Originally published May 7, 2019. Updated May 8, 2019.
Warning: Avengers: Endgame spoilers follow…
During the ‘Time Heist’ portion of Avengers: Endgame, Thor and Rocket Raccoon found themselves travelling to Asgard during the time of Thor: The Dark World in an effort to acquire the Aether, a.k.a. the Reality Stone, as part of the Avengers’ plan to undo The Snap.
During the sequence, not only did we get cameos from Frigga (Rene Russo) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston), but we also saw Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster making her return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe for the first time since the 2013 sequel.
However, unlike the rest of the many Time Heist cameos, it turns out that Portman wasn’t actually on set, as Jane’s scene was constructed by “leftover” footage from The Dark World.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, co-directors Anthony and Joe Russo revealed that “all [Portman] did new for this movie was a little bit of voice-over when she’s talking in the distance, that’s it.”
SEE ALSO: The Russos discuss Thor’s Avengers: Endgame appearance
Meanwhile, co-writer Stephen McFeely spoke about the inclusion of Jane Foster, stating that while a number of variations on the scene were considered, it was always the plan to have the character feature in the film.
“It was very hard to find a way to not do that, seeing as one of the Infinity Stones is inside her for primarily the only time we’ve ever seen it,” states McFeely. “It’s literally inside her arm, so there weren’t too many variations that didn’t have Natalie Portman in them.”
“There were longer ones, but they … you know you wound up before Thor and his mother was so rich and so on point in terms of what he needed to learn that in already a three-hour movie we couldn’t really have a long scene between, say, Rocket and Jane, because, again, it’s drifting off of the character stories that we wanted to tell,” he continued.
SEE ALSO: The Russos share behind-the-scenes image from Stan Lee’s Avengers: Endgame cameo
Avengers: Endgame stars Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Josh Brolin (Thanos), Brie Larson (Captain Marvel), Paul Rudd (Scott Lang), Don Cheadle (War Machine), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), Tom Holland (Spider-Man), Sebastian Stan (Winter Soldier), Anthony Mackie (Falcon), Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch), Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange), Danai Gurira (Okoye), Benedict Wong (Wong), Chris Pratt (Star-Lord), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), Bradley Cooper (Rocket), Vin Diesel (Groot), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Tom Hiddleston (Loki), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Evangeline Lilly (The Wasp), Letitia Wright (Shuri) and Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie).
