Nurse, doctor, Thor. Jane Foster has held all these titles in her life. She’s been an on again off again part of Thor Odinson’s life since becoming a modern day hero of Midgard. How does knowing a peculiar doctor lead to dealing with the Aesir and the realms beyond Midgard? Let’s find out!
Jane Foster had a loving mother and father but her mother would die of cancer when Jane was still very young. Her father was able to do enough parenting as if they were both still around, Jane was loved and cared for until her father would pass from a heart attack when she was older. Going into nursing, Jane would find herself working with Doctor Donald Blake, who unbeknownst to her and the world at large, was the mortal form of Thor, the Norse god of thunder.
Jane would develop feelings for both Blake and Thor, not realizing they were the same person. Being around Thor means being around the chaos of a god’s life, Jane would often end up in peril or adventures. Odin forbid Thor from telling Jane the truth of his dual identity because he did not believe a god should marry a mortal. Eventually Jane would learn the truth about Blake and Thor, Odin would give her a test of worthiness by making her an Asgardian with godly powers, she failed his test and had her powers and memories of Thor’s identity stripped away. Odin sent her to find a mortal man she could love instead and set Thor up with his childhood friend, Sif.
While she was happy now, Jane would get very sick and in her near-death state call out to Thor. Her prayers were answered, but by Sif, who would merge her soul with Jane so that Jane could live. This made Sif disappear but Jane regained her memories and she and Thor were reunited, able to go on many adventures together. It was revealed that the body was effectively swapped pending on if it was on Midgard or Asgard, once the pair arrived in Asgard, Sif appeared. The problem was when they returned to Midgard, Jane didn’t return. Thor would reveal his identity to Jane’s husband and explain the situation. When they were finally able to find Jane, she and Sif were able to be two separate and fully healthy individuals again.
Jane would become a doctor, get married, and have a child now that she was back to living on Midgard. This made her life very exciting and on top of that, she would often get involved as a physician for heroes. Working with these heroes meant she had to pick a side in their civil war over registration, she would be against it and join with Captain America. During this time Thor had died and Jane’s marriage was falling apart, she would eventually divorce and lost custody of her child.
Learning that Sif had been trapped in the body of a dying woman, she would do everything she could to find a contact with the gods, she would find a revived Thor, they were then able to save Sif. Donald Blake was now a separate person and with Jane, the two would open a practice in the City of Asgard, the Midgard-bound new home of the Asgardians. Jane’s health began to get worse as she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Though she would become Midgard’s representative amongst Asgard, she would refuse any of their magical treatments and stick with Midgardian chemotherapy treatments.
Thor had somehow become unworthy to wield Mjolnir, his trusty hammer, Jane, seeing that the world needed Thor, sought the hammer out. She was deemed worthy and became the new Thor, one problem though, the hammer’s magic purges the wielder of any toxic chemicals it may be filled with as it transforms the wielder into a thunder-powered Asgardian champion. This meant that to be Thor, Jane would undo all the treatment her chemotherapy was doing and setting her back to square one in her treatment every time she picked up the hammer.
Now going by Thor, as Thor Odinson was just going by his last name in honor of the new worthy hero. Jane was able to keep her Thor identity a secret with a masked helmet so very few knew how she was, not even Odinson knew, turn about is fair play. Jane would join the Avengers and go on many adventures with the team, on her own and with Thor’s old battle party, the Warriors Three. She would fight in the end of the world as her universe and another collided, nearly being destroyed. She would help rebuild the universe from the stitch work reality it had become to save it, uniting hereos across worlds to remake reality.
Once reality was relatively back to normal that meant that Jane was faced with the consequences of her time as Thor. It took her friends coming together upon realizing what was happening to her when she wielded the hammer to get her to stop. By that point it was very risky for Jane to transform into Thor ever again if she wanted to survive. One problem though, Asgard needed saving, Jane took up Mjolnir one last time and fought the threats to all of Asgard and died in battle like the god she was. Odinson refused to let Jane die and used all his power to bring her back, his father, Odin, finally saw that Jane was worthy and aided his son. Jane was resurrected and while she could no longer wield the hammer, she offered it back to Odinson who had proven himself worthy once more, to take up his name and fight in her stead.
Jane would begin chemotherapy once more and was able to get her cancer into remission. She even began doing medical work now that she had recovered. Then came the war from the other realms against Asgard and Midgard, Asgard fell first. While Midgard was under attack, Jane was on the front lines trying to aide heroes while she no longer had powers of her own. Then she would come upon another Mjolnir, from the universe hers had collided with from before, she was able to become Thor once again, no longer putting her health in danger. She would team up with Thor, a younger version of Thor from his own past, and a future All-Father Thor. There were now four Thors and they took on all the gathered forces of the other realms, together.
When the battle was done, Jane’s Mjolnir had shattered but reformed into a bracer that could shape shift into other weapons as she willed it. The Valkyrie had all died, their souls talked with Jane, asking her to carry on their name as they headed to Valhalla. Jane accepted and with her new weapon and blessings became the Valkyrie. Ready to take on whatever adventures and dangers threatened her realm or any other.
There you have it! Jane Foster has been a part of Thor’s story from nearly the very beginning. She’s been animated, she’s been on the big screen. She’s soon to have her adventures as Thor made into a feature film. Where will Jane Foster go next? Only the gods know! See you next time!
Suggested Reading
Journey into Mystery #84
Thor: God of Thunder #25
War of the Realms Omega #1
All-New All-Different Avengers
Mighty Thor
War of the Realms
Valkyrie: Jane Foster
Dr. Bustos
drbustos@comicattack.net
