Hela

Origin

Goddess of Death

Hela is the daughter of Loki and the giantess Angrboda. When Hela came of age, she was appointed Ruler and Goddess of the northernmost kingdom of the dead, allowing her to rule in the realms of Hel and Niffleheim. Although her dominion was only over those who did not die as heroes, as Odin was the ruler of these in Valhalla. Still, Hela often sought to expand her kingdom by conquering Valhalla as well which often brought Hela into direct conflict with both Odin and his son Thor. On one occasion, Hela attempted to persuade Thor into entering Valhalla when he was on the verge of death, although he eventually refused. Hela also entered into an uneasy alliance with the other Death Gods of Earth.

Hela patiently waited for the chance to take over Valhalla and even forced her minions to build the enormous ship, Naflgar, out of the finger nails of the dead in order to attack Asgard, however this ship was destroyed by Skurge the Exocutioner and Hela was forced to begin reconstruction of the ship. When Odin entered the Odinsleep, his attention to Valhalla waned and Hela had the chance she had been waiting for. Once he was aware of her intentions a great battle took place. Hela corrupted the Valkyries causing them to lose their physical form & remain in a wraith like state. Danielle Moonstar was also stuck in this state, she & the New Mutants journeyed to Asgard to battle Hela's army. The battle with various forces brought the Hulk and Agamemnon, the leader of the Pantheon, to Hela's realm. After a long fight against Hela's surreal forces, Agamemnon requests, based on a vaguely hinted upon relationship, to allow them to leave. Hela surprisingly agrees. This incident sheds light on the fact that in Marvel, Hela is supposedly the half sister of Agamemnon. The fighting continued on until the mutants were able to wake Odin. Hela soon gave up her conquest of Valhalla when Odin vowed to keep a better watch over it in the future. After many failed attempts to defeat the Asgardians, Hela finally helped her father bring about the events of Ragnarok when she finally finished building Naflgar and allowed Loki to use it in order to attack Asgard.

Hela was recently resurrected after supposedly being killed in the events of Ragnarok. Hela later tells Loki that she has lost much of her realm and power, however this could be due to the fact that so many Asgardians were resurrected by Thor, making her realm devoid of the Asgardian souls that she had collected over so many years. Although she still appears to be a member of a group of Death Gods when she attended a meeting to discuss the fate of the Limbo realm. Hela now patiently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, and even assisted her father, Loki, in enabling him to complete a task that caused Thor to be banished from Asgard. 

Creation

Character Evolution

Major Story Arcs

Even in Death 

Death's Call 

Odin and Infinity 

 Hela

Hela on Earth

Hela on Earth 

X-Factor

Hela recently appeared in the pages of X-Factor as a client of X-Factor Investigations. She meets with Madrox & Longshot and refers to herself as Miss Halja. Longshot, a mutant with the ability to attract women is smitten and taken aback by her beauty. She wants the team to retrieve an object that's been stolen from her. Her "Thor's Hammer" or ancient Norse pendant has been stolen from her by a man named Goffern. She pays Madrox with gold coins and says she assumes that will cover their services.

Later, Madrox and Banshee track down Goffern to a tavern in New York City. After recovering the pendant he is revealed to be Pip, The Troll. Hela materializes in the alley and takes Pip back to before her disappearance; she brings to a close her business with X-Factor Investigations.

 Hela in Las Vegas

Multiple man feels that he had made a mistake by reclaiming the pendant for his client. He decides to take a group into a campaign to locate the troll. As Hela tortures Pip, she demands an explanation of why he did not honor his part of the agreement. Details of the deal are revealed. She granted to Pip a change in his physical appearance for one year. In return, Pip will serve under her command for an extensive period of time. Pip ran away as he did not think he had enjoyed his look for a fair period of time.

Hela becomes aware of the presence of X-factor when Longshot goes on a winning streak at the Caesar’s Palace Casino. She sends two Norse zombie warriors to intersect them as she realizes their intention of finding the whereabouts of the troll. Two Norse warriors are easily defeated by X-factor.

She sends a new bulky group of reinforcements. They have an evident advantage in numbers over X-factor. As soon as the fight is going to start, Thor comes down to find out further information about this confrontation. He sides with X-factor to free Pip. Thor leads the group into hell as Layla Miller stayed behind.

Hela frees the troll as she thinks he is not worth the effort of keeping him. The rescue team is allowed to leave. They use the same way in but they are surprised by finding that the original entrance is closed permanently. Hela points out that the only way out is going through the center of hell where her army of cursed souls is waiting for them. If anyone dies in the battle their souls will belong to her. Thor leads the battle. Hela is confronted by Madrox. He insists that the whole situation with the talisman was a pure distraction to bring Thor into hell for the battle. She doesn’t accept it. She launches herself to kill Multiple man for good. She is surprised by Darwin who places himself in between them to protect his friend. Darwin’s power of evolution affects her since he is constantly evolving to survive death. He absorbs some of Hela’s powers. He is able to remove the cloak that shows a part of the true self of Hela.

Using the distraction, the group is able to escape the battle. They are brought back to Vegas by Layla Miller one by one. Hela is left to face her own army.

The Fine Print

Hela and Mephisto

The realm eternal lies in ruins (after the devastating events of the siege of Asgard - brought about by Loki). The flooding city was brought down outside Broxton, Oklahoma.  Hela lost her domain in hell when the gods came to earth, with no place to host the war dead. She intended to let their spirits wander free…Until Loki convinced her that the Disir - the fabled , ancient Asgardian Soul- Eaters - Did indeed exist and where hunting and eating fresh souls. To protect the souls, Hela assented to a deal brokered by Loki (giving her a piece of Mephisto`s Hell to serve as Hela`s Hell. Unbeknownst to Hela, Loki had the Disir on a leash. It was the domination over the Disir that Loki traded for the tract of land in Mephisto`s Hell. Mephisto gave the Disir permission to attack the souls Hela had thought protected in her own hel. Thinking she possessed the Bane of the Disir - The magic blade Eir-Gram Hela sped to Hel to defend the fallen Souls, only to find herself overwhelmed and the Eir-Gram stolen.

Using the last of her power and strength, Hela transformed herself into a fortress to defend the souls of the dead from the Disir and she has appealed to her Asgardian Kin to help defend her charges.

Thor and Tyr go to her aid, but the situation is already quite dire. To defeat the Disir, the Asgardians must secure the Eir-Gram, while Tyr stays to defend the Citadel Hela, Thor confronts Mephisto (who attempts to strike a deal with the God of Thunder in exchange for the Eir-Gram.

Powers

Queen of Hel

Hela has all of the typical Asgardian traits including a long life-span, super strength, immunity to disease, enhanced metabolism & resistance to most injuries. Hela is one of the strongest Asgardians, being able to lift ~100 tons. She is proficient in both armed and unarmed combat, wield the mystical Nightsword in battle and is able to even face Thor in hand-to-hand combat and come to a stalemate, however she rarely relies on her physical prowess.

As a goddess of death, Hela holds power over life and death with her kinsmen, the gods of Asgard. Death for an Asgardian is somewhat different than death for a mortal. In both cases, the corporeal body ceases all functions and activities, but whereas mortal spirits flee the physical form at the moment of death, the spirits of gods remain in their bodies until the death-goddess draws them out and leads them to their final resting place. Those spirits (or astral-selves) remain integral for eternity and reside in certain twilight realms in the dimension of Asgard like Hel and Niffleheim, where they take on a quasi-physical tangible existence. Although Hela is usually content to wait until an Asgardian is on the verge of succumbing to fatal wounds before she touches him or her and draws the spirit from the body, she can also touch perfectly healthy Asgardians and kill them if she so chooses. By using mystical energy, Hela can accomplish a number of tasks, such as levitation, causing one to rapidly age or die, and she can even enhance her fists to increase her strength and cause powerful blows, which are often referred to as her Hand of Glory. She also has the power to restore life to recently deceased gods as long as their spirits have not left their bodies although, she does not exercise this power often.

Hela in Hel

While Hela’s touch is also fatal to mortals, she does not generally leave the dimension of Asgard or have much traffic with human lives since the souls of the Asgardians are her province.
Hela is able to travel about in her astral form, possessing the same powers of death as her physical form has. Because of her Asgardian metabolism, she does not have any limitation on the amount of time she can spend out of her physical form, unlike mortal astral projectionists.

It should be noted that the left side of Hela's body is dead and decayed although it appears alive and healthy when she can physically touch her cloak. If her cloak is taken from her, it is revealed that she herself is half dead already, half her body rotted away. She even loses her physical strength, although this does not mean she is required to wear the cloak since only touching the cloak replenishes her power.

Characteristics

Hela and her cloak

Hair: Grey

Eyes: Green

Height: 7'

Weight: 500 lbs.

Status

Known Relatives: Loki (father), Angrboda (mother), Fenris Wolf (brother), Midgard Serpant (Jormungandr, brother)

Citizenship: Asgardian

Place of Birth: Asgard

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Goddess of Death, ruler of Hel and Niffleheim

Education: Extensively self-educated

Creators: Hela was originally created in1964 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Alternate Realities

Earth 1610

Ultimate Hela

The Ultimate version of Hela is much like her mainstream counterpart. After Valkyrie is killed during the events of Ultimatum. As Thor was in a relationship with Valkyrie as soon as he found out he sought her revival. Ultimate Hela is introduced and first appears when Thor travels to Valhalla in order to search and find his lover, Valkyrie, seeking to rescue her from death during the aforementioned  Ultimatum storyline.  Eventually finding his way, Thor arrives in Valhalla, it can be implied that Hela, not Odin controls this realm, contrary to the 616 reality. However, Hela still refuses to allow even Thor to be granted such a divine gift so freely and challenges him to defeat her army of undead warriors before she would return the soul of Valkyrie. Once Thor was successful, Hela allowed Thor's request, but only as long as he stayed in her place, as she explained the price of a soul was another. She then asks Thor for a child. Wishing to do this for Valkyries sake, Thor does as requested. Thor is eventually released by Valkyrie who wishes to take his place. Hela then takes Valkyrie under her wing as Valykrie becomes a servant of Hela, a warrior and transporter of Asgard's dead.  

Hela goes on to give birth to her and Thor's child Modi Thorson. Hela's appearance, powers, characterization appear similar to those of er mainstream version, save she seems to prefer using the color red more, as opposed to green, in her personal stylings.     

Earth-841047

Earth-94001

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Earth-10246

Earth-41001

Other Media

Television 

Hela in Hulk vs. Thor

In the Hulk vs. Thor DVD, Hela appears, along with many of her Asgardian brethren. Although she wishes to claim Thor's soul after he is gravely injured after fighting the Hulk, she is forced to wait after Amora the Enchantress comes to his aid and heals his wounds. Hela is then tricked by Thor and Loki into transporting the Hulk to her realm and claiming him as her own. However, the Hulk proves to be too much of a nuisance and runs rampant through her dimension. This angers Hela and she agrees to assist in re-joining the Hulk with his Bruce Banner alter-ego, which she had claimed earlier after Loki killed him. As a price for this inconvenience, Hela claims the soul of Loki, although she admits that, as her father, she will not keep him forever. Hela is voiced by Janyse Jaud.

 Hela in Avengers: EMH

Hela appears in the season one finale "A Day Unlike Any Other", when the Avengers are scattered amongst the nine realms. Captain America finds himself in Niffelheim, Hela's realm of the dead, where she makes a deal with him. If she sends him to help the Avengers aid Thor in battle against Loki and death should claim him in the battle, then his mortal spirit belongs to her forever. Hela is voiced by Nika Futterman.

Video Games