Thor: Love and Thunder Star Natalie Portman Addresses If the Film Will Include Cancer Storyline

The God of Thunder will be the first Marvel Studios character to get a fourth movie in a franchise, but Thor Odinson will be sharing top billing with a familiar face in the next go round. Thor: Love and Thunder will mark Natalie Portman‘s return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and she’ll be wielding Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor alongside Chris Hemsworth’s version of the character. The movie will adapt the popular storyline by Jason Aaron and Russell Dauterman from Marvel Comics, in which Jane Foster became The Mighty Thor while battling cancer.

Portman herself addressed the storyline while speaking with Variety at a fundraiser for the L.A. Dance Project, saying that she’d like to see Jane Foster’s fight with cancer in the film.

“It’s just very rare that these kinds of big entertainment films look at more serious, real-life issues,” Portman said. “I really don’t know anything about it. I haven’t seen anything, but I’ve heard the same rumors as you have, and it’s exciting to think about.”

Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi also spoke with Variety and said that they’re still hammering down the plot, and that the cancer battle could be a part of the film.

“I think that’s a really powerful part of the books. I think it’s really cool that she’s fighting this thing and there’s two battles going on. Personally I really love that storyline,” Waititi told Variety when promoting Jojo Rabbit. “But whether it ends up in the film is yet to be seen.”

He added, “We’re not sure if we’re going to do a complete lift of that whole storyline. These things change through the shoot and even when we’re editing sometimes. Like, ‘Let’s get rid of that storyline where she’s got breast cancer. We’ll change it to something else, or maybe she’s fine.’”

Earlier at San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige teased that The Mighty Thor comic will be a huge influence on the new film.

“[Waititi] would flip through and read that run while he was doing Ragnarok. And I think when he agreed to come back and do another Thor, he was like, ‘How do we—?’ This is a very big movie that’ll be folding in a lot of elements,” Feige told CNN. “That is a huge important part of it. He pitched it to us, and we were totally in. We loved it. We’d been in touch with Natalie. She’s part of the MCU family and we put she and Taika together. It took one meeting and she agreed to do it.”

Thor: Love and Thunder premieres in November 5, 2021.