The Avengers Would anyone have liked Jane Foster in place of Selvig? [Spoilers]

[Raiden]

Portman's Jane Foster is one of the most annoying love interest I've ever had the displeasure to bear in a superhero movie. She looked, sounded and acted like a teenager playing the smart scientist and Odin knows what could have Thor possibly see in her that he fell in love.

Selvig was much better even when he spent the whole movie hypnotized or just off-screen.

I actually thought Portman did okay with what she was given, but in Thor 2 they'll need to beef her role up more if she wants to be taken more seriously, not just as a love interest but someone who is smart and independent.

As for replacing Selvig in TA, like third3ye said the after-credit scene in Thor already established that Loki was using Selvig to track Tesseract's whereabout, and there's no reason to deviate from that course, especially given Portman's pregnancy status during the shooting of the movie. Leave the Thor/Jane storyline in Thor's sequel for next year.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

Here's two reasons for using Selvig over Jane. Jane wouldn't want to work on the Terrasect, she'd want to keep studying the wormholes. No one knew the Terrasect could create wormholes, all the knowledge they had about it was Red Skull used it to make weapons. Which is what SHIELD was planning on using it for.

Second, having Jane be under Loki's control, would undermine Black Widow's storyline of wanting to save Hawkeye. I think it was better than the girl was trying to save the guy, rather than the same old guy saving the girl. Thor had enough motivation, just trying to stop his brother. He didn't need to have to save Jane as well.

 

[04nbod]

Here's two reasons for using Selvig over Jane. Jane wouldn't want to work on the Terrasect, she'd want to keep studying the wormholes. No one knew the Terrasect could create wormholes, all the knowledge they had about it was Red Skull used it to make weapons. Which is what SHIELD was planning on using it for.

Second, having Jane be under Loki's control, would undermine Black Widow's storyline of wanting to save Hawkeye. I think it was better than the girl was trying to save the guy, rather than the same old guy saving the girl. Thor had enough motivation, just trying to stop his brother. He didn't need to have to save Jane as well.

You think? I got the impression Sheild were trying to trigger it when it started doing it by itself. Maybe that was just convenient staging because the script demanded the space for the actual wormhole to open.

Also, the post credit scene in Thor explicitly connects Jane's research to what Fury wants Selvig for.

 

[third3ye]

I love how opinions are stated as facts.

I love how some people come into an internet forum and are caught surprised when 99% of the comments on any forum are opinions

 

[The Guard]

I never quite got what it was that Selvig specialized in that made him an appropriate choice to handle the tesseract.

But, since he was the one Fury showed it to at the end of THOR, it makes sense that he'd be doing it in THE AVENGERS.

Also, what's the deal with Loki controlling Selvig (the reflection thing) in THOR, but that pretty much being dropped in THE AVENGERS?

 

[third3ye]

Speaking of Loki and Selvig, anyone know how at the end of Thor we see Loki with him and Fury and the Tesseract at SHIELD but he doesn't take him over until the beginning of TA, after he has already been working with it?

Since my 'opinions' don't mean much to you, I figured I'd still answer this for the other posters.

Loki has influence over Selvig the entire time since the events of Thor, but not enough to fully control him. In the comics prelude it's mentioned that Selvig has been acting strangely since he started working on the Tesseract, implying that Loki's influence has been increasingly affecting Selvig's behavior in the time between Thor and Avengers. Loki doesn't gain full control over Selvig until the beginning of the Avengers when he uses his blowstick of destiny on him.

Not a very clear explanation from the movie makers though.

 

[SuperSoldier985]

I never quite got what it was that Selvig specialized in that made him an appropriate choice to handle the tesseract.

But, since he was the one Fury showed it to at the end of THOR, it makes sense that he'd be doing it in THE AVENGERS.

Also, what's the deal with Loki controlling Selvig (the reflection thing) in THOR, but that pretty much being dropped in THE AVENGERS?

I don't think Loki was controlling Selvig per se, but he definitely was able to look through his eyes and therefore explaining why and how he knew were the Tesseract was. It's something that would've been hard to make explicit in the movie(s), but you could deduce it fairly easily...

and it doesn't even matter why Selvig was the appropriate choice. All that was obvious up until that point is that he was clearly the main one who had the most knowledge of understanding it.

 

[Mr. Immortal]

I think it could have worked, but it also would have bogged down the story with another important element so I could easily see why they didn't.

 

[third3ye]

I don't think Loki was controlling Selvig per se, but he definitely was able to look through his eyes and therefore explaining why and how he knew were the Tesseract was. It's something that would've been hard to make explicit in the movie(s), but you could deduce it fairly easily...

Loki had some control, enough to influence Selvig's words as implied in Thor and in the comics prelude, but not 100% control over him. And as I mentioned, in the prelude they make it very clear that Selvig's behavior is becoming more and more affected by Loki's influence.

 

[TTFN]

Since my 'opinions' don't mean much to you, I figured I'd still answer this for the other posters.

Loki has influence over Selvig the entire time since the events of Thor, but not enough to fully control him. In the comics prelude it's mentioned that Selvig has been acting strangely since he started working on the Tesseract, implying that Loki's influence has been increasingly affecting Selvig's behavior in the time between Thor and Avengers. Loki doesn't gain full control over Selvig until the beginning of the Avengers when he uses his blowstick of destiny on him.

Not a very clear explanation from the movie makers though.

Sometimes it isn't what we say but how we say it.

Thank you for answering my question about Loki and Selvig. I guess that makes sense but you are right in that it wasn't explained very well in the movie. I didn't even remember that scene until today so forgot to put the 2 together.

 

[Dark Raven]

I was beginning to wonder whether when Selvig was on top of the Stark Tower and he was talking to Natasha he was going to reveal that he wasn't actually under the control of Loki in the same way as the others but had somehow been working for him voluntarily since the end of Thor.

 

[TTFN]

I was beginning to wonder whether when Selvig was on top of the Stark Tower and he was talking to Natasha he was going to reveal that he wasn't actually under the control of Loki in the same way as the others but had somehow been working for him voluntarily since the end of Thor.

That could have been better than us believing he was controlled by Loki but built some sort of "out" for it so they could stop it if they needed to. lol He could have always said Loki threatened Jane so he did what he wanted. Selvig looks at her like a daughter so it would have been very believable.

Ah well. Can't all be explained. Not on a movie of this size.

 

[third3ye]

Sometimes it isn't what we say but how we say it.

Thank you for answering my question about Loki and Selvig. I guess that makes sense but you are right in that it wasn't explained very well in the movie. I didn't even remember that scene until today so forgot to put the 2 together.

No worries, no hard feelings.

 

[third3ye]

That could have been better than us believing he was controlled by Loki but built some sort of "out" for it so they could stop it if they needed to. lol He could have always said Loki threatened Jane so he did what he wanted. Selvig looks at her like a daughter so it would have been very believable.

Ah well. Can't all be explained. Not on a movie of this size.

Heard this elsewhere, this is the most believable explanation but since the movie doesn't make ANY effort explaining this as well, to the average movie viewer that part just felt like a cop-out. It would make perfect sense for Loki to want a safeguard and have Selvig install it for him, but it just sucks that the movie doesn't do a good job explaining this and a few other things.

 

[fixxxer1022]

no, save her for the sequel. but im actually shocker pepper had a active role in the movie.

 

[third3ye]

no, save her for the sequel. but im actually shocker pepper had a active role in the movie.

Not to take a big detour on this thread topic, but her inclusion worked for Tony Stark's development into a self sacrificing hero, so I had no problem with Pepper's role in this movie. Since RDJ is the big cajones on the set, I'm not at all surprised he got the most fleshed out character in the movie from start to finish... especially since he asked/demanded it

 

[Dark Raven]

I wish Coulson had shown Thor a picture of a pregnant Natalie Portman. Then Thor would've been bewildered, wondering who was responsible for knocking her up and wondering if it was him during a drunken night of passion in which he let her play with Thor's hammer.

 

[BigThor]

I wish Coulson had shown Thor a picture of a pregnant Natalie Portman. Then Thor would've been bewildered, wondering who was responsible for knocking her up and wondering if it was him during a drunken night of passion in which he let her play with Thor's hammer.

Imagine if someone knew Thor coming after them for knocking up Jane, "HOW DARE YOU IMPREGNATE JANE". Especially if they see him land in the street after flying through the air while wearing his cape and signature outfit.

 

[Liam_H]

Having not read any of the posts before I will say definitely not. It would've put way to much emphasis on Thor when it wasn't needed. If they were going to focus on any I would've wanted it to be Captain America. Sad they deleted so much of his scenes but I can live with it since his second movie will focus on that.

 

[MarvelKnight]

That would be funny

 

[DJ Kornphlake]

I think Thor had enough personal drama within the movie just dealing with his brother being the villain that they didn't to add saving his love interest into the mix as well.

 

[BigThor]

Having not read any of the posts before I will say definitely not. It would've put way to much emphasis on Thor when it wasn't needed. If they were going to focus on any I would've wanted it to be Captain America. Sad they deleted so much of his scenes but I can live with it since his second movie will focus on that.

It's been revealed that Cap had the most screentime out of all The Avengers, with Iron Man coming in 2nd.

 

[Mars452]

I'd be perfectly happy if we never saw Natalie Portman's Jane Foster again.

God, she was a horrendously annoying character.

 

[BigThor]

I think Thor had enough personal drama within the movie just dealing with his brother being the villain that they didn't to add saving his love interest into the mix as well.

I'm with you on that

 

[Liam_H]

It's been revealed that Cap had the most screentime out of all The Avengers, with Iron Man coming in 2nd.

Yea that's one of my biggest disappointments with the film. I had my expectations setup for that but was saddened they had to remove it. I completely understand why and can certainly wait for it in 2014.