Fans were surprised when it was announced that Natalie Portman would be returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for Thor: Love and Thunder, given that the actress had been pretty public about her disinterest in ever appearing in the franchise again. A voice cameo in Avengers: Endgame made it seem as though her stance had softened somewhat, before Taika Waititi managed to convince her to play Jane Foster again, although the filmmaker admitted that it wasn’t as difficult as you would have thought.
One of the major reasons the Academy Award winner decided to make the trip back to Asgard was surely that she’d get the chance to play a superhero, with the official announcement of Love and Thunder confirming that Portman would also be taking on the mantle of Thor, as the character did in the comic books. While this throws up plenty of questions surrounding Chris Hemsworth’s title hero and his future role in the MCU, we’re hearing that this won’t be the only comic-accurate story development to happen to astrophysicist Dr. Foster.
According to our sources – the same ones who said the Guardians will cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder and Taskmaster will be the main villain in Black Widow – with Portman reportedly signed onto a multi-picture contract, the plan going forward is for her character to end up in a relationship with Anthony Mackie’s Falcon, similar to how they got together in the pages of Marvel Comics.
While it likely won’t happen for a while yet, both heroes are reportedly being set up as key members of the Avengers, and it’ll be interesting nonetheless to see how Thor: Love and Thunder shuffles the deck and once again manages to keep the God of Thunder apart from his long-running love interest.
