At our favorite comic book powwow, Comic-Con, it was revealed that Natalie Portman will return to the Marvel universe as a female Thor. That’s right, Portman will be bringing the thunder for the film franchise’s fourth installment, Thor: Love and Thunder. The Marvel World could not have chosen a more ideal time to bring in some feminine prowess. Transitioning out of the OG “Avengers” and Iron Man, the industry is taking significant strides to place greater emphasis on women as powerful, independent, and unstoppable.

The choice to cast Portman marks a huge moment for Hollywood. Historically, Marvel was condemned for releasing a handful of unsuccessful female-led superhero movies. Supergirl failed to launch in 1984, Jennifer Garner’s Elektra trilogy was met with criticism, and we never got a second peek at Halle Berry as Cat Woman. Poorly written scripts and over-sexualized female characters were a couple of the obvious defects. Thankfully, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman broke the streak in 2017 with the highest-grossing superhero origin film of all time. Nonetheless, Portman polished her secondary role in 2011’s Thor and 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, as astrophysicist Jane Foster, there to charm Norse God. Yet, Portman opted out of acting in the third film, Thor: Ragnarok, or Avengers: Infinity War. In 2016, Portman sat down with the Wall Street Journal in an interview where she said, “As far as I know, I’m done.”

Though we may not know what shiny deal Marvel offered up, Portman had a change of heart; to all of our surprise, she decided to join back on the Marvel band wagon in light of their recently growing, progressive agenda. At the Comic-Con panel, Marvel announced a wide-range of upcoming movie projects, such as “Black Widow,” “Eternals,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” and a reboot of “Blade.” The fresh selection of films seek to better represent women and people of color, with a diverse cast and versatile demographic across superheroes. Directed by Taika Waititi and co-starring Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, Thor: Love and Thunder will be released in November 2021. Will the fourth Thor live up to the test? With a woman swinging the hammer this time around, V’s sure that Lady Thor will conquer the box office.