Cate Blanchett Had An Unexpected Inspiration For Hela's Look In Thor: Ragnarok

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Opinions vary, but it's generally accepted that 2017's "Thor: Ragnarok" is one of the best Marvel Cinematic Universe movies to date. Thanks to the refreshing, funny direction by Taika Waititi, it made for a welcome rebound from "Thor: The Dark World," which helped set a low bar for the MCU. And though she was largely a one-and-done villain, the movie also benefited from Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett's presence as Hela, the Goddess of Death and a villain whose appearance was actually inspired by the MCU's fans themselves.

In a 2017 interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Blanchett explained how she and her collaborators went about crafting Hela's on-screen look for the movie. As the "Lord of the Rings" veteran explained, she decided to turn to cosplayers and fans within the online community for inspiration. Here's what she had to say about it:

"When I was starting to think about how she might look, I went back to the fanbase. All these girls were doing Hela makeup looks on YouTube. I thought about what their takes on her were. I spoke to Marvel about what she would look like when she would be unmasked, so she wasn't a faceless, generic baddie. They were very open to everything."

In the realm of superhero cinema, there have been some pretty terrible costumes over the years. Most of the time, that's the result of creatives straying peculiarly far from the source material. Hela, on the other hand, has a distinctive look in live-action, but it's also very faithful to the Marvel Comics character that was first created by legends Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. At least some of that is owed to fans, who, again, were already recreating her appearance for the purposes of cosplay before Blanchett ever suited up.

"I've tried with the make-up and hair people and all of the different departments to give [Hela] a kind of a visual journey, so that she's got somewhere to go as she becomes increasingly powerful," as Blanchett told /Film in 2017. "That look evolves and calcifies a little bit." She added that she also "threw a lot of ideas into the ring with Taika [Waititi] and with the motion capture people and the special effects crew." It was, by her account, a very collaborative process.

While the MCU has struggled creatively in the aftermath of "Avengers: Endgame" with the uneven Multiverse Saga, it speaks volumes that Marvel Studios heard Blanchett out when it came to this cosplay inspiration. It's easy to imagine other studios writing off such things. But Marvel Studios, at its best, tends to truly have fans in mind without necessarily caving to their every voiced whim and desire.

In this case, it was Blanchett recognizing that fans had something to offer, as she was coming at this from a place of not knowing the source material before signing on for the role. If one wants to understand how to bring a character to life, dedicated cosplayers are a logical place to start.

It's all paid off. "Thor: Ragnarok" was a massive critical and commercial success, taking in $854 million at the box office. It also helped save Chris Hemsworth from "dying" as Thor, as the actor was becoming creatively tired. Meanwhile, Blanchett broke ground as the first major female villain in the history of the MCU. She would later return to the role, lending her voice to Hela for the animated series "What If...?"

You can grab "Thor: Ragnarok" on 4K, Blu-ray, or DVD from Amazon.