Why was Jane Foster replaced by Sif?

[zoch]

I find Sif better in general, I hated Jane becoming Thor

Same here I like Sif always thought she better I dislike Jane even more so with her becoming Thor which I also hated as well.

[Triniking1234]

No wonder Jane and Sif got written out of the movies since that's what happened to them in the books.

[tliscord]

At the time they wrote Jane out in 136, Thor's stories were moving away from Earth to Asgard and Space. When Thor came back to Earth, and resumed his Blake identity, it was Sif that got stiffed. In fact she got stiffed so hard that Conway had her actually disappear into Jane as a means of saving Jane's life in 236, which gave her a lot of Sif's courage, something Jane had previously lacked. Once again, when Thor started spending more time off Earth, Jane turned into Sif. They finally split the two for good in Thor 335, and packed Jane off with Dr. Kincaid.

Of course, the first time that they wrote Sif out was something of a mercy killing. Writers had taken Kirby's bold warrior woman and largely turned her into a sterotypical hand-wringing comics girlfriend. I think that it was Moench that brought Sif back to form.

It would have denied us Jane's recent turn, but I always thought it would have been better if Kirby had revealed that Jane was Sif all along, placed with Blake by Odin to secretly watch over his son.

Agree, they really did a disservice to her. One of my first comics, a beaten up copy of 151, had her fighting Thor as the Destroyer. Loved it. I wonder if the popularity of Kirby’s “Takes of Asgard” led to Sif, and a greater focus on Asgard.

AE12D43C-98C6-4AB1-A27A-48940A662EC9.jpg

[Jokerz79]

No wonder Jane and Sif got written out of the movies since that's what happened to them in the books.

Well to be fair Jamie Alexander has a TV show and it conflicted with Marvel Studio's schedule and Natalie Portman wanted out after Thor the Dark World lost Patty Jenkins.

[Mike_Murdock]

At the time they wrote Jane out in 136, Thor's stories were moving away from Earth to Asgard and Space. When Thor came back to Earth, and resumed his Blake identity, it was Sif that got stiffed. In fact she got stiffed so hard that Conway had her actually disappear into Jane as a means of saving Jane's life in 236, which gave her a lot of Sif's courage, something Jane had previously lacked. Once again, when Thor started spending more time off Earth, Jane turned into Sif. They finally split the two for good in Thor 335, and packed Jane off with Dr. Kincaid.

Of course, the first time that they wrote Sif out was something of a mercy killing. Writers had taken Kirby's bold warrior woman and largely turned her into a sterotypical hand-wringing comics girlfriend. I think that it was Moench that brought Sif back to form.

Yeah, more or less. Sif and Jane Foster merged together for a time. Then Sif ended up getting a bigger role because of Asgardian stuff. Then, right before Walter Simonson took over, they needed to address whether Sif and Jane Foster were the same person and it was revealed they somehow no longer were. This led to a search for Jane Foster story that wrote her out of the book. At that point, Thor was more Thor than Donald Blake and Sif made more sense (although Walter Simonson went in a different direction and paired Sif with Beta Ray Bill).

[jetengine]

Both were pretty bad frankly.

Jane was damseled far too often and was incredibly thick, as an example Odin puts her in a pit with a monster after giving her powers including the ability to fly, this was to prove she was worthy for Thor. She just shrieks and begs for Thor to save her.

Sif was damseled alot as well but always preceded it with "I am an Asgardian, Warrior born" to try and make readers think she was competent.

[DrNewGod]

Both were pretty bad frankly.

Jane was damseled far too often and was incredibly thick, as an example Odin puts her in a pit with a monster after giving her powers including the ability to fly, this was to prove she was worthy for Thor. She just shrieks and begs for Thor to save her.

Sif was damseled alot as well but always preceded it with "I am an Asgardian, Warrior born" to try and make readers think she was competent.

Originally, Sif was bad ass. When it turned down, it turned down hard. Like I said earlier, her first writing out was a mercy killing.

[Frontier]

It's too bad that Sif doesn't get more push. I would have made her an Avenger by now. Or at least a Defender.

I really wish she was used more in the Thor books right now .

[ed2962]

It's too bad that Sif doesn't get more push. I would have made her an Avenger by now. Or at least a Defender.

I haven't read it but I've hear good things about her Journey into Mystery run from a few years ago.

[vitruvian]

Well to be fair Jamie Alexander has a TV show and it conflicted with Marvel Studio's schedule and Natalie Portman wanted out after Thor the Dark World lost Patty Jenkins.

Can you imagine if they hadn't messed up and had kept Patty Jenkins on that movie? Not that it would be perfect, even Wonder Woman had some weaknesses (too much brute force boss fight at the end, undercutting the message, for one), but still, one imagines:

1) More for Jane to actually do, rather than be essentially a fainting (albeit due to having a cosmic force inside her) damsel in distress to be rescued. Maybe she could have had more dialogue not just with Odin, Frigga, etc., but been able to give Loki a piece of her mind about his shenanigans.

2) Likely no fridging for Frigga, or at least her apparent death turning out to be a fake out using her mastery of illusion.

Ah, well, sorry for the digression. But yes, the Jane->Sif transition was simply due to a shift in the types of stories being told with Thor, and then they did the merge thing. Marvel had a thing in the 70s where they seemed to want to give more characters, especially supporting female cast, a transformation-based dual identity thing similar to Rick Jones and Captain Marvel; not only did we have Jane Foster/Sif, for a while they hinted at having Mary Jane able to transform into Red Sonja after a particular issue of Marvel Team-Up. Heck, when Ms. Marvel was first introduced, she had a physical transformation (even if it was basically just costume change) with Carol and Ms. Marvel not really remembering what the other did, IIRC, as did She-Hulk.

[Tantalus]

What is the current Thor x Sif situation? I don't follow Thor's books, but I was always fond of the idea of him and Sif together.

[Frontier]

What is the current Thor x Sif situation? I don't follow Thor's books, but I was always fond of the idea of him and Sif together.

They're (somewhat less amicable) exes.

There didn't seem to be much love loss between them when Thor questioned whether Sif was the female Thor.

[Tantalus]

They're (somewhat less amicable) exes.

There didn't seem to be much love loss between them when Thor questioned whether Sif was the female Thor.

That's a pity. Hope they get the chance to interact more.

[Byakko]

I actually kinda had a soft spot for Sif/Beta Ray Bill back when Bill was just introduced. In retrospect, it seems like Sif gravitated to Bill because Thor wasn't involved with her or interested in her at the time (back when he had the Donald Blake persona but I can't remember if Jane was even mentioned in the story).

I dunno why but my impression of Sif never really changed since then. I just don't see her and Thor being together particularly interesting. I kinda hold out of Sif x Bill still.

[Frontier]

I actually kinda had a soft spot for Sif/Beta Ray Bill back when Bill was just introduced. In retrospect, it seems like Sif gravitated to Bill because Thor wasn't involved with her or interested in her at the time (back when he had the Donald Blake persona but I can't remember if Jane was even mentioned in the story).

I dunno why but my impression of Sif never really changed since then. I just don't see her and Thor being together particularly interesting. I kinda hold out of Sif x Bill still.

I need to re-read Simonson's run but as I recall Sif wasn't happy about Thor's continued concern for Midgard nor his assumed "dalliance" with Lorelei, which is why she gravitated to Bill (partially because of how similar he was to Thor), but it became clear later on that she still held a passion for Thor.