Jane Foster


Jane Foster is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writers Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #84. Jane Foster was introduced as a love interest of the superhero Thor Odinson until becoming a superhero in her own right.
For many years, Foster was a nurse, employed by Dr. Donald Blake, Thor's first mortal host, before becoming a doctor herself. Foster is later revealed to be deemed worthy to wield Thor's hammer Mjolnir when the former is no longer able. During this period, she adopts the mantle of Thor, and joins the Avengers. Foster's stint as Thor ends with the character sacrificing her life and the mantle reverting to the original Thor. After Brunnhilde and the rest of the Valkyrior are killed during "The War of the Realms" storyline, Foster takes up the mantle of Valkyrie.
Jane Foster has been described as one of Marvel's most notable and powerful female heroes. Since her original introduction in comics, the character has been featured in various other Marvel-licensed products, including video games, animated television series, and merchandise. Natalie Portman has portrayed Jane Foster in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Publication history

Jane Foster first appeared in Journey into Mystery #84, and was created by plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber and penciler Jack Kirby. Named "Jane Nelson" in her first two appearances, she went on to appear as the love interest of Dr. Donald Blake, the secret identity of the Norse god superhero Thor, in nearly every issue through #136 of the title, by then renamed Thor.
In October 2014, the fourth volume of Thor, writer Jason Aaron and artist Russell Dauterman in the first issue debuted a female character in the role of Thor after the classic hero is no longer able to wield Mjolnir. Aaron stated, "This is not She-Thor. This is not Lady Thor. This is not Thorita. This is Thor. This is the Thor of the Marvel Universe. But it’s unlike any Thor we’ve ever seen before." In 2015, this Thor joined the Avengers in All-New All-Different Avengers FCBD, which takes place in the aftermath of the "Secret Wars" storyline. In Thor vol. 4 #8, the identity of the woman was revealed to be Jane Foster. Aaron said, "It grew out of the idea of the previous Thor becoming unworthy, which was something I was always building toward. I liked the idea of dealing with his worthiness and the idea of what it means for a god to be worthy in the Marvel universe. You know, the god of thunder waking up every morning and looking at the hammer and not knowing if he’s gonna be worthy to lift it. Then, of course, one day he should wake up and not be able to lift it. That opened the door for someone else to pick up the hammer and carry it around in his place. Really, the only character that was discussed was Jane." A second volume of The Mighty Thor by Aaron and Dauterman and again starring Jane Foster as Thor debuted as part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel initiative after the conclusion of "Secret Wars." The concept of Jane Foster gaining the powers of Thor had previously been explored in What If #10. Foster appeared in the 2015 original graphic novel Avengers: Rage of Ultron as a member of the Avengers.
Jane Foster reappears in the War of the Realms storyline, before taking up the mantle as the new Valkyrie in a new ongoing series titled "Jane Foster: Valkyrie." The series was written by Aaron in collaboration with other authors. One of those authors, Torunn Grønbekk, wrote a new comic in 2022, "Jane Foster & The Mighty Thor."

Fictional character history

Early history

Jane Nelson, known by her more common name of Jane Foster, was a nurse for Dr. Donald Blake, eventually developing feelings for him and Thor, not knowing that they were one and the same. The love triangle went on for a while until Thor revealed his secret identity to Foster, which caused Odin to punish him though he was forgiven after saving Asgard, and in return Thor even took her to Asgard with him. There, Foster was briefly granted immortality and the power of gods, until she failed to pass the tests of courage set forth by Odin when she showed fear battling the monstrous Unknown. Odin then strips Foster of her new powers and returns her to Earth, with no memory of Thor or her time in Asgard, where she meets her new love Dr. Keith Kincaid, who resembles Blake. Meanwhile, in Asgard, Odin reunites Thor with his childhood love, Sif.
Foster and Thor remain separated for some time until Thor learns Foster had been manipulated into attempting suicide by an entity known as Fear and rushes to her hospital bedside. Sif, seeing Thor still has feelings for Foster, saves Foster's life by merging their life-forces. They soon are separated and Foster is exiled to a pocket dimension. Thor and Sif eventually rescue Foster and return her to Earth, where she marries Dr. Keith Kincaid.

Physician

Foster appears again in the second Thor volume; now a doctor herself, she is in a position of authority over several New York paramedics, including Jake Olsen. Unbeknownst to her, Jake and Thor have been merged, which creates many conflicts. In one instance, Olsen ignores medical orders and utilizes Thor's knowledge to perform a complicated procedure on a critically ill man.
Later, Foster becomes involved in a police case against Olsen, who is accused of stealing drugs. She also examines Jack Monroe, who stated that he sought her out due to her familiarity with superhuman patients. She later informed Monroe that he was dying due to the effects of the Super-Soldier Serum he had ingested as a youth.
During the 2006 "Civil War" storyline, Foster takes Captain America's side against the registration act and joins his resistance group, the Secret Avengers. She operates from S.H.I.E.L.D. safe-house number 23. She is also seen in issue 4, helping to assist a beaten Spider-Man.

Return

Shortly after divorcing her husband and subsequently losing custody of her child, Jimmy Kincaid, Foster hears rumors of the return of Dr. Donald Blake and Thor. Blake soon visits Foster at her work in a New York City hospital in search of Sif, whose spirit Blake mistakenly thought had been reborn in Foster since their spirits had been merged once before. Foster and Blake go on a date after an initially turbulent reunion. Foster discovers that Sif's spirit had been reborn in the body of a dying elderly cancer patient under her care. She alerts Blake and Thor manages to restore Sif just before the patient dies. Foster then travels to Broxton, Oklahoma, the site of the resurrected Asgard, and opens a medical practice with Donald Blake.

Cancer and becoming Thor

Following the deaths of her ex-husband and son in a car accident, Foster is diagnosed with breast cancer, and accepts an invitation from Thor to represent Midgard in the Congress of the Worlds on Asgard. She undergoes therapy but refuses all magical treatments.
During the 2014 "Original Sin" storyline, Nick Fury whispers an, at the time, unrevealed secret to Thor that causes him to lose the ability to wield Mjolnir. Soon afterwards, an unidentified woman picks up the hammer, taking possession of Thor's power as the new Goddess of Thunder, and fights Malekith the Accursed, Dario Agger, and the Absorbing Man. Although Thor initially attempts to reclaim the hammer, he – referring to himself as 'Odinson' – relinquishes the name and role of Thor after witnessing her wield its power. Odinson suspects Foster as a possible candidate for his successor, but he soon dismisses her due to her weakened condition from chemotherapy.
Angered that someone else is wielding Mjolnir, Odin and his brother Cul, the God of Fear, send the Destroyer after the new Thor to retrieve the hammer, but Odinson and Freyja assemble an army of female superheroes to aid her. When the battle is over, Odinson asks Thor to reveal her face, but is interrupted by S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Roz Solomon, Odinson's last 'viable' suspect as the new Thor after all other possible candidates came to assist in the battle. Unbeknownst to Odinson, Mjolnir has given Jane the strength to fight as Thor while it is in her possession. However, Jane's use of Mjolnir has perpetuated her cancer as a result of the transformation process purging all toxins from her body, including the chemotherapy being used for her treatment, each time she transforms.

Secret Wars

During the 2015 "Secret Wars" storyline, Foster participates in the final battle between Earth-616 and Earth-1610 during its collision during the incursion event. She is one of the few survivors of the end of the extant Marvel Universe, boarding Reed Richards's "life raft". She and the other survivors are awakened eight years later, having been trapped in suspended animation. In the interim, Doctor Doom created a new universe, Battleworld, from the fragments of dead universes. Knowing the survivors represent the only hope of defeating Doom, Doctor Strange scatters Foster and the others to different parts of Battleworld. For this, Doom kills Strange and begins hunting the survivors. Foster infiltrated the Thor Corps, Doom's police force, and convinced a majority of them to revolt against Doom.

All-New All-Different Marvel

In the 2015–18 All-New All-Different Marvel branding, Foster remains in Asgardia as a representative of Midgard in the Congress of Worlds, and as Thor, she remains a fugitive pursued by Cul. Odinson is considered missing. She became involved in the war between Svartalfheim, the realm of the Dark Elves, and Alfheim, the realm of the Light Elves and encountered several incarnations of Loki. After the elf races struck a deal by wedding their respective monarchs, Thor returned to Asgard to confront the power-mad Odin, who had Freyja on trial. Loki and Thor arrived at the point when The All-Mother was about to be placed on a verdict by Odin. The rebellious Asgardian warriors also made their way into the hall fighting Cul Borson's thunderguard. Thor and Odin got into a crunching battle that wandered across Saturn's moons while it was revealed that Loki was a spy for Freyja. Loki then stabs Freyja halting the battles at hand. Meanwhile, in a different location entirely, Odinson is held captive telepathically feeling the death of his mother. Later, after returning to Earth, Jane is taken into custody by two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who suspected of her double life as Thor until she's bailed out by Agent Solomon. She goes to Switzerland where she meets Agent Solomon and accompanies her to the Southern Ocean to find a hidden station that belongs to Roxxon. They find the station underwater where Thor encounters Shingen Harada, the second Silver Samurai, who had invaded the station. After being defeated, Shingen escapes from the station, leaving Thor and Agent Solomon to drown. Thor manages to lift the station to the surface while Solomon interrogated the employees about the location of Dario Agger and his contingency plan known as the Agger Imperative. Upon entering Roxxon Corporation HQ, Thor battles the Mindless Ones and the B.E.R.S.E.R.K.E.R.S., a group of Hulk-like superhumans, while Solomon looked for Dario. During the fight, Thor is approached by S.H.I.E.L.D. who order her to surrender, apparently discovering her civilian identity. Upon holding off the S.H.I.E.L.D. squad, Thor finds Solomon wounded from her fight with Exterminatrix and attacks her and Minotaur with her lightning. When Exterminatrix was about to shoot at Dario with a golden bullet, Thor caught it in mid-air, only for her to get affected by the bullet's gold turning effect. When S.H.I.E.L.D. was about to arrest them, a portal appeared revealing Jane Foster coming to help Thor. While Jane removes the gold bullet from Thor, the Agger Imperative is activated causing the island where the building is to fall from the sky. While S.H.I.E.L.D. evacuates the building, Thor defeats Silver Samurai and Exterminatrix and destroys the island. While the villains are arrested, the two agents who tried to arrest Jane apologize to her and Thor. Thor then reveals to Solomon that the other Jane is an illusion created by Mjolnir and her secret identity as well. After promising to keep the secret safe, Solomon asks Jane about the hammer until Jane disappears when she grabs Mjolnir and gets struck by lightning.