Natalie Portman Was at the 'Avengers: Endgame' Premiere? The Natalie Portman? Huh

After Thor: The Dark World, Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster has been notably absent from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and there’s a pretty good reason for that: She f*cking hated that movie.

OK, maybe that’s not entirely the case, but it’s probably close. For a little background, the first two phases of the MCU were consistently kneecapped by Marvel CEO and current Trump-stooge Ike Perlmutter, who wasn’t exactly a champion for women or diversity in general. However, thanks to coming off of an Oscar win for Black Swan, Portman was able to talk Marvel into hiring Patty Jenkins to direct Thor 2 only to watch Jenkins get mansplained right out the door along with her version of the film that would not have Portman playing an Infinity Stone-infected damsel-in-distress.

Just so we’re clear, this decision resulted in Marvel getting shafted with one of its absolute worst sequels while Jenkins went over to Warner Bros. and delivered a little movie called Wonder Woman. Whoops. So it really wasn’t that surprising when Portman stopped being shy that she’s done with Marvel, and her character was reduced to a brief line of exposition in Thor: Ragnarok.

Since then, all signs pointed to Portman being out — until she showed up to the premiere of Avengers: Endgame, which exploded brains all over the internet. So let’s tackle the two most boring explanations:

1. Natalie Portman has some sort of dolphin documentary thing coming to Disney+, and this aggressive level of cross-promotion is entirely on brand for Disney’s streaming service. They have zero chill right now.

2. The “Whatever it takes” trailer for Avengers: Endgame shows a down-trodden Thor grappling with the fact that he really should’ve gone for the head. I’ve been out of the dating game for centuries, but I’m pretty sure causing galaxy-wide genocide is one of those times where it’s cool to call up your ex. So this might be a whole lot of to-do over a scene where Natalie Portman simply comforts Thor and tells him it’s okay that he got an insane amount of people killed. Just unspeakable amounts. There isn’t even a name for numbers that high…

Anyway, now for the hot speculation you came for (That might be a spoiler if my prediction skills are god-like, which you’re free to say, if you want. No pressure.):

JANE FOSTER IS BACK AND GOING TO BE LADY THOR IN THE TAIKI WAITITI-DIRECTED THOR 4 LIKE WE LITERALLY JUST TALKED ABOUT YESTERDAY HOLY SH*T!!!!

Hi, I’m terrible at GIFs.