Thor: Love and Thunder’s newly revealed concept image features a more faithful to the comics design for Jane Foster’s Mighty Thor. Natalie Portman, who had taken a break from the MCU, came back to portray Foster in the sequel helmed by Taika Waititi. Portman reprised her role as the mighty Mighty Thor from Thor and Thor: The Dark World for Avengers: Endgame. She co-starred with Chris Hemsworth, who played Thor Odinson once again. Foster joined the likes of Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Tessa Thompson, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, and Jaimie Alexander in the next Marvel film, and she was no longer merely a love interest for the Asgardian hero. Jane Foster’s Mighty Thor was shown more faithfully to the comics in some concept art published by Marvel Studios concept artist Andy Park on Instagram.
The original Marvel comics depicted Thor’s recurring love interest, who was suffering from cancer, being drawn to his discarded hammer, Mjolnir. When she picks up the hammer, she transforms into the mighty Thor. She changes her hairstyle and wears a veil over her eyes so that Thor Odinson doesn’t immediately recognise her. Unlike her film appearance, Park wears a covering over her neck in the concept image, echoing her appearance in the comics, and a diamond-shaped mark appears on her abdomen, which does not appear in the final film.
This is an alternate version I did showing a dark armour version of Jane’s Mighty Thor (as well as the collar piece inspired by the original comic design by @ribicesad) in case they would want to further separate her look from the traditional Thor colour scheme, as Park explained alongside the concept art. Thor: Ragnarok was Waititi’s first Marvel Cinematic Universe film, and unlike in the concept image, Mjolnir was broken by Hela and reforged with the fractures still visible.
In the comics, Thor’s hammer was left behind before he called Foster to lead, but in the film, the hammer was given a makeover when it was taken up by the Mighty Thor and given the power to break apart to kill her foes before reforming into its former form. As of Thor: Love and Thunder, Foster’s MCU future were unclear, although, in the comics, she becomes a Valkyrie and later returns as the Mighty Thor. The future of her character in the forthcoming films is uncertain because Marvel Studios often utilises the comics as a template to bounce off of rather than a direction to stick to. Because of how well received she was in the film, many people are rooting for her to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.