Thor 4: Why was Natalie Portman not in Thor Ragnarok? Actress opens up

Thor: Love And Thunder has quite a long time before its release date. Director Taika Waititi even implied he has not finished writing it. So how exactly will Natalie Portman, who plays Jane Foster, take on the mantle of Thor after not appearing in the third film?

Natalie Portman’s character, Jane Foster, featured heavily in the first and second Thor movies.

In Thor: The Dark World, she even got the chance to fly off to Asgard to meet the parents, sort of, after she was infected by the Aether, a weapon unleashed by the Dark Elves.

Now, it has been revealed she will return to the Marvel world and become a female Thor, possibly even getting into a love triangle with Thor (played by Chris Hemsworth) and Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson).

So why was Jane not involved in Thor: Ragnarok, which saw Thor captured and forced to fight The Hulk on a new planet?

Speaking to The Independent, Portman has opened up on what happened and she was not there.

She said: “The third one didn’t take place on Earth, where Jane lives, so it didn’t make sense for me to be there.

“When [director Taika Waititi] came to me with this idea – that I get to be female Thor – it was a very exciting prospect.”

Clearly, the idea of taking more of a lead role rather than a supporting female was appealing to Portman.

She also admitted she has been struck by the number of brilliant female heroes who have been brought into the Marvel universe.

She added: “I think Marvel has been really wonderful at making their films look more like a reflection of the world and having superheroes of all different kinds of people.

“And to have so many female protagonists [with Angelina Jolie as Thena in The Eternals] is also really, really exciting.

“The Black Widow movie [starring Scarlett Johansson] looks amazing.”

Portman also felt the new role will give her the chance to inspire young people, even commenting that a young person she saw at a climate march claimed one of the reasons they wanted to fight was because they “grew up on Marvel movies.”

She said: “I love getting to be part of something that is such a major part of entertainment for young people.

“It sets your mindset to recognise injustice.”

At present, it is unclear when Thor: Love And Thunder will start filming, though it is expected to be released on November 5, 2021, meaning there is plenty of time to get the film off the ground.

Little is known about the Thor movie, including its story, though Taika Waititi has confirmed he will reprise his role of Korg.

Speaking to Jimmy Kimmel, the US TV host, Waititi said: “I just finished a couple of drafts of that story.

“There’s more Thor! There’s twice the Thor in Thor 4.

”Natalie Portman’s coming back, she’ll be playing a female version of Thor, it’s from a comic run.

“There’ll be two of them! My character is coming back, Korg.”

Waititi also said they will be using the The Mighty Thor comic as a base for his new story, adding: “We’re not sure if we’re going to do a complete lift of that whole storyline.

“These things change through the shoot and even when we’re editing sometimes.

”Like, ‘Let’s get rid of that storyline where she’s got breast cancer. We’ll change it to something else, or maybe she’s fine.”

Thor Love and Thunder is out in cinemas on November 5, 2021