Natalie Portman's name was the only one ever seriously floated for the love interest role in Kenneth Branagh's Thor, and now she and Marvel have made it official. Portman will play Jane Foster, a nurse who was Thor's first love, opposite Chris Hemsworth as Thor. Tom Hiddleston is also on board as Thor's nemesis, Loki.

In the original comics Jane seems to have filled a kind of Pepper Potts/Lois Lane role, a personal nurse to Dr. Donald Blake, who is the alter-ego of Thor when is on Earth. Jane is in love with both Blake and Thor, without realizing, in classic comic book heroine mode, that they are one and the same. What to do?? Portman's on-screen persona is a whole lot smarter than that, so I'm hoping she'll be upgraded to some kind of vice-asskicker role. We all saw her rap. We know she can be scary when the time comes.