This blast from the past appeared in CBG #1579 (Feb 20, 2004), just about a decade ago:
The Mighty Jane Foster!
Don Blake’s nurse came thisclose to marrying the Thunder God of her dreams.But she ended up marrying somebody else instead.
Dear Mr. Silver Age,
I’m a big fan of Jane Foster, Thor’s first love interest during The Silver Age. Why did they break up? Why didn’t they get married?
Karen P.
New York City
Mr. Silver Age says: Jane had a darn interesting life during The Silver Age, Karen, a life that differed in several ways from most other love interests of the time. Perhaps the most notable difference was that she was written out of the series rather quickly. Of course, she returned well after the end of The Silver Age, but that’s pretty par for the course.
We were introduced to Nurse Jane Foster in The Thunder God’s second adventure, Journey Into Mystery #84 (Sep 62). Dr. Don Blake, aka Thor, immediately got the ball rolling by admiring his medical helpmate from a distance and pitying himself for not being able to tell her of his love. He reasoned that such a beautiful woman would never marry a lame man, and if he professed his love, she’d quit her job.
As usual, our hero wasn’t willing to give anyone else any credit, deciding he’d rather live with his suppressed emotions than risk expressing them to someone shallower than he was. OK, sure, those were the same emotions being experienced by a lot of the kids reading the comics, too. But geez. I can just see him, Matt Murdock, Tony Stark and Scott Summers sobbing on each other’s shoulders at their monthly Pity Parties.
Fortunately, Doc Blake’s fortunes took a turn for the better (eventually). Because Jane not only loved the doc in return (as the beautiful assistant always did, secretly), but she wasn’t as good at hiding her feelings as most of the other Marvel ladies were. They first slipped out later that same issue, when the two medics were captured by a ruthless gang of Commies during a South American revolution. When the Commies went to execute Blake, Jane begged for mercy, making the leader realize she was sweet on Blake. So the leader made her agree to marry him if he spared the doc.
The doc didn’t cotton to that proposal and escaped. Naturally, to hide his later transformation into Thor, he told Jane he’d hidden after getting away. That dampened any heightened romantic feeling his potential death had generated in Janey. In fact, she began to be more dazzled by the dashing Thunder God than by the doctor who’d intrigued her to this point.
That “love him without realizing he’s standing right here” ironic situation continued for some time—culminating in the embarrassing daydream Jane had in JIM #89 (Feb 63), in which she pondered polishing her hubby’s hammer, ironing his cape and cutting his locks. That scene was one of several reasons the story won a 2000 Mopee Award in CBG #1410. Nuff said.
But things began to change the next issue, as Thor decided enow was enow and that Jane should know of his other identity and his love for her. But as he began the big reveal, All-Father Odin cut him off with a lightning bolt and told his son that he was forbidden from revealing his identity to a mortal. That short-circuited that plan pronto.
Things were kept simmering for a number of months, with Nurse Foster occasionally professing her growing admiration for Thor. But Jane, unlike many other women secretly in love with super-heroes but not their other identities, apparently switched her loyalties again. The pivotal moment came in JIM #97 (Oct 63), when Blake again worked up the nerve to profess his love—geez, didn’t he ever think about asking for a date first?
Remembering Odin’s decree, he backed off, apparently deciding love-professing and identity-revealing had to go hand-in-hand. This time, Jane stepped in where other super-love interests feared to tread. She encouraged him to say whatever was on his mind, noting that she’d been waiting to hear it for months. But Blake declined, ticking off Jane mightily. Frustrated, Thor asked Odin for permission to marry his honey, and The All-Father naturally nixed the notion.
Their frustrated conversation led Jane to accept a position with another doctor. But in the next issue, when the Cobra attacked, Dr. Andrews revealed himself to be a coward. That brought Jane to her senses, and she returned to Blake. In fact, it made her realize that she really did love the little lug, as we overheard her thinking at the beginning of #99. Her main concern was the apparent secret that kept him from revealing his own obvious love.
The doc gained a little confidence later in the ish, after Jane thought Mr. Hyde had thrown Blake out the window to his death. Thor revealed later that he’d saved Don, and she was so relieved it was obvious even to The Thunder God that Jane loved her boss. That made him more resolved to again petition Odin to relent.
Their simmering but frustrated (and frustrating) relationship continued at this pace for awhile, but it got another boost when Foster confessed to Thor that she loved the doc in #107 (Aug 64).
That’s got to make a lame doctor feel a little more confidence about asking a girl out for a date, doesn’t it? In fact, Thor immediately flew off and turned a few figurative cartwheels in the air. If you don’t have the comic, picture Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer right after Clarice announced that he was “cute.”
Things came to a head when Jane lay close to death during a battle between Thor and Mr. Hyde in #110 (Nov 64). Distraught at her imminent demise, Thor stopped time with his hammer (don’t try this at home, kids) and ultimately, Odin helped save her. Dad’s mind was changed by a ballad sung to him by Balder, reminding the All-Father of a forbidden love from his own youth.
A few issues later, Thor went to Asgard and helped win a major battle. After it ended, in #113 (Feb 65), Thor asked to return to Earth, and his dad knew why. Odin said if his son wanted to throw away his destiny on a mortal woman, he wouldn’t stand in his way. So Blake went to his office and revealed his true identity to Jane!
Unfortunately, his powers had been removed by a spiteful All-Father, so Jane mostly thought he had slipped a gear when he stamped his cane to no result. His loss of power didn’t make things easy when The Grey Gargoyle attacked, but then nothing ever did.
All sorts of all-out battle action went on after that for awhile, none of which got Blake, Odin and Jane together to work out their little differences.
Finally, in JIM #120 (Sept 65), Blake returned to his office after a long time away to find that Jane had disappeared and his office (and practice) was in shambles.
In fact, she’d been taken captive by a mysterious (albeit genteel) masked stranger who turned out to be…well, I won’t tell you that, but it didn’t have as good of a payoff as the build-up promised.
Everything came to a head in JIM #124 (Jan 66) while Jane was in the hospital due to smoke inhalation from a previous brouhaha. She berated Blake for always disappearing at moments of crisis and failing her when she needed him most. She ordered him to leave and never come back. Blake was torn, wanting desperately to reveal his identity, but knowing it was forbidden by Odin.
Then he revealed his identity.
Yes, that’s right! He simply couldn’t stand to see the woman he loved suffer any more. So he defied the All-Father and stamped his knarled cane on the hospital room’s floor, just like he’d tried to do earlier when Odin had removed his powers. This time, it worked. Thoom! “’Tis an immortal of Asgard whom you love, Jane Foster—and who truly loves you as well!” Holey continuity change!
She believed him this time. Bolts of lightning and sudden transformations have a way of helping. That perked her right up—although it really, really, really ticked off Odin, who was watching on Thor TV.
And the All-Father declared vengean…um, he decided his son needed a time out. When Thor later returned to Asgard, Odin allowed every able-bodied god standing around to take a good whack at his son. Thor survived and flew off, and Odin removed half of his power because he was so cheesed off.
That punishment was ill-timed (what were the chances?), as Hercules showed up in #125 (Feb 66), throwing Jane and Thor/Don’s undying love into a slight detour when Jane used the big galoot to make Thor jealous. Yikes. That led to one of those manly mano-a-mano tussles between the two gods that they loved so much at the drop of a good-natured jibe. But with Thor at half-strength, he was pounded into a pulp.
That defeat shook Jane and made her assure her Thorsy-worsy that she’d just been kidding around. But The Thunder God didn’t have time to deal with that, as he learned Asgard had been attacked and Odin overthrown.
Odin regretted his rash treatment of his son, especially after Thor ultimately saved the day, nearly dying in the process. Odin returned Thor’s powers—and also agreed to let him marry as he wished.
From that point on, Jane and Thor began calling each other “dearest,” “beloved” and similar endearments, and Thor tried to figure out when best to take his best girl home to the meet the family. That culminated in Thor #136 (Jan 67), in which The Thunder God took his main squeeze up to Asgard to see Dad.
Odin bestowed godly powers (and a nifty Kirby Kostume) on Ms. Foster to help her prepare to be an immortal. But Jane didn’t exactly rise to the occasion, and Odin changed his mind.
He declared there was no place for her gentle and unwarrior-like nature in Asgard, and he banished her to Earth against Thor’s loud protests.
Upon arriving back on Earth, Jane discovered that her memory of her recent past (and her betrothal to Thor) was gone and she was at a new hospital where she’d applied for a nursing job. She began working for Dr. Kincaid, to whom she took an immediate shine.
Meanwhile, Odin sent Thor off on a mission to take his mind off Jane—and also arranged for the nubile Sif to meet up with him along the way. Boinggg!
I could give you the gooey details of that meeting, but I already did back in CBG #1040—and it’s currently on display in living color in Baby Boomer Comics, on sale at eBay and used the finer used bookstores natinowide.
Jane made a one-issue final appearance as The Silver Age waned, showing up in Thor #172 (Jan 70) when she was kidnapped to serve as a pawn so a doctor would aid a criminal experiment. Thor and Jane met, briefly, and while Thor remembered their past experiences, Jane didn’t.
That changed in Thor #231 (Jan 75), when Jane returned. She gained Sif’s life force (don’t ask) and took part in several Thunder God adventures, apparently using Sif’s attitude to change her past meeker ways.
Ultimately, she lost her Sif side and returned to Earth, where she married Dr. Kincaid and had a baby boy. It was an astonishing and satisfying result for a super-hero girlfriend. Of course, she had to give up her hunky super-hero to make it happen, but life’s not always perfect.
-- MSA
Replies
Not to drag you out of the Silver Age or even its little brother, the Bronze Age, but has Jane Foster appeared since 1975? Seems like a happily married wife and mother is perfect fodder for Marvel's current practice of fouling up every character's life, no matter how long it's been since we last heard from them.
Yeah, she seems to have had a reasonable run in Thor, along with Dr. Kincaid, for awhile in the late 1970s, early 1980s. I don't know much about that. She's been back in subsequent volumes, too. In the Jake Olson version, she was his boss. I saw that, but I didn't hang around for long.
Wikipedia says that, in Volume 3, when Jane hears that Thor and Blake are returning to Earth, she divorces her husband and loses custody of her child. So you pretty well nailed that one.
-- MSA
Dave Blanchard said:
According to the Comic Book database she last appeared last year in Thor: God of Thunder #12. Now what she is like now, I have no idea. Looking through her list of appearances she seems to pop up a couple of times a year the past few years.
I wonder what her reaction was if/when she learned that Thor and Don Blake were actually two different people?
I thought they were the same person, just transformmed.
Same arguement as Captain Marvel/Billy Batson.
I remember when they decided to bring back Don Blake Odin revealed that the Blake he created for Thor was actually a copy of the real Blake who Odin left stuck in a cave for years.
Did they ever make sense of the whole Don Blake thing? Originally, he was just a mortal incarnation that Odin banished Thor to Earth in so that he could finally learn humility, then he was a magical clone of Dr. Kincaid the Odin whipped up as a mortal form for Thor (and thus, when Jane was banished from Asgard, Odin rewarded her with the original version of the mortal side of the man she loved), and then we had the whole "The Real Don Blake has been stuck in that cave since Journey Into Mystery #83, then the more recent Thor & Don are separate entities who "share space" much like Rick Jones & Mar-Vell used to. I'm completely lost.
Dave Elyea said:
My head hurts.
Dave Elyea said:
Um, sports?
Why couldn't they have left that alone? It made sense.
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