Natalie Portman Will be Called “Mighty Thor” in Thor: Love and Thunder
One of the biggest reveals coming out of San Diego Comic-Con was that Natalie Portman will be playing the Goddess of Thunder in Taika Waititi‘s hotly-anticipated Ragnarok sequel Thor: Love and Thunder. One immediate point of contention was that folks started calling her “Female Thor,” which is, at best, inelegant. The fact that Portman’s Jane Foster would be raising Mjolnir isn’t shocking to comic book fans, where Foster becomes worthy of the sacred hammer when Thor no longer is. That storyline takes place in Jason Aaron’s “Mighty Thor” comics, which sticks to the premise that only one person can be worthy of Mjolnir at a time. Yet Marvel Studios made it quite clear in Avengers: Endgame that multiple people could be worthy simultaneously—hence the shocking yet deeply gratifying moment when Captain America summons—and receives—Mjolnir during the fight against Thanos.
Further confusing matters about Portman’s proper name is the fact that she’ll be appearing alongside Chris Hemsworth’s Thor in Love and Thunder. So who should step in and calmly settle this confusion for us, but none other than Taika Waititi himself. It’s a direct tie-in to Aaron’s comics:
Correction. She’s called Mighty Thor.
— Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) July 21, 2019
Now that that’s settled, we can look forward to Waititi’s follow-up to his game-changing Thor: Ragnarok, which repositioned Thor as one of the funniest Avengers and introduced us to colorful, weird worlds far from Earth. Love and Thunder will build on Waititi’s singular vision for Thor (and Mighty Thor)’s world and includes Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, one of the very best parts of Ragnarok and one of Marvel’s first LGBTQ characters. Thompson promised the Hall H crowd that in Love and Thunder, she’ll be looking for her queen. And just like that, with Portman’s becoming Mighty Thor and Thompson’s Valkryie looking for her queen, Love and Thunder has quickly become one of the most exciting films in Marvel’s Phase 4.
Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters on November 5, 2021
Featured image: SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA – JULY 20: (L-R) President of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige, Director Taika Waititi, Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth of Marvel Studios’ ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ at the San Diego Comic-Con International 2019 Marvel Studios Panel in Hall H on July 20, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)
