Hela Was Thor: The Dark World's Original Villain

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Hela Was Originally Going To Be Thor: The Dark World's Big Villain

By Nicole Sobon

Published Nov 2, 2017

If things had gone to plan, Hela would have made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in Thor: The Dark World instead of Ragnarok.

The third Thor film is set to hit theaters stateside this weekend, and has been hailed the best entry in the franchise, with many critics specifically praising Cate Blanchett's performance as Hela. However, if things had originally gone to plan, it's possible Ragnarok would have been a much different film, as Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige recently revealed that the character was originally set to make her cinematic debut in the sequel to Thor.

In a recent interview with Slash Film, Feige revealed that Christopher Eccleston's Malekith wasn't always meant to be the villain in the Thor sequel. In fact, long before Marvel began developing Thor: Ragnarok, the plan was to introduce Hela as the main baddie in Thor: The Dark World. That obviously changed, with Hela being saved for what is being hailed as the best Thor installment yet, something Feige is more than thankful for.

"Blue sky ideas always started on this film with Hela," Feige said. "We wanted to make Hela the villain. Hela was almost the villain in Thor 2. It didn’t happen for various reasons. And thank God it didn’t because now we have Cate Blanchettand Taika doing it."

Unlike the Iron Man and Captain America films, which -- outside of Iron Man 2 -- have arguably seen the quality in their sequels continue to rise, the Thor franchise took a tumble with The Dark World. There were plenty of problems with the film long before it entered production, with director Patty Jenkins leaving the project over creative differences, only to have Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor step in and later hail the experience as terrible. Thankfully, the Thor franchise seems to have regained its footing under the direction of Taika Waititi, and is currently sporting the highest rating ever for a superhero film on Rotten Tomatoes.

Opening Friday nationwide, director Taika Waititi’s Thor: Ragnarok stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Cate Blanchett as Hela, Idris Elba as Heimdall, Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Karl Urban as Skurge, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk and Anthony Hopkins as Odin.