Jane Foster (Marvel)

Latest revision as of 04:38, 16 April 2024

Jane Foster in Valkyrie: Jane Foster v1 #6.

Jane Foster is a female comic character who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

Captured by Mister Hyde in Journey into Mystery v1 #100.

Jane Foster

Her mother developed cancer when she was 9 years old with the condition being fatal. (Unworthy Thor v1 #4) Prior to her death, she told her daughter to have faith and find a God to believe in though Jane did not heed her words as she was at first angry at the idea of believing in a higher being due to the loss of her mother. (Mighty Thor v1 #704) Afterwards, she was cared for by her father who was a plumber and worked two jobs in order to pay for his daughter to go through medical school with him exhausting himself in the process. Despite that, he provided Jane a good childhood as he never missed any of her softball games or forgetting her birthday and always encouraged her in anything she set her mind towards accomplishing. (Unworthy Thor v1 #4) Years ago, Jane had become a nurse when her father had developed complications from a heart attack leading to his death with Dr. Blake informing her of his passing with him being the last family member she had with her saying goodbye to him. (Mighty Thor v1 #704)

She became a nurse hired by Dr. Donald Blake to assist him in his private medical practice. Actually, the crippled Dr. Donald Blake was the human identity used for many years by the Asgardian god, Thor. Jane and Blake traveled to San Diablo during a civil war between a communist faction and a democratic faction. Because of the fighting, there was a shortage of medical help in San Diablo, and several American doctors interceded. They battled the Executioner who tried to destroy the medical supplies. Thor was able to stop him and they helped the people of San Diablo. (Journey into Mystery v1 #84) Blake fell deeply in love with Foster, who was unaware of his dual-identity. She was infatuated with Thor, whom she had not yet met in his godly identity, but took a protective attitude toward him, worrying about his health and frailty. (Journey into Mystery v1 #85) She would regularly gush over Thor's exploits, much to Blake's annoyance. (Journey into Mystery v1 #86) This caused Blake to wonder if Jane would ever love a normal man like him. (Journey into Mystery v1 #87) Loki, taking on the guise of an old man, entered Donald Blake's doctors office and hypnotized Jane and gave her secret commands. He then entered Donald's office, and when Don reported for work, he found Loki waiting for him and changed into Thor. Loki challenged the Thunder God to a contest in Central Park, a challenge that Thor accepted before Loki left. Changing back into Donald Blake he told Jane that he was leaving for the afternoon, unaware that Jane was about to enact Loki's hypnotic suggestions upon his departure. At Central Park, as Thor battled Loki, he was unaware that Jane was still under Loki's thrall and wandering in the area. Loki then transformed a tree into a tiger which he set upon Jane, and turned the Thunder God's attention to Jane's situation. Thor had two options: grab his returning hammer, Mjolnir, or save Jane. With no choice, Thor chose the latter, and after dealing with the mystical tiger, he reverted back into Blake. When Blake attempted to recover his weapon, Loki put a magical force field around it, preventing Blake from changing back into Thor. With his enemy apparently defeated, Loki transformed into a bird and flew away, planning to conquer the Earth. Blake revived Jane and took her back home; meanwhile Loki used his magic to terrorize the people of New York City. Jane later witnessed Thor's return and the defeat of Loki. (Journey into Mystery v1 #88)

Jane and Donald were kidnapped by Thug Thatcher, but Blake escaped and became Thor. (Journey into Mystery v1 #89) Blake contemplated revealing his true identity as Thor to Jane in the hopes of winning her love. However, right when he was about to tell her, Odin contacted Thor telepathically and warned him against doing so. (Journey into Mystery v1 #91) One normal day as Jane left Dr. Blake's office for an errand, she passed a wounded jewel thief and his two partners. They entered Blake's office and demanded treatment. Distracting them, Blake tapped his cane and transformed into Thor. Strapping the criminals to an operating table with surgical tape, he attached it to his magic hammer and "threw" the criminals to the police station. Dr. Blake prepared to use a rubber hammer on a patient's knee. As Jane assured the patient Dr. Blake was skilled with using a mallet, Blake thought to himself that she does not know the half of it. (Journey into Mystery v1 #92) Although Foster was strongly attracted to Dr. Blake, she left his medical practice and began working for a Doctor Bruce Andrews when Blake did not try and rescue her during the Lava Man's attack on the city. (Journey into Mystery v1 #97) However, she later returned after the Cobra attacked and Bruce submitted to him and she felt he was a coward. (Journey into Mystery v1 #98) Don Blake was next approached by discredited scientist Calvin Zabo for a job. When Blake refused to hire him, Zabo began experimenting on himself, creating a serum that transformed him into a monstrous form. Calling himself Mister Hyde, Zabo sought to revenge against Blake. Meanwhile, Thor continued to petition Odin to allow him to marry Jane Foster, to no avail. However, Odin told Thor that should Jane prove herself to be brave then he would make her an immortal. When Mr. Hyde attacked Blake's office, Thor was there to stop him. In response, Hyde began committing robberies disguised as Thor. (Journey into Mystery v1 #99) Afterward, Blake decided to reveal his dual-identity to Foster, but his father, Odin, monarch of Asgard, appeared to him and forbade him to reveal this secret to any mortal. Even though Odin tried for a long time to quash the romance between the two, he ordered her life to be saved when she lay dying after an explosion caused by a battle between Thor and Mister Hyde and Cobra. (Journey into Mystery v1 #111)

Thor

Goddess of Thunder from Mighty Thor v2 #1.

She began to hear the voice from Mjolnir calling to her with Heimdall transporting her to the Moon where the weapon rested. This saw her reaching out to it and being worthy of wielding the hammer which transformed her into the new Thor. (Mighty Thor v1 #705) She was transformed by the magic of the weapon where her entire physique was changed as she became a superhero with all the powers of the God of Thunder. (Thor v4 #1) Jane soon found herself in the middle of Malekith the Accursed's alliance with Frost Giants who were planning on bringing Laufey back to life. (Thor v4 #2) The original Thor soon caught up with Jane, demanding his hammer back. (Thor v4 #3) Thor ultimately accepted that the hammer had a new owner and gave Jane his blessing, still while not knowing her identity. He also gave Jane his name, and subsequently went by Odinson only. (Thor v4 #4) When she tried to stop Malekith from making a deal with Dario Agger for Laufey's skull, Thor was suddenly attacked by Cul Borson, who possessed the Destroyer Armor, under orders from Odin to retrieve Mjolnir. (Thor v4 #6) Although Cul briefly managed to take Mjolnir from her, Thor summoned it back to her hand. Odinson, Freyja, and an army of the women he had identified as possible suspects for the new Thor's identity, arrived on scene and helped turn the tide of battle in Thor's favor, ultimately forcing the Destroyer to retreat. Thor's identity remained a mystery for Odinson and the rest of the world. (Thor v4 #8)

During the final incursion, Jane was one of the heroes that tried to stop Earth-1610 from destroying her Earth. After the vessel transporting the Earth's 'resurrection team' was destroyed by the Children, Mr. Fantastic was forced to put the Future Foundation's Life Raft in action. As the Life Raft was deployed, Manifold teleported numerous heroes into it including Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Captain Marvel, and Cyclops, and Jane herself, which allowed them to survive the end of the Multiverse. (Secret Wars v1 #1) Thor and the other heroes transported onto the life raft were awakened by Doctor Strange eight years after the end of the multiverse and the creation of Battleworld, a planet cobbled together by segments of destroyed realities created and ruled by Doctor Doom. (Secret Wars v1 #3) Thor and the others were later teleported by Strange to confront the Cabal after a distress call was sent to him by one member of the Thor Corps, and after this Doom himself appeared to quell the fighting. When Doom tried to kill them, Doctor Strange teleported them across Battleworld, but at the cost of his own life. (Secret Wars v1 #4) Jane then decided to infiltrate the Thor Corps to turn them against Doom with the help of the Thor of Higher Avalon. (Secret Wars v1 #5) Eventually, they succeeded and led them to Doomstadt, where they confronted the Barons defending the castle, and led to the restoration of the Multiverse. (Secret Wars v1 #9)

Cul alongside his new Thunder Guard ambushed the new Thor at the Rainbow Bridge at Asgardia. (Mighty Thor v2 #2)

Thus, Jane died where she appeared in the afterlife at the gates of Valhalla where Odin was prepared to take her to the heavenly realm for his service after coming to term with her actions. She, however, expressed doubts that this was the end for her as she felt that she had more to give to the world. At the same time, Thor harnessed the power of the Mother Storm and channelled it in an effort to return Jane to life. With Odin's help, the pair were able to restore Jane Foster to life allowing her to return as a mortal once more. With the hammer destroyed, her time as Thor had come to an end but she urged for Thor Odison to reclaim the mantle to protect all the realms whilst Jane had a new lease at life with her undertaking treatment to deal with the cancer in her body. (Mighty Thor v1 #706)

Whilst maintaining her treatment, she was informed that her cancer had gone into full remission with her hair starting to grow back as she continued her medical duties. (Thor v5 #11)

She ended up picking up the hammer of the War Thor though its power did not corrupt her but instead transformed her back into her Thor guise. Jane then joined the Odinson who had a plan to defeat Malekith after sacrificing his eye to the World Tree for knowledge. He summoned the past and future version of himself with the four Thors then arriving at the site where the Odinson's parents were being held captive. With their power, the Thor's were able to free Odin and Freyga with Jane sending her hammer's last bit of energy to strike Laufey on Midgard thus allowing the Frost Giant to be defeated. Malekith was then defeated when his fear of losing causing his own hunting animals to turn on him which brought an end to the War of the Realms. Jane then went to the dissipating energy of the War Thor hammer where she was glad to be able to wield the lightning one last time when the last remnant of the weapon then morphed into a manacle around Jane's arm. (War of the Realms v1 #6) It thus became Undrjarn the All-Weapon where she was transformed into the new Valkyrie in order to usher the souls of the dead to Valhalla. (War of the Realms Omega v1 #1)

Valkyrie

Among her first tasks was to hunt down Earth criminals that had stolen weapons from the War of the Realms including the sword Dragonfang. Jane managed to defeat most of the supervillains but failed to capture the one that took the sword. This impacted on her civilian life as she sought to maintain her secret identity but being late for work caused her boss to demote her to working as an assistant in the morgue. Afterwards, upon learning the dangers of the blade, she enlisted the aid of Heimdall for using his sight to locate Dragonfang but he came to be mortally wounded on Earth by the assassin Bullseye who had acquired Dragonfang. (Valkyrie: Jane Foster v1 #1) At first, she struggled against the villain who proved to be a quick master of the sword and also because it remained as the last link to Brunnhilde that Jane wanted to preserve. However, the damage Bullseye was doing forced Valkyrie to destroy Dragonfang and she knocked the villain out. She then checked on Heimdall who was dying from his wounds and he bade her to not take him to Valhalla but to a new paradise beyond with Jane agreeing as they decided to embark on a journey of mystery. (Valkyrie: Jane Foster v1 #2)

Confronted with the Grim Reaper, she attempted to battle the villain but he was stronger than her due to being empowered by Mephisto. In addition, his scythe had the ability to harm the All-Weapon with Jane feeling its pain. Despite this being the case, she pursued him into the sky but failed to defeat him as he neared the hell-gate that would allow him to take Doctor Strange's soul to his master. During this time, Jane thought like a Valkyrie and determined that the Grim Reaper saw himself as a hero in this battle. As such, she decided to open a portal into Valhalla thus leaving the villain there where he was powerless. Foster believed that this would give him a chance to heal in the afterlife. She then returned to restore Strange's soul to his body where he was aware of the Valkyrie's true identity and promised to keep it a secret. (Valkyrie: Jane Foster v1 #5) Afterwards, the morgue received a body that came to life and spoke that death was dying with Valkyrie deciding to inform Doctor Strange who concluded that the abstract entity called Death was suffering from some form of ailment. Thus, they gathered a team of healers including Cardiac, Faiza Hussain and Manikin who alongside Night Nurse journeyed into Death's realm to find the cause of the illness affecting her. (Valkyrie: Jane Foster v1 #6)

Afterwards, she was with her friend Lisa Holloran when the city came under attack from creatures seemingly formed of darkness. The Avengers arrived at the scene with Jane becoming the Valkyrie to help fight the monsters whose touch not only killed mortals but also destroyed their soul. Foster determined that the threat lay below the earth and alongside Thor they went to stop it at its source. It was then that Thor revealed that this was the threat of the Rokkva who represented Anti-Life that had been imprisoned long ago but elements of it had been freed into Midgard. He attempted to destroy the corpse of the first king Ode who contained the Rokkva but became possessed by the darkness of the Anti-Life. (Valkyrie: Jane Foster v1 #8)

Overview

Personality and attributes

Jane Foster suffering from cancer in Mighty Thor v2 #1.

After being Thor, she claimed to be used to being a superhero though she came to learn that being Valkyrie was much different as that was more akin to a job. (Valkyrie: Jane Foster v1 #1)

Powers and abilities

After becoming worthy of Mjolnir, Jane was transformed by the enchantment of the hammer that altered her appearance to partially resemble Thor Odinson himself. Similarly, she gained the powers of the god of thunder giving her superhuman strength, durability and similar such traits of the Asgardian. With the hammer, she was capable of flight by spinning Mjolnir and launching herself into the air. This allowed her not only the power to travel across space but also offensively by sending the hammer to smash through multiple opponents. Furthermore, she could use it to wield thunder and send it to strike her enemies. Jane could also throw the hammer at enemies and call it back to her though in certain cases something could stop the hammer from returning to her. Due to the enchantment on the weapon, if separated from the hammer for more than a minute than she transformed from being Thor back to her mortal form of Jane Foster. (Thor v4 #2)

During the War of the Realms, the War Thor's hammer disintegrated as it expended the last of its power where it became Undrjarn the All-Weapon. It had lost its original shape and reset where it could manifest as any item the user wanted such as a sword or a mace. The All-Weapon wanted to change Foster and transform her so that she could take full control over it which led to her transformation into Valkyrie. (War of the Realms Omega v1 #1) The weapon adjusted itself to apply the correct level of force to knock out a foe. Furthermore, the All-Weapon served as both the lock and key to the Asgardian Halls of the Dead in Valhalla. She could quickly transport herself to the location where she simply recited the words instinctually thus opening the doorway and allowing her to converse with the Asgardian dead that were rewarded with a paradise in the afterlife. (Valkyrie: Jane Foster v1 #1) The magical metal was able to slice through the planes of reality to the space between dimensions thus creating portals to anywhere. (Valkyrie: Jane Foster v1 #3)In addition, she gained new powers of sight associated with the Valkyries allowing her to determine the chance of death of an individual. This manifested in her vision as a black sphere that floated above a persons head that grew larger and had a skull-shaped visage within it. Her sight also allowed her to see objects that were normally invisible thus allowing her to catch individuals that attempted to escape via this method. (Valkyrie: Jane Foster v1 #1)

As a Valkyrie, she gained a Vanir winged steed who was capable of speech though he lacked a name and instead preferred to be called Horse. (Valkyrie: Jane Foster v1 #3)

Notes

• Jane Foster was created by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber and Jack Kirby where she made her first appearance in Journey into Mystery v1 #84 (September, 1962).
• The new Thor was revealed to be Jane Foster in Thor v4 #8 (May 2015) though she debuted in Thor v4 #1 (October, 2014).

Alternate Versions

In other media

Television

• In The Marvel Super Heroes, Jane Foster appeared in the animated series in The Mighty Thor segments where she was voiced by actor Peg Dixon. She was shown as being a nurse that worked with Dr. Donald Blake and had a romantic interest in him whilst unaware that he was secretly the Asgardian Thor.
• In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Jane Foster was a supporting character in the animated series where she was voiced by actor Kari Wahlgren. She was shown as a medic who captured the attention of Thor who regularly saved her from life-threatening attacks in New York City.
• In Avengers Assemble, Jane Foster appeared in the animated television series fourth season Secret Wars where she was voiced by actor Erica Lindbeck. She was a scientist that specialised in multidimensional sciences and was hired as a researcher at Stark Industries. Foster was in charge of heading the device that was being used to find and rescue Tony Stark when he went missing in another dimension.

Films

• In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jane Foster made a number of appearances in the shared continuity setting.
  • In Thor, Jane Foster appeared in the setting of the live-action film where she was portrayed by actress Natalie Portman.
  • In Thor: The Dark World, Jane Foster returned in the live-action film she was once again portrayed by actress Natalie Portman.
  • In Thor: Ragnarok, Jane Foster was only mentioned in the live-action film with it being said that she dumped Thor and was no longer involved with him.
  • In Thor: Love & Thunder, Jane Foster appeared in the setting of the live-action film where she was once more portrayed by actress Natalie Portman.

Video games

• In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Jane Foster appeared as the hero Mighty Thor in the setting of the Facebook video game.
• In Marvel Heroes, the Jane Foster Thor was introduced as an alternate Thor costume in the MMORPG with her being voiced by actress Jennifer Hale.
• In Marvel: Future Fight, the Jane Foster Thor was introduced as a playable character in the mobile game.
• In Marvel's Avengers, the Jane Foster Thor appeared as a playable character in the setting of the 2020 action-adventure brawler game where she was voiced by actress Zehra Fazal.

Appearances

• Journey into Mystery v1: (1962)
• Thor v1:
• Thor v4:
• Mighty Thor:
• All-New, All-Different Avengers v1:
• Thor v5:
• War of the Realms v1:
• War of the Realms Omega v1:
• Valkyrie: Jane Foster v1:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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