Jane Foster (comics)

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Jane Foster

Jane Foster.
Art by Marko Djurdjevic.
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics
First appearance Journey into Mystery #84 (Sept 1962)
Created by Stan Lee
Larry Lieber
Jack Kirby
In-story information
Species Human
Place of origin Earth
Team affiliations Secret Avengers (Civil War)

Jane Foster is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics, usually as a supporting character of the superhero Thor. For many years she was a nurse employed by Dr. Donald Blake, Thor's human host. Created by writers Stan Lee and Larry Lieber, and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Journey into Mystery #84 (September 1962). She has also appeared in various media adaptations of Thor, including the 2011 feature film Thor, and the 2013 sequel Thor: The Dark World. In both films, she was portrayed by actress Natalie Portman.

Publication history

Jane Foster first appeared in Journey into Mystery #84 (Sept. 1962), 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 (Jan. 1967) of the title, by then renamed Thor.[2] She has since made sporadic guest appearances in the title.

Fictional character 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 Jane, which caused Odin to punish him though he was forgiven after saving Asgard, and in return Thor even took her to Asgard with him.[3] There, Jane 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 Jane 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.[4]

Jane and Thor remain separated for sometime until Thor learns that Jane had been manipulated into attempting suicide by an entity known as "Fear" and rushes to her hospital bedside.[5] Sif, seeing that Thor still has feelings for Jane, chooses to save Jane's life by merging their life-forces together.[6] Jane is soon separated from Sif and is exiled to a pocket dimension only accessible through the Possessor's runestaff.[7] Thor and Sif eventually rescue Jane and return her to Earth. Upon her return Jane marries her mortal love, Dr. Keith Kincaid.[8]

Physician

Jane 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 become merged, which creates much conflict. In one instance, Olsen ignores medical orders and utilizes Thor's knowledge to perform a complicated procedure on a critically ill man.[9]

Later, Foster becomes involved in a police case against Olsen, who is accused of stealing drugs.[10] 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.[11]

Civil War

During the superhero Civil War, Jane takes Captain America's side against the registration act and joins his resistance group, the Secret Avengers. She operates from SHIELD safe-house number 23. Though only briefly seen in Civil War #2, Marvel Editor Tom Brevoort stated in an interview on Newsarama that it was really her welcoming the Young Avengers at the new headquarters.[12] She is also seen in issue 4, helping to assist a beaten Spider-Man.

Return

After hearing rumors of the return of Dr. Donald Blake and Thor, Foster divorces her husband and subsequently loses custody of her child. 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.[13] Foster and Blake go on a date after an initially turbulent reuniting.[14][15] Foster later discovers that Sif's spirit had actually been reborn in the body of a dying elderly cancer patient and alerts Blake. Thor then travels to New York and is able to restore Sif just before the patient dies.[16][17]

Foster later goes to Broxton, Oklahoma, the site of the resurrected Asgard,[18] and opens a medical practice with Donald Blake.[19] Foster assists the Avengers when Bucky Barnes is infected with Baron Zemo's nanites. Using an EMP device in Avengers Tower's lab, she is able to destroy the nanites.[20]

Other versions

Marvel 1985

In the 6th and final issue of Marvel 1985 (2008), Jane Foster is the attending nurse present when Jerry Goodman wakes from his coma. He asks her on a date, and she accepts. Jerry has had a crush on Jane since reading Thor comics as a child.

Thor The Mighty Avenger

In this all ages "non-continuity" comic published in 2010 and 2011, Jane Foster is the newly promoted head of the department of Nordic Antiquities at the Bergen War Memorial Museum in Bergen, Oklahoma. She first encounters Thor when he attempts to smash one of the museum's exhibit cases (which is later revealed to contain an urn inside which Thor's hammer is concealed). Over the course of the title's eight issues Jane and Thor (who has been exiled from Asgard by Odin and is staying at Jane's apartment) become romantically involved and have a variety of adventures together.

Ultimate version

Jane was briefly seen in the Ultimate universe during the first series of Ultimates, where she was one of the few people that was convinced Thor really was the thunder god. She was also described as a nurse from San Francisco.[21] In recent events, it seems she and Thor live in a flat together.[22]

What if

In What If? #10 (August 1978) titled "What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor", Jane was also briefly transformed into a goddess and called herself Thordis. She even used those powers to rescue Donald Blake (Thor's powerless alter-ego) from danger. Upon saving Asgard from Ragnarok, Odin forces her to relinquish the hammer to Donald Blake, who then transforms back to Thor. This resulted in Jane losing her powers, but she was allowed to remain on Asgard and keep her goddess status since she later falls in love with and marries Odin.[23]

In What If? #25 (February 1980), titled "What If Thor Fought Odin over Jane Foster" (also known as "What If Thor Fought the Asgardian Gods"), Thor is banished from Asgard along with Jane when Thor refused to accept Odin's judgment following Jane's failure to ascend to godhood. Thor subsequently leads the Avengers against the forces of Asgard, leaving Iron Man and Loki (who once again attempted to seize rulership of Asgard during the conflict) dead and forcing Thor himself into self-imposed banishment for almost destroying Asgard in his selfishness.

In other media

Natalie Portman as Jane Foster as depicted in the film Thor.

Television

  • Jane Foster is a supporting character in "The Mighty Thor" segment of The Marvel Super Heroes voiced by Peg Dixon.
  • Jane Foster appears in The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, voiced by Kari Wahlgren. She made her series debut appearing in "Thor The Mighty". In this version, she is not a nurse, but a paramedic. She appears to have a heroic personality as Thor noted, and this is why he felt so amazed by her.

Film

  • Natalie Portman portrays Foster in the live-action film Thor directed by Kenneth Branagh. Marvel Studios stated in an announcement that the character will be updated from the comics' initial portrayal for the feature adaptation.[24] This version of the character is an astrophysicist.[25]

Video games

Toys

  • A figure of Foster as she appears in the film Thor was released in wave 39 of the Marvel Minimates line as the chase variant.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Jack Dorsey. Impressions on the White House Twitter Townhall. The White House. Retrieved on July 10, 2011.
  2. ↑ Jane Foster at the Grand Comics Database
  3. ↑ Journey into Mystery vol. 1, #125 (February 1966)
  4. ↑ Thor vol. 1, #136 (January 1967)
  5. ↑ Thor vol. 1, #231 (January 1975)
  6. ↑ Thor vol. 1, #236 (June 1975)
  7. ↑ Thor vol. 1, #249 (July 1976)
  8. ↑ Thor vol. 1, #334–336 (August–October 1983)
  9. ↑ Thor vol. 2, #5 (November 1998)
  10. ↑ Thor vol. 2, #15–16 (September–October 1999)
  11. ↑ Captain America vol. 5, #7
  12. ↑ http://www.newsarama.com/marvelnew/CivilWar/WarRoom/02/CivilWarRoom2.html
  13. ↑ Thor vol. 3, #8
  14. ↑ J. Michael Straczynski (w), Olivier Coipel, Mark Morales (p), Thor vol. 3, #11 (October 29, 2008), New York, NY: Marvel Comics
  15. ↑ "Preview: Thor vol. 3 #11". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved September 28, 2010. 
  16. ↑ J. Michael Straczynski (w), Marko Djurdjevic (p), Thor #602 (June 24, 2009), New York, NY: Marvel Comics
  17. ↑ Nevett, Chad (June 23, 2009). "Review: Thor #602". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved September 28, 2010. 
  18. ↑ Thor #606
  19. ↑ Thor #615
  20. ↑ Captain America #607
  21. ↑ Ultimates 2 #3
  22. ↑ Avengers vs New Ultimates #3
  23. ↑ Beard, Jim (September 23, 2010). "Essential Thor: Jane Foster". Marvel.com. Retrieved September 30, 2010. 
  24. ↑ "Natalie Portman Joins 'Thor' Cast, Chris Hemsworth Confirmed As Lead". MTV Splash Page. 2009-07-13. Retrieved 2009-07-28. 
  25. ↑ Kaufman, Amy and Boucher, Geoff (2010-11-19). "Natalie Portman says ‘Thor’ role hammers away at ‘cute’ stereotypes". LA Times. Retrieved 2010-11-19. 
  26. ↑ "Marvel's The Avengers". Boxoffice (magazine). 2012-04-20. Retrieved 2012-04-20. 
  27. ↑ Flemming, Mike (2011-10-13). "TOLDJA! Patty Jenkins Confirmed As 'Thor 2' Director". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on 2011-10-13. Retrieved 2011-10-13. 
  28. ↑ Lee, Esther (December 3, 2013). "Natalie Portman: Chris Hemsworth's Wife Elsa Pataky Was My Stand-In For Kissing Scene in Thor: The Dark World". US Weekly. Archived from the original on December 4, 2013. Retrieved December 4, 2013. 

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