If the Russo brothers can’t even tell us whether or not Jane Foster remains alive, then she needs to make a comeback in Avengers 4.
Warning: Some mild Avengers: Infinity War spoiler allusions are below.
With so many characters already in Avengers: Infinity War, it only makes sense that we didn’t see the fate of every single Marvel Cinematic Universe character so far. (We don’t even know if Shuri’s alive, which continues to distress us on a daily basis.)
One such character is, of course, Jane Foster. The saga of Natalie Portman’s time in the MCU is second only to Chris Evans’ in terms of confusion over what’s actually going on, and now the Russo brothers have thrown another wrinkle into everything by saying they can’t say if she dies or not because it might ruin their plans for Avengers 4.
Got that? Neither do we, honestly, but we’re going to try and make sense of it.
Let’s start with a basic premise: Jane Foster would be a perfect re-addition to Avengers 4. Since we last saw her, characters like Shuri have arrived, expanding the concept of who can be smart in the MCU. Can you imagine the two of them teaming up to figure out how the Infinity Stones work and how to use the power of science to save everyone, with ScreenRant putting forth a similar concept (though without letting Jane team up, which would be a crime)?
But beyond that, there’s a sense that Jane’s story is not done. Yes, as ScreenRant notes, there are reasons for that. Even if Chris Hemsworth stays as Thor and Jane simply becomes (or rebecomes, as the case should be) one of the smartest minds in the MCU, she should be back.
Yes, ScreenRant proposes that too, and we agree with their basic premise that Jane needs more in the MCU. We’d love for Lady Thor to rise up and for Portman to actually be an action hero a la Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
But we’d rather have Kamala Khan and Carol Danvers first to get some new superheroes… then we can talk about Thor making her comeback.
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Ultimately, Portman has an opportunity to leave a truly indelible mark on not one, but two of the biggest geeky franchises ever. That’s hard to discount. Hopefully, both Marvel and Portman get that, too.
(We’d also take Tom Hiddleston’s return, Marvel.)