By: Thomas Horvath

The widely known Avenger and God of Thunder Thor famously wields a hammer named Mjolnir. Those the hammer deems worthy may lift it and wield the power of Thor. There have been many characters that have lifted the hammer in the Marvel universe, such as Captain America, but what other characters would be able to lift his hammer outside of Marvel? There are many obvious choices and some less obvious, but the most obvious has to be Superman.

Superman is not only the strongest superhero, but in almost every iteration(besides Injustice) he is depicted as a pure-hearted superhero who always does the right thing. Some would think Batman would not be worthy, as he is seen as an anti-hero by most audiences. This could not be further from the truth. Just because he is grumpy, is serious, and has a dark design and atmosphere does not mean he is a bad person. Batman is a very passionate character, even if he doesn’t show it. He is extremely sensitive to death and vows to never kill, not even the worst of villains. He believes in redemption. Just because he may seem cold or mean doesn’t mean his heart is not pure. He just goes about it differently than most.

Straying away from superheroes, there are plenty of non-comic book characters that have the potential of being worthy, such as those from manga. The most blatant pick would be Son Goku, the main character of the Dragon Ball series. Goku is very similar to Superman and was even inspired by him. Goku is as good-willed as one can be, and always fights to protect his loved ones and friends. He also can ride the nimbus, which confirms he is pure-hearted. Another manga icon that can ride the nimbus is Monkey D. Luffy of the One Piece series. Similar to the Dark Knight, Luffy goes about his ways differently. He is presented as a bit selfish with the goal of being King of the Pirates, but he shows through his actions that he is far from selfish. Luffy has taken detours on his journey multiple times to protect his crewmates or anybody he grows to respect. The earliest instance of this is when Luffy goes to Arlong Park to get his temporary navigator, Nami, to return to his crew. She presents herself as a liar and told him to his face multiple times to leave, but Luffy refused. It is later revealed why she left the crew, and while the story is especially moving, Luffy never actually hears it. She then, in a state of total helplessness, asks Luffy for help. Luffy, without hesitation, without hearing her story,  immediately goes to defeat Arlong. He also, like Batman, never kills his enemies, and instead lets them see their beliefs challenged after their defeat. 

Those are some characters that would be worthy of lifting Thor’s hammer.