel universe a shake up with her portrayal of Hela and she definitely shocked the God of Thunder and his fans. Through her research, she became exactly what everyone imagined her to look like.

She Is Based on the Norse Goddess, Hel

Much like many of the characters in Thor’s realm, Hela is based off Norse mythology. She is a direct reference to the Norse goddess of the dead, Hel.

Hel means “hidden” and refers to the concealed place or underworld that the goddess rules. As far as historians can tell, she was first introduced in Norse mythology in the 13^th century through various poems called Poetic Edda.

In the poem, Hel’s underworld is referred to as the “Halls of Hel” and listed as one of the three roots growing from the world Yggdrasil tree, which is also mentioned multiple times in the Marvel movies.

There are many different depictions of Hel, but she is generally defined as a greedy, un-restoring, female deity that holds the souls of the dead, much like how she is represented in the Marvel comics and upcoming movie.

She Can Reverse Death's Effects

As the Goddess of Death, Hela can not only take a soul from its body, but can also reverse Death’s effects and send a soul back to its bodily existence.

She rarely exercises this power, but the Goddess of Death can ultimately bring the dead back to their worldly form and create an army of undead soldiers to conduct her bidding.

In the comics and in traditional Norse mythology, these soldiers are known as Draugrs – which literally translates into “again-walker."

Based on one of the trailers for Thor: Ragnarok, it seems as though Hela will summon her fallen souls and resurrect an army to attack Asgard and wreak havoc on the world. The soldiers from the trailer have glowing eyes and skeletal features which suggest Thor and his Revengers are in for a battle of their life.

Her Hand of Glory Can Shoot Energy

Hela has the ability to manipulate magic and can therefore use it for many different purposes from levitation to limitless astral projection. However, her most unique and powerful magical skill is referred to as the “Hand of Glory.”

This mystical move can channel energy through her hand which can then be used to enhance her strength and deliver a powerful blow to her enemies. Hela’s Hand of Glory can render the most powerful Asgardians weak and would even give Iron Fist a run for his money.

From the released Thor: Ragnarok trailers we can see Hela destroying the Mjolnir, or Thor’s almighty hammer. Many fans believe that the reason Hela can harness enough power to crush the hammer is through the energy gathered from her Hand of Glory.

Her Skin, Muscles, and Bones Are Three Times As Dense as Humans

Much of Hela’s superhuman strength and weight can be attributed to her physical makeup. Her skin, muscles, and bone tissues area three times as dense as a human’s, giving her many different abilities.

Because of her high skin density, Hela is immune to many diseases and infections that typically affect the human body and ages a lot slower than the typical human.

Her dense skin and bones also allow her body to heal quickly, which increases her stamina and allows her to have the ability to conduct limitless attacks on her enemies.

Hela can also withstand many extreme temperatures, high impacts, and tons of pressure. This makes her a formidable enemy for Thor and we could see a great match of strength in the upcoming film.

She Can Time Travel and Create Illusions

Some of Hela’s abilities can be attributed to her genealogy. As the daughter of the God of Mischief, Loki, she has many magical powers such as the ability to create convincing illusions and apparitions.

In the episode entitled “The Fall of Asgard” in The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, Hela used her powers to create illusions of Captain America’s fallen war comrades and convince him to stay Hel.

Hela’s magical toolbox also contains the ability to time travel. According to Hela, there's no time or place where Death does not hold sway. In Dark Reign, she joined her powers with those of Loki’s to allow him to travel back in time and support his vengeance against Thor.

Since Loki is no longer her father in the cinematic universe, it will be interesting to see how her abilities manifest during the movies as opposed to the comics.

Without Her Cloak, She Has No Power

Hela may have many mystical powers, but without her cloak she is completely weak.

The form we typically see Hela projecting, isn’t her true form. In fact, the right side of her body is fully alive, but her left side is dead and decayed. Legend says that she was born like this and without her cloak, she reverts back to this form.

In this form, her life force isn’t strong enough to maintain her normal physical strength and she is actually unable to stand, let alone levitate or project magic bolts. It is theorized that without the cloak, Hela would not even be able to leave the realm of the dead.

However, as soon as she touches her cloak, she regains some of her power and can return to the almighty goddess that she is.

She Once Lived in Las Vegas

In the comics, Ragnarok did actually come and Hela died during its events, along with the rest of the Asgardians.

Thor was awakened and reborn but was tricked by Loki into reviving Hela as well. She then went to Midgard, or Earth as we know it, to set up her headquarters. So, what other place to set up the base of the Goddess of Death than Sin City.

Hela lived in Las Vegas and set up a lair so that she could feed on the souls of the weak and unlucky chums in the city of lights. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?

While in Vegas, she also agrees to help Loki bring himself back in time to Asgard so that he can conduct a devious plan against Thor.

She Will Have Allies in the Movie

Hela is coming to Asgard for revenge in Thor: Ragnarok and she won’t be alone. Based on scenes released in the trailers, Hela will have Skurge and Fenris Wolf by her side.

Skurge, also known as the Executioner, was one of Thor’s most powerful and formidable enemies. However, Karl Urban reveals that the movie version of Skurge will actually follow Hela out of fear rather than loyalty or vengeance.

Urban said, “When we find Skruge, he’s operating the Bifrost because Heimdall is missing in action, and then pretty soon after that Hela shows up. Skurge sees the writing on the wall and has the decision whether to die or join her, so his instincts of self-preservation take over.”

In the comics, Skurge ultimately sacrifices himself to save Thor from Hela’s army of dead. So, could we see him do the same in Thor: Ragnarok?

Fenris Wolf, Hela’s other ally, is a massive wolf and actually her brother and son of Loki in the comics. We see him fighting the Hulk in the trailers, but what role will he play in Thor’s family line now that Hela is Thor’s sister?

She Is Rumored to Survive Thor: Ragnarok

Although Hela’s defeat by Thor in Thor: Ragnarok is almost inevitable, many fans believe that this won’t be the last time we see the Goddess of Death.

Thanos is expected to collect all the Infinity Stones in order to wipe out the universe and impress Lady Death. However, rumors have sparked suggesting that Hela will actually replace the role of Death herself.

During a visit on the set of Ragnarok, producer Brad Winderbaum talked about the rumors of Hea’s role in next year’s Avenger’s movie. He said, “Obviously we always think about the movies as standalones, even if they do set up a movie down the road or pay off something from a previous film."

"What we hope, if we do our jobs right, is that Hela is one of the best villains we’ve had – maybe the best, hopefully… very murderous and horrible at the same time. You’re right that those are the things that Thanos values. Bue when and how she plays in the future of the universe is uncertain now," he said.

The roundabout and longwinded political answer has caused fans to speculate that Hela could return in the future and particularly in Infinity War as Thanos’ love interest.

She Is Marvel's First Main On-Screen Female Villain

During an interview with E! News at Comic Con, Cate Blanchett said, “I didn’t realize until Marvel told me that I was inhabiting the first female Marvel villain onscreen.

I thought, "Surely not." Well no actually that’s true! There’s been many, many, many in the comic books, but they’ve been a little tardy in bringing them to the screen, so hopefully there will be a lot more villainesses”.

Although the comics have many female villains, the MCU has been slow to incorporate them into the films. In 2013, it was later revealed by Shane Black that Iron Man 3 was written to have a female villain, but she didn’t appear onscreen because Marvel thought it would hurt toy sales.

The only villain that has appeared on the big screen has been Nebula, who is more of an adversary than a true villainess  – especially since she switches sides in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.

Hopefully with Hela’s breakout role, we can start to see more powerful females dominate the screens.

---

Do you know any other exciting facts about Thor: Ragnarok's Hela? Let us know in the comments!