Jane Foster’s return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe may not be as short-lived as some fans think. Natalie Portman is set to reprise her role as the character in this year’s Thor: Love and Thunder, and outside of her brief cameo in Avengers: Endgame, it’ll be her first time playing Jane since 2013’s Thor: The Dark World.
Love and Thunder isn’t bringing Jane back to the MCU just so she can make up with Chris Hemsworth’s Thor either. In fact, much like she did in the comics, the film will see Jane transform into The Mighty Thor. According to some well-known Marvel leakers, Love and Thunder may only mark the beginning of Jane’s time as The Mighty Thor in the MCU too.
The Leaks — This past weekend, MCU insider @MyTimeToShineHello tweeted that Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster “could get her own project” as The Mighty Thor. Their tweet was responded to by another Marvel leaker, KC Walsh, who tweeted that they’ve heard it is looking less like Jane Foster “could” get her own MCU movie, and more like she “will.”
Obviously, make sure to look at these tweets skeptically. As always, it’s impossible to predict what Marvel may have planned for its various characters, which means only time will tell how accurate these claims are.
That said, these leaks do raise some interesting possibilities not only for the future of the Thor franchise but also for Avengers 5.
The MCU’s New Avengers — As of right now, it’s not totally clear what the deal is with the Avengers in the MCU. After losing its two leaders in Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark and Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers, the team has faded into the background in the years since Avengers: Endgame. Consequently, it’s not really clear who is a member of the team right now, or who is positioned to be the Avengers’ newest leader.
While these leaks don’t claim to solve those mysteries, they do suggest that Natalie Portman’s Mighty Thor will continue to be a part of the MCU after Thor: Love and Thunder. That automatically opens the door for the character to join Earth’s Mightiest Heroes in Avengers 5 or another future MCU project.
Notably, these alleged leaks also suggest Jane will survive the events of Thor: Love and Thunder. That’s not all that surprising though. After all, Marvel wouldn’t get someone like Natalie Portman back only to get rid of her in the movie that marks her MCU return.
The Inverse Analysis — There’s still a lot that we don’t know about Thor: Love and Thunder. The film’s cast is expected to be fairly enormous. And with a villain like Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale) at the center of it, there’s a real chance certain heroes will fall over the course of its runtime. That includes Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, who is set to be one of the film’s biggest players.
If Jane actually manages to hold onto her Thor powers after Love and Thunder though, the potential is certainly there for her to become one of the MCU’s new preeminent heroes, alongside characters like Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani).
Thor: Love and Thunder will hit theaters on July 8, 2022.
