Anna Daniels
[Editor’s note: This article is in the process of being updated.]
The characters who were dusted at the end of Avengers: Endgame may not necessarily be permanently dead, which is still a problematic statement to make, if a necessary move in movie franchises.
With Marvel playing around with resurrection a little too easily in recent years, it’s made any idea of death being permanent a controversial subject. Out of all those characters, one doesn’t get talked about much: Jane Foster.
Marvel fans know this character as Thor’s love interest and who will move into the spotlight (thanks to Natalie Portman) with the upcoming MCU movie Love and Thunder.
What has everyone confused is early Endgame script drafts had her being dusted, making her reappearance in Love and Thunder a bit of a mystery. Will the film just ignore this, or is the film going to go the new MCU route in bringing everyone back via flashbacks?
The arguments over early script drafts being canon
Over on Reddit, someone recently revealed an early Endgame script had three other dustings: Foster, General Ross, and Wong. While an interesting revelation, many piped in to note early drafts shouldn’t necessarily be considered written in Marvel stone.
Others might disagree since these were ideas probably sanctioned by Kevin Feige. The revelations of these deaths might not have been mentioned strictly for time reasons, and because the death of Tony Stark was dramatic enough.
If it’s true Jane Foster died, how is she going to be brought back to life in Love and Thunder, assuming it takes place after the events of Endgame? All indications point to it being after events of the last movie, not including Jane possibly suffering from cancer as in the comic books.
Based on information available, Thor would be experiencing PTSD again after the Endgame deaths, placing him in a bad place only Jane Foster could fill in. She’ll officially become the first female Thor, despite being a mystery how she got there.
Marvel can explain it away that she didn’t really die after all
As some Reddit fans note above, Wong was thought to be alive at end of Endgame, making the first-draft script a bit controversial in the implications of those three characters dying. Not that General Ross will be coming back in anything, other than official flashbacks in the upcoming Black Widow movie.
Just because Jane isn’t seen during the Endgame finale doesn’t mean she isn’t still alive. There’s all possibility they wanted to leave her out of the equation to make her role in Love and Thunder more of a surprise.
Because everyone knows how great of an actress Natalie Portman is, it’s a good bet she’s going to steal this Thor movie away from everyone else in the cast. Whether Jane is in the present or some other time, Portman will likely give one of the most compelling superhero portrayals to date next to Robert Downey, Jr.
What if Marvel pulls a major reveal and her scenes are strictly in flashback? The flashback idea is the new fix by Marvel to bring back everyone without having to dip into magical devices to revive someone important.
Unless there was a way for Jane to survive the snap
There isn’t any confirmation Jane will have breast cancer in Love and Thunder, though what if it factored into surviving the snap somehow? Maybe everyone will find out there was something unexpected preventing a human being from being dusted. Such a revelation would show Thanos maybe wasn’t quite as all-powerful as everyone thought.
A novel that came out a few years ago about Foster deals with the possibility she taps into “Cosmic Awareness” to help her survive the snap. Even if the possibility of Jane being dusted is ignored, it’s going to be an interesting story, no matter what time period it takes place in.
A flashback sequence would be very creative, as in a time around or after The Dark World the MCU didn’t address. How this would tie in with Chris Hemsworth’s Thor having another breakdown maybe sounds implausible.
Regardless, knowing Jane is already dead would create a lot more possibilities in how Thor deals with being worthy again of picking up Mjolnir.
Written by: Cheat
