While Natalie Portman was an important player in the first two Thor movies as Jane Foster, astrophysicist and the God of Thunder’s love interest, outside of a cameo in Avengers: Endgame (which used pre-existing footage and new audio), the actress has been absent from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But that’s now changed, because in the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, Jane will follow in her comic book counterpart’s footsteps and become the new Thor.
This news comes straight out of San Diego Comic-Con, where Natalie Portman actually showed up during the Thor: Love and Thunder portion of Marvel Studios’ presentation. You can check out that appearance below.
It was just days ago that we learned that a fourth Thor movie was in the works, and along with the official title being unveiled, it was also revealed that the story was based off Jason Aaron’s The Mighty Thor comic book run, where Jane Foster was deemed worthy enough to wield Mjolnir and took over as the new Thor.
Jane Foster has been part of Thor’s corner of the Marvel universe since 1962’s Journey into Mystery #84, just one issue after the God of Thunder himself debuted. She’s been through a lot over the decades, but soon after she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she discovered she could pick up Mjolnir after Thor Odinson lost the ability to do so.
For several years, she served as Thor, Goddess of Thunder, while the OG Thor was active simply as Odinson and wielded a different weapon. Nowadays in the comics, Odinson is back to being the main Thor and Jane Foster is serving as Valkyrie, but in the MCU, Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster will get to wield the power of Thor. It’s unclear if this means Chris Hemsworth’s Thor will lose his power or if there will be two Thors operating simultaneously.
When we last saw Jane Foster in the MCU (chronologically, that is), she and Thor following Malekith’s defeat in Thor: The Dark World, but in-between Avengers: Age of Ultron and Thor: Ragnarok, they broke up, which Thor described as a “mutual dumping.”
There’s been no word on-screen on what she’s been up since then, although the book Avengers: Infinity War: The Cosmic Quest Volume Two: Aftermath saw her, Darcy Lewis and Erik Selvig going on a journey to learn about The Decimation and the Infinity Stones. However, since Selvig was later revealed to have been dusted, the contents of that book can be considered non-canon.
Along with Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman, Thor: Love and Thunder will also see Tessa Thompson reprising Valkyrie. Taika Waititi is back to write and direct the feature, and ideally that bodes well for him playing Korg again.
Thor: Love and Thunder opens in theaters on November 5, 2021, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage.
