Thor: Love and Thunder Star Tessa Thompson Teases Natalie Portman's Role as Thor

In a matter of months, production on the fourth Thor film will begin, officially turning Natalie Portman's Jane Foster into the Mighty Thor. Little has been revealed how that process will actually take place, but that's not stopping Portman's Thor costars from teasing the upcoming transformation. At an appearance at ACE Comic Con Saturday evening, Thor: Ragnarok alum Tessa Thompson mentioned just how excited she was for Portman to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"I'm just looking super forward to seeing a woman wield the hammer," Thompson said in response to a fan question. "Natalie's already getting buff and I'm going to teach her my trick about grunting. Let me text her now about that, actually. [laughs] I'm really looking forward to the next phase, I think it's going to be an exciting one."

Marvel Studios shocked most MCU fans at San Diego Comic-Con when it was announced Portman would be returning to the franchise as a new Thor. Since then, Portman has revealed she wasn't aware she'd be playing the Mighty Thor when she signed on board to return to the franchise.

"I did not know. I mean I was aware that there was a storyline, but I didn't know that they were actually planning on doing that in the movies," Portman said earlier this month during an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon.

Prior to that, the actor explained to Entertainment Weekly why she wasn't in Thor: Ragnarok, saying it was a case of the majority of the film taking place in space.

"They came to me. Obviously I wasn't written into the third Thor because of where it took place. It wasn't really on Earth and my character was on Earth," she explained. "And then they came to me with the fourth idea and said, you know, 'We have this idea, that was a storyline in some of the comics, where Jane becomes Lady Thor.' And I was like, this is very exciting. And also of course with Taika, and I love Tessa [Thompson] and Chris [Hemsworth] so much. So it's exciting to get to work with them again. And yeah, I'm very excited to wield the hammer."

Thor: Love and Thunder is due out November 5, 2021.

Other upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in Fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in Spring 2021, Loki in Spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, Spider-Man 3 on July 16, 2021, What If…? in Summer 2021, Hawkeye in Fall 2021, and Black Panther 2 on May 6, 2022. Marvel Studios Disney+ series without release dates include Ms. Marvel, Moon Knight, and She-Hulk.

What other surprises do you hope to see in Thor 4? Share your thoughts in the comments below or by tweeting me at @AdamBarnhardt to chat all things MCU!