Doctor and former Thor love interest Jane Foster taking the mantle of the Thunder God for herself has proven to be one of the most successful concepts within Marvel Comics' modern age of storytelling. While the company has now seemed to embrace Jane's iteration of Thor with open arms, that was not always the case at the "House of Ideas".
After making a splash in the comics medium, Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) would make her live-action return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2022's Thor Love and Thunder as the Mighty Thor herself. Similar to the comics, the film portrays Jane as not only an equal to Thor Odinson but, most importantly someone worthy of carrying Mjolnir into battle. The naming debate surrounding Jane's newfound role even came into play during the film's climatic battle, wherein Foster berates the villainous Gorr the God Butcher for his repeated use of the codename "Lady Thor." While a simple line within Love and Thunder, this can be viewed as a meta gag to direct fans who have often attributed the "Lady Thor" moniker to Jane. However, it's still better than the name Marvel first gave to Jane.
Decades prior to Jason Aaron (Avengers) and artist Russell Dauterman (War of the Realms)'s critically successful Mighty Thor comic run, Jane Foster and Mjolnir would come into contact in Marvel's eccentric anthology series known as What If...? Taking inspiration from Thor's original Marvel Comics debut in Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Journey into Mystery #83, writer Don Glut (Invaders) and artist Rick Hoberg (Iron Man)'s What If...? #10 entitled "What If Jane Foster Had Found the Hammer of Thor?" from 1978, finds Jane becoming lost in the same caverns of Norway that led meek Dr. Donald Blake to become Thor in the main Marvel timeline. It's a chance encounter with a lone walking stick that transforms Foster into the only and only... Thordis. Rather than being endowed with the moniker of Mighty Thor or even Thor itself, Foster is given the quirky codename of Thordis, in honor of a Norwegian woman Foster encountered in nursing school.
Jane Foster Finally Gets Recognized As The "Real" Thor
If Thordis seems like a codename that not many villains or readers are likely going to take seriously, it's because it isn't. Marvel Comics is host to several off-shoot and legacy heroes such as Scott Lang (Ant-Man), Kate Bishop (Hawkeye), and Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel). If those characters could have reputations using the exact same code names as their original counterparts, it was only logical that the same should be done for Jane Foster when she finally became Thor within the main Marvel Universe. When it came time to officially grant Jane the role of a superhero, the Thordis name from What If...? was dropped in favor of a more fitting "Mighty Thor."
Jane carries the title with style and grace, even more than the genuine article on a few occasions. Jane Foster's Thor has reached a point where she has moved well beyond the dark days of Thordis and "Lady Thor', making the role of Thor Foster's very own.