Natalie Portman’s Character Dying In Thor: Love And Thunder?

Could Natalie Portman just be here for one movie? There are some clues to suggest that Jane Foster dies in Love and Thunder.

By Doug Norrie | Published

natalie portman jane foster

Fans were rightfully surprised and excited to find out that Natalie Portman was returning to the Thor franchise for Love and Thunder, which could be the last installment in this Chris Hemsworth-led take on the character. After having not appeared in Ragnarok, Jane Foster is stepping back into the mix in a big way this time around, grabbing the hammer and becoming Mighty Thor. But could this be a one-and-done for Natalie Portman-as-Foster? Is there a chance she doesn’t survive the events of Love and Thunder? Recent interviews had both Portman, and director Taika Waititi playing very coy and mysterious when it came to Portman’s fate in this latest movie, and there’s at least some reason to suspect she dies in the end.

While speaking with Variety about the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder and other things having to do with her career, Natalie Portman was asked about the Jane Foster character and what issues she might be having in this movie. In the comics, Jane Foster suffers from cancer and when she wields the hammer, the powers she’s given as Mighty Thor strip away the treatments she is getting for the actual illness. There’s some speculation that because of this, Love and Thunder will offer a chance to get Hemsworth and Portman back on screen together, but it could only be brief if she ultimately succumbs to the cancer. Both Portman and Waititi danced around this subject, not wanting to give away too many details about this movie. Natalie Portman was particularly vague, offering up an answer about the “perspective” on human life.

And in responding to the Natalie Portman question about Jane Foster’s fate, director Taika Waititi also made it pretty clear that he couldn’t talk about the finer plot points where this character was concerned. He just basically said that Jane Foster had a “choice” to make before it was all said and done and he hinted that it was going to be a tough one. Could it be that she has to choose between life and death, or at least about not relinquishing the hammer for fear that she will lose her life to cancer? These are all just guesses of course, but it would appear from the two’s answers that Jane’s mortality is definitely at least an aspect of Thor: Love and Thunder.

What happens with Natalie Portman as Jane Foster in Thor: Love and Thunder remains to be seen, though it does very much look like this will be Chris Hemsworth’s last run as the character. He let on in an interview recently that he didn’t have any immediate plans to reprise the character in the near future and this movie could act as a finale for what has been a great run in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This latest movie looks like it hits all of the notes on the way out with Thor on a mission to “find himself” and his place in the universe before it’s all said and done. And part of that is meeting with Natalie Portman’s Jane at least one more time, even if she’s taken on a totally different persona now.