Thor: Ragnarok Trailer - 9 Big Questions We're Left With

8. How Much Of Hela's Past Will We See?

Thor Ragnarok Hela
Marvel Studios

The Hela that breaks Thor's hammer looks dishevelled and ragged, with tussled hair and a worn-down look. It's a much different appearance then the other version of Hela we're shown in the trailer, one complete with a spiky black headdress who seems to be at the height of her powers.

The difference between the two almost certainly indicates we'll be seeing Hela's past in some sort of prologue sequence or flashback.

But what, specifically, will we be shown? How much of her past will we see? Will the film show only details that are relevant to this plot, or will it skip way into the past, possibly revealing a history with Odin, since the two frequently knock heads in the comics?

We know that she'll be imprisoned at the start of the film thanks to a quote actress Cate Blanchett gave to EW:

"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"

Will the film show us how she ended up in that "box" in the first place? If yes, this is almost unheard of in the MCU - its villains are rarely the strongest part of the movie, usually due to a lack of screen time and no character progression. Detailed villain backstories are uncommon.

But if Hela's backstory is fully fleshed out and we see her journey from majestic Goddess to angry prisoner, she could become one of the franchise's stronger antagonists.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.