At a recent press conference, Natalie Portman explained how her Thor: Love and Thunder character, Mighty Thor, is different from Chris Hemsworth's original Thor Odinson. The upcoming fourth Thor film will mark Portman's return to the massive Marvel superhero franchise as the astrophysicist Dr. Jane Foster, who also happens to be Thor's ex-girlfriend. Although she appeared in Avengers: Endgame through the use of archival footage, the actor has not been featured in any MCU film since 2013's Thor: The Dark World.

Set after the climactic events of Avengers: Endgame, Thor: Love and Thunder finds the titular superhero struggling to pick up the pieces of his life during what director Taika Waititi has called the character's mid-life crisis. With Thanos defeated and Asgard relocated to Earth, Thor travels the universe searching for a new purpose and encounters Foster wielding his enchanted former weapon, Mjolnir. With Foster now taking up the mantle of the Mighty Thor, she must team up with her former flame, as well as the Asgardian warrior King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), to take on Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who is on a mission to wipe out all gods from the universe.

Related: Love & Thunder Could Revisit Thor's Divisive Age Of Ultron Story

During a recent press conference, Portman explained that her version of Thor is different than Hemsworth's popular Asgardian hero because of the vast disparity in their experience as superheroes. Portman also spoke about how Mighty Thor doesn't have complete control over her powers yet, so her superhero status is inherently more precarious than Thor's. Read what Portman said about the differences between the two heroes below.

"[Thor and The Mighty Thor are] completely different. I think [Thor is] obviously very assured and experienced in being a superhero and she's just trying to figure it out. She's new at it. And also keeps reverting to human form. So there's a kind of danger always that like it might be her last moment getting to experience that."

Natalie Portman as Jane Foster in Thor: Love and Thunder

With Thor being approximately 1,500 years old, the superhero has most likely been fighting and protecting other beings in the universe for over a millennium. However, Portman explains that Foster's powerful Mighty Thor is completely inexperienced in battle as well as what the responsibilities of being a superhero entail. On top of her newfound powers, Foster frequently returns to her human form where she must deal with a devastating life-threatening cancer that is ravaging her body from within.

Foster's cancer is a powerful threat that Hemsworth's Thor has never had to face. He has taken down Chitauri Leviathans in the Battle of New York (The Avengers), gone toe-to-toe against the Hulk (Thor: Ragnarok), and killed Thanos (Avengers: Endgame); however, Thor has never had to physically or emotionally deal with cancer, an enemy that he can't kill with a swing of his hammer or axe. Foster must balance her external battles with her internal ones as she faces Gorr, one of the universe's greatest foes when Thor: Love and Thunder lands in theaters on July 8.

Next: Love & Thunder’s Mighty Thor Transformation Risks An Endgame Plot Hole

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