As the God of Thunder, Thor has one of the most most powerful rogues galleries in all of comics. Between Loki, Surtur, and the Enchantress, Thor’s villains offer a wide array of powers and skills to keep Thor busy. Despite their strength… none of Thor’s villains match the power of Hela.

The Goddess of Death is so powerful, even Thor himself frequently fails to defeat her, often only surviving her wrath out of sheer luck or a stroke of mercy. After all, even the mighty Thor cannot defeat death itself. But there is one god powerful enough to defeat Hela with ease: Thor’s father, Odin. And in the comics, he proved it.

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In 1966’s Thor #190, Thor faces certain death at the hands of Hela. Unable to watch his son be killed, Odin intervenes and does the impossible by killing the Goddess of Death. Thor protests, telling Odin that killing Hela will have disastrous consequences for humanity. Despite the God of Thunder’s pleas, Odin kills Hela. This throws the world into chaos as Thor witnesses the horrors of a world without death. The narration tells readers that, “Insects, no longer threatened by natural death, multiply by the trillions each and every minute.” Trees and plant-life cover roads as an undying populace fight over living space. After seeing such horrors, Odin has no choice but to revive Hela (who is still determined to end Thor). Luckily for the God of Thunder, Lady Sif arrives and convinces Hela to let Thor live.

Hela’s power over life and death not only made her a formidable opponent for Thor in these early comics, as Thor #190 demonstrates, it also made her nearly unbeatable. Even if Thor could defeat her, the results would be disastrous for humanity. As a result of her power level, Thor comics of the sixties and seventies tended to end with Thor escaping the goddess of death by the skin of his teeth. Lady Sif saving Thor is actually a callback to Hela’s first appearance in Journey into Mystery #102. Hela had trapped Lady Sif but freed her after Thor offered himself in Sif’s place. This act of selfless nobility impressed Hela so much that she let both Thor and Sif leave with their lives.

The strength of Hela even survived into her MCU incarnation. Given the character’s comic history, it is fitting that Thor: Ragnorok shows that Thor is incapable of beating Hela by himself. Even with Hulk’s help, Thor still needed to have a third party destroy Asgard to finally defeat Hela. Comic fans can only wonder how differently Ragnorok would have played out had the All-Father himself still been alive. Hela might be one of Thor‘s strongest opponents, but this shows even Death can be defeated at a cost.

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Evan Mullicane
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Evan D. Mullicane is an editor, critic, and author based out of California’s Bay Area. He received his bachelor’s degree in creative writing from San Francisco State University in 2016. In his free time, he enjoys reading graphic novels and writing fantasy.

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