This jogged something in my memory and after a little googling I sure enough found this article from last year, where the Russos list off which characters were killed in the snap off-screen. When asked about Jane the response was "too spoilery". That anything at all with Foster was considered spoilery certainly raises some red flags and that this is year old information at this point probably indicates that some kind of agreement, or at least an interim plan was already in place when they made 'Infinity War'. Of course they also say in that article that Aunt May wasn't dusted, so make of this what you will.
Oh, yeah, I do remember that comment. I didn't know what to make of it at the time but it makes sense within the confines of this new film. Or, as you said, it means nothing. But I like to think my theory is on the right track.
Great to get more details on Thor 4 (I’m quite excited!) - buuuuuut I still posit: Where’s Lady Sif at?!??
She made three Star Wars movies. She has all the money in the world. I suspect, as @Reverend said: As Lady Thor, Natalie has something to actually do. She gets to throw the punches.
Hopefully she'll appear. She wasn't in Ragnarok because of Jaimie Alexander's scheduling conflicts with Blindspot. Hopefully they can work it out this time around?
Even if Sif doesn't appear in Thor: Love and Thunder, I think it's safe to assume that she's with the Asgardian/New Asgardian survivors and being ruled by Valkyrie.
I make no such assumptions. Given what happened to Heimdall I wouldn't be surprised if Sif was banished or sent off on some impossible mission by "Odin" to the far side of the universe. Sure, she could have made her way to New Asgard at some poitn down the line, but then how is that a more interesting story than her being an Asgardian ronin type, wandering the cosmos all jaded and pissed off?
From a personal standpoint, maybe, but she's also a producer and philanthropist, and, when one wants to get a movie financed, having a few spare millions to invest never hurts. "How do you make a million bucks in Hollywood? Spend two million."
Okay, Sif was apparently banished from Asgard, but given that Jamie Alexander was sought for Ragnarok but couldn't come back due to scheduling conflicts, I still think she's likely amongst the Asgard/New Asgard survivors/Blip returnees.
And again I ask: how is that a more interesting story? Anyway if she was away from Asgard during Ragnarok, by the time word reached her that Asgard was gone (not sure how since it doesn't seem like Asgard had much direct contact with the larger cosmos) how would she even know to find the survivors on Midgard? Earth is a backwater, off the galactic datastreams, and the galaxy would have been in utter chaos for years following the snap so reliable information would be hard to come by. For all Sif knew, they were *all* dead and gone, and that she was the Last Asgardian in the universe. You'd think a self described "writer" would have a better nose for a more compelling narrative than "yeah, she's just down there in Norway, being a fisherwoman or whatever."
In one of the novels that was released as tie-in material to Infinity War and Endgame, it was established that Jane, Darcy and Selvig all survived the snap. This was, of course, contradicted in Endgame as it showed Selvig as being amongst the missing. At the time, I justified it with the fact that at the beginning of the novel Selvig had pretty much secluded himself from the rest of the world trying to figure out the cause of the decimation, only to seek out Darcy some weeks later. That still doesn't really fit into the "5 years later" part of movie unless you squint. With all of the discoveries Selvig made about the Infinity Stones in the novels, he should have been right there with the rest of the Avengers planning Time heist. I had another theory that would have put everything neatly into place if only Far From Home hadn't established that Selvig was still alive.
I've loved the idea of Jane Foster as Thor ever since 1978 and What If #10. I'm surprised Natalie Portman is back so good news there, too.
I don't think she would have to work anymore given her career thus far. She's a Harvard graduate so i assume she's intelligent enough to invest the money she's earned wisely instead of spending it on huge palaces and expensive cars (she doesn't strike me as the type to do so). She's a known name in Hollywood so roles may still come in and she can choose which projects to do. I can only guess but either the paycheck was so good she couldn't turn it down for a few months of work or she genuinely is interested in the project as she has more to do than being the love interest of the main character. There's tons of known character actor that break their usual style by appearing in summer blockbusters only to return to smaller movies afterwards.. sometimes they just do it for the fun aspect or the experience to do a CGI heavy movie, other times they just want to work and act (Ben Kingsley has done so.. from playing Gandhi to starring in Uwe Boll movies, he just wants to work). Anyway.. i didn't like Thor 3 too much due to the excessive comedy which i don't think is a good fit for Thor movies so Waititi returning to helm Thor 4 isn't filling me with confidence that i'll finally like a Thor movie.
I don’t think the movies she’s chosen have that goal in mind. When an actor is financially secure, not every choice has to be about money.
I was wondering how this will affect the third Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Thor left with them so might they show up in this? Is Thor going to leave and come back to them? Will the movie be set after Guardians 3?