Hela Odinsdottir was the Asgardian Goddess of Death and former Executioner of Asgard. Imprisoned in Hel for millennia by her father Odin, Hela was only released from her prison in the wake of his death and went to restore her power over Asgard while simultaneously engaging in a series of encounters with her younger brothers Thor and Loki. Gaining her power from Asgard, Hela planned to rule Asgard and create an Asgardian Empire. When all the people of Asgard refused to bow to her, Hela set about massacring Odin's armies and enslaving their people, while recruiting Skurge to be her own Executioner in the process. Eventually, however, Thor then returned with the newly formed Revengers and then reengaged Hela, which had then resulted with Loki unleashing Surtur, who then destroyed Asgard by finally causing Ragnarök and killed Hela as a result.
Hela was the firstborn child of Odin, king of Asgard. She served as his personal executioner and commander of the Einherjar, Asgard's army. Together, Hela and Odin embarked on a bloody conquest, bringing all of the Nine Realms into Asgard's power. During their campaigns, Odin rode his steed, Sleipnir while Hela mounted a giant wolf named Fenris. In battle, she wielded the mighty hammer MjĂžlnir and her own Necroswords.[1]
Banished to Hel[]
"We were unstoppable. I was his weapon in the conquest that built Asgard's empire. One by one, the realms became ours. But then, simply because my ambition outgrew his, he banished me, caged me, locked me away like an animal."
Hela's ambitions exceeded the realms of Yggdrasil, however, and she began plotting a wider and bloodier conquest of other worlds. By this time, Odin had realized that peace was a better way to maintain order than constant war, and had ended his expansionary campaigns. Father and daughter clashed, with Hela eventually attempting to take the throne by force in a violent coup at the Royal Palace of Valaskjalf.
Odin was able to subdue her, banishing her to the desolate wastes of Hel. To ensure she could not escape, Odin bound his lifeforce to Hel, seeing to it that Hela could not escape for as long as he lived. Odin proceeded to wipe all mention of Hela from Asgardian art and record, ensuring that her existence and history would be forgotten by the Asgardians. However, her legend continued to exist on Earth, where she was deified as the Goddess Of Death in Germanic mythology.[1]
"Her power comes from Asgard, same as yours. When it grew beyond Odin's control, she massacred everyone in the palace and tried to seize the throne. When she tried to escape her banishment, he sent the Valkyrie to fight her back."
Eventually Hela had attempted to escape from her imprisonment within Hel, seeking to continue her quest to take the throne of Asgard and enslave all the Nine Realms. Hela's attempt at freedom prompted Odin to send the Valkyrie to stop her and ensure that she was unable to get free. As the Valkyrie charged forward atop of their steeds, Hela saw them coming and prepared to fight back.
Hela produced Necroswords to slice down the Valkyrie as they charged towards her, quickly proving herself to still be vastly more powerful than the entire army of the elite warriors. Hela was successful in overpowering the Valkyrie and, with the exception of their leader Brunnhilde, killing them all; however, she was overpowered when Odin intervened and re-imprisoned her. She again remained sealed in Hel for thousands of years, awaiting the death of her father.[1]
In 2017, in the wake of the death of Odin, his power over Hela's imprisonment within Hel finally waned until there was no longer any force keeping her at bay. She stepped out of a portal-like gateway soon after and arrived in Norway on Midgard, musing that she would have liked to see his death. Confronted by Odin's younger children who were waiting for her, Thor and Loki, Hela mockingly noted that Thor did not look like Odin at all.
When Loki had attempted to make a truce with her, Hela sarcastically stated he sounded more like Odin than Thor did. Forgoing all civility, Hela authoritatively ordered both her younger brothers to kneel down before her, as the new queen of the Nine Realms. Thor defiantly refused and instead chose to end their conflict quickly, launching MjĂžlnir toward her, but as she had been the hammer's first wielder, Hela easily caught it in mid-air.
Astonished, Thor declared such a thing impossible, but Hela cruelly sneered that he had no idea of the possibilities that await. MjĂžlnir began to vibrate strongly in Hela's hand until it shattered and fell to the ground in pieces. In a state of surprise and panic, Loki ordered Volstagg to take him and Thor back to Asgard where he believed they would be safe from Hela's homicidal rage, which Thor desperately attempted to stop from happening, but was too late.
However, as the Bifrost Bridge was opened, Hela had swiftly followed them, leaping through the light of the Bifrost after the two, where she knocked Loki out of the Bifrost Bridge to another location after catching and throwing back his knife when he had tried to defend himself. She then got her attention to Thor, subduing him and knocking him out of the Bifrost as well. Assuming the two princes of Asgard had died, Hela continued towards Himinbjorg immediately after.[1]
"Good soldiers dying for nothing, all because they couldn't see the future. Sad. Look, still alive. Change of heart?" "Go back to whatever cave you crept out of. You evil demoness!"
Emerging into Himinbjorg, Hela had immediately begun regaining her powers as she then encountered Himinbjorg's two guardians, Volstagg and Fandral, who demanded to know who Hela was. Ignoring their demands, Hela simply responded by promptly executing the Warriors Three soldiers in cold blood without a second thought.
Observing the murders from a distance was Skurge, who knelt down as Hela approached him and claimed that he was merely the janitor as he tried to protect his own life knowing he was no match for Hela. Declaring him to be a smart boy who also likely had good survival instincts, the goddess offered him a job before crossing the Rainbow Bridge that led to Asgard, smiling as she considered the power that would soon be coming her way, with Skurge following her.
Upon reaching the city's entrance, Hela found Hogun and the entire armies of the Einherjar waiting for her. Hela then calmly revealed her identity before announcing that Odin was now dead, along with both Thor and Loki, making her the sole heir to the throne. Hela then gave the soldiers the chance to become her allies only for Hogun to state they would never recognize her as their leader as he then led the entire army of the Einherjar in charging towards her.
The disappointed goddess simply commented on how she thought the Asgardians would have been happy to see her before she then proceeded to summon her Necroswords and engaged the army in combat, using her powers to slaughter them as well as destroy several Asgardian Skiffs. Having smashed Hogun through a wall, Hela managed to overpower every soldier attacking her until the ground was littered with corpses.
When the last of the army was taken down and slaughter, Hela took great pleasure as she slowly made her way through the courtyard, relishing in her reawakened bloodlust as a horrified Skurge followed her in silence. Hogun made a final attempt to stop her, demanding that she return to Hel and attempting to avenge his friends, only for Hela to cut him down easily with a spear through his chest before deciding to finally return into Royal Palace of Valaskjalf at long last.[1]
"Does no one remember me? Has no one been taught our history? Look at these lies. Goblets and garden parties? Peace treaties? Odin. Proud to have it, ashamed of how he got it."
With its armies wiped out, Asgard remained defenseless allowing Hela to finally retake the throne for herself. Upon arriving back inside of the Royal Palace of Valaskjalf, Hela saw the ceiling was decorated with a mural of Odin ruling the Nine Realms in peace. Disgusted, Hela then destroyed the mural of her father above it, revealing the original behind it which showed herself and Odin using violence to conquer the Nine Realms.
Noting that the armies of Einherjar were once buried underneath the palace, Hela and Skurge then broke into Odin's Vault to look upon the treasures he had hidden away inside there. Upon arriving inside, however, Hela declared the Infinity Gauntlet displayed there as being a fake, before calling the Casket of Ancient Winters a weak object and viewed the Crown of Black Fire as smaller than she thought it would be while making her way down the Vault's long corridor.
Although Hela became briefly interested in the Tesseract, she still focused her attention on the Eternal Flame which she declared was the greatest of them all. Placing her hand inside the fire, Hela took the flame into her hand before turning to Skurge and offering him the chance to see what true power looked like. Hela then summoned a pointed hammer and used it to smash through the floor of the Vault, revealing the secret tomb which was hidden underneath.
Leaping all the way down inside of their secret tomb, Hela explored the legions of dead Asgardian soldiers buried there and discovered the corpse of Fenris, much to Hela's horror and sadness. Hela then proceeded to use the power of the Eternal Flame to resurrect Fenris and the fallen soldiers, turning them into her Berserkers. As all of the soldiers and wolf came before her, Hela welcomed them into her new army while claiming that she had missed all of them.[1]
"Every great king had an executioner. Not just to execute people, but also to execute their vision. But mainly to execute people. Still, it was a great honor. I was Odin's executioner. And you shall be my executioner. Let's begin our conquest."
With her entire army of Berserkers by her side, Hela finally retook the throne of Asgard only to discover that the Asgardians themselves were beginning a revolution against her and were attempting to break into the Royal Palace of Valaskjalf to dethrone her. Wishing to show her true strength to all of these rebels, Hela dubbed Skurge as her Executioner, gifting him with a Bloodaxe which she had created.
Unbeknownst to both Hela and Skurge, however, Heimdall had just recently returned to Asgard and had successfully stolen his former sword, Hofund from Himinbjorg. As Hela and Skurge had arrived at Himinbjorg with the Berserkers, Hela realized that the sword was gone, noting that it controlled the Bifrost Bridge, which prevented Hela from conquering the Nine Realms as she had been planning to do for years, which had greatly enraged Hela.[1]
Discovering the disappearance of Hofund, Hela set about punishing the people of Asgard with her Berserkers until Heimdall had finally surrendered the sword. With the Asgardians gathered before her, Hela ordered Skurge to give them all one final chance before she chose one woman at random from within the crowd of terrified innocents for Skurge to then execute with his Bloodaxe, while Hela and Fenris watched all this terror unfolding before them with delight.
Hela's plan eventually worked as one of the men in the crowd finally stepped forward and confessed to the sword's location in order to save the woman. Hela and her Executioner then located the Hidden Stronghold where Heimdall and the remaining Asgardians opposed to her rule were hiding out. Hela proceeded to use her Necroswords to destroy the doorway to the Stronghold, only to discover that they had fled shortly before her arrival having sensed her coming.[1] She sent her Berserkers after the refugees to stop them from escaping using the Bifrost Bridge.[3]
However, while both Hela and Skurge had just been searching for all the Asgardians who had escaped them, Thor and the Revengers had returned to Asgard in order to evacuate its people and fight Hela. Thor went inside the throne room and awaited Hela's arrival, banging Gungnir on the ground of the Royal Palace of Valaskjalf to summon her. Hela arrived soon after as she expressed her surprise that Thor had survived falling out of the Bifrost Bridge during their last encounter.
Hela and Thor then discussed Odin and his many faults, with Hela noting how Odin covered up every problem, he would cast it out, continuing that he had told them both they were worthy. Hela then claimed that Thor had never known his father had his best, noting that during their Subjugation of the Nine Realms, Hela and Odin had drowned entire civilizations in blood before he chose to rule in peace. Thor accepted Hela's rage but insisted that she could not rule.
As Thor and Hela quoted Odin's message that the wise king should never seek out war, but must always be ready for it, they charged at each other and engaged in a fierce battle for Asgard. With Thor now armed with Gungnir and the power of Odinforce, he furiously battled against his sister, who was able to absorb many of the blows without being badly wounded, before claiming to have expected more and unleashed her own power, launching Thor across the palace.
With her power considerably stronger than Thor's, Hela managed to grab her brother by the throat and pinned him against a gold pillar, claiming that the difference between them was that she was Odin's firstborn and the rightful heir to the throne and the true savior of Asgard, all while Thor was nothing. Hela then threw Thor across the palace and, despite Thor putting up a strong fight, Hela was easily able to overpower him and knock him down to the floor.
Despite Thor still desperately trying to fight back against her, Hela merely drew her Necroswords and sliced him across the stomach, causing him to drop onto his knees. Hela then commented that her victory was so obvious even a blind man could see it before slashing at Thor's face, resulting in the loss of one of Thor's eyes. Seeing this, Hela merely winced before commenting that without one of his eyes Thor finally looked a lot more like their father.
Dragging him onto the balcony, Hela forced Thor to watch on as her undead army of Berserkers as well as Fenris assaulted his allies and the remaining Asgardians, including Heimdall, on the Bifrost. Hela began tormenting Thor, claiming she would soon take Hofund and unleash her army on the Nine Realms despite Thor's efforts; however, she then witnessed the arrival of Loki on the Statesman with several Sakaaran gladiators including Korg and Miek had come to help.
But even with those reinforcements, Hela's army was still slowly overwhelming them as she continued taunting Thor by claiming to be the Goddess of Death and asking what he had been the god of. Thor, however, experienced a vision of Odin offering up his wisdom. Thor then unleashed a massive lighting blast, destroying a balcony of the Royal Palace of Valaskjalf and temporarily stunning Hela. He then leaped down to the Bifrost to fight off Hela's Berserkers and save his people.[1]
"We just need to hold her off until everyone's on board." "It won't end there. The longer Hela's on Asgard, the more powerful she grows. She'll hunt us down. We need to stop her here and now."
Having eventually recovered from Thor's incredibly powerful blast of lightning, Hela arrived onto the Rainbow Bridge, where she had then discovered that her army of Berserkers had been overpowered, due to the arrival of both Loki and the Sakaaran Rebellion. As Hela took her time walking back to the Bridge, she was challenged by Thor and Valkyrie who were discussing how they could possibly hope to defeat Hela, who was clearly more powerful than any of them.
Realizing they were attempting to get the Asgardians to safety, Hela made her move towards them as Thor charged himself up with his lightning. Seeing this, Hela then launched Necroswords at him, which Thor was able to destroy in midair before attacking Hela. While Thor furiously slashed at Hela with his twin swords which were now both charged up with his lightning, these attacks had almost no impact as Hela simply backed away before launching Thor over her shoulder.
However, just as Hela got back to her feet, she was then attacked by Valkyrie who had slashed at Hela with her Dragonfang, attempting to avenge the Massacre of the Valkyrie. Hela was still able to block all Valkyrie's blows, taking no damage as she threw Valkyrie aside, only to immediately be attacked by Thor once again. Hela had continued launching her necroswords at Thor, but he simply destroyed them all in midair, before landing his heavy lightning blow against Hela.
Eventually, Hela struck Thor hard in the shoulder with a necrosword before focusing on fighting Valkyrie. During this, Thor told Heimdall to escape with the remaining Asgardians, only for Hela to see this and throw him aside. Unwilling to allow all the Asgardians to escape with their lives, Hela launched several massive necroswords out from the water which pierced the underside of the Statesman, causing it to be unable to leave as even more Berserkers then began attacking.
Just as the Berserkers had reached the Statesman and cut down the guards, Hela was betrayed by the Executioner who refused to allow all his people to be slaughtered. Using Des and Troy, the Executioner began gunning down the Berserkers, destroying the necrosword and allowing the Statesman to escape from Asgard. Upon witnessing this betrayal, Hela launched a single necrosword that pierced through the Executioner's Asgardian Armor, as he fell onto the ground dead.[1]
With all the Asgardians now escaping on board the Statesman due to the actions of the Executioner, Hela was then called out by Thor who demanded that they end their fight once and for all. Turning away from Valkyrie to face her brother, Hela was told that if she wanted, she could have Asgard, although Hela refused to believe that Thor was not playing his games with her, which she claimed would never work and noted that Thor stood no chance of being able to defeat her.
To Hela's surprise, Thor acknowledged that he would not be able to defeat her, pointing back to their Royal Palace of Valaskjalf and claimed that he knew who could. Hela then watched in horror as Surtur emerged from the Palace, having been given his Crown by Loki and regained full strength. Before Hela could react, Valkyrie then stabbed her from behind with Dragonfang and Thor then unleashed his lightning strike that sent her through the Bifrost Bridge and into the water below.
As Surtur fulfilled his destiny to cause Ragnarök, destroying Asgard by burning it to the ground and proclaiming himself to be Asgard's doom, Hela refused to allow the source of all of her power to be lost, launching out the water on her massive Necroswords. Determined to destroy Surtur before Ragnarök could come true, Hela had launched every necrosword she had at Surtur but caused almost no damage as he had still continued to burn down everything below him.
Unable to stop Surtur's rampage, Hela was then defenseless as she witnessed Surtur lift up his Twilight Sword high above his head and prepared to fulfill his destiny once and for all. Hela then looked on in horror as Surtur plunged the massive blade down, impaling Hela and completely obliterating her body. Surtur's blade continued down into the core of Asgard, causing the realm to be destroyed in the massive explosion, incinerating any possible remains of Hela into oblivion.[1]
Legacy[]
"She returned home, and stabbed me in the eye, so... I had to kill her. It's life, isn't it, I guess."
Hela's actions on Asgard brought dire consequences to the surviving Asgardians. Following her massacre of the Einherjar, the Asgardians began to lack the military they needed to defend themselves during the Attack on the Statesman, which resulted in the deaths of half of the surviving refugees, Heimdall and Loki included, at the hands of Thanos and the Black Order.[4]
Hela has a raging, impatient, volatile, and supremely ambitious personality, which makes her prone to killing or maiming anyone who stood in her way. However, much of this is masked by a casual confidence and appearance of friendliness, such as when she returned to Asgard, she casually murdered Volstagg and Fandral, but then offered Skurge a job as if nothing had happened. During Asgard's violent conquest of the Nine Realms, she was an effective and brutal wartime leader due to these traits, and therefore essential to Odin's conquest being a success. However, when Odin transitioned into a peace-time King, he realized that Hela could not, for her ambitions had grown out of his control, and her formidable powers made her a threat to his new society. Indeed, Hela rebelled against Odin and hence, he banished her from Asgard, and later imprisoned her personally when she revolted against him.
After her freedom, she immediately conquered Asgard with little effort, and Heimdall himself described her as being so power-hungry that, if she could access the Bifrost Bridge, she would conquer all of the Nine Realms and even the entire Cosmos. Though Thor acknowledged Odin's paternal deficiencies, during a heart-to-heart confrontation between him and his sister, he still confessed he believed that their father's decision to imprison her instead of letting her rule was an accurate one - Hela made it clear that she would exterminate her entire nation if they stood in the way of her resuming her conquests. She even went as far as to state that she was neither a Queen nor a monster, but the Goddess of Death, which in turn revealed that she was quite content to rule over a dead nation of dead soldiers completely loyal to her.
Hela was also extremely resentful of her imprisonment at the hands of her own father, Odin, whom she was initially loyal enough to willingly execute his will, and even help him conquer the Nine Realms, although she would eventually rebel after Odin grew to become a benevolent king. She gleefully mocked at his death, and openly expressed her wish to have been able to see it herself. However, it was evident that she still felt a high level of betrayal from Odin due to her imprisonment, for she was quickly angered by the concealing murals that displayed only Odin, Thor, and Loki, as well as his peaceful conquering of the Nine Realms. In fact, she was so provoked by them that she immediately threw her swords at those false images, shattering them to reveal the truth of Odin's violent deeds.
Apart from her ambitiousness, Hela's most prominent feature would be her overwhelming confidence; during her first encounter with her brothers, before crossing swords with them, she already made it clear that she viewed them as inferiors who were no match for her, and she later also demonstrated no fear at all when confronting Asgard's army. Though she subsequently proved her point by crushing MjĂžlnir with only one hand and slaughtered the entire Asgardian army with ease, Hela's hubris also turned out to be her downfall - she underestimated Thor's wisdom, which ultimately led to her being destroyed by Surtur.
Hela is not completely without mercy. The only time she shows mercy is when people agree to serve her or do not stand in her way. When she displayed her overwhelming power, she asked Hogun, who survived her initial onslaught if he was willing to change his mind. Even though Skurge displayed cowardice upon their first meeting, Hela decided to mentor him. However, Hela lacks attachment and will kill anyone who betrays her, even Skurge without hesitation. Hela's only true display of affection was to her companion, Fenris, being saddened upon discovering her death and becoming joyful upon the Asgardian wolf's resurrection.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
"She draws her strength from Asgard... and once she gets there, her powers will be limitless."
Asgardian Physiology: As the eldest child of Odin, Hela had tremendous superhuman abilities and supernatural powers, far superior to those of almost every other Asgardian, including Thor at full power. Heimdall believed Hela was sufficiently powerful to conquer the entire cosmos. The only known beings powerful enough to surpass Hela were her father Odin in his prime and the Fire DemonSurtur at full power. As Odin's firstborn, Hela had a supernatural connection to Asgard and drew power from it, enabling her to perform incredible supernatural feats. Hela could manifest various physical structures out of thin air, ranging from weapons, to rock formations, to her own armor.
Hela possesses tremendous levels of superhuman strength, enabling her to single-handedly wipe out all the Valkyrie but one, who barely survived. She was also able to catch MjĂžlnir, one of the most powerful weapons in existence, with one hand after it was thrown at her with full speed, crushing it with no visible effort. Hela also slaughtered the Warriors Three and the combined might of the Einherjar with ease. Furthermore, she proved easily stronger than her brother Thor, besting him in two of their three battles. Even after achieving his full power, Thor was still unable to defeat his sister, however, he managed to win a fight against her by striking her down into the water below.
Hela's body, much like Thor's, was nigh-invulnerable, but to a much greater degree. She was able to catch MjĂžlnir in midair without injury. Hela was also able to grab a handful of the Eternal Flame unburnt, was impaled through the torso with an Einherjar's sword, and stabbed with Gungnir by Thor without any taking any noticeable physical damage. Thor struck her with a massive lightning blast, only for her to emerge completely unharmed. Only the revived and fully powered Surtur's Twilight Sword was able to crush her. Apart from the Fire Demon, Odin was the only being capable of doing any significant harm to Hela, effectively banishing her to Hel.
Superhuman Speed: Hela was fast enough to slay several Einherjar before they could react and was able to keep up with and outpace Thor and Valkyrie in combat.
Superhuman Agility: Hela naturally possesses great agility, being able to dodge and outpace Thor and Valkyrie's attacks through the majority of her battles with them. She was also able to jump through a crater, landing neatly on her feet.
Superhuman Stamina: Hela's endurance allowed her battle for extremely long period of time without tiring at all. She was able to defeat numerous Asgardians, as well as withstand the combined might of Thor and Valkyrie without tiring.
Hela possessed incredible reflexes that enabled her to anticipate, dodge, and counter her opponents' movements, as well as reacting and dodging objects traveling at high speeds. Her reflexes were quick enough to catch MjĂžlnir with one hand and react to Thor's lightning attacks in close range.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Hela was able to swiftly heal from her wounds after being stabbed by the sword of an Einherjar, when Thor impaled her with Gungnir, as well as when Thor electrocuted her after Valkyrie stabbed her with Dragonfang.
Immortality: Due to her connection to Asgard, Hela was immortal as long as Asgard existed, with her death coinciding exactly with its destruction at the time of Ragnarök.
Weapon Summoning:
Hela launching her swords at her enemies
Hela could manifest various weapons from different parts of her body, usually Necroswords, daggers, spears, and axes. These weapons were incredibly durable and sharp, enough to not only instantly kill the likes of the Warriors Three and Skurge, but also able to pierce right through Thor's nigh-invulnerable body, with Hela gouging his right eye out with a Necrosword and pierce his back with a blade from her elbow. Her Necroswords were sharp enough to pierce Skurge's Uru-plated armor. She also manifested the Bloodaxe, which she gave to Skurge. While pursuing Thor and Loki across the Bifrost Bridge, Hela conjured a triangular shield on her forearm to take the impact of Thor's punch, causing it to break apart. Hela later launched oversize blades into a large gate to a secret cave where the fleeing Asgardians were hiding, allowing her to bring it down by pulling the blades down along with the gate. She could also manifest blade-like structures from the ground around her. Hela attempted to prevent Loki's spaceship containing the Asgardians from launching from the doomed realm, and later attempted to gain elevation during her short battle with Surtur.
Armor Creation: After returning to Asgard, Hela was able to repair the damage to her clothing and make her headdress appear and disappear from her head. Her armor enhances her already tremendous durability and allows her to block strikes from weapons as powerful as Gungnir, which glanced off of her armor in a shower of sparks. Hela's cape is also highly durable as she was able to use it to block attacks from several Asgardian Skiffs.
Hela, as the Goddess of Death, was able to resurrect her allies, using a handful of flame from the Eternal Flame and tossing it against the ground to create with both powers combined a huge blast of green infernal energy. As such, she was able to revive her pet wolf Fenris and her Berserkers after discovering their corpses under Odin's Vault. During her imprisonment, she was the ruler of Hel, the realm where the souls of those who died without honor come to rest.
Portal Creation: Hela was able to open a portal from Hel in Niflheim to Norway on Midgard after Odin's seal on her was broken.
Abilities[]
"She's stronger than both of us. She's stronger than you. You don't stand a chance."
Hela was an extremely skilled hand-to-hand combatant, making her one of the most dangerous and best fighters in the universe. She was the original wielder of MjÞlnir and the commander of the Legions of Asgard, as well as Odin's Executioner. Hela's skills were such that she single-handedly slew the entire Einherjar army, as well as the Warriors Three, who were among the greatest warriors in Asgard. Hela's combat skills were superior even to Valkyrie and Thor, who are immensely skilled and powerful Asgardian warriors in their own right. She quickly overpowered Thor in their first confrontation and ultimately beat him in their second without much effort, even gouging out Thor's right eye with her Necrosword. Valkyrie narrowly escaped Hela's massacre of the rest of her kind. Hela was also able to fight both Valkyrie and a full-powered Thor on equal ground, eventually gaining the upper hand. In this final confrontation, it was only Loki's resurrection of Surtur and the ensuing start of Ragnarök that allowed her to be defeated. Odin is the only one known to have defeated Hela in battle, having cast her out of Asgard and imprisoned her in Hel.
Sword Mastery: Although Hela typically fought with her bare hands and telekinetically hurled weapons, she was extremely skilled at using a sword in combat, with her weapon of choice being her Necroswords. Indeed, Hela's skills allowed her to easily slaughter all of Asgard's Einherjar and Valkyrie.
"Our sister destroyed your hammer like a piece of glass."
Hammer Mastery: Hela was extremely skilled at using a hammer in combat. Since she was the original wielder of MjĂžlnir, Hela understood how it functioned, which allowed her to effortlessly catch and destroy the hammer after Thor hurled it to her.
As the Chief of the Legion of Asgard and Odin's Executioner, Hela was an effective and brutal military commander, leading the armies of Asgard in a bloody conquest of the Nine Realms. However, when she got too brutal and power hungry, Odin banished her.
Bilingualism: Hela was fluent in her native Asgardian, as well as English.
Equipment[]
Weapons[]
MjĂžlnir: Hela was the first owner of MjĂžlnir, wielding it during her and Odin's conquest of the Nine Realms. The weapon was lost to her after her banishment to Hel, at which point it became the preferred weapon of Odin's son Thor. One of Hela's first actions upon attaining her freedom at Odin's death was to destroy the mighty hammer when Thor threw it at her.
Necroswords: Hela was able to manifest these bladed weapons from her body. She typically used the swords as throwing weapons, but also employed them in melee combat. These swords were durable enough to instantly kill the Warriors Three, each with a single stab, and even harm Thor.
Bloodaxe: Hela conjured this weapon, but never used it, instead giving it to Skurge to wield in his capacity as her Executioner.
Other Equipment[]
Crown: Hela wore this crown prior to and during her banishment in Hel, as well as when she returned to Asgard up until her death. Hela used the crown as a means for defense and as a weapon to parry attacks and slash opponents. When Thor used Gungnir to slice off a portion of the crown, it regenerated within seconds.
"But this... the Eternal Flame. Want to see what true power really looks like?"
Hela utilized the power of the Eternal Flame to resurrect her Einherjar army as undead Berserkers as well as her loyal and dear pet wolf, Fenris.
Facilities[]
Royal Palace of Valaskjalf: As a princess of Asgard, Hela resided in the royal palace. As her ambition as a warlord grew, Odin attempted to restrain her, which led to Hela slaughtering inhabitants of the palace. After her return to Asgard, Hela seized the palace by slaughtering the Einherjar who were defending it. She took possession of the palace and revealed the old frescoes depicting the Subjugation of the Nine Realms which had been hidden by Odin to be replaced with more peaceful images. As the Queen of Asgard, Hela seated on the Asgardian throne room, where she was later confronted by her brother Thor, who had returned from Sakaar to stop her and unleashed his powers to throw Hela down an edge of the palace.
Hel: She passed millennia confined to this region of Niflheim, which Odin used as a prison for her. Although she tried to escape, and easily massacred almost all the Valkyrie, Odin locked her up again and was only able to escape when he died in 2017.
Odin's Vault: Having conquered Asgard, Hela got access to Odin's secret vault, where she reclaimed the Eternal Flame. She then smashed the floor to find her deceased Berserkers and Fenris and used the powers of the flame to bring them back to life.
Asgardian Catacombs: After going through Odin's Vault and taking some of the Eternal Flame, she then conjured an obsidian pickaxe to break the floor and access to the Catacombs, where she found and revived Fenris, and her deceased Einherjar army as Berserkers, using the power of the Eternal Flame.
In Norse mythology, Hela is the illegitimate daughter of Loki. She was raised in the care of Asgard for a time until she was appointed as ruler of Hel and Niflheim by Odin. In the comics, as implied in Kieron Gillen's Journey into Mystery #645 (2012), she was Leah of Hel, the girl who was created with ancient magic by Kid Loki, and was sent to the ancient past and left there to grow up as Hela.
What If...? | Episode 2.07: What If... Hela Found the Ten Rings?
Thor: Ragnarok
Avengers: Infinity War: The Heroes' Journey (concurrent events)
Avengers: Infinity War (mentioned)
Avengers: Endgame Prelude, Issue 1 (mentioned)
Thor: Love and Thunder (mentioned)
Hela on Marvel Database
Hela on Wikipedia
Hela on Marvel Website
