You won’t find Jane Foster in Thor 3, Natalie Portman has confirmed. When asked by the Wall Street Journal if she would appear in the upcoming Thor: Ragnorak, the Oscar winner’s response was pretty straightforward.
“As far as I know, I’m done,” she said. “I mean, I don’t know if maybe one day they’ll ask for an Avengers 7, or whatever.” She continued by saying that Thor “was a great thing to be a part of.”
The news isn’t totally surprising for fans of the Norse superhero franchise. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said earlier this year that Foster wouldn’t appear because the majority of the film “takes place in the cosmos,” with only “a couple scenes on Earth,” which would be a problem for the very human astrophysicist character. Plus, Tessa Thompson has been cast in the upcoming film, and is being touted as a potential love interest, so there goes that.
There were also strong rumblings that Portman wasn’t even particularly keen on making the Thor sequel, unhappy with Marvel firing director Patty Jenkins. She was a fan of the director’s work, and it would have been the first Marvel film helmed by a female director. Alas, Jenkins was replaced by Alan Taylor, and Portman stayed on in order to fulfill contractual obligations.
This also wouldn’t be the first time a high-profile star has skipped out on a Marvel movie. After co-starring in the first Iron Man, Terrence Howard was originally slated to appear in the sequel, but walked away because Marvel offered “one-eighth” of what they contractually agreed upon, he said in an interview with Bravo’s Andy Cohen. He also alluded that Robert Downey Jr. “took the money” and “pushed me out.”
While we’re on the Iron Man sequel, Oscar-winner Mickey Rourke famously hated starring in it, saying Marvel heads diluted his character Ivan Vanko to a “one dimensional bad guy.” He continued, adding that creative control rested with “some nerd with a pocketful of money calling the shots.”
“If they want to make mindless comic book movies, then I don’t want to be a part of that,” he said of ever doing another Marvel movie.
At least Portman, it seems, is preferring to bid a more amicable goodbye to the superhero world.
