THORDIS
Real Name: Jane Foster
Occupation: Adventurer, former Nurse
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States of an alternate reality with no known criminal record
Other Aliases: None known
Place of Birth: possibly New York City
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: None
Group Affiliation: The Avengers, ally of the Gods of Asgard
Base of Operations: New York City ("Foreign Earth"/Earth-788)
First Appearance: (as Foster) Journey into Mystery #84, (as Thordis) What If I #10
History: Jane Foster is a denizen of an alternate earth running parallel to that of the mainstream timeline of Earth. In the mainstream timeline, Foster had been hired as a nurse employed by Dr. Donald Blake, who was the mortal incarnation of Thor, the Norse god of thunder, who had been sent to Earth to learn humility by his father, Odin, the Ruler of the Asgardian gods. Unaware of his true godly nature, Blake was mystically drawn to Norway where he recovered the hammer Mjolnir and regained his godhood, becoming a founding member of the Avengers.
Jane Foster was greatly in love with Thor as Dr. Blake, but in his mortal guise, Blake feared that Foster did not really love him and instead pitied him because he was a lame, a frailty Odin had created so that Thor would learn humility. Upon regaining his identity as Thor, he fell in love with Foster and revealed his identity to her, wanting to marry her but forbidden to do so since Odin considered her unworthy of Thor.
In mainstream reality, Blake had traveled to Norway alone and regained Mjolnir, the source of his power. However, in the Foreign Earth reality, Foster accompanied Blake on his vacation where in an alternate sequence of events both Foster and Blake witnessed the landing of an extra-terrestrial race of beings known as the Kronans seeking to conquer Earth. Both Foster and Blake fled for safety, but in this reality, Foster instead of Blake stumbled into a ravine and got trapped in the caves there while trying to hide. She tried to use a piece of wood left alone in the cave to free herself, but when struck the wall with it out of frustration, she instead became imbued with the power of Thor. Bombarded with the mystical energies stored in the wood, she became charged with the godly power of the Norse thunder god Thor, and the stick returned to its normal appearance as his hammer Mjolnir.
Calling herself Thordis, Foster saved Blake and drove the Kronans from Earth, eventually using her new alter-ego to come to the rescue of others, battling superhuman criminals and eventually founding the Avengers in this alternate version of events. Eventually, Loki, the god of mischief, a frequent foe of Thor, freed himself from his eternity-long imprisonment within a tree and renewed his enmity with the thunder-god, but Loki became delighted to find that someone else had recovered Mjolnir in his absence. He tried to seduce Thordis into surrendering the hammer, but Thordis still proved to be still more than a match for him. She returned Loki to Asgard with Mjolnir, but the sight of its return compelled Odin to request Thor return home. Mystically receiving the message instead of Blake due to the hammer's enchantments, Foster responded to the call as Thordis, but once Odin now realized that he had made a mistake leaving Mjolnir to be found by a mortal, he became so offended he cast Thordis out of Asgard and back to Earth.
Despite this brief encounter with the Gods of Asgard, Thordis continued to prove herself as a hero on Earth, following the Avengers and other heroes into more adventures. Meanwhile, Sif, the goddess of grain, who had been Thor's true love in previous incarnations of Asgard, chose to seek Thor's whereabouts on Earth. Having been in attendance in Asgard when Thordis was exiled by Odin, Sif ascended to Earth in secret and found Thor in his mortal guise of Don Blake that Odin had created years ago. She cured him of his lameness and resumed their romance without telling him he was the true Thor. Loki, however, refused to allow her to reawaken those memories of his true identity and went to kill Blake to prevent him regaining his identity as his main deterrent in his plans to conquer Asgard. Thordis, however, came to the rescue and stopped Loki from killing Blake, who remained unaware of his true identity.
Eventually, an alien entity known as Mangog soon invaded Asgard and nearly caused Ragnarok. Thordis, Sif and Blake fought valiantly in his defeat, and once Odin realized that Blake had proved his bravery, he allowed Thor to reclaim Mjolnir and his true identity. Jane Foster was stripped of her guise as Thordis as a result, but in this reality, Odin allowed her to remain a true goddess without the use of Thor's hammer while she stayed close to Odin's side in Asgard.
It is unknown as to what adventures Foster had after giving up Mjolnir or if
she retained the Thordis identity on Earth. It is known that Thor soon ran afoul
of a mutant named Rogue who using her powers to absorb the powers and memories
of other heroes clashed with the Avengers on behalf of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants
to gain the power to bust several of their teammates from Riker's Prison.
However, Rogue absorbed so much of Thor's godhood and memories that she turned
against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and with Mjolnir by her side, she
became a hero herself, encouraged by Thor's memories to even rally in defense of
Asgard against Loki. How this affected Foster as Thordis is unrevealed; although
these events might actually be part of yet another alternate timeline of Earth.
Height: (Foster) 5' 7" (Thordis) 6’ 6”
Weight: (Foster 135 lbs. (Thordis) 435 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: (Foster) Blue, (Thordis) Blonde
Strength Level: Jane Foster possessed the normal human strength level of
a woman with her size, height and build who engaged in extensive regular
exercises. As a goddess, she possesses superhuman strength enabling her to lift
(press) 30 tons under optimal conditions. Imbued by Thor's power, Foster's
strength level is substantially greater. As Thordis, she possesses Class 100
strength enabling her to lift (press) over 100 tons under optimal conditions.
Known Superhuman Powers: Thordis possesses the conventional physical attributes of the Asgardian Gods, but to a much greater extent than any other Asgardian goddess when she is imbued with Thor's power. Otherwise, her strength, endurance and resistance to injury are equal to that of any other Asgardian. Like all Asgardians, she is extremely long-lived (thought not immortal in the same sense of the Olympian Gods). Like all Asgardians, she has superhuman strength and stamina. She is immune to all known terrestrial diseases and is invulnerable to conventional injury. If wounded, her godly life force would enable her to recover with superhuman speed. It would take an injury of such magnitude that it dispersed a major portion of her bodily molecules to cause her a physical death. Even then, it might be possible for Odin or a number of gods of equal power working together to revive her. Her own Asgardian metabolism gives her far greater than human endurance in all physical activities. (Asgardian flesh and bone is about three times as dense as similar human tissue, contributing to the superhuman strength and weight of the Asgardian race.)
Abilities: As Jane Foster, Thordis has exceptional skills as a nurse trained in medicine and first aid.
Comments: Thordis and Jane Foster are characters from Marvel Comics.
It can be assumed that once Thor regained his identity (Thor I#154) that the rest of the timeline continued nearly identically to that of mainstream Earth-616 unless one considers the events of What If II #66 as part of this reality. However, it could be assumed that at least any alteration caused by Foster as Thordis diverged more incidents that carried this reality to no longer have anything in common with the lives of its mainstream counterparts.
The concept of Jane Foster using Mjolnir to become Thordis was paralleled the same year as her story in What If I #10 with a mainstream universe story in Marvel Team Up I#79 with Mary Jane Watson using a sword to become Red Sonya to help Spiderman confront Kulan Gath, a Hyborian Age sorcerer. Both tales predate the Eternian princess Adora using a sword to become She-Ra by almost ten years in the animated motion picture, "Masters of the Universe: The Sword In The Stone."
"Foreign Earth" is not a recognized Marvel Comics designation. It is used here as a designation for a possible alternate earth where a possible unidentified presence purposely allocates the powers of Earth's greatest heroes to their female counterparts.
Clarifications: Thordis is not to be confused with:
Last updated: 11/14/13