Mjölnir (also known as Thor's Hammer or simply The Mystical Hammer) is the primary weapon of Thor, the Asgardian God of Thunder. It is an enchanted hammer of tremendous power that grants Thor the ability to fly and summon lightning against foes. It was Thor's main weapon until its destruction at the hands of Hela, the goddess of death and Thor's sister, but it got reforged once Jane Foster wields it. Mjölnir's name derives from Old Norse and means "The Crusher".
Mjölnir was forged in the heart of a dying star by dwarves. With it, Thor can harness the power of lightning bolts, and fly. Only those individuals that are worthy of the power of Thor can lift Mjolnir, as Hulk discovered he couldn't lift it; this spell was placed upon it by Odin himself when he punished Thor with banishment to teach him a lesson. On the side of the hammer, there is an inscription engraved "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor..."
Powers and Abilities[]
Thor's mystical hammer Mjölnir has a number of elemental powers. It has been stated be Odin himself that Mjölnir's power has no equal. Mjölnir itself is extremely durable like the Earth metal Adamantium and combined with the various enchantments placed upon it by Odin, it is, for all intents and purposes, indestructible. It has deflected three blasts from the Destroyer (which was able to disintegrate anything that it hit) and return the blast back into the Destroyer. Thor often uses the hammer as a physical weapon, with almost nothing being capable of withstanding a hammer blow or throw. A few examples of the abilities Thor have shown with Mjölnir:
Weather Control: Wielding Mjölnir grants Thor the ability to control the base elements of a storm. It can control the elements and can create giant raging electrical storms complete with thunder, lightning, hurricane-force winds, tornadoes, tidal waves, earthquakes, and torrential rains at a moment's notice. He summoned a Class 5 tornado to battle the Destroyer, a lightning bolt strong enough to destroy a large piece of landscape in Jotunheim, a lightning bolt to knock down Loki on the Bifrost bridge, and control the elements. He is remembered in myth and legends by the mortals of Midgard as the Norse Thunder God who used Mjölnir to summon rain, wind, thunder, lightning, and more.
Worthiness Enchantment: After Thor disobeyed Odin and nearly caused a war between Asgard and Jotunheim, Odin banishes Thor to Earth without his powers and places an enchantment on the hammer Mjölnir. "Who so ever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." This enchantment surrounding Mjolnir prevents it from being wielded by anyone save those who have been found worthy. When Thor sacrificed himself to protect the New Mexico town and its inhabitants from the Destroyer, he proved himself worthy to wield Mjölnir and gained full use of his powers. He also used it to trap Loki on the Bifrost, as those who aren't worthy cannot lift it. Thor used this power to distract the Hulk in their battle, who became so focused on trying to lift the hammer that Thor was able climb onto his back and attempt to choke him into submission. Later Thor is shown to still be worthy when he gets his hammer from Asgard in 2023. Captain America later proved to be worthy to wield Mjölnir to stop Thanos but he was deemed worthy years ago and hid this from everyone.
Mystical Link: Mjölnir obeys Thor’s commands as though it were alive. Mjölnir went to Thor when it was in a crater from miles away, it came to him in seconds. Mjölnir will return to Thor when he throws it at an opponent.
Flight: Thor is capable of hurling Mjölnir with great force and, by holding onto the leather thong, is capable of flying through the air at tremendous speeds. How fast is not specified, but he was able to fly in Johtumheim to kill a Frost Monster, fly in the middle of a Class 5 tornado, fly from the small New Mexico town to the closest Bifrost site, fly from Heimdall's Observatory to the main hall of Asgard in seconds, and later from Asgard back to Heimdall's Observatory.
Energy Projection: With Mjölnir, Thor can project powerful mystical blasts of energy. He can even channel energies for stronger energy attacks. With Mjölnir, Odin projects a powerful mystical blast of energy using it to channel an energy blast through it, taking away all of Thor's superhuman powers and destroys what was left of Thor's armor after stripping much of it off of him and throwing him into the Bifrost.
Appearances[]
Marvel Cinematic Universe[]
Iron Man 2[]
In the post-credit scene of Iron Man 2, Phil Coulson spots Mjölnir and then goes on the phone saying "We found it sir" in New Mexico.
Thor[]
In Thor, Mjölnir is passed down to Thor Odinson after his recklessness.
Thor uses Mjölnir against Captain America and Iron Man and it proves unable to break Captain America's vibranium shield. When Hulk rampages through the helicarrier, Thor seeks to defeat him. During this fight, Hulk attempts to lift Mjölnir but is unworthy, therefore making Mjölnir one of the only objects the Hulk cannot lift. Thor uses Mjölnir to great effect during the Chitauri invasion.
Thor used Mjölnir to defeat a Marauder, which meant the surrender of all the Marauders. Also used it to attack Malekith, after Algrim killed his mother. In Svartalfheim, Thor tried to destroy the Aether with the power of Mjolnir but it didn't work.
Thor used it to defeat several HYDRA soldiers. In a moment of battle against HYDRA, he hit Captain America's Shield with Mjölnir causing an explosion of sound. Thor defies his friends to lift Mjölnir; Bruce Banner, Tony, and Rhodes first try but none can, then tries Rogers, who manages slip it a little. In truth, Rogers was deemed worthy but chose not to lift it to save Thor the embarrassment while the latter becomes suspicious of Rogers. The challenge ends abruptly with the appearance of Ultron. Later, Vision was able to lift it, proving himself worthy to everyone. Vision would later use it against Ultron. Thor then uses it in the Battle of Sokovia, after the defeat of Ultron Thor uses Mjölnir to return to Asgard.
When an overweight Thor and Rocket Raccoon travel back in time to Asgard during the events of The Dark World, after Rocket extracted the Infinity Stone from Jane and while Thor was having a conversation with his mother Frigga, he summons Mjölnir far from Asgard. After he said he was still worthy, he said goodbye to his mother before he and Rocket travel back to 2023.
It was later seen when Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America face off against the 2014 version of Thanos after the New Avengers Facility was destroyed by the Sanctuary II, which was also brought to 2023 by that year's version of Nebula. Thor used both the hammer and Stormbreaker, the axe made by Eitri with the help of Thor and Groot at Nidavellir in Avengers: Infinity War, to power up Iron Man's blasters before Thor used his weapons against Thanos. During the battle, Thor was knocked out by Thanos, dropping the hammer. Later, the hammer floats and hits Thanos before getting wielded by Captain America, making him worthy of the hammer. Seeing this, Thor proclaimed he knew Rogers was worthy. Rogers used it against Thanos along with with his shield.
In the final battle, when a resurrected Doctor Strange summons portals for every hero, including the other resurrected heroes and excluding Black Widow, who died earlier in the film at Vormir, and Captain Marvel, who didn't arrive until later in the battle, to arrive at the ruins of the Facility in the climatic battle against Thanos and his army, Captain America was seen wielding Mjölnir when he said "Avengers..... Assemble!" The hammer was briefly wielded by Thor before handing it over to Captain America after the latter summoned Stormbreaker while the former took the axe.
During the battle, while Spider-Man activated his instant kill mode from the suit and battling some of Thanos' army, he got surrounded by them and calls someone for help. Captain America then throws Mjölnir and Spider-Man shoots a web to it, escaping from the creatures and flying with it before the web gets shot off by the Sanctuary II's blasters, making him fall before being saved by Pepper Potts, who has been equipped with a new armor made by Tony.
Thor then duel-wielded the hammer and axe against Thanos when the Titan was about to grab the Power Gauntlet. Captain America helped bring Thanos to Thor's weapons before both Thor and Captain America got knocked out.
After the battle and a funeral which was held for Tony, who sacrificed himself to defeat Thanos and his army earlier, Steve Rogers time-traveled to bring back the Infinity Stones and Mjölnir to their proper timelines before staying in the past to live his life with Peggy Carter.
In the fifth episode, Mjölnir is briefly seen in the Void near Throg, a frog Variant of Thor, when Loki follows the Variants of himself to their underground hideout.
Whilst Mjölnir doesn't appear in the series, an animated version of the hammer can be seen with Thor, in the first episode, as Kamala narrates the final chapter, in her 10-part series, about the battle against Thanos. At AvengerCon, a giant model of Mjölnir is hung by the ceiling. When the wires attached to it are set loose, it begins swinging back and forth on stage, and directly impact Zoe Zimmer.
Mjölnir was seen on display in New Asgard as broken shards, until Jane Foster, who was diagnosed with a stage IV cancer, arrived looking for medical treatment. As the hammer sensed her worthiness, Mjölnir was put back together. Once she held that hammer, she became the Mighty Thor. Following her death, Thor reclaimed Mjölnir once more.
Trivia[]
In the comic books, Captain America and Beta Ray Bill have been able to lift Mjölnir. It has also been used by Zero-G (Alex Power), the leader of the young superhero team, Power Pack.
The only known beings in the Marvel Cinematic Universe who have been known to lift the hammer are Thor, Odin, Vision, and Captain America. Those who have attempted and failed are Loki, the Hulk, Iron Man, War Machine, and various inhabitants of the New Mexico town in which Thor was exiled. Captain America attempted to in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but was unable to, he was able to do it in Avengers: Endgame In Avengers Assemble, Jane Foster is able to lift Mjölnir, thus receiving the power of Thor and becoming a female Thor.
As a running gag, Darcy Lewis pronounces Mjölnir as "myuh myuh", as that's the way she believes she heard Thor say it. She hasn't yet been informed of the correct way to say it, as of Thor: The Dark World.
Despite being called a hammer, Mjölnir's design is closer to a mallet rather than a war hammer.
A trailer for Avengers: Infinity War showed Thor wielding Mjölnir, meaning its destruction was implied to be undone. Many scenes present in the trailer were false to prevent spoilers from being released, including this one.
However, in the film, Mjölnir was replaced with an axe, making Thor able to use the thunder and lightning from the axe, rather than using the primary weapon itself.
In the original myth, Mjölnir possessed the additional power to shrink in size at will for a more comfortable transportation; also, it did not possess any worthiness enchantment, but required special iron gloves and great strength to be used: the only other beside Thor who could use Mjölnir was Thor's son Magni.
Thor's hammer Mjölnir is based on the comics but more resembles the Mjölnir from Norwegian myth.
In the original comics, Mjölnir can transform into a walking stick when Thor takes on his secret identity Donald Blake.
This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from the Marvel Movies Wiki. The list of authors can be seen in the page revision history (view authors). As with Disney Wiki, the text of Marvel Movies Wiki is available under the CC-BY-SA Free Documentation License.
