Natalie Portman shares "surreal" process of becoming Mighty Thor: "It was pretty wild"

Natalie Portman returns to the MCU in Thor: Love and Thunder for the first time since Avengers: Endgame. However, Dr. Jane Foster will look a little different when we meet her again. This time around, she’ll be wielding Mjolnir to become the Mighty Thor. 

While we’ve yet to find out exactly how she’ll make the transition to the superhero, Portman has some insight into her own transformation. "It's pretty wild," the actor says at the Thor: Love and Thunder press conference about putting on the costume. "Of course after seeing Chris [Hemsworth] wear the costume for so many years and then to try the version on myself. And getting fitted for all the arm cuffs and the boots and everything – it was pretty surreal for the first time."

Part of transforming for the character also meant bulking up – and according to her co-star Chris Hemsworth, she was the "first in the gym" every day. "Natalie led the charge in the gym," he said. "We were trying to keep up with her."

Portman adds how fun it was to play a character unlike any she had before. She says: "I was especially grateful to everyone's imagination to cast a five-foot-three actress in a six-foot role. I think that takes a real leap of possibility in your mind and it’s probably not something I will get the opportunity to be imagined as by any other group. So it was a great challenge. Tessa [Thompson, Valkyrie] and Chris obviously have a lot of experience in that world so I got to learn a lot from them."

However, she also wants to make clear that her version of the role will be "completely different" from Hemsworth’s. Portman explains: "I think he's obviously very assured and experienced in being a superhero and she's just trying to figure it out. She's new at it."

The Black Swan actor previously opened up a bit more about becoming a "newbie Thor" in the latest edition of Total Film, which is available to buy now. She shared: "It’s exciting to get to be a superhero – and there’s no guidebook that comes along and tells you how to do it."

Thor: Love and Thunder is released in theaters on July 7. While you wait, we’ve rounded up everything you need to know about Marvel Phase 4 releases, as well as the lowdown on how to watch the Marvel movies in order.