Warning: Contains spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder.

One Thor: Love and Thunder fan theory was not confirmed by the movie, and it avoided making a huge Jane Foster mistake. After appearing in Thor and Thor: Dark World, Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster was absent from the MCU for a long time with the exception of a couple of references and an image confirming that she was a victim of Thanos’ snap. However, Thor: Love and Thunder sees her return as Mighty Thor, following some bittersweet elements of her Marvel comics story.

In Thor: Love and Thunder it is revealed that Jane Foster is suffering from stage 4 cancer and is working on trying to find a cure with the help of Erik Selvig but to no avail. Turning to other avenues, Jane seeks out the remains of Mjolnir which have called to her and it recombines and she becomes Mighty Thor. However, the use of Mjolnir gives her temporary strength but prevents her body from properly fighting the cancer and ultimately Jane dies at the end of Thor: Love and Thunder.

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When Jane was confirmed to be returning as Mighty Thor in Thor: Love and Thunder, fans began to theorize how and why this might happen in the MCU. A common theory around Jane's powers and cancer was that, as she did in the comics, Jane would suffer from cancer, but that the cause of her cancer would have been attributed to her connection to the Aether (the Reality Stone) in Thor: Dark World. While this might have tied Jane’s story together with an additional element, Thor: Love and Thunder not connecting Jane’s cancer to the Aether makes her story arc much stronger and avoids some potentially problematic elements.

Jane holding Mjolnir in Thor Love and Thunder

In the Marvel comics, Jane Foster was diagnosed with breast cancer and while she declined magical intervention, Mjolnir called out to her as it does in Thor: Love and Thunder. As is seen in the movie, Jane’s mother died of cancer when she was young as well. In both the comics and Thor: Love and Thunder, Jane’s cancer serves to represent her humanity and the relative frailty that comes with that. Connecting Jane’s cancer to her mother rather than portraying it as a magical issue is much more poignant and avoids the risk of trivializing cancer.

Jane Foster’s humanity and the fact that she does not have Thor’s longevity has been a constant part of Thor and Jane’s relationship in the MCU. People raise concerns about the fact that Thor will live much longer than her very early in their relationship. If Jane’s cancer had been attributed to Thor: Dark World’s Aether connection it would have detached it from that important aspect of Jane’s character and could have been seen as Thor’s fault to some degree. By not having Jane’s Thor: Love and Thunder cancer caused by Thor: Dark World’s Aether the movie makes the story deeper and avoids Thor blaming himself as he did after Avengers: Infinity War.

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