Natalie Portman Dishes on Plans to 'Get Jacked' to Play Mighty Thor in New MCU Movie

Natalie Portman is gearing up to play Mighty Thor in the upcoming Marvel film Thor: Love and Thunder, but you might not recognize her when she does! According to the actress, there's some major prep work that must go into her character.

The Academy Award winner took to Instagram Live to chat with Serena Williams, according to People, and she served up all the details fans need to know about her return to the MCU. "She's actually The Mighty Thor," Portman said of her character, just in case there was any confusion. "The comics had the female Thor when Jane becomes Thor, and she's The Mighty Thor."

Portman also explained that while filming has been delayed significantly due to safety concerns surrounding the coronavirus, it's only given her more time to prepare. "We haven't started," the actress said. "More time to get jacked. Which I have not. I've got the carbo-loading down, but not the exercise part."

"Obviously everything is weird because of pandemic time, who knows what's happening," Portman added. "It will be exciting and I'm interested to see if I can gain muscle." You can see her conversation with the pro tennis player below.

Portman and Williams also touched upon more serious issues, including the pressures of raising daughters in the public eye. "I just want there to be every opportunity," said Portman. "You're fighting for different ways of being a female athlete. In my profession, there's different ways of being a female actress. We have the opposite thing, we're like expected to [be[ frilly... you know, that everyone has the most possibility of being their truest self."

If Portman's chat with Williams seems a little out of the blue, it wasn't. As People reports, the two stars were among a group of women awarded the rights to the National Women's Soccer League's Los Angeles-based team. So, we'll probably be seeing much more of them to come!