Unless you have been away from Midgard lately, you would know that there’s a new Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and it’s not Chris Hemsworth.

The upcoming Thor: Love And Thunder movie will feature a female Thor, with Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster wielding Mjolnir as the Mighty Thor.

While it’s a first for the MCU, comic fans will know that Jane had already taken over the mantle of Thor twice before – the first in 1978 via the pages of What If? (Vol. 1) #10, which toyed with the idea of Jane being “Thordis” aka female Thor.

However, it wasn’t until 2014 that Jane officially took on the mantle of Mighty Thor, when Thor Odinson (the original Thor) was deemed unworthy of wielding Mjolnir during the Original Sin event.

Still, it will be a real thrill to be able to see Portman finally bringing Mighty Thor to life on the silver screen.

Jane Foster's Mithy Thor will be making her MCU debut in 'Thor: Love And Thunder'.But enough about Jane, let’s talk about Mjolnir.

Pronounced “Me-yol-neer”, Thor’s enchanted uru hammer first appeared in 1962’s Journey Into Mystery #83, and was adapted from Nordic mythology by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

While most weapons come with easy-to-use instructions, Mjolnir’s key operating word is that the user needs to be deemed “worthy” of wielding it.

This rule (one of many) was laid down by Odin and inscribed on Mjolnir as such – “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor”. Hence, not every Tom, Dick and even Stan can lift Mjolnir. Or so it seems.

Nevertheless, there have been many worthy and even unworthy wielders of Mjolnir over the decades. Indeed, the rules for being “worthy” have not exactly been clear-cut over the years.

In Jane’s case, the inscription magically changed to make it more gender-equal (changing “if he be worthy” to “if he or she be worthy”). However, there have been loopholes and twists over the years that have been causes for worry and amusement at times.

Everything from scientific explanations (zero gravity, ionising the iron content around Mjolnir, etc) and technicalities (such as non-human beings technically being able to circumvent the gender rule) have seen the likes of Red Hulk, Magneto, Air Walker and the Awesome Android lift Mjolnir. And that’s not counting the numerous fake Mjolnirs flying around the Marvel universe!

But for all the fake Thors and pretenders, there are many who are deemed worthy, Odinson included. This week, we take a look at some of these characters to see what it is that makes them truly worthy.

Beta Ray BillIt’s been almost 40 years since Beta Ray Bill made his first appearance on the pages of The Mighty Thor #337, and even today, it remains a very significant milestone issue in Thor mythology due to the fact that Thor finally had a worthy equivalent.

Besides being Beta Ray’s debut, That issue also marked a number of firsts – the first of Walt Simonson’s works on Thor, and the first appearance of Lorelai.

While the first time Beta Ray wields Mjolnir could be considered a fluke due to external interference (well, they were fighting on a plummeting spacecraft after all), he banished all doubts of his worthiness by beating Thor fair and square on Asgard.

Having seen his son bested, Odin opted for a middle ground solution by creating a separate hammer (called Stormbreaker) for Beta Ray.

In the 2015 Original Sin event, Nick Fury whispered a secret to Thor that rendered him unworthy of wielding Mjolnir, and thus, unable to even pick up the enchanted hammer. But then, a mysterious female later picked up Mjolnir, and was transformed into the Mighty Thor, Goddess Of Thunder.

She was eventually revealed to be the cancer-stricken Jane Foster, and over time, she proved to be a truly worthy wielder of Mjolnir.

capJane has always been the damsel in distress in Thor’s story, but having her wield Mjolnir was an inspired decision. Unfortunately, becoming Thor also took a toll on her human body, as all progress from Jane’s chemotherapy was lost every time she transformed into Thor. She later had to give up the mantle in 2018, but comics being what it is, she became Thor again later in the War Of The Realms story.

Currently, Jane is no longer Thor, but has instead become a Valkyrie.

One of the greatest moments in the MCU is when Captain America picks up Mjolnir during the final fight against Thanos in Avengers: Endgame, an event that had already been foreshadowed in Avengers: Age Of Ultron movie, when he was the only one of the Avengers to even move the hammer ever so slightly.

That movie moment was actually inspired by events in 1988’s The Mighty Thor #390, where Rogers (then in his The Captain persona) saved Thor from Seth’s troops by using Mjolnir.

Before Eric became the mace-wielding character known as Thunderstrike, he was Thor not once but twice.

Before he became hte hero known as Thunderstrike, Eric Masterson was Thor!The first time in 1989’s Mighty Thor #408, where Eric lifts Mjolnir during a fight with Mongoose, but is given a fatal blow. After pleading with Odin to spare Eric’s life, his personality is merged with that of Thor.

In 1991’s Mighty Thor #432, Thor was banished by Odin for “killing” Loki, but Heimdell transferred all of Thor’s powers to Eric, who went solo as the “new” Thor.

Looking more like a rockstar, this future version of Thor (from ​​2587 AD) proves that there are worthy successors to Thor. Despite his limited appearances, Dargo did at least earn a call up into the “Thor Corps” (together with Beta Ray and Thunderstrike).

The X-Men who controls the weather seems like a good fit for the Goddess of Thunder, right? Unfortunately, her stint as wielder of Mjolnir (during the Asgardian Wars event) is slightly tarnished by the fact that she was wielding a “fake” Mjolnir called Stormcaster.

Nevertheless, this argument is partially put to rest in X-Men: To Serve And Protect #3, where Storm (together with Thor) used Mjolnir to destroy Stormcaster.

This is a contentious one, but considering all the sacrifices Storm has made for the X-Men and Mutantkind, I for one, deem her worthy.

Storm's hammer is actually an 'fake' Mjolnir called Stormcaster.

Wait, isn’t Wonder Woman a DC character? Well, in the 1996 Marvel Vs DC event, Wonder Woman became the first non-Marvel character to officially lift Mjolnir.

Despite meeting Mjolnir’s “worthiness” standard, Diana declined to use this advantage in her battle against Storm, and ended up losing her fight.

Wonder Woman refused to use Mjolnir to gain an advantage over Storm during their fight.

The Man of Steel is another DC character who has lifted Mjolnir. During the final battle in 2003’s JLA/Avengers, Cap “loaned” Superman his shield and Thor did the same with Mjolnir – making Superman even more super.

After the battle, however, Superman couldn’t lift Mjolnir anymore, as Thor explains that he was only temporarily deemed worthy during those desperate hours.

Superman wielded Mjolnir in 2003’s JLA/Avengers.

Our futuristic wall crawler inherited Mjolnir from Steve Rogers, but the shocker is that he never actually used it in battle, but only kept it as a sign of nobility and strength in his boardroom.

What a way to settle arguments in the boardroom, Miguel.

The Thanos Wins story is remembered for many things, including Future vs Present Thanos, and the Black Surfer aka The Fallen One and his weapon of choice Mjolnir.

Obviously the Surfer already has a pure and noble soul, hence with a little more self-improvement, he becomes worthy in Mjolnir’s eyes.

Black Surfer was also deemed worthy of Mjolnir.

Loki may be the God of Mischief, but his ability to wield Mjolnir was not of his doing! During the Axis event, the Scarlet Witch and Dr Doom cast an inversion spell that resulted in heroes becoming villains and vice versa. Consequently, Thor became unworthy and Loki was finally deemed worthy.

Well, he should be so Loki.

Time to raise hell, Dani.As if being blessed with super-genes from Luke Cage and Jessica Jones isn’t enough, Dani Cage is also the proud wielder of Mjolnir, courtesy of the Dead Man Logan event.

Since this topic spewed from the What If? universe, we have to mention that there have been other “worthy” characters from that title, including Conan, Rogue, Black Widow, and Sarah Rogers, all of whom were deemed worthy and commanded Mjolnir’s might.