Of all the changes in Thor's life, one that's been given too little attention is the delicate
matter of his relationship with Jane Foster.
Jane played a key role in the first two Thor movies, and then, suddenly, she was gone.
Here’s what happened to Jane, and exactly why Thor doesn’t see her anymore.
While we might like to think that a character leaving a series is simply the product of
a mutual parting of ways behind the camera, it appears that may not be the case here.
According to a story from CinemaBlend, when Portman was brought on to reprise her role
as Jane Foster in Thor: The Dark World, she was brimming with enthusiasm at the thought
of working with then-director Patty Jenkins.
She even appears to have held off on plans to take a break from acting and spend more
time with her newborn son in order to play her part in the movie.
From there, however, things went south fairly quickly.
Jenkins left the project after two months, and Marvel replaced her with director Alan
Taylor, and the change seemed to leave a bad taste in Portman's mouth.
While she did finish principal photography for The Dark World, she subsequently turned
down a request to return for reshoots.
It's no surprise, then, that with the Thor storyline at the time looking like it might
sputter out, Portman would have had very little motivation to proactively continue her role
in the MCU.
The mantra of Thor: Ragnarok could easily be summed up as "out with the old and in with
the new."
From killing off characters like the Warriors Three to cutting out Dr. Selvig and the earthbound
settings of the first two movies, Ragnarok blew the franchise wide open by creating a
movie that brought a whole new ensemble of characters into a galaxy-wide romp that had
very little to do with the Thor franchise of old.
One of the major developments that this massive overhaul brought about was the introduction
of Valkyrie.
“You know I used to want to be a Valkyrie when I was younger, until I found out that
you were all women.
There's nothing wrong with women of course, I love women, sometimes a little too much.”
Foster and Valkyrie are difficult to compare.
On the one hand, Foster’s heroics come from her research and scientific brilliance.
On the other, Valkyrie is…
Valkyrie.
Is there really any competition?
In the comic books, Foster continues to develop into something more than a mere mortal, but
in the MCU, she remained somewhat shackled by her humanity.
With the MCU’s style becoming increasingly cosmic, it's wouldn't get any easier for her
to keep up.
It would be only natural, however, for Valkyrie to fill the role of the franchise’s long-term
female lead.
Ragnarok's throwaway breakup line dispatches Jane from the movie’s plot as quickly as
possible, while still leaving a door open for her to return in the future.
“Sorry to hear that Jane dumped you."
"She didn't dump me no.
I dumped her.
It was a mutual dumping.”
But the fact remains that the story just doesn't have much use for her anymore.
As recently as February 2018, Portman made it clear that she was open to returning to
the MCU.
At this point, however, there might not be much point.
Rather than being detriment to Thor's character, some distance from his relationship seems
to have given the God of Thunder’s tale a bit of a boost.
In the short space of two movies, the folks at Marvel have managed to weave so many new
elements into his character arc that, at the end of the day, Foster's sudden absence was
more of an afterthought than the loose plot thread it could have been.
It’s aa easy to keep a relationship going when you’ve got a lot on your plate, and
Thor has got a lot on his.
Even during a time when Jane Foster was still clearly in the picture, Thor had been busy
running around the universe, saving civilizations left and right, and seemed to be having to
make excuses about being absent for so long without touching base.
And that’s not all.
Thor has also had to deal with the death of both of his parents: Frigga, who was murdered
by dark elves, and Odin, who vaporized before his very eyes.
And let’s not even get into the whole Loki thing.
“Surprise.”
Recently, things haven’t gotten much better.
After Odin’s death in Ragnarok, Thor was forced to take on the duties of Asgard’s
king, which mostly involved keeping his siblings in check and attempting to prevent Ragnarok
itself...which, well, didn't really go so well.
"TREMBLE BEFORE ME, ASGARD.
I AM YOUR RECKONING."
And then to top it all off, Thor was forced to watch as his redeemed brother was murdered
by Thanos, a tragedy which kicked off a whole new series of problems for Thor.
Can you really blame him for letting his relationship slip?
In the end, sometimes the simplest answer is the best one.
Jane Foster and Thor are clearly not compatible with each other.
Sure, they met when Thor was in mortal form, and he's not exactly thirty feet tall or green
or made of rocks, but how long were they ever really going to last?
Celeb couples can manage to cope with a significant age difference if they really do try hard,
but your Asgardian boyfriend being over 1,500 years old is bound to cause trouble eventually...
"This drink, I like it."
"I know it's great right?"
"ANOTHER!"
...Even when you're just trying to have a simple lunch date.
The fact is that Thor is a god and Jane isn’t.
At this point, you can pretty safely assume that their break-up was for the best.
Jane can go on studying and doing good for mankind while Thor can continue to fly around
saving the universe, and no one's feelings ever need to get hurt.