A debate around Thor‘s hammer Mjölnir has left Redditors befuddled as they retread old ground in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The debate began with a Reddit post questioning exactly how the MCU version of Mjölnir works and how it chooses who among the heroes is worthy. Keen Reddit users have analyzed the scene from Avengers: Age of Ultron where the Avengers take turns attempting to pick up Mjölnir and they all fail, well all except for the tiny movement made by Steve Rogers.
But now, fans have been asking why Steve Rogers could move the hammer, but Tony Stark could not. After all, he was willing to sacrifice himself in The Avengers, taking out the remainder of the Chitauri with the bomb in New York. Surely, the Avenger that saved the world more than once would be worthy of wielding the power of Thor.
Well, one fan seems to think that Odin is to blame, commenting “I think that when Odin placed that spell on Mjolnir, the spell was imprinted with what Odin considered worthy or not.” Odin must have pretty high standards if he does not think that Tony was worthy at the time of the second Avengers film.
Another fan disagrees with the consensus that Stark would have been worthy of the hammer, commenting “His ego stopped him being worthy. It also caused Ultron so 🤷🏻♂️.” This does make sense, as Ultron was spawned from the negative aspects of Tony’s personality, so maybe there was still a sense of selfishness in him.
They then debated whether Mjölnir’s motivations had changed once Thor tasked the hammer with protecting Jane Foster, or if she was indeed worthy of it, unlike Tony Stark. One user wrote “Jane was not worthy. Mjolnir was simply following Thor’s command to protect her (Thor, speaking with the power of the Odinforce now that Odin himself is dead).” You have to wonder if Thor will use his newfound powers to infuse the Avengers with some thunderous abilities.
Of course, the real reason the enchantment of the hammer might be confusing is that nearly every MCU entry, Thor and his hammer have appeared in has been written and directed by different people. Even though Kevin Feige runs a tight ship and has creative strings all throughout the MCU, Thor was one of the first films in the franchise. So that particular element of the MCU’s history could be one of the messier ones.
Who do you think should have been worthy of lifting Mjölnir? You can watch all of the MCU on Disney Plus.