Thor Love and Thunder – Jane Powers Explained
Taika Waititi is one of the most popular and known MCU directors. He has returned once again at the helm of an MCU movie, which is Thor: Love and Thunder. The fact that he helms the movie made the movie highly anticipated since it was announced. It was great news for people who always enjoyed seeing his work, and it was great news to see him back once again in this epic franchise. Another huge return that excited people was the return of Natalie Portman. She will appear once again in the franchise, as her last appearance was in Thor: Dark World. She returns once again as the love interest of Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth. On the other hand, her return comes with a twist, as she also has Thor’s mystical godly power.
The Introduction of Jane Foster’s Thor-like Powers – Spoiler Alert
Every MCU fan was looking forward to the introduction of the powers of Jane Foster. Jane Foster became worthy to wield the powers of Thor and wield Mjölnir in the comics by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman. The return of Natalie Portman was significantly celebrated, as she is always a celebrated star across numerous Disney franchises.
The trick is the MCU is not the comics. The plot in the MCU differs according to contracts as well as modern CGI limits. Therefore, it was not really possible to provide a direct adaptation of how she got her powers. In fact, the movie seems to approach the whole Jane Foster becomes a Heroine is more of a comedic approach.
The Issues with Jane Foster’s Character in Thor Love and Thunder
It is clear that the biggest issue with Thor Love and Thunder is the pacing. There are so many new characters, such as Christian Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher. There are also returning characters as well as a set of cameos. All of these characters had to be crammed into the 2-hour run time of the movie. So it seems that the movie has stretched itself thin, as it tried to cover so many new characters and plots at once. It did that while also trying to maintain the irreverent comedy that the director is known for.
Honestly, the biggest victim of this pacing problem and lack of rhythm was none other than Jane Foster. Her introduction as an aside took away from her character instead of introducing her as one of the two main protagonists. As a result, what we see from Jane has no substance that we can hold on to. It also does not provide any more information than we already knew about the character. On the other hand, her inclusion in the movie was one of the most critical aspects of the film, as per its marketing.
Nonetheless, the movie does not provide insight into what happened to her. She was off-screen for 8 years, 7 months, and 6 days. All we know is that she chose to leave Thor because of his duties with the Avenger. Even Thor, we see him easily one punching entire armies, with no explanation of his newfound powers.
Thor Love and Thunder – A Good Movie Doesn’t Have to be Funny
What Thor Love and Thunder tried to do with Jane’s Character could have worked. If only they did not focus completely on making the movie funny and comedic. The reason Ragnarok was a huge success. It wasn’t because it was funny. It was the narrative that was underneath, and it was a seriously good movie. The movie quickly forgets what made Ragnarok a great movie. It focuses a lot on being funny rather than being meaningful, moving, or profound. It is not a bad movie, of course, but it is not the Ragnarok sequel you’d think it i
