Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, is as much a part of his identity and legacy as Captain America’s shield, or Iron Man’s armour, are to them. It’s very much a part of him, as a great deal of his power is associated with it. Indeed, if another is deemed worthy of lifting it, they in turn possess the power of Thor too.
If you watched in delight as the trailer for Thor: Ragnarok showed us hints pertaining to the titular hero's upcoming adventures, you probably jerked with horror as Cate Blanchett’s Hela seemingly used her powers to cause Mjolnir to explode. (Good luck picking up that mess!)
But, would it surprise you to learn that there are other mystical hammers floating around in Marvel Comics, both alternate reality versions and imitators that possess similar power? Thor himself has wielded some of them, suggesting that the cinematic Thor may not be unarmed for long.
Here’s Thor’s (and some of his buddies’) Greatest Hammers, Ranked!
16. The MCU Mjolnir
The MCU Mjolnir appeared before Thor himself did as a post-credits tease at the end of Iron Man 2. Inspired by J Michael Strazinski’s then-recent run on Thor, Mjolnir was in a crater in the desert, with people coming from all over to see if they were worthy of lifting it. Sadly, due to rights issues, we never got to see Ben Grimm A.K.A The Thing attempt to lift it as he did in the comics. Of course, we never get to see Phil Coulson, who arrived to secure the artefact, attempt to lift it either. But considering his fanboy antics in The Avengers, you can be sure he tried when nobody was looking.
Far less ancient looking than its comic-book counterpart, the MCU Mjolnir is far more polished and looks more like steel than the stony and cracked version from the comics. It also hasn’t had much of its history revealed. The regular version was built for Thor by Dwarves, but this one was seen in Odin’s treasure room long before Thor was old enough to wield it, suggesting that it has a different history entirely.
There’s been a persistent fan theory that Mjolnir hides an Infinity Stone. Could that be how and why Hela destroys it, to free the stone inside? Maybe she plans to use it to conquer Asgard? We’ll know soon enough.
15. Earth's Mightiest Heroes Mjolnir
More or less identical to its Earth-616 cousin, this Mjolnir carries the same backstory too thanks to the animated series being incredibly faithful to its source material. Like the 616 Mjolnir, it can seemingly generate and direct lightning attacks as well as control the weather in all directions across vast distances.
Like its 616 counterpart, this Mjolnir also cannot be lifted by anyone deemed unworthy. So it came to a massive shock to Thor in season 2 when the alien Beta Ray bill lifted it and used it against him. Bill’s heroic nature, combined with his Korbinite enhancements, made him the greatest of their warriors. Bill even impresses Odin and is given a similar Hammer, Stormbreaker, much like he was in the comics.
Thor battles a Skrull imposter who also has a version of Mjolnir, but this is a technological copy, one that lacks Mjolnir’s sheer power. Sadly, the show was cancelled after season 2, so this Mjolnir’s final fate will not likely ever be revealed.
14. Ultimate Mjolnir
Originally presented as Thor’s regular Mjolnir, albeit vastly different in appearance, this Mjolnir was later shown to be an artificial construct built by the European Defence Initiative and was essentially a giant battery which powered the Bio-mechanical suit worn by “Thor”. This was later revealed to be a series of tricks and illusions created by Ultimate Loki, and Thor was in fact the genuine article after all. Ultimate Thor then claimed the genuine Mjolnir, which was more or less identical to the regular one.
Due to so many aspects of the Ultimate Universe making absolutely no sense, and the decline in sales, the whole line was discontinued, but elements from it were carried over into the regular continuity, with Ultimate Mjolnir being one of the holdovers. It seemingly survived, and as the last remnant of that dead universe, has been granted a massive power upgrade.
The tech-hammer is easily one of the coolest-looking of the various hammers on the list. The half-hammer half-axe is an imposing sight and certainly looks far more dangerous than most.
13. Earth 37072 Mjolnir
In a world conquered by the mystically-powered Kulan Gath, who used his powers to turn Manhattan into a twisted medieval world, there existed an equally twisted version of The Avengers. Among them, was a mean looking, brown bearded, stocky version of Thor, who carried a vastly different version of Mjolnir. This Mjolnir resembled a Japanese Otsuchi, a kind of warhammer used to smash in fortified doors in feudal Japan, one that didn’t resemble a Viking weapon at all.
Little is known about the powers or history of this Mjolnir, as it only existed when Thor from Earth 37072 became caught in Kulan Gath’s spell. As Spider-Man from this world was seemingly immune to the sorcery, he enlisted the aid of the interdimensional Exiles to help him undo the spell, causing Thor and Mjolnir to revert to normal. It would be cool to see this version again, if only to see it go up against the regular Mjolnir.
12. Disk Wars Anime Mjolnir
Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers is what happens when The Avengers are reimagined as an anime and fused with Pokémon. In this trippy universe, there are “Disks” (Digital Identity Securement Kits) which are meant to imprison supervillains in compact digital form. Of course, the Avengers get trapped inside instead, and can only be briefly freed in order to fight battles, before being recalled by their plucky teenage friends who then, um, maybe trade them? It got a little weird to be honest.
The Disk Wars version of Mjolnir looks like Thor spent some serious time in the digital world of Tron. The same shape as the regular version, this one is adorned with futuristic piping and is significantly bulkier, giving it a more menacing appearance. It looks a lot like one of DC’s Mother Boxes, continuing Marvel and DC’s long history of “Borrowing” subtle elements from each other. Despite an updated look, this Mjolnir has much the same powers as we are familiar with like creating lightning and forming cyclones. Also, it can be used as a massive hammer which smashes stuff, and that’s always awesome.
11. Ultimate Perun's Hammer
Thor wasn’t the only person in the Ultimate Universe who wielded a giant hammer. In response to perceived American aggression by using The Ultimates overseas, a multinational team was created to mirror the Ultmates’ powers and then defeat them, occupying the U.S in the process.
One of these so-called “Liberators” was Perun, their version of Thor, named after the Slavic god of thunder and possessing a technological version of Mjolnir, which was created using stolen plans from the European Defence Initiative version. He also had a version of the strength enhancing body armour, giving him all the power of Thor, albeit with none of the heroics. Not only did Perun carry a hammer, he also had a nasty-looking Sickle, in case the Soviet imagery wasn’t clear enough.
Possessing massive amounts of power, Perun easily defeated Ultimate Quicksilver during the initial attack on the U.S and was generally one of the toughest members of the liberators. But even his awesome weaponry couldn’t save him when he was eventually killed by a vampire-clone of Ultimate Hulk.
10. Ragnarok's Mjolnir
Ragnarok, named after the fabled Norse apocalypse, was created in a lab by Reed Richards and Tony Stark as a cybernetic Thor using Thor’s stolen DNA as a base element. They reasoned that their pro-registration forces needed Thor’s power and that the ends justified the means. In his first outing, this cybernetic clone showed that he lacked Thor’s heroic nature by callously murdering the hero Black Goliath. Not only did Tony and Reed have to quickly deactivate him, and re-program his cyborg mind, it caused several heroes to abandon their cause and join Captain America’s resistance.
This Thor, who would eventually become known as Ragnarok, was pummelled and destroyed by Hercules, rebuilt, and destroyed again by the real Thor. But, proving you can’t keep anyone dead in comics for long, he returned as a member of the Dark Avengers.
His hammer, while technological in nature, was still able to channel lightning and had a degree of weather manipulation. After this hammer was destroyed, he found a version on Earth 13584, which had a longer handle and a curved head, seemingly giving him far more power (as its power source is far greater).
9. Stormcaster
First appearing in Uncanny X-Men Annual #9 by Chris Claremont and Art Adams, Stormcaster was given to a then-powerless Storm (Ororo Munroe) by Loki as a gift. Of course, this is Loki we're talking about here, so the gift wasn’t given out of the goodness of his heart. While it gave her weather manipulating powers similar to the ones she had lost, its magics also twisted her mind and caused her to see her friends and allies in the X-Men as threats, so she blindly attacked them. Wolverine took a massive blast of energy, which nearly fried him, but he was saved by his healing factor.
Ororo realised she had been tricked (because taking a gift from the God of Mischief wasn’t enough of a clue) and turned on Loki. However, Stormcaster’s power was derived from Loki’s own magics, so her fury was somewhat muted as he easily deflected its power before slipping away. Ororo used Mjolnir to destroy Stormcaster in X-Men: To Serve and Protect #3, ending its power over her.
8. Thunderstrike
Given to Eric Masterson by Odin himself after Eric’s time as Thor came to an end, the Uru mace has many of the same powers Eric became accustomed to. Although Thunderstrike is a mace as opposed to a hammer - and therefore has a smaller head but longer handle, along with a long metal chain instead of a leather strap - it gives Eric Thor-like abilities. When carrying Thunderstrike, Eric has invulnerability and flight powers as well as Thor-level strength. The mace itself could emit blinding light and energy blasts, rather than lightning as Mjolnir does.
Along with being a less extreme-looking weapon than Mjolnir, it is also less powerful. Eric found this out the hard way when he went up against foes such as Bloodaxe and Juggernaut, whom he had faced and defeated as Thor, and found them to be out of his league.
Still, while Thunderstrike may be a poor man’s Mjolnir, the power it afforded Eric certainly put him in the big leagues in terms of brute force.
7. Thor Girl's Hammer
Thor Girl (Tarene) wasn’t bequeathed a hammer, she made it herself! Meeting Thor in the pages of Thor #22, Tarene was prophesised to become “The Designate”, a cosmic god with enormous power. Rescued by Thor from the clutches of the Mad Titan Thanos, Tarene took to calling herself Thor Girl and crafted an outfit as an homage to her new idol.
After creating her new hammer, Tarene coated it in gold to give it a distinctly fresh look. While the hammer was smaller than Mjolnir, she did manage to give it the same powers. In fact, as the source of the Hammer’s powers was her own divine god-like abilities, it may well have been vastly more powerful than Mjolnir itself. After Odin’s death, Tarene lost her near-omnipotent status, but retained Thor-like powers, albeit at a weaker level.
While Tarene broke with tradition and never named her hammer, its distinctive gold appearance and sheer power makes it especially noteworthy.
6. Crusher - Red Norvell's Hammer
Originally a cameraman with a dream assignment, Roger “Red” Norvell was part of a documentary crew filming life in Asgard. Red became smitten with Lady Sif, which caused Loki to begin manipulating his thoughts and feelings, convincing the well-meaning man into wearing Thor’s strength enhancing belt “Meginjord” and the Iron Gloves of Power. This allowed Red the ability to lift Mjolnir, essentially becoming the god of thunder. Red became as powerful as an Asgardian, and Loki intended him to be a pawn in his never-ending machinations against Thor. However, Red died in Thor #278 in a battle with the Midgard Serpent, fulfilling the prophesy that “Thor” would die.
In Thor #478, Red was resurrected by Odin, who intended him to take Thor’s place in Asgard, with the actual thunder god defending Earth. As Mjolnir was on Earth with Thor, Odin gave Red the hammer known as Crusher, which had the same powers as the true Mjolnir but had a far longer handle.
5. Earth-14325 Thorr's Unworthy Hammer
“Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be UNWORTHY, shall possess the power of Thor!” Essentially, the Mjolnir of Earth 14325 is the original’s mirror-universe evil-twin. Unlike the genuine article, this Mjolnir only bequeaths the power of Thor on someone who is genuinely despicable.
First appearing in 2014’s Avengers #5 when Thorr’s “Tyrant Avengers” were brought to Earth 616 to battle the Avengers by A.I.M, Evil Mjolnir stayed on Earth 616 after the Tyrant Avengers were sent to another reality.
Despite being its polar opposite Thor himself was able to lift this Mjolnir when he became unworthy of lifting his own. Using its power to defeat the Black Priests, Thor became corrupted by its dark influences and began to enjoy wielding it a little too much, putting him at odds with his teammates. Not only did Thorr’s hammer give Thor additional power, it vastly changed his look as well, giving him some slick new black leather threads.
4. Thorion
Back in the days when Marvel and DC got along, before box-office rivalry and lawyers got involved, there was Amalgam comics. Literally a fusion of the two competitors, it was the Marvel/D.C love child you never knew you wanted. In the midst of this came Thorion, a fusion of Thor from Marvel and Orion from D.C. While little is known of Thorion, as he only appeared in 1997’s mash up “Thorion of the New Gods”, we do know that he was uber-powerful thanks to his awesome pedigree.
His hammer was equally impressive. Although it looked a little less menacing that Mjolnir due to its smaller size, it channelled the so-called “Astro-Force”, giving Thorion the power of both Thor and Orion, which made him one seriously over-powered dude.
This incredible power, granted by the hammer, was enough to absorb the galaxy-destroying energies created by Surter and the Mother Cube. So, while it lacked the “Imma smash you with my Norse hammer” appeal, its use as a cosmic force makes it vastly more powerful than any other entry on this list.
3. Hammer of Skadi
2011’s Fear Itself saw numerous hammers fall from the skies, each possessing Mjolnir-like abilities, and each granting its user incredible, but evil, powers. While there were several, including The Thing’s Hammer of Angrir, and Hulk’s Hammer of Nul (both of which turned their wielder into bigger, meaner versions of themselves), none were as powerful or as evil as the Hammer of Skadi, carried by the aptly named Sin, daughter of the Red Skull.
Skadi’s hammer was more elegant than the rest, with elements of Perun’s hammer mixed with other medieval and feudal weaponry. It gave Sin powers similar to those of Thor, including vast strength, energy projection abilities, and the power of teleportation. Where the Red Skull and Adolf Hitler himself had tried and failed to lift Skadi, Sin was deemed worthy due to her intensely dark and twisted soul and a desire to rule through sheer fear. As a true force of evil, Sin used the Hammer of Skadi to kill the embodiment of hope and freedom, Captain America.
2. Stormbreaker
What do you do when an alien who resembles a horse gives your son a beating and proves worthy of lifting the magic hammer you specifically intended your son to lift? If your name is Odin, you give him a hearty pat on the back and give him a hammer of his very own. Once more proving that Asgardian parenting is very different to ours.
When Thor and Bill had a classic case of mistaken identity, the two noble souls came to blows. And after Bill proved worthy of lifting Mjolnir, the two battled for control over it. Bill won, but Odin intervened and personally asked the Dwarf blacksmith, Eitri, to create Stormbreaker, a hammer equal to that of the legendary Mjolnir.
With Stormbreaker, Bill not only has his Korbinite powers, but essentially those of Thor as well. And not only powerful, Stormbreaker is forged from Uru and coated in gold, making it seriously good-looking too!
1. The Original Mjolnir
Let’s be honest, nothing was going to take the top slot on a list like this other than the original Mjolnir. First appearing in Journey into Mystery #83 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Joe Sinnott, Mjolnir is likely the most iconic hammer there is.
Forged by the greatest dwarf blacksmiths, Odin infused the Uru metal with his own power and that of a massive sentient cosmic storm which he wrestled into submission and forced into the hammer, giving it its ability to create storms. Famously only able to be lifted by those deemed “worthy”, Mjolnir is generally used by Thor Odinson as his primary weapon. However, several others have managed to lift it over the years, including Captain America and even Superman.
Mjolnir has been broken in the past. Once Thor used it, unwittingly, against his grandfather, Bor, and Mjolnir was shattered in the process. It took Doctor Strange’s magic, and a vast amount of Thor’s own power to reunite the fragments, joining Thor and Mjolnir as never before.
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Which is your favorite of Marvel’s mystical maces and hammers? Let us know in the comments!
