MCU: Thor & Jane's Relationship Timeline

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Dr. Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) have one of the longest and most complicated relationship timelines in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Since Thor is a thunder-powered god from Asgard and Jane is a human astrophysicist from Earth, they were two of the most star-crossed lovers in the MCU. Across a decade of movies, they were either together, apart, or something in between. From their meet-cute in the original Thor film to their courtship in The Dark World to their off-screen breakup in Ragnarok to their reconciliation in Love and Thunder, Thor and Jane had a lengthy on-again, off-again relationship with a lot of ups and downs.

Hemsworth and Portman shared great on-screen chemistry since their MCU debut, but the movies didn’t always know what to do with their characters’ romance, as the Thor series had one of the most perfunctory romantic arcs in the MCU. Whereas Tony Stark and Pepper Potts traded endearing screwball banter in Iron Man, and the time jump added a uniquely heartbreaking angle to Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter’s relationship in Captain America: The First Avenger, the original Thor movie developed Thor and Jane more as individual characters than a couple. From instant attraction to unearned passion, the movie trudges through every familiar beat of an action movie’s romantic subplot.

Thor And Jane First Meet And Develop Attraction But Part Ways In Thor (2011)

The God of Thunder first met Jane and quickly fell for her when Odin exiled him to Earth and stripped him of his godly powers in the first Thor movie. Thor was sent through a wormhole into the New Mexico desert, where Jane and her team of physicists accidentally ran him over with their RV. While Jane helped Thor settle into the culture and customs of Midgard and they teamed up to get his hammer back from S.H.I.E.L.D., the two developed a mutual attraction. At the end of the movie, Thor returned to his homeworld and Jane started working to open a portal to Asgard.

Thor and Jane share some interesting scenes in the original Thor movie – like their late-night discussion of the similarities between science and magic – but the script is too focused on its external conflicts to develop them as a couple. Since Thor is focused on getting Mjölnir back and Jane is just there to help him, the two never have a chance to flirt or go on a date or even get to know each other. Other Marvel movies took the time to show their central couples doing romantic activities together, like Tony and Pepper’s rooftop dance in Iron Man.

Jane Reunited With Thor, And They Formed A Relationship In Thor: The Dark World (2013)

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Just as Thor was a fish out of water on Earth in Thor, Jane was a fish out of water on Asgard in the sequel. Thor: The Dark World saw the Dark Elves waging war against Asgard over the Reality Stone, also known as “the Aether.” At the beginning of the movie, Thor was too busy with Asgardian battles for a relationship and Jane had started dating other people on Earth, but they were brought back together by the Aether’s release. Jane became integral to Thor 2’s plot when she was unwittingly imbued with the Aether while investigating portals to alternate dimensions popping up around Earth.

Throughout the second act, when Thor took Jane to Asgard to meet his parents, she was sidelined to make room for more Loki scenes after the first Avengers movie had made the trickster god one of Marvel’s most popular characters (via /Film). In the post-credits scene, Thor and Jane reunited in London. The God of Thunder finally seemed committed to making their relationship work and balancing his responsibilities as a superhero and a boyfriend. Once again, it seemed to set up a deeper exploration of Thor and Jane’s romance in the future. But, once again, the reunion turned out to be short-lived.

Thor And Jane Broke Up Off-Screen Before The Events Of Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

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Despite their reunion at the end of The Dark World, Thor and Jane broke up off-screen sometime after Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Portman didn’t appear in Thor: Ragnarok. Since Thor was busy with his duties as an Avenger and Jane was busy with her burgeoning astrophysics career (especially after absorbing an Infinity Stone into her DNA, opening a whole new area of research), they didn’t have enough time to remain in a committed relationship with one another. When Thor and Loki went to New York to find Odin in Ragnarok, a starstruck fan told him, “Sorry to hear that Jane dumped you.”

After this passing mention of the couple’s breakup, Thor tried to save face and explain to Loki that the end of his relationship with Jane was mutual. He told his brother, “She didn’t dump me, you know. I dumped her. It was a mutual dumping.” This set up Thor’s reconstruction of the breakup in his forlorn mind, which was explored in more depth in the next movie, Thor: Love and Thunder. The missing section of Thor and Jane’s relationship that this off-hand remark skipped over in Ragnarok was eventually filled in with a series of flashbacks in Love and Thunder.

Thor And Jane Reunite And Reconcile Until Her Death In Thor: Love And Thunder (2022)

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The final chapter in Thor and Jane’s relationship timeline, Thor: Love and Thunder, focused more on their relationship than any previous movie. Essentially framed as a Marvel romcom, Love and Thunder mixed a present-day reunion with a series of flashbacks to the end of Thor and Jane’s relationship, shown from both perspectives. After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, Jane visited New Asgard, and it was revealed that Jane's connection to Mjölnir gave her access to Thor’s powers and cured her illness. But the cure was only temporary; the more Jane used Mjölnir to become the “Mighty Thor,” the closer she got to death.

Love and Thunder dealt with Thor and Jane’s breakup in much more depth than Ragnarok’s throwaway line. Thor was still heartbroken after Jane left him and desperately wanted to get back together. As he discussed it with her, he realized he misremembered their breakup and that he became just as distant as her before the dissolution of their relationship. They ended up reconciling, but Jane continued using Mjölnir against Thor’s wishes and died in his arms, concluding their MCU relationship timeline with harrowing tragedy. Jane arrived in Valhalla in the post-credits scene, so there’s a chance that the lovebirds will be reunited in the afterlife.

MORE: What Happens To Jane Foster After Thor: Love And Thunder