Since the moment Natalie Portman first held Mjolnir on stage at San Diego Comic-Con 2019, audiences everywhere have anxiously awaited the moment we’d finally see her as the Mighty Thor. The moment happened earlier this week with the release of Thor: Love and Thunder’s first trailer and it was everything we wanted and more. The “more” being key to this particular story.
Fans of the Marvel Comics run where Portman’s character, Jane Foster, became the Mighty Thor knew the story was much more complex. And now, a rogue description on a collectibles site strongly suggests the movie and comics share the same connection.
Note: what follows is, if true, certainly a spoiler for Thor: Love and Thunder but it’s a key component to the multiyear Mighty Thor arc so, it’s out there. Be advised.
So earlier this week, collectible retailer Eaglemoss revealed its prop replica of the Mighty Thor’s Helmet from Thor: Love and Thunder (which you can see above). With it came the following description, according to Slashfilm. (In the interim, the description has since been slightly edited, but we’ll get back to that.)
Suffering from cancer, astrophysicist and Thor’s ex-girlfriend, Jane Foster, visited New Asgard and her life was changed forever. Mysteriously, the broken pieces of Mjolnir, the hammer of the thunder god, transformed her into the Mighty Thor and gifted her the superpowers of Thor, to battle threats internal and external. Wielding Mjolnir herself, she had become a godly protector and a new hero was born!
With the help of Thor, Valkyrie, and the Guardians of the Galaxy, the Mighty Thor was faced by the powerful Gorr, the God Butcher. With divine powers himself, Gorr was driven to rid the universe of gods wherever he found them. Battling cancer in her human form and Gorr in her godly form, Jane Foster was embroiled in an epic struggle with plenty of love and thunder!
OK now, there’s a lot there. And before we dive into the implications, let’s stick to the facts. The fact is this description was, reportedly, up on Eaglemoss’s site but at a certain point, it was drastically edited. As of publication, the entire second paragraph is now gone and the first one reads only as follows:
While visiting the broken pieces of Mjolnir in New Asgard, Jane Foster’s life is forever changed when she mysteriously transforms into the Mighty Thor. Now armed with Mjolnir and the power of Thor herself, Jane embraces her new life as a godly protector.
That’s it. No mentions of illness, no mentions of larger plot implications, just very simple. So what happened and why? Gizmodo reached out to Disney, which would not comment on this, and a request for clarification from Eaglemoss has not been responded to as of publication.
Those are the facts. But now let’s dig in. The original description makes it seem fairly likely that Thor: Love and Thunder will follow the comic book storyline which is that Jane is sick with cancer and, once she becomes the Mighty Thor, it keeps the disease at bay. The stuff about Gorr coming for the Mighty Thor, and not Thor Odinson, seems like it’s part of the film’s plot, though Gorr did factor a bit into that overall comic book story.
Now, what happened here? We can only speculate but it seems likely that Eaglemoss had more information than Disney wanted out there and when Disney found out, it asked them to remove it. Is it possible Eaglemoss was just following the comics and not the movie storyline? Sure, but that second paragraph about Gorr and the Guardians sure seems like the company had movie-based specifics. It certainly did in regards to the helmet design.
All of this leads us to believe that Thor: Love and Thunder will be about a sick Jane Foster becoming The Mighty Thor, Gorr the God Butcher coming for her, Odinson and the Guardians coming to help and, eventually, well… there’s no cure for cancer. Not even in the Marvel Universe.
What? You just thought Thor: Love and Thunder was gonna be big dumb action sequences and lots of laughs? It seems likely that’s not the case. The film opens July 8.
Want more Gizmodo news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.
Editor’s Note: Release dates within this article are based in the U.S., but will be updated with local Australian dates as soon as we know more.
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