MCU: Why Natalie Portman Is Becoming Female Thor
But what about the other guy?
It's fair to say that Thor: Love & Thunder's announcement at Comic Con has made a fair few waves. Not only will the sequel include the first openly LGBTQ leading character with Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie, but it will also feature the return of Natalie Portman's Jane Foster, who will be wielding Mjolnir.
In the comics, of course, Jane became Thor, which is generally being held up as the "reason" it's "okay" for Portman's version to follow suite whenever someone complains about the unlikeliness of an 120 pound woman becoming the God Of Thunder. That's something everyone's going to have to get over, kids. It's becoming tiresome already.
What matters right now is how this could be possible in the MCU. And the inevitable starting point for that is the comics...
5. The Comics Backstory
Thor: Love & Thunder appears to be taking a lead from Jason Aaron’s extraordinary Thor series that kicked off in 2014 and that film's tragic foundation could well be the basis on which Love & Thunder is founded. It would certainly explain why the title sounds somewhat like an erotic fiction novel.
So, in the comics, Jane is diagnosed with cancer and is given a grim diagnosis. Basically, she's dying. At the same time, Thor finds himself unworthy thanks to a battle with Nick Fury and becomes Odinson, getting himself a sweet giant goat to ride in the process. It's a lot more complex than that, but this part's not his story.
Essentially, Mjolnir was no longer Odinson's to wield and was stranded on the moon until a mysterious woman appeared and lifted it, changing the inscription on the weapon to "Whosoever hold this hammer, if she be worthy, shall possess the power of... Thor." If you're not following, that was Foster. She had been telepathically linked to the hammer (and people complain about a woman not convincingly playing Thor!!!) and was teleported to the moon by Heimdall. When she took possession of Mjolnir, she gained Thor's powers, but it came at a cost.
Every time she transformed - which came with a physical transformation because the powers include super strength, speed, stamina and durability - she would lose the progress of her chemotherapy treatment. The hammer improved her body to such an extent that it removed all toxins, including the chemotherapy and her condition worsened, spreading her cancer throughout her body. It escalated to the point that Doctor Strange warned her one more transformation would kill her.
But being worthy and unwaiveringly committed to fighting for justice, Jane ignored his warning to save Asgard, sacrificing both herself and Mjolnir to save them. She ended up being revived (this was a comic after all) thanks to Odin when Odinson discovered her secret Female Thor identity and Thor became worthy and took back his mantle.
So how could that play into the MCU?