Everyone and their aunt picking up Thor's hammer

[Thor-El]

I saw this last week on Supernatural and I thought it was a dig / commentary on everyone being able to pick up Thor's hammer. ;p

Probably, those writers are very comic book savvy, some are as fanboy/fangirl as the best of us.

[PCN24454]

The problem I have with Mjolnir is that I have trouble believing that many of the other heroes aren’t worthy of picking up Mjolnir. That’s why I don’t have a problem with other people picking up the hammer.

[Panic]

The problem I have with Mjolnir is that I have trouble believing that many of the other heroes aren’t worthy of picking up Mjolnir. That’s why I don’t have a problem with other people picking up the hammer.

Well this is the thing: I think they should have removed the whole worthiness angle and just made it so only Thor could pick it up, which was pretty much how it worked in practice. In the old comics, other heroes simply never tried picking up Mjolnir, the only ones that did try it were anti-heroes such as Hulk or Subby in a "I hate the world!" mood. But what really bugs me is not other heroes picking it up, it's the idea that you then get all Thor's powers as well - not just the hammer-stuff, but Thor's strength & endurance, which comes from his half Norse god, half Elder god heritage. The hammer really shouldn't grant those things whilst OG Thor is still alive, imo.

[Frontier]

Well this is the thing: I think they should have removed the whole worthiness angle and just made it so only Thor could pick it up, which was pretty much how it worked in practice. In the old comics, other heroes simply never tried picking up Mjolnir, the only ones that did try it were anti-heroes such as Hulk or Subby in a "I hate the world!" mood. But what really bugs me is not other heroes picking it up, it's the idea that you then get all Thor's powers as well - not just the hammer-stuff, but Thor's strength & endurance, which comes from his half Norse god, half Elder god heritage. The hammer really shouldn't grant those things whilst OG Thor is still alive, imo.

Now that I think about it, Cap never got those abilities so it seems like an inconsistency that it apparently gives powers to some but not to others who are able to wield it.

[JudicatorPrime]

Well this is the thing: I think they should have removed the whole worthiness angle and just made it so only Thor could pick it up, which was pretty much how it worked in practice. In the old comics, other heroes simply never tried picking up Mjolnir, the only ones that did try it were anti-heroes such as Hulk or Subby in a "I hate the world!" mood. But what really bugs me is not other heroes picking it up, it's the idea that you then get all Thor's powers as well - not just the hammer-stuff, but Thor's strength & endurance, which comes from his half Norse god, half Elder god heritage. The hammer really shouldn't grant those things whilst OG Thor is still alive, imo.

But doesn't the spell, in effect, grant the powers of Thor? Not the title, not the station, not the familial ties, but the power. That's basically all the spell says. We can discuss what worthiness means, but once that condition is satisfied, the rest is quite clear.

Further, given that it's Odin who created the spell -- Odin, who has stripped Thor of his powers on occasion -- can we still say what exactly Thor's power are and are not according to the established canon? I agree that Thor's heritage should grant him attributes outside of his Norse abilities, but remember, Odin is a skyfather. Just as Zeus has been shown to also strip a god's powers no matter who the mother happened to be, Odin, at least as far as Marvel writers go, can apparently do the same. I'm not a fan of it. In fact, Odin's ability to control and "over-parent" Thor is one of my chief issues with their dynamic. But it is what it is.

As for Cap getting Thor's powers, I thought a person had to be superhumanly strong to lift Mjolnir to begin with as it weighs a ton. Did they ever reverse that aspect of Mjolnir's attributes? Or is this is a case where sequentially speaking, Cap goes to lift Mjolnir, Mjolnir finds him worthy and immediately transfers sufficient strength to Cap so that he can lift the hammer?