Puente Antiguo is a small town in the state of New Mexico.

History[]

Atmospheric Disturbances[]

Astrophysicist Jane Foster from Culver University and her intern Darcy Lewis moved to the small town of Puente Antiguo in order to study unusual atmospheric phenomena in the outskirts of the city, eventually requesting the assistance of Foster's mentor Erik Selvig.^[1]

Thor's Arrival on Earth[]

Jane Foster was convinced that a series of 17 patterned atmospheric disturbances detected in New Mexico were related to her investigation, However, her mentor, Erik Selvig, was very skeptical about the phenomena, and tried to persuade Foster into giving up those studies. Foster, Selvig and Darcy Lewis returned to the town after hitting Thor, an Asgardian banished to Earth in order to learn humility, while trying to film a disturbance bigger than the previous ones. After Lewis, frightened by Thor's behavior, tazed him, they took the stranger to the County Hospital in Puente Antiguo. Thor, thinking he was endangered, attacked the doctors and other personnel, until he was sedated and restrained.^[1]

Thor's Exile[]

The following morning, Jane Foster and Erik Selvig were reviewing the data of the phenomena, and found similarities with an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, or more commonly known, a Wormhole, even having an image of a group of constellations not visible from Earth. However, Darcy Lewis found a more interesting image, a humanoid form descending from the storm, and Foster realized that Thor may had come from the wormhole.

At the hospital, Thor awoke to find himself restraint, and managed to free himself before Foster and her coworkers arrived, only to be hit again with the RV when leaving the hospital.

Foster took Thor to her house, offering clothes from her ex-boyfriend, Donald Blake, and he asked to nurture his body. While eating at Isabela's Diner, Thor's customs clashed with behavior expected in such situations, and Foster, embarrassed, asked him to stop. They overheard a conversation between the townsfolk about what was believed as a satellite that fell from the sky and was confiscated by federal agents. Thor recognized they were talking about Mjølnir, and asked about its location. Thor promised to tell Foster everything she wanted to know about his precedence in exchange for driving him to the crater site, but Selvig, worried about Foster's safety and recognizing the Norse myths behind Thor's backstory, warned her that Thor may be raving about those stories.

Foster then refused Thor's petition, and went to find that agent Coulson confiscated all her research and equipment. While Coulson offered a substantious compensation for the research, Foster complained about the seizure. Selvig knew that S.H.I.E.L.D. were only involved in serious topics, as he knew a scientist researching the field of gamma radiation that vanished after S.H.I.E.L.D. got involved. Selvig offered to contact one of his colleagues, who had previous dealings with S.H.I.E.L.D., asking for help, but as Selvig's laptop was also confiscated, he was unable to do it. Foster then accepted Thor's proposal, while he was trying to obtain a horse or any other mount, and drove him to the crater's location.

Foster reunited with Selvig and Lewis with Thor arrested in the facility, and while Selvig showed her a children's book about Norse mythology retrieved from the local library, with legends about Thor, Loki, Mjølnir and the Bifrost Bridge among others. Lewis sided with Foster in her theory that Norse gods could have been an advanced alien race, venerated as gods by the Vikings because they were unable to fully understand what they truly were. Selvig, having picked up Thor in the facility, returned to the city and went to a bar with him, where Thor admitted that this was the first time in his whole life that he did not know what to do. Selvig, on the other hand, was just concerned over Foster's well-being, and tried to make Thor leave the town to protect her.

Later, Thor brought a heavily drunk Selvig to Foster's mobile home, and Thor and Foster started talking in a rooftop about their encounters. Thor gave Foster a book he managed to retrieve amongst her confiscated research, and encouraged her to continue her investigation despite S.H.I.E.L.D.'s interference, as she was right. Thor explained that the Nine Realms were a group of planets connected by a cosmic nimbus, Yggdrasil, as seen in the Hubble telescope, explaining a little history about the realms before Foster fell asleep.^[1]

Battle of Puente Antiguo[]

Sif and the Warriors Three, Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun, wanting to make Thor return to Asgard, arrived to Puente Antiguo; their unusual appearance drew the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents stationed in the city. They finally found Thor and revealed Loki's lies about Odin's death.^[1]

Witnessing the arrival of the Destroyer, an armor sent by Loki with an order to make sure that Thor would not return, destroying everything in its path, Thor, Foster, Selvig and Lewis tried to evacuate the civilians from the town, while Sif and the Warriors Three fought The Destroyer in order to buy some time for the evacuation. Sif almost defeated the armor climbing to its back and stabbing her sword through its neck, a feat that would be referenced by Coulson when meeting Sif again years later.^[2] Despite their power, the Asgardians were no match for the armor, and it continued to destroy the city while looking for Thor.

Thor, knowing the intentions of the Destroyer, sacrificed himself before it, pleading Loki to stop the attacks in order to save his friends and the other innocent people. This act proved his worthiness, and Mjølnir flew back to his hand, healing his injuries and restoring his power. With his strength and powers restored, Thor battled the Destroyer and managed to defeat it, rendering it useless and leaving it behind in Puente Antiguo.

Coulson arrived and tried to talk to Thor, who assure him that they were fighting for the same cause, protecting the world, and they could count him as an ally if they return Foster's research. Coulson agreed, as S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted Foster to continue her research given the recent events.^[1]

Meanwhile, Clint Barton, who was diverted by one of Thor's lightnings during the battle, located the remains of the Destroyer in one of the streets of the city.^[3]

Further Research[]

The events that happened in Puente Antiguo led the World Security Council to realize that the Avengers Initiative was insufficient in protecting Earth. Therefore, they had S.H.I.E.L.D. begin working on making weapons using the Tesseract's energy.^[4]

Jane Foster, saddened with Thor's departure, continued her research to look for him, this time with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s full support.^[1] With help of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s scientists, Foster collected enough data to reproduce the same wormhole that was used by Thor to come to Earth. Foster contacted Erik Selvig at the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility to ask for his opinion regarding the collected readings, but Foster and Darcy Lewis noticed that something was happening to Selvig.^[5]

Foster received a phone call offering her a job position in an astrophysics laboratory in Tromsø, which Lewis encouraged her to accept. Unbeknownst to both, the offer had been arranged by S.H.I.E.L.D., as a way to protect Foster from Loki, who arrived to Earth using the Tesseract.^[4]

Thor and Jane Foster's Relationship[]

In late 2013, Jane Foster returned to Puente Antiguo and took residence in an apartment.

In 2014, she and Thor continued their relationship, watching movies together in the living room, and practice roller skating in the neighborhood. Foster and Thor went to parties and romantic dates at nearby restaurants. One night after a costume party, Thor made a promise with Mjølnir to always protect Foster.

In 2015, Thor soon began to get busy with helping the Avengers, and Foster began getting busier with her studies.

Due to the conflicting schedules, later that year, Foster wrote a handwritten note to Thor, stating that she thought they should break off their relationship. Later, Thor returned and read it, having no choice but to leave New Mexico.^[6]

Jane Foster's Cancer Diagnosis[]

In 2023, as a result of the Blip, Jane Foster was restored to life. Shortly after, she went to the hospital and learned she had a diagnosis of Stage IV cancer. For the next six months, she had chemotherapy treatments for it. In 2025, she met a man there who was reading her book about wormholes. She was joined by Darcy Lewis, who came to provide company. Foster was anxious to leave the hospital, and Lewis commented that it was best for her to be there rather than in her lab alone.

Foster returned to her apartment and continued to test blood samples to try and find a cure. However, while on a video call with Erik Selvig, he told her that the tests weren't working and he was sorry. Depressed, Foster then fell asleep on the couch.

The next morning, Foster was trying to fix herself something to eat when she saw a book on her countertop about Asgard. She opened it up and read that Mjølnir could help her physically. She then left New Mexico.^[6]

Alternate Universes[]

Assassination of Thor[]

In an alternate universe, Thor broke into the S.H.I.E.L.D. Crater Investigation Site in an attempt to retrieve Mjølnir. Hawkeye prepared his bow and arrow, but Hank Pym hit into his fingers, causing him to slip and shoot Thor, killing him. Hawkeye was arrested, but Pym killed him as well, confusing Nick Fury and Phil Coulson speculated about the nature of the recent killings.

The next day, Loki arrived in Puente Antiguo and had a standoff with S.H.I.E.L.D., hesitantly accepting Fury's offer to figure out who had killed Thor. Meanwhile, Natasha Romanoff figured out that Pym was responsible for the killings, so she called Fury, but was killed before she could say anything other than it being about "Hope." Fury considered calling Captain Marvel, but figured out that "Hope" meant Pym's daughter. He drove to the base Loki had set up and created a plan to arrest Pym.^[7]

Appearances[]

Trivia[]

• Puente Antiguo translates into "ancient bridge" in Spanish.
• Puente Antiguo is one of the few fully fictional towns in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

References[]