The Marvel Cinematic Universe is an ever expanding place. Over the eight years since Iron Man debuted, we've seen a plethora of interesting characters come and go throughout various franchises. As such, some of the actors who were important in Phase One have since become a bit stale or completely absent. More specifically, love interests from earlier entires in the MCU have become less important as various heroes have developed higher stake conflicts than getting a hot date. Two such characters are Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts from Iron Man and Natalie Portman's Jane Foster from Thor. Both of those characters have been absent for quite some time, leading many to wonder if we'd ever see these women back on Marvel's silver screen.
Natalie Portman recently sat down with The Wall Street Journal to talk about her film projects, including her directorial debut A Tale of Love and Darkness. When asked if she would be returning as Jane Porter in the MCU anytime soon, the Academy Award winner said the following:
As far as I know, I'm done. I don't know if, maybe, one day they'll ask for an Avengers 7 or whatever. I have no idea! But as far as I know I'm done.
Well, that was a refreshingly blunt answer. Rather than dancing around the subject, Natalie Portman got real with WSJ and told them that it doesn't seem like she's going to be returning to the world of gods and heroes anytime soon.
While Natalie Portman's answer might be unexpectedly candid, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise so Marvel fans. Jane was one of the main characters from the first two Thor movies, but she began to bring less to the table during Thor: The Dark World. While she helped Chris Hemworth's Thor adjust to life on Earth in the first movie, once they began further exploring Asgard she seemed a bit out of place. And as Thor: Ragnarok began development, we learned that Jane simply didn't fit into the narrative of the franchise anymore, and wouldn't be returning for the third movie (in addition to never appearing in the Avengers films). What began as one of the bigger characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has now become so irrelevant that they barely mention her existence.
It is important to note; however, that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been changing pretty heavily since back in 2011 when Thor and Jane were introduced. Romance has quickly become almost a non-entity in the MCU, as villains and superpowered conflicts take center stage. In fact, it's gotten to the point that when love plots are put in the newer MCU movies, such as Agent 13 and Captain America in Civil War, it seems out of place. So until Jane Foster can get more involved in the bigger conflict of the MCU, it doesn't seem like we'll be seeing her anytime soon.
How do you feel about Jane's absence in The marvel Cinematic Universe? Sound off in the comments below.
