Early history Jane Nelson, known by her more common name of Jane Foster, was a nurse for Dr. Donald Blake, eventually developing feelings for him and Thor, not knowing that they were one and the same. The love triangle went on for a while until Thor revealed his secret identity to Foster, which caused
Odin to punish him though he was forgiven after saving Asgard, and in return Thor even took her to Asgard with him. There, Foster was briefly granted immortality and the power of gods, until she failed to pass the tests of courage set forth by Odin when she showed fear battling the monstrous Unknown. Odin then strips Foster of her new powers and returns her to Earth, with no memory of Thor or her time in Asgard, where she meets her new love Dr. Keith Kincaid, who resembles Blake. Meanwhile, in Asgard, Odin reunites Thor with his childhood love,
Sif. Foster and Thor remain separated for some time until Thor learns Foster had been manipulated into attempting suicide by an entity known as Fear and rushes to her hospital bedside. Sif, seeing Thor still has feelings for Foster, saves Foster's life by merging their life-forces. They soon are separated and Foster is exiled to a
pocket dimension. Thor and Sif eventually rescue Foster and return her to Earth, where she marries Dr. Keith Kincaid.
Physician Foster appears again in the second Thor volume; now a doctor herself, she is in a position of authority over several New York paramedics, including Jake Olsen. Unbeknownst to her, Jake and Thor have been merged, which creates many conflicts. In one instance, Olsen ignores medical orders and utilizes Thor's knowledge to perform a complicated procedure on a critically ill man. Later, Foster becomes involved in a police case against Olsen, who is accused of stealing drugs. She also examines
Jack Monroe, who stated that he sought her out due to her familiarity with superhuman patients. She later informed Monroe that he was dying due to the effects of the Super-Soldier Serum he had ingested as a youth. During the 2006 "
Civil War" storyline, Foster takes
Captain America's side against the registration act and joins his resistance group, the Secret Avengers. She operates from
S.H.I.E.L.D. safe-house number 23. She is also seen in issue 4, helping to assist a beaten
Spider-Man.
Return Shortly after divorcing her husband and subsequently losing custody of her child, Jimmy Kincaid, Foster hears rumors of the return of Dr. Donald Blake and Thor. Blake soon visits Foster at her work in a New York City hospital in search of Sif, whose spirit Blake mistakenly thought had been reborn in Foster since their spirits had been merged once before. Foster and Blake go on a date after an initially turbulent reunion. Foster discovers that Sif's spirit had been reborn in the body of a dying elderly cancer patient under her care. She alerts Blake and Thor manages to restore Sif just before the patient dies. Foster then travels to
Broxton, Oklahoma, the site of the resurrected Asgard, and opens a medical practice with Donald Blake.
Cancer and becoming Thor Following the deaths of her ex-husband and son in a car accident, Foster is diagnosed with breast cancer, and accepts an invitation from Thor to represent Midgard in the Congress of the Worlds on Asgard. She undergoes therapy but refuses all magical treatments. During the 2014 "
Original Sin" storyline,
Nick Fury whispers an, at the time, unrevealed secret to Thor that causes him to lose the ability to wield Mjolnir. Soon afterwards, an unidentified woman picks up the hammer, taking possession of Thor's power as the new Goddess of Thunder, and fights
Malekith the Accursed,
Dario Agger, and
Absorbing Man. Although Thor initially attempts to reclaim the hammer, he – referring to himself as 'Odinson' – relinquishes the name and role of Thor after witnessing her wield its power. Angered that someone else is wielding Mjolnir, Odin and his brother
Cul, the god of fear, send the
Destroyer after the new Thor to retrieve the hammer, but Odinson and Freyja assemble an army of female superheroes to aid her. When the battle is over, Odinson asks Thor to reveal her face, but is interrupted by
S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Roz Solomon, Odinson's last 'viable' suspect as the new Thor after all other possible candidates came to assist in the battle. Unbeknownst to Odinson, Mjolnir has given Foster the strength to fight as Thor while it is in her possession. However, Foster's use of Mjolnir has perpetuated her cancer as a result of the transformation process purging all toxins from her body, including the
chemotherapy being used for her treatment, each time she transforms.
Secret Wars During the 2015 "
Secret Wars" storyline, Foster participates in the final battle between
Earth-616 and
Earth-1610 during its collision during the incursion event. She is one of the few survivors of the end of the extant Marvel Universe, boarding
Reed Richards's "life raft". She and the other survivors are awakened eight years later, having been trapped in suspended animation. In the interim,
Doctor Doom created a new universe,
Battleworld, from the fragments of dead universes. Knowing the survivors represent the only hope of defeating Doom,
Doctor Strange scatters Foster and the others to different parts of Battleworld. For this, Doom kills Strange and begins hunting the survivors. Foster infiltrated the Thor Corps, Doom's police force, and convinced a majority of them to revolt against Doom.
All-New All-Different Marvel In the 2015–18
All-New All-Different Marvel branding, Foster remains in Asgardia as a representative of Midgard (Earth) in the Congress of Worlds, and as Thor, she remains a fugitive pursued by Cul. Odinson is considered missing. She becomes involved in the war between
Svartalfheim, the realm of the Dark Elves, and
Alfheim, the realm of the Light Elves and encounters several incarnations of
Loki. After returning to Earth, Foster is taken into custody by two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who suspect her to be Thor until she is bailed out by Agent Solomon.
All-New All-Different Avengers Thor is also once again a member of the Avengers and appears in
All-New All-Different Avengers. She appeared by chance in their encounter with Warbringer and subsequently agrees to help form a new official Avengers group. Her identity is unknown to her teammates until she is separated from the hammer when she is transferred a few days into the future by
Kang the Conqueror, and
Sam Wilson, the new Captain America, witnesses her as she reverts to her civilian form. He agrees to keep it secret, and offers her moral support during chemotherapy treatments. As her condition worsens, Foster confesses her identity to Odinson and others. Foster who force her to stay in a hospital under observation by Doctor Strange despite
Mangog attacking Asgard, as Strange determines that one more transformation into Thor will kill her. When Mangog proves too powerful, Foster transforms into Thor and confronts him, sacrificing Mjolnir – and thus her life – by binding Mangog and Mjolnir together with
Gleipnir, the chain used to trap
Fenris the wolf, and hurling both into the Sun. Knowing that she will die once the enchantment that turns her into Thor wears off, Foster kisses Odinson for a final time before expiring. Consumed by grief of Foster's loss, Odinson works to revive her as she hesitates at the gates of Valhalla. Upon Foster gaining his respect, Odin channels the powers of the God Tempest and assists Odinson into resurrecting Foster. In the aftermath of Mangog's defeat, Mjolnir is destroyed, but it is discovered after Foster hands Odinson an uru shard that he is now capable of wielding the metal again. Foster convinces Odinson to reclaim his name and continue in the War Between the Realms as the true Thor while she resolves to focus on her chemotherapy.
Becoming a Valkyrie When the "
War of the Realms" comes to Earth, Foster assists in getting refugees to safety, with her chemotherapy successfully concluded and her hair now growing back. During the invasion she meets
Valkyrie and Frigga, confirming that she was the Thor who defeated Mangog. When a new assault requires Odin and Frigga to retreat to Asgard with various Earth heroes, Frigga appoints Foster to act as All-Mother while she and Odin help to prepare the counter-attack to protect Earth. As the war continues, Brunnhilde and the rest of the
Valkyrior are massacred by Malekith and his forces. Foster later takes the broken hammer of the
Earth-1610 Thor in order to help fight Malekith's forces. Acting as a Thor one last time, she joins Thor Odinson, young Thor, and future King Thor to rescue Odin and Frigga from Malekith. Foster notices that the Earth-1610 Mjolnir is about to shatter from the battle, and she hurls it one last time at Laufey. Foster bids farewell to the Earth-1610 Mjolnir as it returns to her, crumbling; however, its shards form a golden bracelet on her arm. Foster learns that this bracelet can now be anything that she needs. As she sees the sorrow in Thor mourning the Valkrior and his faith in Valhalla, Foster knows she needs to become a Valkyrie. Foster becomes the first in a new generation of Valkyries, armed with Undrjarn the All-Weapon, named so by the spirit of Brunnhilde as she and the Valkrior spirits rise from their bodies to find Valhalla. ==Powers and abilities==