The Natalie Portman/Jane Foster Thread

[Godzilla2000]

I think in Thor 2 Thor and Jane should be explored if only to show how dangerous Thor's life is for a mortal with the third one kindling Thor and Sif as a couple. We saw shades of a deeper attraction in Thor when he was convincing Sif to retreat instead of sacrificing herself against the Destroyer.

[Liam_H]

There were a lot more scenes filmed with Thor and Sif that were cut from the film. They however did not include them as deleted scenes on the home release. I hope the reason is because they wanted to explore that path later on in the sequels so no point in giving it away.

[04nbod]

Originally Posted by Godzilla2000

I think in Thor 2 Thor and Jane should be explored if only to show how dangerous Thor's life is for a mortal with the third one kindling Thor and Sif as a couple. We saw shades of a deeper attraction in Thor when he was convincing Sif to retreat instead of sacrificing herself against the Destroyer.

That storyline is bull though. The same can be said for Pepper, Lois Lane, Sharon Carter and most love interests. For some reason only Jane ever gets that storyline in anything. Its weak and casts your leading lady as pathetic which is why no other franchise uses it. In fact, the latest Avengers: EMH uses it in a way that is completely opposite to how 616 Jane reacted in the same situation. It was almost shocking how much writers characterise Jane as a stereotype of a 60s love interest without paying any actual attention to her character in those stories. Its like they think that every female was Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane. Jane was specifically written to be a Lois-type who wasn't desperate for commitment from the hero and who wouldn't scream for help at all costs. Its frustrating.

[herolee10]

Originally Posted by Raiden

I think Jane's role in Thor was important, in that she helped Thor understand Midgard and her relationship with him was the reason why he became fond of Earth and its well-being. What that said, her character could've written even better, and I'm sure they will do so in the sequel, because I doubt Portman would want back (even though she is contractually to do so), if her role becomes less significant. I hope she'll work well with Alan Taylor, because I believe a director must establish good relationship with his main cast for the movie to succeed.

I think the biggest problem was the fact that the events of "Thor" took place within a 3 day time span; even a talented writer would have trouble with making a character come off as great and exciting while making developing within such a limited time frame. I hope that "Thor 2" won't be so constrained in this dept.

[cherokeesam]

Originally Posted by 04nbod

That storyline is bull though. The same can be said for Pepper, Lois Lane, Sharon Carter and most love interests. For some reason only Jane ever gets that storyline in anything. Its weak and casts your leading lady as pathetic which is why no other franchise uses it. In fact, the latest Avengers: EMH uses it in a way that is completely opposite to how 616 Jane reacted in the same situation. It was almost shocking how much writers characterise Jane as a stereotype of a 60s love interest without paying any actual attention to her character in those stories. Its like they think that every female was Superman's Girlfriend Lois Lane. Jane was specifically written to be a Lois-type who wasn't desperate for commitment from the hero and who wouldn't scream for help at all costs. Its frustrating.

To be fair, Sharon Carter was no wallflower; she was an ass-kicking secret agent who always got in the thick of things and often *fought* alongside (and with) Cap.

But yeah, I agree with you that it would be bull to just focus on Jane as a damsel in distress. I think the biggest focus by writers in more recent years on Jane has been the status difference between her and Thor --- i.e., that Odin (and others) think it's unseemly for a god to lower himself to dating a mortal. I'd think that would be a major issue that's explored in this movie.

[herolee10]

Well it should be interesting on what arc Jane Foster ends up having considering especially that this will be Natalie Portman's first film since her break from having had a child a year ago.

[04nbod]

Originally Posted by cherokeesam

To be fair, Sharon Carter was no wallflower; she was an ass-kicking secret agent who always got in the thick of things and often *fought* alongside (and with) Cap.

But yeah, I agree with you that it would be bull to just focus on Jane as a damsel in distress. I think the biggest focus by writers in more recent years on Jane has been the status difference between her and Thor --- i.e., that Odin (and others) think it's unseemly for a god to lower himself to dating a mortal. I'd think that would be a major issue that's explored in this movie.

But Sharon is no Cap. Once you reach the level of fighting Thanos in any capacity your no frills secret service GF is going to look weak by comparison. Marvel has tried to counter this by powering up Betty and Pepper but Jane never gets powered up she just gets told she's helpless and crap. It often feels like Marvel is Odin. As if they agree that Sif is more worthy because she can skewer trolls and Jane is inferior because she's just a doctor, she only saves lives on a daily basis.

I wish I could agree that Marvel have shifted the focus in recent years but the truth is, that is what the 60's story was. There has been no Thor/Jane in any capacity since 2000 at least (I can't remember when they last had a conversation) and that was just flirting and sexual chemistry. They haven't had a relationship since the 70s to explore and its not like you can say he was dating Sif all that time. He wasn't, he was either single or with Amora, sometimes with Sif but briefly on and off.

Its Jane's 50th year since her creation this year and we still don't know much about her. We only found out that Jane and Don met in medical school two months ago but we still don't know how she became a nurse from that. We don't know how long Jane and Don have known one another. We don't know anything about Jane's life or what made her the woman she is. We know she had an aunt who taught her to speak Spanish, was one of her parents hispanic? There are massive gaps in the stories we did see from her perspective. Jane can seemingly recover from God induced amnesia at will, she's done it twice already. She was dumped with amnesia with her ex boyfriend by Thor and his new girlfriend, she never calls him on it. She leaves her creepy Odin mandated husband twice for different reasons but we are never told why she went back to him anyway.

Would it bankrupt Marvel comics to tell one or two stories about Jane? The only thing I can remember being happy about recently was JMS really getting Jane's personality. For 5 years Stan Lee and Larry Leiber wrote Jane as a flawed woman worthy of being a goddess who was fighting a losing battle against an all-father who lacked the honour to play fair. That is so much more interesting than the nice nurse she's been retconned as.

[TTFN]

They made Jane an astrophysicist for a reason and I can't help but think so she can be a more equal interest for Thor which a reason to be involved in the sequels for reasons MORE than as a love interest and quite possibly a future Avengers movie. I love the change.

Also Branagh said in a commentary that Thor/Jane weren't supposed to show more in the first movie than a mutual attraction so I'm guessing a deeper connection will be shown in the sequel. I need a triangle like a hole in the head. No thanks.

[herolee10]

I'm wondering if they'll show a scene that took place during the events of the NYC battle or even right after it, where we see Jane watching the television and seeing her reaction to Thor appearing on the television screen, let alone being on Earth.

[American Maid]

Originally Posted by herolee10

I'm wondering if they'll show a scene that took place during the events of the NYC battle or even right after it, where we see Jane watching the television and seeing her reaction to Thor appearing on the television screen, let alone being on Earth.

I think so. I also think it likely that Jane would have known prior to the New York attacks Thor was on Earth.

She has access to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellites now, so likely she would have seen the signature of the Einstein-Rosen bridge (or whatever the "dark magic" would have created) when Thor arrived and intercepted the plane over western Europe.

Now of course, it will have been at least a year since they had seen each other. Will they still feel the same?

[jaqua99]

Originally Posted by American Maid

I think so. I also think it likely that Jane would have known prior to the New York attacks Thor was on Earth.

She has access to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s satellites now, so likely she would have seen the signature of the Einstein-Rosen bridge (or whatever the "dark magic" would have created) when Thor arrived and intercepted the plane over western Europe.

Now of course, it will have been at least a year since they had seen each other. Will they still feel the same?

Well, he didn't come from bifrost. So the Einstein Rosenbridge (wormholes, for those of you who don't know astronomy and physics ;] ) probably wasn't there.



Honestly, I hope there is minimum Jane. I want a Thor story and all about Thor and the worlds. Obviously Jane is gunna be captured.

But I HATED natalie Portman in Thor. I have a hard time watching some of her scenes. I hope to god it aint like that in this movie.

Though I do want her to meet Odin.

Sort of gives us a human perspective, meeting Asgardians, meeting its King. How intimidating an experience it may be.

[American Maid]

Originally Posted by jaqua99

Well, he didn't come from bifrost. So the Einstein Rosenbridge (wormholes, for those of you who don't know astronomy and physics ;] ) probably wasn't there.

Well, as I understand, real Einstein-Rosen bridges become unstable if even so much as a photon goes through them. So the premise of the Bifrost actually being an Einstein-Rosen bridge is part of the fiction.

So given that we've made that leap, they could make it that all the portals that get opened up are E-R bridges. Or, that the other portals are similar enough to E-R bridges that Jane would be able to recognize them, too.

I'm not guaranteeing they'll write it that way, just that it's reasonable given the premises we have so far. (Hence my earlier assertion about Jane knowing whether Thor was on Earth.)

Originally Posted by jaqua99

Though I do want her to meet Odin.

Sort of gives us a human perspective, meeting Asgardians, meeting its King. How intimidating an experience it may be.

Well, it sounds like you'll get your wish regarding Jane meeting Odin. And it must be that there will be some fish-out-of-water experiences for her in Asgard.

I have the impression that Jane from the early days wasn't intimidated by much. So if they write her that way, you might be a little bit dissatisfied on that account.

[herolee10]

At the moment, like others have mentioned, I am kind of worried that Jane's role will be reduced to nothing more than a love interest/damsel in distress in this film, where she gets kidnapped by Kurse or Malekith in order to draw Thor out.

[American Maid]

Originally Posted by herolee10

At the moment, like others have mentioned, I am kind of worried that Jane's role will be reduced to nothing more than a love interest/damsel in distress in this film, where she gets kidnapped by Kurse or Malekith in order to draw Thor out.

Yes, I am pro-Jane, and I am worried too.

It seems like it would be exceedingly dumb to have her be kidnapped by Malekith, when I'm sure they could figure out some other McGuffin to get that story rolling.

Keeping her from falling into that whole set of cliches will take some imagination and some boldness, to do something other that what has been done before, in any of a number of universes. I think the hooks for such imaginative turns of plot are there. What I don't know is if they had one idea when they did Thor1, and put those hooks in, and have now decided to go in a different, more cliched direction, and are backing away from that, or if they are going to follow through with those ideas.

[cherokeesam]

I'm just gonna put this out there:

The "code name" that Thor: TDW is working under is, as some of you know, Thursday Mourning. Code names often don't have any reference to the actual movie, of course, but that "mourning" does stick out a bit.

[American Maid]

Originally Posted by cherokeesam

I'm just gonna put this out there:

The "code name" that Thor: TDW is working under is, as some of you know, Thursday Mourning. Code names often don't have any reference to the actual movie, of course, but that "mourning" does stick out a bit.

That possibility has not escaped me.

[American Maid]

Of course, beings this is comic book material, there are a few plots that can make death temporary. One time Sif gave some of her life force to keep Jane from dying. This she did out of love for Thor, knowing that he loved Jane, and wanting to prevent heartbreak. Very selfless, actually. (And all those elements are in place in the movies or could be by the time the moment arises.)

Apparently, in the Simonson run, there's also a plot where Thor takes an army into Hel to bail out two mortal souls trapped there. The summary that I read (http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/0...simonson-thor/) doesn't name who they are, so I don't know how much of a stretch it would be to change them to Jane and, say, Darcy (or make it just Jane). They do say it comes after the fight with Surtur, so it makes it a long shot to take place in this movie (even if that does mean Surtur is in this movie, having this other fight after that is a lot of material). Plus, it's another variant on damsel-in-distress.

On the other hand, it doesn't seem like it would be much of a "mourning" if Jane doesn't stay dead.

[American Maid]

BTW, CherokeeSam, what were the code names of the movies you were in?

[ericadawn16]

so, Thursdays mourning=Thor's day for mourning?

But she's not even on set right now or won't be on Thursday...she's expected to be in Charlotte at the Democratic National Convention along with Scarlett Johansson.

[American Maid]

Well, it could be as simple as they were trying to allude to Thor and to "The Dark World", and a day of mourning being a dark day, etc. What CherokeeSam was suggesting to (and what had crossed my mind when I first heard of that code title) was that maybe Thor will have something to mourn.

I have the impression that Portman was in the UK earlier this week. I imagine they could arrange the shooting schedule so that she could be away 2 days. (It's really tiring to go to the US from Europe and back in the span of a few days, but it can be done).

I guess the real indicator will be when she finishes her part of the filming (Jaimie Alexander had tweeted at the end of July that she was going to be there for 5 months, which I assume is the entire span of the filming).

[04nbod]

Originally Posted by American Maid

Well, it could be as simple as they were trying to allude to Thor and to "The Dark World", and a day of mourning being a dark day, etc. What CherokeeSam was suggesting to (and what had crossed my mind when I first heard of that code title) was that maybe Thor will have something to mourn.

I have the impression that Portman was in the UK earlier this week. I imagine they could arrange the shooting schedule so that she could be away 2 days. (It's really tiring to go to the US from Europe and back in the span of a few days, but it can be done).

I guess the real indicator will be when she finishes her part of the filming (Jaimie Alexander had tweeted at the end of July that she was going to be there for 5 months, which I assume is the entire span of the filming).

Jaimie is doing her training in the UK. Kat Dennings was in the UK for a few days and is now back on set for her tv show. I think these were costume tests or something.

As for Thursday Mourning. They better not fridge her! But Thursday Morning is the title of an actual Thor issue where Thor takes Jane on a tour of the earth with his goat chariot

http://www.comicvine.com/thor-the-mi...ing/37-238316/

[American Maid]

Originally Posted by 04nbod

Jaimie is doing her training in the UK. Kat Dennings was in the UK for a few days and is now back on set for her tv show. I think these were costume tests or something.

As for Thursday Mourning. They better not fridge her! But Thursday Morning is the title of an actual Thor issue where Thor takes Jane on a tour of the earth with his goat chariot

http://www.comicvine.com/thor-the-mi...ing/37-238316/

Oh, I had missed that title when I read that issue! (In trade paperback)

*Well*, that puts an entirely different spin on it, doesn't it??

Not that Jane is out of the woods. It seems to be canon to write her out of the story in as punitive a way imaginable, and they are quite imaginative at Marvel. (To paraphrase the Throg poster, "What will they do to Jane this time?")

More seriously, right now I give it about 50/50 for Jane staying in there. I was more pessimistic (say 35/65), but someone on one of these threads (forget who, apologies, whoever you are!) pointed out that it actually takes a lot of screen time to establish a romance. By the time Jane might exit, the second movie might be 2/3 the way through, leaving not that much time to establish something with, say, Sif. (The books had the luxury of several more decades to establish that.) And movies have to be more streamlined about everything, not just love interests.

And if they do write her out, I'd say there's a good chance (60/40) that Jane is the one who decides to exit. (continuing the agency that she had throughout the first film)

[04nbod]

Ah The Jane fate Lottery. The big money is on:

a) dead
b) amnesia
c) pimped out to a random supporting character we meet in one scene at the end.
d) B and C combined

I have faith though. If they are looking to The Mighty Avenger they won't destroy it horribly. It would be like killing bunnies

[American Maid]

Originally Posted by 04nbod

Ah The Jane fate Lottery. The big money is on:

a) dead
b) amnesia
c) pimped out to a random supporting character we meet in one scene at the end.
d) B and C combined

I have faith though. If they are looking to The Mighty Avenger they won't destroy it horribly. It would be like killing bunnies

<cover deleted>

hahah.

Well, we don't have any evidence that they are looking to The Mighty Avenger, aside from the coincidence between the code title for the movie and the title of this one issue.

And if they are going to give Jane a royally raw deal (per tradition), it ought to at least be novel. Sheesh.

So I guess that would leave us with "dead".

But you're right--too early to completely give up!

[Superhero 101]

So I am guessing Portman will be wearing a wig since she is going blonde for her next film. I actually like her as a blonde.