When Marvel announced that Thor 4 was part of the MCU’s Phase 4 at Comic-Con, it didn’t come as the biggest shock seeing as the news had already been reported on earlier that week. However, it did come as a huge surprise that Natalie Portman was returning as Jane Foster for Thor: Love and Thunder. And this time she’ll become the Mighty Thor herself!
Fans were blown away by the reveal as the actress has been missing from the franchise since 2013’s Thor: The Dark World (bar a brief voiceover role and reuse of archival footage in Avengers: Endgame). So, was it tough for Marvel to convince her to come back? Apparently not.
Studio president Kevin Feige has explained that it was 100% writer/director Taika Waititi’s idea to get Portman and all it took was one meeting with the filmmaker for her to sign up.
“We love the story — it’s one of the best comic runs recently. [Waititi] would flip through and read that run while he was doing Ragnarok. And I think when he agreed to come back and do another Thor, he was like, ‘How do we–?’ This is a very big movie that’ll be folding in a lot of elements. That is a huge important part of it. He pitched it to us, and we were totally in. We loved it. We’d been in touch with Natalie. She’s part of the MCU family and we put she and Taika together. It took one meeting and she agreed to do it.”
Following the announcement of her comeback, Portman took to social media to hype up her return as Jane, saying how excited she was to work with “legends” Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson and Waititi on the movie. She also promised that she’ll get “jacked” for the role. So expect the star to look the part as the Asgardian goddess.
Feige has previously revealed that Portman’s MCU return has been locked down for six months, but the studio impressively managed to keep it a secret. Other surprise reveals that made it to Comic-Con without being spoiled include the Blade reboot starring Mahershala Ali and the fact that the Doctor Strange sequel would dive into the multiverse and co-star Scarlet Witch.
Tell us, though, how are excited are you for Jane Foster’s Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.