Who the Clix? is a series of articles featuring information on comic book characters that have been made into figures for the popular tabletop game Heroclix. These articles are meant to help Heroclix players learn more about the characters behind their favorite pieces.
She was once just “Thor’s girlfriend,” but now she’s an accomplished super hero in her own right, she’s: Jane Foster
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Appearances in Heroclix: War of the Realms, Captain America and the Avengers, The Mighty Thor, What If?, Nick Fury: Agent of SHIELD, Supernova, Xplosion
First Appearance: Journey into Mystery #84 (September 1962)
Team Affiliations: Secret Avengers, Thor Corps, Avengers
Powers: (As Thor) Super human strength; (From Mjolnir) Dimensional transportation, Physical transformation, Electric manipulation, Flight, Weather manipulation, Electrokinesis, Star creation/generation; (As Valkyrie) Access to Undrjarn, the shape shifting weapon, Flight
Created by: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Larry Lieber
Jane Foster first meets Thor as a nurse for his alter-ego, Donald Blake. Jane becomes enamored for “both” the man and the god until Thor revealed the truth to her. Though this earns Thor a punishment from his father, the thunder god endures it and is eventually able to bring Jane to Asgard for a visit. Jane is briefly gifted the power of the gods and put to tests of courage to see if she is worthy. Unfortunately, she shows fear when battling one of the monsters and is returned to Earth with no memories of Thor or her time in Asgard by Odin. Displeased, Odin attempts to reunite Thor with a “proper” love, Sif.
Back on Earth, Jane falls in love with another doctor, Keith Kincaid, who strongly resembles Donald Blake. Foster lives a fairly happy, normal life until an entity calling itself Fear tries to manipulate her into committing suicide. Thor rushes to her hospital bed, leading Sif to merge her life force with Foster’s. Sif and Jane are soon separated with Jane being banished to a pocket dimension. Thor and Sif travel into the dimension to rescue her and return her to Earth, where she soon marries Dr. Kincaid.
Time passes and Jane becomes a doctor herself in New York City. Thor is brought into her life once again when Thor is merged with paramedic Jake Olsen. The two butt heads on several occasions as Thor uses his knowledge of medicine from his time as Donald Blake and ignores Dr. Foster’s orders. She is even involved in a case where Olsen is accused of stealing medicine. During the superhuman Civil War, Jane joins the Secret Avengers and aids Captain America’s resistance forces.
Some years later, Jane divorces Kincaid and loses custody of her son. Soon after, Donald Blake visits Foster in search of Sif, believing that Sif was reborn in Foster because of their bond years earlier. Together, they discover that Sif is actually in the body of one of Foster’s elder cancer patients. Thor is able to save Sif before the patient dies. Jane travels to Broxton, OK in the shadow of the resurrected Asgard and opens a medical practice with Blake.
After losing her ex-husband and son in a car accident, Jane is diagnosed with breast cancer. Soon after, Thor invites her to represent Midgard in the Congress of the Worlds on Asgard. Jane begins treatment but refuses to accept magical help. Soon after this, Nick Fury whispers to Thor that “Gorr was right,” meaning that all gods are unworthy because of the pain and suffering they bring to mortals, who are not as easily reborn. This results in Thor losing the ability to wield Mjolnir. Secretly, Jane is able to pick up the hammer and becomes Thor, Goddess of Thunder.
She quickly acclimates to the role and defeats Malekith, Dario Agger, as well as Absorbing Man. These battles draw the attention of Thor Odinson who confronts her and attempts to reclaim Mjolnir. When it doesn’t answer his call, he acquiesces and accepts this new female Thor as his successor. Odinson, as he now calls himself, initially thinks it is Jane but dismisses the possibility because of how damaging her chemotherapy has been.
Odin is enraged by the new Thor and sends the Destroyer to attack her and retrieve Mjolnir. Odinson is disappointed in his father and asks for Freyja’s help in recruiting other female superheroes to aid the new Thor in battle. They are able to defeat the Destroyer and in the aftermath, Odinson begs her to reveal her identity. Jane finally relents and shows her face to her old friend, telling him that she will not stop being the Mighty Thor, even though it’s killing her. She explains that every time she transforms into Thor, all toxins in her body are purged, including those used in chemotherapy.
Jane is among those handful of heroes that survive the final incursion on Reed Richard’s life raft. After awakening on Battleworld, Jane is able to infiltrate the Thor Corps and convince most of them to rebel against their master, Doom.
After the restoration of the Multiverse, Jane continues to act as a representative of Midgard in the Congress of Worlds as well as be hunted by Cul Borson as Thor. Odinson’s strange disappearance only exacerbates this situation. She intervenes in the war between the Dark and Light elves as well as dealing with numerous Lokis. Once the elves achieve piece, Jane returns to Asgard to stop the trial of Freyja by Odin. Just as Odin is about to pass judgement on the All-Mother, Thor and Loki battle through Cul’s thunderguard to burst into the courtroom. Thor and Odin begin a monumental battle as Loki makes his way to Freyja and stabs her. In some unknown prison, Odinson feels the death of his mother.
Jane returns to Earth and goes on several adventures with Roz Solomon. They battle the second Silver Samurai in an underwater base before he attempts to drown them. While Thor lifts the base out of the ocean, Roz attempts to locate Dario Agger. The pair are able to find him but must battle through Mindless Ones, BERSERKERS (gamma powered superhumans), Exterminatrix, and even agents of SHIELD that seek to arrest Jane Foster. With a helpful illusion from Mjolnir, Thor is able to convince the SHIELD agents that Jane Foster is not the same person as Thor.
Thor joins a new team of Avengers but tries to keep her identity secret. The first to learn of her true identity is Sam Wilson, when Kang sends Jane to the future and separates her from Mjolnir. Sam promises to keep her secret and offers moral support during Jane’s chemo treatments. Through unknown means, Doctor Strange also learns of Jane’s secret and calls on her medical expertise. He needs her help to remove a number of mystical tumors on his patients as a result of the entity known as Misery.
Jane’s cancer progresses too far and she reveals her secret to the entire team. As Mangog attacks Asgard, Doctor Strange warns Jane that one more transformation into Thor will likely kill her. With the other heroes unable to stop Mangog, Jane makes the heroic choice to become Thor and battles the giant monster. She binds Mjolnir to Mangog with Gleipnir, the chain that trapped Fenris, and hurls them all into the Sun. Knowing that she will soon become mortal, she gives Odinson one last kiss before dying. Odinson is consumed with grief and travels to the gates of Valhalla to try and find some way to resurrect Jane. Impressed by her final act, Odin arrives and aids his son in channeling the power of the God Tempest to resurrect Jane. Back on Midgard, Jane and Odinson are reunited but at the loss of Mjolnir. Jane hands Odinson a shard of Uru to prove to the Asgardian that he is once again worthy. Jane tells him to reclaim his name and she is going to focus on beating her cancer.
Jane’s chemotherapy ends up being a success and sends her breast cancer into remission. During the War of the Realms, Valkyrie and Frigga meet Jane and learn that she is the Thor that defeated Mangog. As Odin and Frigga retreat to Asgard, Frigga empowers Jane to act as All-Mother until they return. The war goes poorly as Brunnhilde and the Valkyrior are massacred, forcing Jane to pick up the broken Mjolnir from Earth-1610. She battles alongside Thor Odinson, young Thor and King Thor to save Frigga and Odin from Malekith. In the battle, she can feel that the hammer is about to shatter and so she uses it in one mighty blow against Laufey. As the hammer begins to crumble upon returning to her, she bids it farewell only for it to transform into a golden bracelet around her wrist.
Though the heroes win the day, there is a great loss felt with the elimination of the Valkyrior. Seeing the sorrow in Thor’s heart, Jane is driven to become the first in a new generation of Valkyrie. Her bracelet is renamed Undrajarn the All-Weapon by Brunnhilde as she and the other fallen Vaklyrie enter Valhalla. One of her first battles brings her into conflict with Bullseye, who is able to fatally wound Heimdall. Jane sacrifices Dragonfang, which Bullseye had stolen, to beat Bullseye. Determined to forge a better future, she offers to give Heimdall a different experience than Valhalla.
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