Cate Blanchett Discusses Her Villainous Role of Hela in THOR: RAGNAROK

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We recently got our first look at Cate Blanchett in the role of Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, and she looks great! Hela is the first real famale villain to be featured in the MCU, and I have no doubt that the actress is going to explode with awesomeness in the role. 

We also learned a little information on the character, who is described as being “a little bit cross” after being locked away for millennia. After she's mistakenly released she's hellbent on not going back into that box so she unleashes hell on Asgard. For more detailed plot information on the film, click here.

In a recent interview with EW, Blanchett talked about several different aspects of the role and when asked why she decided to take the part in the first place she said:

"Well let’s face it: as a woman, these opportunities have not in the past come up very frequently and I think there’s a revolution happening from within Marvel. I’ve seen so many of the Marvel franchises, particularly being the mother of four. They tend to be the only type of film particularly having young boys. But for me as an actor, this is separate is my desire to work with [director] Taika Waititi."

She explained that she was excited to be a part of the new fresh direction that Waititi was taking the franchise. Blanchett then discussed being the first major female villain in the MCU, saying:

"Can you believe it? Can you believe we’re having this conversation and it’s 2017 and we’re talking about the first female villain? It’s ridiculous. There’s so much untapped potential villainy in women. It’s really exciting. I think finally it’s beginning to be acknowledged that women and men want to see a diverse array of characters, and that’s race, gender across the sexual spectrum."

Blanchett made sure to do a lot of research for her character and went to the comic books to figure out how she wanted to portray Hela in the film, including when she would and would not be masked in the film. She then brought up the weapons that Hela uses, saying:

"She’s able to manifest weapons. Her headdress can be weapons. She can manifest weapons out of different parts of her body. I won’t tell you which — I’ll leave that hanging."

From there she got into more of Hela's role in the story for Thor: Ragnarok and her motivation behind wanting to take control of Asgard:

"Well, Asgard is so good. I mean one only need to have a mildly unpleasant thought and you’re considered evil. Everyone is too perfect. Why not mess it all up? It’s easy to play bad but, like when I was in Cinderella, like what makes the stepmother evil is interesting. So, it was trying to in the screen time I had to tease that stuff and to give her a journey really. So hopefully we’re given her a journey, like how you understand why Loki is as screwed up as he is. Hopefully, there’s that satisfaction in watching Hela."

Blanchett also said she trained for some fight scenes in the film and said that she "did as much as was humanly possible for a middle-aged mother of four [laughs]."

We'll get to see Blanchett kick some ass in Thor: Ragnarok when it hits theaters on November 3rd!