‘Thor: Love and Thunder’: Who is Natalie Portman’s Lady Thor in Marvel Comics?
When Marvel revealed the new teaser, fans asked, “who is the girl in the Thor: Love and Thunder trailer?” Its none other than Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) wielding Mjölnir as Thor (Chris Hemsworth) watches his hammer fly to her. But who is this “Lady Thor” in Marvel Comics, and what can fans expect from her in the MCU?
Is the Jane Foster hero called Lady Thor, Mighty Thor, Thor Girl, or something else entirely?
In Marvel Comics, several heroes pass their names from one identity to another. Peter Parker and Miles Morales operate as Spider-Man, and Clint Barton and Kate Bishop both use the codename Hawkeye.
However, Thor is the identity of Chris Hemsworth’s character. It makes things even more confusing to know what to call the Jane Foster Thor.
While she mostly just went by Thor, Marvel editorial called her Mighty Thor. Some fans referred to Jane Foster in this form as Lady Thor. It is currently what the MCU will call her, though.
Meanwhile, Thor Girl is an entirely different character, often associated with the events following the Marvel Comics Civil War event. An alien who modeled herself after Asgardians, Tarene, aka Thor Girl, wielded a golden hammer instead of Mjölnir.
Whether you call her Mighty Thor or Lady Thor, here’s how Jane Foster became the goddess of thunder in Marvel Comics
While Thor left to fight Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale in Thor: Love and Thunder), Jane Foster received a breast cancer diagnosis. Thor offered Asgardian treatments, but she refused them. However, one bit of magic would change her treatments forever.
When Thor became unworthy of Mjölnir, it called out to Jane Foster, who eventually took it up to become Lady Thor/Mighty Thor/Thor. However, Thor Odinson did not know Jane Foster was the one who took up Mjölnir.
This led to contention between the heroes before Odinson finally gave her his blessing to carry the hammer, still not knowing it was Jane Foster.
Unfortunately, Jane Foster’s time as Thor was limited from the start, as each transformation purged the chemotherapy from her body. In one last heroic sacrifice, she transformed into the lady Thor to save the Asgardians.
However, with comics being comics, she did not stay dead, and Thor Odinson and Odin managed to revive her.
How close will ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ follow the Marvel Comics story?
Marvel Studios has not indicated that they plan to follow the cancer storyline for Jane Foster. However, all the pieces for a faithful origin seem present. And they never shied away from things like building up the sibling dynamic between Thor and Loki.
Thor: Love and Thunder cast Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher as a villain for Thor to fight. With Thor becoming unworthy shortly after his battle with the villain, it would line up perfectly with Jane Foster turning into Lady Thor/Mighty Thor.
And hopefully, the shake-up helps the movie follow after the example set by Thor: Ragnarok and not Thor: The Dark World.
Fans can watch how it unfolds when Thor: Love and Thunder releases on July 8, 2022.
