Marvel boss Kevin Feige announced at Comic-Con that Natalie Portman will return to the MCU as Jane Foster. But this time around, she will reportedly become a female God of Thunder herself, when Thor is unable to lift his hammer due to apparent unworthiness (a theme previously explored in Avengers: Endgame and in a popular comic-book run that the film is directly inspired by).
“[She’s] a Thor,” Waititi told ET. “There’s still the other Thor, the original Thor. She’s not called Female Thor. In the comics, she’s called the Mighty Thor. It comes from that comic run.”
Explaining how he convinced Portman to return to the Thor series, Waititi explained (via Variety), “I just said to her ‘Are you interested in coming back to this thing, but doing something really different?’ No one wants to keep repeating themselves, and no one wants to play the same characters all the time.
“And I think for her, just coming back, reprising that character in a whole fresh new way was really what would interest anyone. Especially in most of these films, if you’re not a superhero… do you really wanna keep doing that? I mean, I wouldn’t. I’d want to come back and change things up.”
Batman star Christian Bale has been confirmed for the fourthquel, though it’s unclear what role he’ll be playing.
More recent rumours suggest that Bale could be set to take on the next major villain in the MCU, with a reported leak obtained by The Illuminerdi claiming that he is in talks to play an “intergalactic villain.”
Based on a set photo from Dinsey+’s Loki, fans have also suggested Bale could be playing Dario Agger, aka The Minotaur, who is the corrupt president of Roxxon Energy Corporation.
On top of this, it’s been confirmed that Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson will return as Thor and Valkyrie.
The film will adapt a Lady Thor story arc from recent a recent Marvel Comics series called The Mighty Thor, by Jason Aaron.
“That story line is incredible is full emotion, love and thunder and introduces for the first time female Thor,” Waititi said at Comic-Con. “For us there’s only one person who could play that role… Natalie Portman.”
In the comics, the original Thor was deemed unworthy to wield his hammer, Mjolnir, paving the way for Jane Foster. However, there is no Mjolnir in the current MCU (it was destroyed in Thor: Ragnarok), so Jane may take on her new powers in another way…
(Mjolnir returned, time-displaced, in Avengers: Endgame, but Captain America later returned it to its rightful time and place.)
And now, with Vin Diesel suggesting the Guardians of the Galaxy will appear in the fourthquel, the plot is anyone’s guess.
Also, here is a fan made trailer of the movie, Thor: Love and Thunder. Hope you all enjoy it! 🙂