Natalie Portman wasn’t shy in admitting her dissatisfaction with her role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the past, so it came as a huge surprise that she agreed to return for Thor: Love and Thunder, even though the opportunity to suit up and wield Mjolnir for herself would have been difficult for the Academy Award-winning actress to turn down.
Taika Waititi must have big plans in mind for Jane Foster though given that Portman agreed to return with such little hesitation, and by inheriting the mantle of Thor, it seems clear that the MCU’s leading astrophysicist isn’t returning just to slip back into the token love interest role that she played in the God of Thunder’s first two solo outings.
While we don’t have any concrete plot details just yet, Waititi has promised that Love and Thunder will make the wacky intergalactic buddy adventures of Ragnarok look tame by comparison, and now we’ve heard that the movie is set to feature the two versions of Thor going head-to-head the first time they cross paths.
According to our intel – which comes from the same sources that told us the Guardians of the Galaxy will be making a cameo in the film long before Vin Diesel confirmed it in an interview – Portman’s Thor will make her first appearance under the character’s signature helmet without revealing her true identity, and Thor will instantly assume that she’s a threat, leading to an epic fight scene between the two before Chris Hemsworth’s hero realizes who she is.
While things can always change given that the script is still undergoing multiple revisions, this idea certainly sounds a lot more exciting than having Portman reintroduced in an exposition-heavy scene as is usually the case with these kinds of movies. In any case, what we do know is that you should always expect the unexpected with Taika Waititi, so it makes sense that little about Thor: Love and Thunder is going to adhere to convention.
