The Official Natalie Portman/Jane Foster Thread

[Mjölnir]

Well no one does like that romance I've seen the comments online about it on social media and on other sites. No one liked that romance in Age of Ultron.

You're wrong, there were plenty that were fine with it here, including me.

That's not really the point though. The point was that you tell others to speak for themselves but then speak for others yourself. It's called hypocrisy.

 

[Superhero 101]

So is Portman ever returning to the MCU at all?

 

[Capsfan]

Well no one does like that romance I've seen the comments online about it on social media and on other sites. No one liked that romance in Age of Ultron.

If you go to some social media like Instagram, you will be surprised how many people actually liked Brutasha. There are not so many of them as Buckynat or Clintasha fans, but much more than Thor/Jane or Steve/Sharon stans.

 

[First Avenger]

Well no one does like that romance I've seen the comments online about it on social media and on other sites. No one liked that romance in Age of Ultron.

IMO the romance between Bruce and Natasha made sense with how Joss presented it. Thor-Jane was just a little more than a summer crush I'm glad it's over.

 

[MbJ]

So is Portman ever returning to the MCU at all?

Originally she said no, but more recently she said she was open to the possibility. Wouldn't count on it though.

 

[fire117]

IMO the romance between Bruce and Natasha made sense with how Joss presented it. Thor-Jane was just a little more than a summer crush I'm glad it's over.

It didn't make sense and was too sudden in Age of Ultron, as in Avengers I saw the possibility of Clint and Natasha as a couple more than Bruce and Natasha.

I'm not. I'm writing a fix-it fanfic in regards to that at the moment, set after Thor Ragnarok where Thor and Jane never broke up.

 

[Mjölnir]

It didn't make sense and was too sudden in Age of Ultron, as in Avengers I saw the possibility of Clint and Natasha as a couple more than Bruce and Natasha.

I'm not. I'm writing a fix-it fanfic in regards to that at the moment, set after Thor Ragnarok where Thor and Jane never broke up.

Thor's romance with Jane is far more sudden, as it pops up during Thor's couple of days on Earth in the first filma and is then put on hold until The Dark World.

The Avengers had been fighting together for quite a while, having become a real team, when Age of Ultron starts, and we see that they have a bond that started with Natasha helping Bruce with the Hulk, so that's a relationship that has had time to grow, just not on screen.

Clint and Natasha had already gone through so much together in the many years they had worked together so their relationship seemed to have already found what it was going to be in my eyes.

 

[fire117]

Thor's romance with Jane is far more sudden, as it pops up during Thor's couple of days on Earth in the first filma and is then put on hold until The Dark World.

The Avengers had been fighting together for quite a while, having become a real team, when Age of Ultron starts, and we see that they have a bond that started with Natasha helping Bruce with the Hulk, so that's a relationship that has had time to grow, just not on screen.

Clint and Natasha had already gone through so much together in the many years they had worked together so their relationship seemed to have already found what it was going to be in my eyes.

I disagree.

I saw the Bruce/Natasha romance as too darn sudden and it came out of nowhere in Age of Ultron. I think Clint and Natasha would have been a better couple, or Natasha and Steve even would have been better than Bruce and Natasha.

 

[RoastBeast]

IMO the romance between Bruce and Natasha made sense with how Joss presented it. Thor-Jane was just a little more than a summer crush I'm glad it's over.

It's rough when your summer crush keeps slapping you. And your brother. And then kind of gets your mother killed. (yeah, I really didn't see her appeal in TDW)

 

[MbJ]

I honestly have zero problem with her slapping Loki. Thor's "brother" in that case led an invasion of New York that got innocent people killed.

Of all the stuff to possibly criticize the romance for, I have no idea why so many people made Jane slapping Loki the hill to die on.

 

[First Avenger]

I honestly have zero problem with her slapping Loki. Thor's "brother" in that case led an invasion of New York that got innocent people killed.

Of all the stuff to possibly criticize the romance for, I have no idea why so many people made Jane slapping Loki the hill to die on.

Her slapping Loki was honestly the only good part of her character.

 

[fire117]

I honestly have zero problem with her slapping Loki. Thor's "brother" in that case led an invasion of New York that got innocent people killed.

Of all the stuff to possibly criticize the romance for, I have no idea why so many people made Jane slapping Loki the hill to die on.

Why did people hate her slapping Loki, the guy deserved it.

 

[RoastBeast]

Why did people hate her slapping Loki, the guy deserved it.

He deserved far more than that, and that is why it was lame, since she couldn't provide more. Her slapping Thor and Loki is, in my opinion, laziness on the part of the writers. Let's see, what do women do when annoyed? That's right, they slap! I thought that stereotype died out in the 1970s, but it is alive and well apparently.

I would have bided my time and come up with something that could have actually done some damage to the s.o.b., but I am apparently smarter than a Nobel prize winner... in the MCU.

 

[Epona]

It's rough when your summer crush keeps slapping you. And your brother. And then kind of gets your mother killed. (yeah, I really didn't see her appeal in TDW)

If you really wanna blame someone for Frigga's death blame the guy who gave the elves instructions to the palace when they invaded Asgard, not the powerless human who was pretty much imprisoned there trying to survive while Frigga did the decent thing trying to protect her.

Loki is the guy who attempted to enslave Jane's race and killed thousands of innocents civillians in the process, who also abducted and brainwashed Jane's dear friend and mentor into insanity, I can hardly blame her for acting like a hot blooded human being upon seeing him in the flesh for the first time.

And I don't even like Jane.

 

[RoastBeast]

They are not real. The writers made Jane do these things that made no sense. Its part of TDWs problems.

The Jane in Thor 1 would not have slapped Thor (twice), or been dumb enough to stick her finger in the ether without identifying it. She would never have slapped Loki because she would have figured out by that point she was the one who would get hurt (I wouldn't slap a brick wall... again and again)...Her behavior was written as ridiculous. (and she was not that smart in T1, but this was beyond the pale)

I am very grateful there are finally some people handling female characters better (from the clips, since I haven't seen the finished product)

 

[Ragnaroknroll]

Natalie Portman in the first Thor movie was great for me. The scene where she phones Selvig and says "That thing you told me not to do...I just did it" was extremely memorable, because there's personality and risk to the way she delivers the lines. Now I'm honestly very ignorant of good and bad acting, so I don't notice any difference in TDW for her performance, but I really like that scene from Thor. It's got character, and that's a rare thing for modern movies.

My issues with Jane in TDW are numerous: her romance subplot was annoying, the supporting characters she brought with her added nothing and only took away from better things, she only came across as histrionic and unlikable when she hit her supposed boyfriend (it's not a big deal to me to normalize DV in that way for laughs, but it turned her character into an emotional monster), her role in the final battle was pivotal and that would have been fine...except it actually overshadowed Thor's role...which might have still been fine except Thor had spent the entire film getting relegated to a background character and only looking lame in his own movie. Taika was right that a movie with Thor in the title succeeds or fails by how well they are presented as the main character.

There's a lot of stuff centered around Jane in TDW that brings the movie down, but I don't see most of it as being the actor's fault. There is a fair bit around the director Patty Jenkins getting fired over creative differences and the gender politics behind the scenes, which definitely hurt the making of the movie. Natalie is definitely accountable for some of that, since she raised a huge stink about Patty being let go. Ultimately I think it's for the better that Jane (and Natalie) were gone from Ragnarok, but I think the original movie showed how Jane could have worked, with just a few edits to her character. Show her taking over from Selvig, and the student surpassing the teacher, etc, and go from there.

Responding to the box office thread from here to keep that thread from going off track...

I agree with Rory that Jane was excellent in the first film. Anyone who says otherwise is just channeling some kind of knee jerk revisionism because of their hatred of Alan Taylor's sequel. I just wanted to see more of that dimension to her as shown by Branagh and to end her character on the right note.

Obviously Taylor is not a great director and an opportunity was missed in the second film. And while I think TDW could've done a better job with the protagonist remaining the focus, Jane's role in the finale of the film doesn't bother me because they were working together as a team and no way does she save the day without Thor. But one of my favorite things about Ragnarok is that Waititi put Thor in the spotlight right where he belongs. I mean... it's his movie.

Like I said I'm fine with them moving on from Jane - I just wanted better closure. A huge part of Thor's story in the first two films revolved around Jane and she's just suddenly - gone. Now she didn't have to be in Ragnarok at all and it was a better film for it overall. I much prefer us getting the closure with Odin than Jane. But I think if a Thor 4 film is ever made - a short scene that brings his relationship with Jane to better closure would mean a lot to me as a fan of ALL the films.

I love Ragnarok. It's my favorite of the 3. But I have 3 gripes with it and Jane is one of them. Selvig is a character I really liked too but I'm sure he can show up in Avengers or anywhere else. Whereas without Thor there's no reason for Jane anymore. Dropping her like this just doesn't sit well with me.

My other two complaints center around Thor's jarring dialect change and the way the Warriors Three were handled. A scene in the future where he mourns his friends would make me very happy but I probably won't get it.

I don't think I'll ever get the perfect Thor film I want. But Ragnarok came pretty darn close.