Natalie Portman A hero with HEART

Making her fourth appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Natalie Portman, who played astrophysicist Jane Foster in the first twoThor movies and made a cameo in Avengers: Endgame, returns a changed woman. “It comes straight from Marvel Comics. There are whole graphic novels about Jane becoming the Mighty Thor,” the actress, 41, says of her character’s heroic trajectory.

The star has spent the past two decades transforming from role to role, going from a pre-teen hit girl in training () to Luke Skywalker’s mum ( prequels) and a). For the transformation was literal. “Jane has to go from a five foot three [160cm] woman like me to a six foot [183cm] superhero, so I always knew that I was going to have some work to do,” says Portman. “I also had Chris Hemsworth looking even more jacked up than ever, so it was important to have Jane looking the part as a truly Mighty Thor.” She adds, “I have to admit that it was a challenge for a mother of two in her 40s, but with some hard work and a little movie magic we got there.”