Since last October, Mighty Thor has been running a storyline called “The Death of Mighty Thor”. This week, that storyline lived up to its name.
Jane Foster, at the end of everything in The Mighty Thor #705.Image: Russell Dauterman and Matt Wilson (Marvel Comics)
In reality, Jane Foster’s final end came in the climactic moments of Mighty Thor #704 last month – when Jane chose to transform into Thor one last time, against the wishes of her friends, after her cancer progressed too far to treat. It was a last-ditch attempt to save all of Asgard from the murderous rampage of the Mangog. The inevitability that Jane’s death – once she transforms back from being Thor – has basically already happened gives all of this week’s Mighty Thor #705 (by Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, Matt Wilson and Joe Sabino) a funereal tone.
Tragedy pervades the issue – it’s genuinely heartbreaking to watch Odinson, one of the few people around to actually know who Thor is underneath the mask, howl in anger and grief when she arrives to fight the Mangog. Every page turn is taken with the knowledge that by the end of it, Jane Foster will be gone. But there’s also a lot of hope in it, too, thanks to Jane herself.
Even in her final moments, Jane Foster has time to be an absolute badarse. Image: Russell Dauterman and Matt Wilson (Marvel Comics)
The last thing she tells the still-fleeing Asgardians as their home crumbles and plummets towards the Sun is that she’s chosen to sacrifice herself so that they can live, and to earn the love and faith of the mortals that believe in them. When the Mangog needles Jane – vaguely aware that she isn’t quite wholly a god – about why she’s chosen to give her life for people that, on the whole, don’t actually care for her, when it would be so easy to give in to her own hate for them and just stand aside, Jane’s answer is similar. Fighting because of hate is easy. Fighting for love? That takes the strength of a woman like Jane Foster.
When the time actually comes for Jane to make her sacrifice, with Odinson at her side, she does so not by the Mangog’s hands, but by letting go of the one thing that’s kept her going: Mjlonir. Wrapping it and Mangog in chains made to bind Fenrir during Ragnarok itself, Jane gives one last command to her constant companion as the Goddess of Thunder – the thing she has feared losing the most during her time as Thor – and casts it off to the Sun, seemingly destroying both the hammer and Mangog in the process.
Jane and Odinson say goodbye. Image: Russell Dauterman and Matt Wilson (Marvel Comics)
It leaves little time for more than a goodbye between two Thors, a bittersweet kiss that ends a decade-long relationship as the Mighty Thor fades away, leaving nothing but the body of Jane for Odinson to cradle in his arms. A fitting end, found in love, for a woman who so dearly championed it, in her lives as a doctor and as a goddess.
There is still one more issue of Mighty Thor to go, before this excellent creative team splits up (writer Jason Aaron, at least, will continue in the new relaunch of Thor with artist Mike Del Mundo), an epilogue to Jane’s remarkable time as the Mighty Thor. Given that this is comic books we’re talking about, there’s always a chance there’s some surprising way that Jane herself is brought back from the grave, even if she can no longer be Thor. It seems unlikely, given the finality of this issue, but even if it does happen, it doesn’t change this: The Goddess of Thunder is no more.
Comments
4 responses to “Marvel’s Goddess Of Thunder Has Fallen”
Personally happy it’s over really. in an effort to make her look good other characters suffered. take Odin for instance. casually destroys Odinson every time he piped up and yet Jane actually had a competetive fight with him. then the whole mangog thing just now in which I’m genuinely unsure why she made all that much of a difference.
other than that I just didn’t really enjoy her that much. never felt like Thor. yes the epic was there and all but, so little conection. Thor had a history with all so many villains. personal drive was there and then Jane comes along… it felt as though Miles Morales suddenly apropriated Peters entire rogues gallery while he’s still there.
I won’t say the character or concept was bad but, it never really made much of a positive impact on me who was far more interested in Odinson when he showed up.
Excellent critique.
I was quite keen to get in to the Jane/Thor run but it ended up chasing me away.
The problem was the writers were too concerned with making a statement as opposed to actually telling a story.
Too much of her time as the goddess of thunder was dedicated to breaking the forth wall and taking swipes at folks who didn’t and wouldn’t actually read the comics, a dedicated mouth piece instead of a fleshed out character.
She was constantly rubbed in the face of the reader as if it to say “How do you like that huh?!”
at the expense of her own story.
It had some good moments, but they were too few and far between, constantly sidelined for the writers own personal commentary.
I mean come on, there was actually a villain who gave herself up because she respected there was now a female Thor and what that represented, it was cringeworthy and forced, not to mention bloody insulting to the reader and most importantly the character.
If the plan was to kill her off this way then every moment should have been dedicated to giving her the story she deserved especially when compared to other connected characters at the time like Odison and Loki who were getting some amazing writing grounded in the actual comic world.
This only makes me sad that the MCU’s Jane Foster is such an awful character. Thankfully she’s gone and I guess that they could someday make a Goddess of Thunder movie by having Portman cameo for a few seconds at the beginning and then have another actress replace her as the Goddess for the rest of the movie.