--- description: Not who you think. Unless it's exactly who you think title: Female Thor's Secret Identity Revealed image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte79d8f0933f60fac/6987ef8df887dc02bde8e73d/female-thor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Books](/tag/books/) ## Books Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Marvel Reveals Identity of Female Thor by [Darren Franich / EW](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Darren Franich / EW Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 13, 2015 2:27 PM CUT  The cover of Thor #8 The cover of Thor #8Marvel Comics by [Darren Franich / EW](/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Darren Franich / EW Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 13, 2015 2:27 PM CUT While Marvel Studios’ Avengers have been tearing up the big screen, Marvel Comics’ Avengers have been getting a facelift. That’s especially true of Thor, the Asgardian God of Thunder—who became a Goddess of Thunder late last year in a rebooted _Thor_ #1\. To be clear, Thor was replaced by a woman, and the first seven issues of the new series kept that woman’s actual identity a mystery. But on Wednesday, Marvel will reveal the new Thor’s secret identity in _Thor_ #8\. And [thanks to the New York _Times_](http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/marvel-comics-reveals-a-female-thor/?%5Fr=3 "undefined"), we already know what that secret identity is. **SPOILER ALERT IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW THAT IDENTITY!** It turns out that the new Thor is a longtime Thor supporting character: Jane Foster, who originally appeared way back in 1962, as the nurse sidekick/love interest to Dr. Donald Blake, originally Thor’s alter ego. The character has appeared sporadically since the ’70s. At some point in the comics continuity, she became a doctor. She achieved more prominence in the _Thor_ films, where Natalie Portman incarnated Jane as the thunder god’s astrophysicist love interest. More recently, Jane reappeared in _Thor_, diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoing chemotherapy treatments. It will be interesting to see what role her health plays in her superhero-ing. _Thor_ writer Jason Aaron tells the _Times_, “The very act of picking up this hammer, of becoming Thor, is killing her,” which sounds vaguely _Spawn_\-like. (Remember _Spawn_? Is that a thing people still talk about?) Fingers crossed, this means Natalie Portman dons a blonde wig and a horned mask-helmet in _Thor: Ragnarok_. _This_ [_article_](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/12/female-thor-marvel-reveals-secret-identity?hootPostID=218ca78cf2683e353a6df025229506d5 "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://www.ew.com/ "undefined")_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3857111/female-thor-identity/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3857111/female-thor-identity/"},"headline":"Marvel Reveals Identity of Female Thor","datePublished":"2015-05-13T14:27:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:09:51.731Z","description":"Not who you think. Unless it's exactly who you think","url":"https://time.com/3857111/female-thor-identity/","keywords":["Books","Marvel","Thor"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte79d8f0933f60fac/6987ef8df887dc02bde8e73d/female-thor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Darren Franich / EW"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte79d8f0933f60fac/6987ef8df887dc02bde8e73d/female-thor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The cover of Thor #8","caption":"The cover of Thor #8","creditText":"Marvel Comics","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/books/","name":"Books"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3857111/female-thor-identity/","name":"Marvel Reveals Identity of Female Thor"}}]}] ```