The truth about the new female Thor
Back in October, a new Thor burst onto the comic scene. Gone were the images of a beefy Chris Hemsworth-type, and instead we got something even better: a female Thor. Since her introduction, little has been known about her true identity, aside from the fact that she’s worthy to lift Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir. Also, this new female Thor is pretty badass, and female Thor has actually been outselling Hemsworth-y Thor by 30%. That’s reason enough to celebrate, but now we have another reason, too — female Thor’s identity has finally been revealed.
So here’s that spoiler alert: If you don’t want to know Thor’s identity ahead of reading the newest Thor, issue No. 8, then stop reading right now.
Ok, you ready for this? Deep breath.
Thor’s identity is… Jane Foster! Whaaaaaaaattt?!
This is BIG NEWS for a few reasons. For starters, Jane has been a part of Thor’s story since the very beginning — she’s even been a part of the Thor movies from the very beginning (Jane’s played perfectly by Natalie Portman). As Thor writer Jason Aaron explains to Vulture, Jane becoming Thor “grew out of the idea of the previous Thor becoming unworthy… and the idea of what it means for a god to be worthy in the Marvel universe. Really, the only character that was discussed was Jane.”
Basically, to break it down simply, anyone who can wield Thor’s hammer, Mjölnir, is Thor. One-day-old Thor wakes up, and he can’t pick up the hammer. Jane, however, can. She becomes new Thor. And this is crazy and amazing but it makes perfect sense because Jane is totally worthy of becoming Thor. She first met Thor in the comics while she was a nurse, and later became a doctor, and has traveled to other dimensions and Asgard before (in the movies she’s an astrophysicist, which is still pretty amazing). She and Thor do have a relationship in the comics, but eventually they end things and still remain friends.
While we can continue celebrating, there’s one other aspect about Jane being Thor, and it’s a huge, difficult thing — Jane’s battling breast cancer. When she picks up Mjölnir, she becomes an all powerful god, free of the disease. However, as soon as she transforms back into Jane, the cancer comes right back. If that’s not a bummer enough as it is, all this transforming between Thor and Jane is making her condition much worse.
Let’s not be too sad right now, though, and instead get back to celebrating how awesome this new development really is. As Arron continues explaining, “This… is not just the next step for her character, but really the next evolution of the core promise that has always been at the heart of Thor’s mythology. That promise of transformation has always been a part of that hammer. Even though we’ve changed the person who’s holding the hammer, it’s very much a Thor story, a story that begins the next step for that promise of transformation.” So just might this transformation include Jane defeating cancer, along with fighting bad guys? Hope so.
Issue No. 8 is the last one in this current Thor series, and then there will be a new Thor series, Thors (for real). But don’t worry everyone, Lady Thor Jane Foster will return. We’ll be waiting.
