Hela (Earth-7642)

Hela is the Asgardian goddess of death and the ruler of Hel and Niflheim. She is often in conflict with those from the other Nine Realms as well as her father.

## History

### Early Life

Hela was allegedly the daughter of the Asgardian god of mischief, Loki and of the sorceress giantess Angerboda.

### Queen of Hel

The three Asgardian goddesses of fate, the Norns, are said to have warned the Asgardian gods that Hela would prove to be a great danger to them. Odin, ruler of Asgard, decreed that Hela would become goddess and ruler of the spirits of the dead on the day of her maturity. These spirits were in the other-dimensional realms of Hel and Niffleheim, two more of the Nine Worlds, both of which Hela ruled. However, Odin himself directly ruled the souls of Asgardians and their human worshippers who died in battle as heroes, and had the palace of Valhalla built in a distant section of Asgard to house them.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

**Asgardian Physiology:** Hela possesses the conventional superhuman abilities of an Asgardian woman, as well as certain special abilities that pertain to her role as a goddess of death:

* **Superhuman Strength:** Hela possesses vast superhuman strength considerably greater than most Asgardians. She has proven capable of standing toe-to-toe with Thor. Hence, she is capable of lifting well in excess of 100 tons.
* **Superhuman Speed:** Hela is capable of running and moving at superhuman speeds, achieving a peak of potentially 115 mph.
* **Superhuman Stamina:** Hela's body produces considerably less fatigue toxins than the bodies of human beings, or most other Asgardians for that matter, during physical activity. As a result, Hela possesses almost limitless physical stamina.
* **Superhuman Durability:** Hela's body is considerably more resistant to physical injury than the bodies of human beings, and most other Asgardians. Hela is capable of withstanding great impact forces, temperature and pressure extremes, high caliber bullets, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury.
* **Immortality:** Hela, unlike the rest of Asgardian Gods is immortal and doesn't age beyond her prime. This is due to her being the Goddess of Death who controls life. She can rapidly age people, even someone as powerful as Thor. She can also grant immortality to other beings like Rugga, the Storm Giant, who kidnapped Sif and brought her to Hela so that she can grant him immortality.
* **Regenerative Healing Factor:** Despite her body's high resistance to injury, it is possible to injure her. However, Hela's body is capable of healing itself with high levels of superhuman speed and efficiency. The extent of Hela's healing abilities is considerably beyond that the the vast majority of Asgardians, able to reconstitute herself even following molecular disintegration.

**Magic Manipulation:** Hela is capable of manipulating great quantities of Asgardian magic for numerous purposes, such as limitless astral projection, firing deadly bolts of energy from her hands that could kill an immortal, levitation, time-travel and the creation of illusions. She is even capable of channeling the energy through her hand and use them to strike a powerful blow that can rend even the strongest Asgardian flesh. She refers to this as the "Hand of Glory".

* **Astral Projection:**Hela is able to travel about in her astral form, possessing the same powers of death as her physical form has. Because of her Asgardian metabolism, she does not have any limitation on the amount of time she can spend out of her physical form, unlike mortal astral projectionists.
* **Control Over Life and Death:** As the Asgardian Goddess of Death, Hela holds the power of life and death over the gods of Asgard. Death for an Asgardian is somewhat different from death for an Earth human being. In both cases, the corporeal body ceases all functions and activities, but whereas mortal spirits flee the physical form at the moment of death, the spirits of gods remain in their bodies until the death goddess draws them out and dispatches them to her realms. These spirits (or astral selves) remain integral for eternity and reside, apparently forever, in the other-dimensional realms of Hel and Niflheim, where they take on a quasi-physical existence, under Hela's control. The souls of those who die heroically in battle remain within their bodies and are accompanied by Odin's Valkyries into Valhalla, where the deceased heroes lead a new physical existence. These *dead* heroes are known as the Einherjar. Hela too accompanies these heroes on their journey to Valhalla, but she has no right to govern them. Although Hela is usually content to wait until an Asgardian is on the verge of succumbing to fatal wounds before she touches him or her and draws the spirit from his or her body, she can also kill perfectly healthy Asgardians with her touch if she chooses. Although Hela's touch of death is effective even when she touches someone with her gloved hand, she must contact that person's bare skin for him or her to die. However, Hela can also project mystic bolts that will cause their target to age or die, even if they strike a portion of the target's body that is covered by clothing. While Hela's touch is also fatal to mortals, she does not generally leave the dimension of Asgard or have much traffic with human lives. The souls of immortals are her province, nor those of mortals.

**Allspeak:** Thanks to the Allspeak, she can communicate in all of the languages of the Nine Realms, Earth's dialects, and various alien languages.

### Abilities

Although she rarely does so, Hela is a formidable hand to hand combatant, as well as having great proficiency with swordsmanship. She is particularly skillful at using her powers in combat situations.

### Strength level

Hela possesses vast superhuman strength considerably greater than most Asgardians. She has proven capable of standing toe-to-toe with Thor. Hence, she is capable of lifting well in excess of 100 tons

### Weaknesses

When wearing the garment that serves as her cloak, cowl, and headdress, Hela's body is fully alive and healthy. However, deprived of her cloak, Hela reverts to her true form. The right side of her body is fully alive, but the left side is dead and decayed. Legend has it that Hela was born in this condition. It has been theorized that without her cloak, Hela would be unable to leave the realms of the dead. it has been demonstrated that without her cloak, Hela's life force is insufficient to maintain her usual physical strength. Indeed, she is unable to stand or levitate herself, or to project mystical bolts, and can barely crawl. Donning her cloak once more will restore Hela to full vitality; even simply touching it would again enable her to stand.