Did Natalie Portman make her Marvel Cinematic Universe return inAvengers: Endgame? The latest from directing duo Joe and Anthony Russo had a lot of ground to cover, as it not only serves as the follow-up toInfinity War, but it more or less needed to serve as the conclusion to this entire 22-movie arc. That being the case, a whole lot happened. But did this happen? The answer is kind of tricky.
Warning: majorspoilersahead forAvengers: Endgame. Turn back now, those who haven’t seen the movie. During the “time heist” portion of the movie, in which, the heroes were split into groups and had to travel to various points in time to collect the Infinity Stones, Rocket and Thor head to Asgard during the events ofThor: The Dark Worldto grab the Aether, aka the Reality Stone. As fans may recall, it was actually trapped inside ofNatalie Portman’s Jane Fosterat that time. So yes, Jane does indeed appear in the movie.
That said, Natalie Portman didn’t actually film any new footage forAvengers: Endgame. In a recent interview with the Russo brothers, they revealed that the actress did, however, contribute in some way to the sequence. As revealed by Anthony Russo, Portman was kind enough to provide a little bit of voiceover to help the scene along. Jane, at one point, is heard, only gently in the audio mix, thanking someAsgardiansfor taking care of her. Here’s what he had to say about it.
“All she did new for this movie was… a little bit of voice-over when she’s talking in the distance, that’s it.”
Rene Russo, it’s worth mentioning, did reprise her role asThor’s mother Friggain a much more significant capacity. There was much speculation regarding Natalie Portman’s possible return as Jane Foster ahead of the movie’s debut in theaters. The actress, who had indicated she was done with the MCU ahead of the release of Thor: Ragnarok, which she did not appear in, actually showed up at theAvengers: Endgamepremiere. That led to a great many fans question as to whether or not Portman did indeed make her return. While she technically did, since she didn’t shoot any new footage, she didn’t technically reprise the role on screen, at least not with new footage. The voiceover contribution certainly puts it in a grey area.
This does, however, possibly open the door for Jane Foster to return in a more significant role at some point down the line. Thor, as we know, made it out ofAvengers: Endgamealive. Though, it seems that he’s going to be bouncing around the cosmos with Star-Lord and the gang inGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. We’ve still got Valkyrie hanging out on Earth as the new ruler of Asgard. So who knows? At least it seems that Natalie Portman still fully embraces her place within the MCU. This news was first reported byEntertainment Weekly.
