Thor: Love and Thunder: Who Is Mighty Thor?

If there’s one part of the new Thor: Love and Thunder trailer that has got the world collectively talking, it’s Natalie Portman’s return as Jane Foster in the MCU. Except this time, she’s supporting a whole new look, powers, and a new moniker you may not be familiar with, Mighty Thor.

While the internet has been quick to brand Portman’s revamped character as Lady Thor, the comic storyline the film will likely adapt from, as well as Taika Waititi himself, have only referred to her as Mighty Thor. So who is the Mighty Thor? And how does she factor into the MCU?

Comics Backstory

the mighty thor comics image — Image via Marvel Comics

In the Jason Aarons-penned The Mighty Thor comics, Foster is diagnosed with advanced breast cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy. However, when she finds herself able to lift Mjolnir, she's also stronger than ever before, with the hammer transforming her into a god. Her powers are fairly similar to the ones we know of: super strength, speed, stamina, durability. Although her control over lightning isn’t as advanced as Thor’s, she is able to use the Mjolnir far better than others. However, there is a caveat, because the moment she stops being the Mighty Thor, she returns to her dying body.

For those wondering what happened to the Thor we all know and loved, in the comics he becomes unworthy of lifting the hammer but is surprised to see it being wielded by a woman in a mask. Initially, much of the story revolves around whom the Mighty Thor could be, but it soon becomes clear that it is none other than Jane Foster under the mask. The comic storyline is a pretty heartbreaking one, given that Jane only picks up the hammer because she feels the need to protect others in the wake of Thor's absence. The price she pays for her transformation is a pretty deadly one, with her cancer rapidly increasing the more she suits up. It’s also worth pointing out that while the comic does examine her relationship with Thor in detail, the two aren’t together by the end, so you might want to brace yourself for a sad ending to the Thor-Jane love story.

Since then, she’s appeared in a number of different Marvel Comics from Secret Wars to All-New All-Different Avengers, so there are plenty of roads for the MCU to take should they decide to continue her Mighty Thor character further.

In The MCU…

natalie-portman-mcu-social-featured — Image via Disney

Now the MCU has established, just like in the comics, that anyone regardless of their origin is able to pick up Mjolnir if they are truly worthy, and we’ve already seen a human, Captain America (Chris Evans), do so in Avengers: Endgame. So it isn’t a retcon or change to see Marvel now allowing Jane Foster to do the same. In the trailer, we see Thor (Chris Hemsworth) supporting the Stormbreaker which we first saw in Avengers: Infinity War after he needed a new one to replace the old hammer Hela (Cate Blanchett) broke. In the time-traveling shenanigans that followed, Thor brought back the hammer and Cap subsequently returned it with all the infinity stones to their correct timelines. This leaves the question of Jane finding the Mjolnir up in the air for now. Of course, we don’t know how much of this storyline the Taika Waititi-directed film will adapt, and what direction he will take Portman’s character in. With the MCU having introduced variants and multiverses post-Loki, she could very well be a different Thor and Jane Foster than fans are familiar with. A different world’s Jane Foster would explain why she still has her hammer with her.

The movie’s plot description says that Mighty Thor, Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg, and Thor will all team up to stop Gorr The God Butcher (Christan Bale), who is going around the cosmos on a killing spree. An intergalactic, action-filled road trip film with Waititi’s signature humor would undoubtedly allow the tragic Foster storyline to settle with audiences better, so this unlikely band of heroes seems like a great place for Mighty Thor to make her MCU debut.

Thor-and-jane-thor-2011 — Image Via Paramount Pictures

Fans have long decried the MCU’s treatment of its female love interests, particularly Jane Foster who was made out to be the epitome of a helpless female in need of saving, for much of the first two Thor movies. There was also word a few years back that Portman was unhappy with Marvel for some time, and while we can’t be sure about why that was, many have speculated that the decision was in part due to how thinly written her role was in the first two films. The MCU treatment of Jane in particular makes her decision to come back as the Mighty Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder a great idea as we will finally get to see Jane level up and be the hero she deserved to be in the first two films. Rather than be a love interest or be the motivation Thor needed to win his battles in Thor and Thor: The Dark World, we now get a chance to see Jane stand shoulder to shoulder with the son of Odin. This pretty much mirrors Portman’s own role in the MCU, becoming a superhero alongside Hemsworth, after being little more than a half-baked supporting player. Hopefully, Waititi will take note of how the comics ensured that even as The Mighty Thor, Foster remained just as intelligent, separating her from Thor Odinson who’s always been more of an oaf in comparison.

With the film titled Love and Thunder, it also stands to reason that the franchise will dip its toes back into the romance that was the bedrock for the original Thor films. We were never quite made privy to the details of Jane and Thor's split in Thor: Ragnarok, so it’s very likely that this would be the film where we find out how the two drifted apart and what’s left between them since their worlds so drastically changed. Thor lost his entire planet and family and Jane’s potentially life-threatening illness means that the two have a lot of catching up to do. And with the Guardians of Galaxy, Gorr the God Butcher, Valkyrie, Lady Sif (Jaimie Alexander), the Grandmaster (Jeff Goldblum), and many more returning, Thor: Love & Thunder is set to boast an all-star roster of MCU talents to keep the two Thors busy.

Thor: Love & Thunder comes out July 8 in the US.