One of the biggest criticisms aimed at the Marvel Cinematic Universe is the lack of memorable villains. However, judging by the trailers for Thor: Ragnarok, Cate Blanchett’s Hela may well find herself joining that select club, and the actress has revealed that she’s hoping it will kickstart the introduction of more female villains into the MCU.
“I didn’t realize until [Marvel’s] Victoria Alonso told me that I was inhabiting the first female Marvel villain onscreen,” Blanchett told E! News. “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.”
Blanchett is a little wide of the mark with her comments, as we have seen several female villains – Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), Nebula (Karen Gillan) and Ayehsa (Elizabeth Debicki) – although Hela will be the first time we’ve seen a female character as the main antagonist.
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Hela is rumoured to be returning for Avengers: Infinity War, while Ayesha is confirmed as returning for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Hannah John-Kamen is starring as Ghost in Ant-Man and the Wasp, so it does seem that Marvel is looking to diversify its roster of baddies. Let us know in the comments below which female villains you’d like to see debuting in the MCU over the next few years…
In Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Ragnarok,” Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok—the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization—at the hands of an all-powerful threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger—the Incredible Hulk.
Thor: Ragnarok is being directed by Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows) and features Marvel veterans Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Idris Elba as Heimdall and Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk alongside Cate Blanchett as Hela, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster, Karl Urban as Skurge, Taika Waititi as Korg, Clancy Brown as Surtur and Sam Neill and Rachel House in as-yet-unrevealed roles. It is set for release on October 27th in the UK and November 3rd in the States.
Originally published August 1, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
