Marvel's What if...? season 2 episode 7 ending explained: How does Hela join forces with the Ten Rings

Marvel's What If...? season 2 just had its episode 7 premiere and it featured Hela being banished off to Earth and forming an unlikely alliance with the Mandarin. Titled "What If... Hela Found the Ten Rings," the episode saw the Goddess of Death go on a journey of self-discovery where she was able to find redemption for herself.

The episode took many elements from the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to craft a story that pits Hela against her father Odin. In that, it saw her take over the throne of Asgard in a way you wouldn't expect her to, and also sealed her legacy of not just being the Goddess of Death, but the Goddess of Life as well.

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Hela teams up with the Mandarin in What If...? season 2 episode 7

Episode 7 of Marvel's What If...? borrows elements from films like the first Thor, Thor: Ragnarok and Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings. The episode starts with Odin realizing that Hela's ambition has outgrown his, but instead of banishing her to Hel, he strips her of her powers and banishes her to Earth; just like how he did to Thor originally in the MCU.

After landing on Earth, Hela's helmet is found by the Mandarin, aka Wenwu. With his army wondering exactly who the helmet is for, Hela makes her presence known but quickly learns that she doesn't have her powers and is taken in by Wenwu. However, he sees a fight in her and instead of wanting to kill her, he takes a liking towards her and aims to form an alliance.

Unfortunately for him, Hela wants her powers back to take over the throne of Asgard from her father and escapes Wenwu. While escaping, she finds Morris - the hairy creature from Shang-Chi, who helps her and takes her to the forest of Ta-Lo.

It's over here she meets the Guardians of the mystical forest, who train her and help her achieve peace, which leads Hela to realize that she just wants to be free from her father's grasp. When Odin learns of the Ten Rings, he launches an all-out attack on Wenwu; however, Hela couldn't stand back and look so she joins the fight as well.

Teaming up with Wenwu, she fights Odin and is able to best her father after she is reunited with her Helmet and receives her powers once more. Odin ends up yielding, which causes him to give over the throne to Hela. Now the rule of Asgard, she teams up with Wenwu and instead of being a conqueror, becomes a liberator as the episode ends with her launching an all-out attack on Thanos,

The episode heavily lingers on the themes of redemption, and seeing this different version of Hela was certainly interesting. It offers a nice contrast as opposed to how her character was in Thor: Ragnarok.

You can check out Marvel's What If...? Season 2 as it's streaming on Disney+ Hotstar right now.