Thor: Ragnarok was indeed a unique masterpiece brought forward by Taika Waititi. A lot of the deep intricate plotting that the film did and the payoff to the previous movies like Age of Ultron that was brought into the film was overshadowed by the comic relief of the film. But, under all that humor, the film was setting up a major plotline for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame.
Hela, the goddess of Death was brought into the picture in Thor: Ragnarok and she did prove to be a formidable villain for the Thor franchise. But it did not end well for her at the end of the film as she probably died in the battle against Surtur, who destroyed Asgard along with her.
But that doesn’t mean that it was the last of Hela that we saw. From what we have learned being attached to the MCU for a long time, we know better that until we see someone dying right in front of our eyes, there is a chance for them to return as they’re only presumed to be dead.
In some cases, even when we see someone like Loki perish presumably for good, there’s a possibility that he/she could still return. Seeing the surprising return of Red Skull in Avengers: Infinity War was enough evidence for us to believe that at least Hela could return in Avengers: Endgame to play a small and significant role in the plot of the film. A Redditor named MelodicBeginning also bases his theory of Hela’s return partly on Red Skull’s return, but he also gives us solid evidence to back his claim.
Here’s what he wrote about the return of Hela in Avengers: Endgame:
“We all know Durham Cathedral is being used as a filming location for Avengers Endgame after the setting was completely excluded from Infinity War, this location was used in Thor’s vision scene which was induced by Wanda in Age of Ultron. This location is theorized by many to be Valhalla (the land of the fallen from asgard who are considered honorable) as it features a vision of Heimdall saying “We are all dead”, these scenes were likely intended as a setup to the Thanos Duology, the Infinity Stones scene with Thanos ended up paying off in Infinity War. So this scene may be referring to the fact half of Asgard is dead and now in Valhalla after Thanos killed half of Asgard. In this scene Heimdall describes Thor “leading us to Hel”, Hel another place for dead spirits, and considering Hela’s connection to this place, I have a feeling this may connect to her and that a Thor visit to Hel may be a big plot point in Avengers: Endgame. Hela did seemingly die in Thor: Ragnarok but maybe that was not truly the end for her and Hel is where she went.
The part of this that actually makes me believe that Hela will be in Avengers Endgame, is that in this article below, we see an image of a statue in the Durham Cathedral vision, we also see this image from the Avengers: Endgame set photos, this actually confirms for sure that Thor’s vision in Age of Ultron was leading into something we will see in Avengers 4.
This image above shows Cate Blanchett sitting down on a set, discussing Thor: Ragnarok, on one of the behind the scenes bonus features for that movie. It is clear that this set is obviously nothing to do with Thor Ragnarok. The statue behind her is the same one from both the Age of Ultron vision and the Avengers: Endgame set. Her presence on what appears to be the Avengers: Endgame set could indicate her return in Avengers Endgame, although it is possible that she was just brought here just to talk about Ragnarok in the runup to the release of that movie. What are your thoughts on this, do you think Hela has a chance of returning in Avengers 4, or is this just a misdirect?”
With Marvel, we always know that things like these are not just a coincidence. Avengers: Endgame is going to refer previous movies of the MCU, so it should not be a big surprise that it could also bring back previous villains. Out of all previous villains, we have enough evidence to suggest that the likes of Hela, Red Skull and probably the Skrulls would be in Avengers: Endgame. Rumour also suggests that Ultron might return to some extent, but let’s see how that goes.
Avengers: Endgame comes out on April 26.
