Warning: The following article contains spoilers from Thor: Love and Thunder.
Ever since the trailer of Thor: Love and Thunder was released, MCU fans have been busy scratching their heads over the miraculous revival of the completely shattered Mjölnir, Thor’s hammer. But the question that had everyone stumped was whether the God of Thunder is still worthy to hold the hammer, especially now that his ex-flame, Dr. Jane Foster wields it. Unfortunately, the recently released Thor 4 doesn’t provide an explicit solution to this query. But that doesn’t mean the answer doesn’t exist.
Spoilers ahead.
In Love and Thunder, we learn that Mjölnir called out to the dying Jane who visited the new Asgard to see the broken shards of the hammer. Sensing her presence, the broken pieces of the hammer get together and transform her into the Mighty Thor. But while Mjölnir was not only Thor’s beloved weapon of choice but also established that he is “worthy” as he could wield it, it now answered to Jane.
This shift in dynamics means that it is time to acknowledge the elephant in the room — does Jane wielding Mjölnir mean that Thor is not worthy to hold it anymore? Well, to answer this question, let’s solve another equally pressing dilemma.
Did Mjölnir always come to Thor because he is worthy?
We have to remember that before all the drama about only the worthy having the ability to pick up Mjölnir, the Asgardian God wielded the hammer freely. We have all seen the first Thor (2011), and before Odin decided to impart some tough love to his wayward son, Thor had won numerous fights with the hammer and it is a no-brainer that he didn’t really live up to daddy dearest’s worthiness standards at the time. And despite that, the hammer returned to him every single time.
So yeah, while Odin’s whisper magic did make it so that only the worthy can wield the hammer, Mjölnir returning to Thor every time is more out of total loyalty and less about whether he can use it or not. In Thor, it is safe to say that the God of Thunder becomes “worthy” long before the closing minutes of the film — his entire persona had shifted before Loki decided to go all Godzilla on his ass. But Mjölnir returns to him only when Thor is dying, dutifully returning to save its master – it returned when Thor needed the hammer the most.
The same goes for when Captain America managed to lift the hammer. It is popular speculation that Steve Rogers could lift the hammer back in Avengers: Age of Ultron but pretended to lose for the sake of his friend’s lofty pride that he alone is worthy. But what if Mjölnir sensed that Steve was worthy — hence the fact that it slightly budged when he tried to move it — and just refused to be lifted by him at the moment?
But during the battle with Thanos — seeing that Thor was about to meet a rather gory end at the hands of the Titan — the hammer allowed Steve (who probably tried to pick it up once again in an attempt to help) to wield it. Again, all the strict rules of worthiness obviously stand when it comes to who gets to use it, but it is hard to overlook the fact that Mjölnir always tends to find its worthy wielder whenever Thor is in dire need of help.
Why did Mjölnir “choose” Jane Foster?
Halfway through Love and Thunder, we learn that Thor used to confess to Mjölnir how much he loved Jane and had even asked the hammer to protect her at all costs. While it may seem like Mjölnir called out to Jane and gave her the powers of the Mighty Thor to cure her Stage Four cancer, by the end of the film it is obvious that Mjölnir once again chose to save its master. Yes, it did dance out of his reach at first when he first meets Jane as Mighty Thor, it is evident that the hammer, which acts like a sentient being of sorts in this film, was aware that this time saving his master will take more than its dogged loyalty.
In the latter half of the film, Thor leaves behind a dying Jane in the hospital — as her mortal strength has been sapped by wielding the hammer — and goes to beat the terrifying Gorr all alone. But all doesn’t — it never does — go according to plan and soon Gorr overpowers Thor. The hammer senses that Thor is in danger and once again reaches out to Jane, who willingly decides to sacrifice herself to save the love of her life by donning the mantle of Mighty Thor yet again.
Also, if Mjölnir had chosen Jane and simply ditched Thor or if the latter just wasn’t worthy to use it anymore, he wouldn’t have been seen brandishing it toward the end of the film while accompanying Gorr’s daughter — born from (and as?) Eternity — who is seen using Stormbreaker and shooting cosmic energy from her eyes. Thus, keeping aside all the reasons explaining why the hammer returns to Thor every time and why it shied away from him, there is no denying that he is still worthy enough to wield it.
Thor: Love and Thunder is currently in theaters.