Natalie Portman playing Mighty Thor is everything we never knew we needed
From the dawn of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, we had to deal with men leading the charge. But Phase 4 seems to be a new era for the franchise’s women, with Natalie Portman starring as Mighty Thor.
Jane Foster may have left Thor’s life, but Natalie Portman isn’t done with the Marvel Cinematic Universe quite yet. In a storyline that many fans have clung to, Thor: Love and Thunder is going to feature a Jane Foster who is worthy of the hammer — or so, that’s what we’re thinking.
While this news isn’t exactly new anymore, it does show that Marvel is changing the way it’s viewing their characters. For so long, the MCU was led primarily by white, straight men. (Not that many of us were complaining — we love the Tony Starks and Steve Rogers of the world — but that doesn’t erase the fact that there needs to be a more diverse cast of characters in the MCU.
It is fun that it seems as if the Thor movies are at the forefront of that movement. With Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, we’re seeing the first queer hero in the MCU, and from there, the movies are only getting better. Taika Waititi is set to direct the fourth film, and we shouldn’t be losing Chris Hemsworth as Thor either.
What’s most exciting about this news, though, is that Marvel seems to finally be taking some of the criticisms against it seriously. Throughout the last eleven years, there has been some progress in the way of representation in the MCU, but it has been slow moving. Black Panther literally came out in 2018, and the first female-led movie wasn’t out until this year.
So the idea that we’re getting a female Thor so soon after the first-ever female-hero movie is kind of incredible. Now, that’s not to say that Marvel has done all the growing it needs to. If anything, there are plenty of other characters in the lexicon of Marvel that they can bring to life to steer the narrative away from the typical heroes we’ve grown accustomed to seeing.
Jane Foster is a step in the right direction and hopefully, with the rest of the MCU that is set up for Phase 4, we’ll see the beginning of a new, diverse era of Marvel.
Related Story. SDCC: The 5 biggest things that happened on day 3. light