What If... Hela Found the Ten Rings?

Back to familiar characters again this week, and with another episode that loosely blends the prequels of two MCU films together. This time it's Ragnarök and "Shang Chi".

Having become concerned about the increasing bloodlust in his daughter, instead of locking her away, Odin (Jeff Bergman) strips Hela (Cate Blanchett) of her power and sends her to Earth. There she encounters military warlord Xu Wenwu (Feodor Chin) who is in possession of the ten rings, a weapon not of earth origin. Seeing her strength in battle, Wenwu proposed an alliance, but Hela just want to take possession of the rings.

So, it's an interesting mix of Thor's rehabilitation storyline alongside the events that would later take place in Shang Chi, including a trip through the moving forest to Ta Lo. Where she meets skilled forced opposing Wenwu and wishes to learn their powers too. It sounds like Blanchett is having a ball voicing Hela again and there's a lot of fun moments as her redemption plays out. I felt the ending of the story was perhaps a bit odd, we could perhaps have expected the change in Hela but in Wenwu too? Anyway, it leads to an interesting final moment in the episode - though no tie into a wider story for this one.

Descent again, though perhaps still a touch below the first couple of episodes of this run.

I love that they've taken the time to 'rehabilitate' Hela in this episode after having done the same for Loki in his series, because in the original mythology she's NOT evil. She just had the misfortune of being born 'ugly' and given the realm of Hel to watch over. It was also great having Cate Blanchett back on our screens, even if it was just her vocal performance.

The story itself was really good, too, and much like the last episode could have benefited from being longer, even if just by a few minutes to show her making good on her threat to Odin.

Speaking of Odin, I like that the writers leaned more into his warmongering side, because his Marvel history is kinda built pretty squarely on top of him BEING so warlike in his early years with Hela.

Again, just like with Kahhori in the previous episode, I can't wait to see what Marvel does with this iteration of Hela.

This What If... is a simple redemption story about Hela, the Goddess of Death. Under her father Odin, Hela wanted to continue her bloodthirsty ways even after the nine realms were united.

Where originally odin banished Hela to hell. She is sent to a realm of Earth and has lost her powers.

Finding herself in China where she meets Wenwu and his 10 Rings. Hela learns life is not much fun without her powers. It is a good job then that Xu Wenwu is intrigued by her.

Later Hela encounters Jiayi at the magical village of Ta Lo. She is fascinated by Jiayi and slowly a change of mood takes place. Something Heimdall notices.

Cate Blanchett dos the voice work but this does very much play like a Thor story or even a Loki one. The naughty offspring seeing good.

A big thing in this new era of Marvel has been a surprising lack of recognition for some of the new characters that they have introduced. Ms. Marvel got her introduction to the wider MCU audience in "The Marvels," but many other projects have yet to be featured again, which has caused a lot of irritation for some fans. However, if there is any way of actually giving these characters another stage, it's probably through the vast possibilities of the huge "What If...?" Disney+ series. And now, Wenwu and the Ten Rings have seen a comeback, although in a very strange and kinda random collaboration.

The character of Hela was not necessarily a standout in her film, but the presence of Cate Blanchett will always be appreciated. Her return definitely adds some sense of nostalgia to the character, even if this is a vastly different and wildly inconsistent version of the character. The idea of using the plot of the first "Thor" film to tell this story is not lost on anybody, but it doesn't really seem to mesh that well with a character who was set up as pure evil during her last appearance. However, her collaboration with Wenwu is certainly an interesting one, although the bigger implications of this team-up doesn't really seem to go beyond this episode, which would be a lost opportunity if not. Because the episode alone is very entertaining and the visuals are definitely some of the show's best in here, but the premise and the direction that it goes in never really felt like they worked for me. It also has a very unearned ending that actually deflated the thing a little bit. It's also important to note that Blanchett is the only major actor who actually reprises her role in this episode, so all of the other characters have new voices, and they all actually do a really good job of embodying the characters that we know from their previous appearances. The episode isn't bad at all, it just never really does anything with its story beyond the cool nature of the team-up, and that ultimately leaves a lot to be desired.

"What If... Hela Found the Ten Rings?" fails to fully utilize the amazing opportunity that this show presents and is largely just a remake of "Thor." The animation is stellar and the voice work is also superb - with Cate Blanchett's presence truly felt - but the episode never really rises above its fairly simple entertainment value.

I loved Hela in MCU's main universe.

Great character with personality, motivation, a bit comedy and, most importantly, Cate Blanchett, who portrayed this character very well.

This episode shows a very interesting alternate storyline of her, that shows a version of the character that is like the Hela we know so well and a different kind of characteristics at the same time (Just as a character can be in a Multiverse). And I'd love to see more! Especially because the very same actress is acting the character.

There are similarities not only between 616 and this universe's Hela, but other characters as well.

Also, the episode reminded me of the old Odin and Thor's original story and honestly, I'd love to see this Hela taking part in something even greater as the Season 1 characters did...

As a MCU fan, I'd like to say, that seeing the concept of the Multiverse used as beautifully and interestingly as in this episode are always welcome (although all episodes are great, this one was one of the more interesting episodes for me personally).