Ah, yes, the endless speculation regarding who could possibly be worthy enough to lift Mjolnir, mighty hammer of Thor. Ever since Avengers: Age of Ultron opened with a wonderfully upbeat comic scene in which our band of heroes each tries their luck to lift the hammer, fans have been guessing who else might be able to wield it.
We, the viewers, along with a slightly-panicked Thor, did witness it wobble slightly in the hands of Captain America, a.k.a. Steve Rogers. We all know now that Steve was indeed worthy, as he called the hammer to him in the final battle of Avengers: Endgame, to the bellowing cheer of Thor, and of MCU fans in movie theatres across the globe. And of course, there was Vision, who nonchalantly picks it up mere minutes after starting his existence. But Vision is artificial intelligence, a machine, so it doesn’t count. I mean, if you put the hammer in an elevator… it would go up; an elevator’s not worthy.
But a lot of time has passed since that first tryout back in the Avengers Tower; many more heroes have surfaced. As a post on Reddit asks, “Is there anyone in the MCU who hasn’t tried to lift Mjolnir that you think might be worthy?”
Could Black Panther have lifted Mjolnir? T’Challa was certainly a worthy King of Wakanda, and was able to take on the elixir that would grant him his powers. What about Shang Chi? Through finding himself and his mother’s people, as well as accepting the darker parts of his family’s history, he was able to control and use the extremely-powerful ten rings that grant the wearer god-like power, and whose origins within the MCU are still unknown. Ant-Man has also yet to give it a try, and the lovable Scott Lang has sacrificed his own life to save his daughters in the past, and has risked his freedom to fight for what he thinks is right, arguably demonstrating a worthiness level similar to that of Steve Rogers.
Reddit users latched onto this thread to debate their own logic behind who it should be.
Many other names have been thrown around, with some fans expressing faith that certain side characters, such as Aunt May and Luis, could do it! …Not sure about those, but it’s nice to give these worthy characters some much-deserved recognition for their own heroic acts and sacrifices. One Reddit fan has a sneaky suspicion that a certain former lover of Thor may be up to the task, but for that, we will have to wait and see.