The Marvel Cinematic Universe likes to keep its cards close to the vest in order to set up stories down the line. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers uncovers HYDRA’s plot to take over SHIELD and learns that the evil organization killed his old friend Howard Stark. What the movie fails to reveal is that the Winter Soldier is the one who carried out the mission. Once that information comes to light, Tony Stark loses his composure and lashes out at Captain America and Bucky Barnes, tearing the Avengers apart for good. Like Cap before him, Odin keeps a pretty big secret from his loved ones, and it also comes back to bite him.
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The Allfather is dying at the start of Thor: Ragnarok, and as he says goodbye to his sons, he reveals that their sister, Hela, will appear once he’s gone. They don’t understand what he means, but it doesn’t take long for the Goddess of Death to make an impression by destroying Mjolnir and sending Thor and Loki running for the hills. The MCU’s most important Asgardians are at a disadvantage because they know very little about their sister, including who her mother is. Well, while it’s taken a few years, the mystery may finally have been solved.
Odin and Hela Get Up to No Good in the MCU
Long before Loki and Thor were in the picture, Odin had a different attitude when it came to ruling. He enjoyed having people bend the knee out of fear, so he united the Nine Realms by conquering them. Egging him on was his daughter, Hela, who acted as his executioner while wielding Mjolnir. The Goddess of Death and her father made Asgard the most powerful place in the galaxy, but their partnership didn’t last forever. Odin eventually turned over a new leaf, and when his daughter didn’t get on board, he banished her to Hel. He tried to hide all evidence of his past transgressions by changing the art around Asgard, setting his first-born son, Thor, up to be a peaceful ruler. Marrying Frigga also had a major impact on Odin, as her pure heart forced him to clean up his act for good.
What the Thor movies don’t make clear is how much Frigga knew about Hela. The God of Thunder mentions at one point that he had to kill his half-sister, which means her mother wasn’t Frigga. But Odin never said anything about another wife, leaving Hela’s origins a mystery. There is a scenario in which Odin wasn’t withholding more information, though.
A Cosmic Entity Could Be the One Responsible for Hela
In the comics, Thanos has a healthy obsession with Death, which is on-brand for him. He does everything he can to get her attention, including wiping out countless people. The Mad Titan has the same mission in the MCU, but he doesn’t have any interest in courting Death. Avengers: Infinity War reveals he’s collecting the Infinity Stones in an effort to stop the galaxy from collapsing like his home planet, Titan, did. However, love might not be in the cards for him because he knows that Death has her eye on someone else.
Since Hela is the Goddess of Death, it’s possible that the cosmic entity played a part in her creation. Odin may have wanted someone to take over when he was gone, so he reached out to Death to supply him with a child. While Death’s MCU debut in Agatha All Along has her focus more on killing than bringing life into the world, she might have thought helping Odin would supply her with enough souls to last a lifetime. She probably didn’t consider that he’d turn around and betray his firstborn child after turning her into a weapon for Asgard.
Until the MCU reveals more about its version of Death, it’s impossible to know what events she’s had a hand in. But there’s little chance that she’s been doing nothing but bother Agatha Harkness since the beginning of time. After all, Death is one of the most dangerous Marvel characters, and powerhouses rarely sit on their hands and do nothing.
Thor: Ragnarok is streaming on Disney+.
Who do you think Hela’s mother is in the MCU? Do you think Death created her? Let us know in the comments below!
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Image courtesy of Marvel Studios.
