‘Avengers: Endgame’ Left Out the Fate of a Familiar Love Interest
It’s been awhile since we’ve seen Thor’s former love interest Jane Foster onscreen. A past version of her appeared in Avengers: Endgame, but after Thor briefly mentioned their breakup in a previous film, it seemed she all but disappeared.
When Thanos dusted half the universe at the end of Infinity War, we never heard what happened to Jane. Apparently, an early Endgame script revealed that Natalie Portman‘s character did not survive The Snap.
However, some Marvel fans don’t believe this is true due to contradictory canon material.
Early drafts of the ‘Avengers: Endgame’ script said Jane Foster did not survive
A Reddit user recently revealed an early Endgame script had three other confirmed dustings: Jane 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 because these were ideas probably sanctioned by Kevin Feige. The revelations of these deaths might not have been mentioned strictly for time reasons.
An ‘Infinity War’ tie-in novel says Jane Foster survived
While a small detail like this might not seem like a huge deal — no one expected to see Thor’s ex again even during the time travel sequences — it becomes troublesome when you dig deeper and realize other Marvel material has directly contradicted the idea.
According to The Cosmic Quest Volume II: Aftermath, Jane actually managed to survive The Snap. So even though early Endgame scripts stated otherwise, the book — released in 2018 — ended up having the final word.
This likely explains why Jane’s dusting didn’t make it into either of the last two Avengers films. We may never know whether this was purposeful to avoid canon contradiction or whether the Russo brothers just didn’t feel the need to include her death or reappearance as part of an already overcrowded finale.
Jane Foster almost had a much bigger role in ‘Endgame’
Jane isn’t seen during the Endgame finale, but we do see her briefly when Thor goes back in time to retrieve the infinity stone from Asgard.
According to Endgame writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus, even though her character didn’t end up with as big of a role as they had originally planned, it was impossible not to include Jane Foster somehow in that sequence. McFeely said:
“It was very hard to find a way to not do that, seeing as one of the Infinity Stones is inside her for primarily the only time we’ve ever seen it. It’s literally inside her arm, so there weren’t too many variations that didn’t have Natalie Portman in them.”
Even though Jane’s appearance in the film used previous footage of Natalie Portman and the actress did not technically reprise her role, it’s not the end of her character’s story on the big screen.
The next time we see Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, the character will finally have a bigger role alongside Thor again.
There is still quite a wait before Love and Thunder hits the big screen, but one thing is for sure: Without screen time limited to an essential flashback, both Jane and Portman will no doubt steal the show.
Greg Brian also contributed to this article.
