RIP Mjölnir – Who Can Lift Thor’s Hammer?

Who could pick up Mjölnir, beloved Hammer of Thor, God of Thunder? Who is considered worthy? What does worthy even mean in this context?

This topic is no longer relevant, post-Infinity War, but the immensity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe lends itself to fun lists. So…who besides Thor was able to wield the late, sorely-missed hammer? (And, by the way, the new weapon of Thor, Stormbreaker, doesn’t come with a ‘mighty-only’ caveat. So we assume anyone can lift that one, and not just Thor and Teenage Groot.)

Those lifting Thor’s Hammer (from the movies alone, not the comic books). NOTE — this article was written before Endgame:

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1. Thor: Mostly he can lift his own darn weapon, but sometimes he couldn’t. There was a time he wasn’t worthy, remember — he was a spoiled Asguardian godling in the first Thor film. Hey, Stan Lee couldn’t move it either, not even with a truck (see cute cameo scene, below).
2. Odin: Mjölnir was his before it was Thor’s. So yeah.
3. Captain America: Well, actually, this one is a bit dodgy. In Age of Ultron, Cap slightly budged it. It was still the coolest scene in Avengers 2, when all the heroes gave it a go. Plus, check out the expression on Thor’s face when Cap moves it by a hair. Of all the Avengers heroes, The Captain would seem to come closest to worthiness. Keep in mind that ‘worthy’ is a squirrely term. It could mean all manner of things. Is it being true, honest, and pure? Being very nice? I’d have to rewatch the first Thor and catch what Odin said, because I’m not sure what makes Thor psychologically unique among all his great and stalwart friends.
4. Vision: Again from Ultron, the moment the sentient robot/infinity stone wielder casually hands it to Thor is worth the price of admission alone. Why could The Vision do this, besides offering a great payback to the prior set-up? Can an artificial lifeform be considered pure? Was it his combination of absolute youth and infinite knowledge? As a combination of Ultron, Jarvis, Stark, and Banner…um, no…I don’t have anywhere to go with this. Maybe the hammer no more registered Vision as a person than if an elevator lifted the hammer from one floor to another. Vision fans, give me something to go on here.
5. Hela: From Thor: Ragnarok. Why Thor’s evil sister was “worthy” makes no sense, but she crushed that weapon like a plastic party favor. Maybe you just need to be in Thor’s lineage. Or her evil was so pure the hammer deemed that worthy in itself. Her smooshing of Mjölnir is a neat image, but it all falls apart if you think about it.
6. I’m going to go on a limb and say Eitri, also from Ragnarok. That’s the Giant Dwarf who forged the thing. It’s hard to forge something you can’t move. But I wasn’t there, so what do I know?

Random Observation: This doesn’t relate to Mjölnir…but Thor, God of Thunder? Thunder? Thunder is just a sound. Lightning is what Thor’s specialty is about. I guess God of Lightning doesn’t roll off the tongue as nicely. Whatever. But we do know, as Odin scolded, that Thor is not the God of Hammers.

Here are some of Mjölnir’s best clips: 

The classic party scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron —

Vision’s big ‘hammer-time’ scene —

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Hela has a little fun —

In one of my favorite deleted scenes, Thor reminisces to Korg about his lost and lamented weapon —

And in our introduction to Mjölnir, the clip where everyone in New Mexico, and especially Stan Lee as a local redneck,  tries to get that hammer from its crater —

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Jill Florio

Co-Creator of RunPee, Chief of Operations, Content Director, and Managing Editor. RunPee Jilly likes galaxy-spanning sci fi, superhero sagas, fantasy films, YA dystopians, action thrillers, chick flicks, and zany comedies, in that order…and possesses an inspiringly small bladder. In fact, that little bladder sparked the creation of RunPee. (Good thing she’s learned to hold it.)