Cool New Photo From THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER and Taika Waititi Says Jane Foster's Return is "a Real Mind F*** For Thor"

Marvel has shared a new photo from director Taika Waititi’s Thor: Love and Thunder. It offers a great new look at Thor Odinson (Chris Hemsworth) standing alongside The Mighty Thor, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who is wielding Mjolnir! She looks totally badass in this image!

The photo comes from Empire, and in an interview with Waititi, he revealed that it’s been eight years since Thor’s seen Jane Foster and seeing her as The Mighty Thor is not going to be easy for him to get his head around. In fact, it’s going to be “a real mindfuck.” The filmmaker said:

"It's been about eight years. She's had a whole other life, and then the love of your life comes back on the scene, and is now dressed like you. It's a real mindfuck for Thor."

The director went on to talk about Jane Foster’s story arc, saying: “I didn’t know we were going to use the storyline of the Mighty Thor character until we started working out the actual story. I was writing and it was like, ‘Wouldn’t it be kind of cool to bring Jane back into the storyline?’”

Waititi went on to say that he wanted to do something different with Jane Foster this time around, and said: “You don’t want Natalie coming back and playing that same character who’s walking around with science equipment. You know, while Thor’s flying around, she’s left on Earth, tapping her foot going, ‘When’s he going to be back?’ That’s boring. You want her to be part of the adventure.”

As for her story arc, it’s said to be inspired by Jason Aaron’s comic book run in The Mighty Thor, the story of which follows a cancer-stricken Jane Foster. Portman previously teased this storyline, saying:

"I can’t tell you that much. I’m really excited. I’m starting to train, to get muscles. If there can be all these female superheroes, the more of them they are, the better it is. I’m trying to think — it’s based on the graphic novel of The Mighty Thor. She’s going through cancer treatment and is a superhero on the side."

When talkin about working with Portman on the film, the filmmaker added: “Natalie’s really funny in real life. She’s kind of goofy and has got a great sense of humour, and I don’t think that was exploited enough in the first films.”

Thor: Love and Thunder also stars Tessa Thompson back in her role of Valkyrie; Chris Pratt as Star-Lord, Pom Klementieff as Mantis; Dave Bautista as Drax; and Karen Gillan as Nebula.

Thor: Love and Thunder is currently set to arrive in theaters on July 8th, 2022.