Marvel Crisis Protocol Lore: Who is Jane Foster?

Jane Foster is one of the many female characters in the Marvel Comics universe that was initially created with an incredibly shallow premise and purpose, but has since grown into a more significant role within the comics and has become a hero in her own right. 

Background

When we first met Jane Foster, she was a nurse employed by Dr. Donald Blake (the host for the Asgardian Thor).  She fell in love with both Blake and Thor, not knowing that they were both the same person.  Eventually, Thor revealed his secret identity to her which caused Odin to punish him.  Thor was forgiven by his father after saving Asgard, and then he showed Asgard to Jane.  While she was in Asgard, she was briefly given immortality and the power of the gods, but was stripped of these powers by Odin when she failed to pass the tests of courage he set before her.  As a result of this, she was sent back to Earth with no memory of Thor or Blake. Jane fell in love with Dr. Keith Kincaid and eventually married and had a child with him.  Foster would later become a doctor herself, and take the side of Captain America during the Superhero Registration Act Civil War.  She operated out of a safe house and would patch up heroes who had been injured.  

After divorcing Dr. Kincaid and losing custody of their child, Foster began to hear rumors that Thor and Donald Blake had returned.  Blake sought out Foster, mistakenly believing her life force had been merged with that of Sif, Thor’s then-current love interest.  Foster discovered, however, that Sif had actually merged with a dying cancer patient.  After Blake restored Sif, Jane Foster moved out to Broxton, Oklahoma and opened a medical practice with Blake in the New Asgard. 

When Thor lost the ability to wield Mjolnir after Nick Fury whispered an unrevealed secret to him, Jane Foster picked it up and became the Goddess of Thunder.  However, every time she transformed into Thor, it removed all of the toxins from her body, including the chemotherapy she was taking for her breast cancer diagnosis.  As Thor, Foster survived the final battle between Earth-616 and Earth-1610 by boarding Reed Richard’s life raft.  In the aftermath, Foster infiltrated Dr. Doom’s Thor Corps on Battleworld and convinced the majority of them to rebel against Doom.  

As a member of the All-New All-Different Avengers, her cancer reached a point where she had to reveal her identity to her teammates, who forced her to stay in a hospital under the care of Dr. Strange, who determined that one more transformation would kill Jane.  Jane sacrificed Mjolnir and herself when she transformed one final time to help defeat Mangog and save Asgard.  Overcome by grief, Thor attempted to resurrect Jane when she hesitated at the gates of Valhalla. Odin eventually helped him, and proved successful in resurrecting Jane.  She convinced Thor to reclaim his name and continue the War of the Realms, and she returned to Earth and focused on her treatment. When the War of the Realms reachesdEarth, Jane was appointed the All-Mother while Odin and Frigga fought Malekith and his forces.  As the war continued, Brunhilde and the rest of the Valkyrior were massacred.  Foster used Mjolnir from Earth-1610 to fight back against Malekith and his forces, and hurled it into Laufey.  Mjolnir shattered, and then reforged as a bracelet that can transform into whatever Jane needs it to be.  She became the first in a new generation of Valkyries and still uses this weapon to fight her battles now.      

Publication History/MCU History

Jane Foster first appeared in Journey Into Mystery #84 in September of 1962 (created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby), but didn’t show up as Thor until the Jason Aaron run starting in 2014 with Thor #1.  Jane begins her time as a Valkyrie in 2019’s War of the Realms Omega #1. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jane Foster is played by the incredible actor Natalie Portman, which is another A+ casting choice in my opinion.  Jane has appeared in the films Thor (2011), Thor: The Dark World (2013), and Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), as well as Avengers: Endgame, and the animated series on Disney+ What If…?.

Recommended Runs

-Journey Into Mystery #84 (Lee/Lieber/Kirby):  It’s the first one.  Take 15 minutes out of your day if for no other reason than to see just how far this character has come.

-Thor #1-8 (Aaron/Dauterman/Wilson): This is the good stuff.  I love Jason Aaron, and I will admit that this is partly because he is a fellow Alabamian, and it’s just cool when one of us does something like write one of the biggest events in Marvel Comics history.

-Thor: Love and Thunder: Look, I get it. It’s not great.  But you do get to see Jane Foster as Thor on the big screen!  

Does the Model Hit the Mark?

I think so.  Jane as a 5-threat makes a lot of sense.  Additionally, I like that they made her a leader for Asgard, and quite frankly I like her leadership the best.  It gives her squad some dice-fixing, which they don’t have to have, but it’s nice.  She is also incredibly consistent with the suite of attacks and superpowers at her disposal.  She has a charge, a terrain throw, and defensive dice modification.  Additionally, she has a really great range band with her attacks, too.  Be careful, though, her spender can hurt herself and allies.  I also love how they worked the bit of lore about how turning into Thor is actually hurting her into a Team Tactics Card instead of an innate superpower on her card.  

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