Hela was originally intended to be the villain of Thor: The Dark Worldbefore Marvel Entertainment overrode the decision in favor of Malekith. Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok are thought of in very different terms, with the former often regarded as one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s weakest movies and the latter as one of the best in the franchise. One of the biggest marks in Thor: Ragnarok‘s favor is its villain, Hela, played by Cate Blanchett.

Thor: The Dark World had a difficult production process. First, the movie lost director Patty Jenkins who was then replaced by Alan Taylor. Mads Mikkelsen was in talks to play Malekith but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with the television series Hannibal and was instead replaced by Christopher Eccleston. Since the release of Thor: The Dark World, both Taylor and Eccleston have made their disdain for the film known. Despite being vital to the Infinity Saga, it is often seen as a miss from the studio.

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Malekith was not the original villain planned for the film, with Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige confirming in 2017 that it was “almost” Hela. Now, in The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry, producer Craig Kyle reiterates Hela was the original villain in Don Payne’s pitches for Thor: The Dark World. However, Marvel Entertainment’s concerns over female action figures led the team to use Malekith and the Dark Elves instead.

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This is far from the first time Marvel Entertainment used toy sales regarding female action figures to influence an MCU film. Rebecca Hall’s Maya Hansen was originally set to be the main villain of Iron Man 3, but the idea was dropped also because of a fear of low toy sales for female characters. The villain role instead became Aldrich Killian. This logic is also why Black Widow and Gamora were often left out of merchandise for The Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy.

The meddling in Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World, along with the troubles behind the scenes between Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios over the ending to Captain America: Civil War, resulted in Marvel Studios becoming a separate division and reporting directly to Walt Disney Studios in 2015. Shortly after this, Marvel Studios dismantled the creative committee, and Hela was announced as the primary villain for Thor: Ragnarok in 2016. Marvel has bucked the original thought that female heroes and villains don’t sell, as Captain Marvel made over $1 billion worldwide, Black Widow finally got her own solo film, and the studio is hard at work on projects centered on Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, and Ironheart.

Source: The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Key Release Dates
  • Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)Release date: May 06, 2022
  • Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)Release date: Jul 08, 2022
  • Black Panther: Wakanda Forever/Black Panther 2 (2022)Release date: Nov 11, 2022
  • The Marvels/Captain Marvel 2 (2023)Release date: Feb 17, 2023
  • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)Release date: May 05, 2023
  • Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)Release date: Jul 28, 2023
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Richard Fink
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Richard Fink is a news writer for Screen Rant. He graduated from Arizona State University in 2016 with a degree in Film and Media Production. He loves the finer things in life, like cold Diet Coke on a hot summer day. Richard is a fan of all things Star Wars, Marvel, DC, and Film History.

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