# Would you try to lift Thor's Hammer? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 8, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828 "2018-05-08T20:34:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/21 "2018-05-09T08:52:24Z")
Why wouldn’t you try to lift Mjolnir? There’s no downside to failing since everyone is expected to fail. If you succeed, then the hammer has judged you worthy and, hey, there’s a new Lord of Thunder. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/22 "2018-05-09T09:41:59Z")
I’d give it a try. If I fail, at least I still have that cool sword that some idiot left in a rock. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/23 "2018-05-09T11:16:21Z")
I’d try it just to be in the same room with Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans! I would even get their attention for a second or two… then I would fail miserably and they would scoff and dismiss me. Which would take me waaaay back to gym class in high school and those other hunky jocks who’d pick me last… (Sigh.) ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/24 "2018-05-09T12:11:54Z")
I would use the opportunity to take a selfie that I’d post on Facebook. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/25 "2018-05-09T12:14:22Z")
> [@Heracles](#): > > I’d try it just to be in the same room with Chris Hemsworth and Chris Evans! I would even get their attention for a second or two… then I would fail miserably and they would scoff and dismiss me. Which would take me waaaay back to gym class in high school and those other hunky jocks who’d pick me last… (Sigh.) If Hemsworth tries that I can insult him in Spanish, I know he understands it 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/26 "2018-05-09T12:29:03Z")
See post #4. I would totally try and not feel remotely embarrassed at failing. If I succeeded, however, I would freak the fuck out. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/27 "2018-05-09T12:48:17Z")
There is an old saying I heard; ‘If you tell a man there are a hundred billion stars in the galaxy, he’ll believe you; if you tell him the paint is still wet, he has to touch it to be sure.’ So yes, I would try (and fail). ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/28 "2018-05-09T12:52:07Z")
I would lick it. Maybe I couldn’t pick it up, but now nobody else will want to, either. ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/29 "2018-05-09T13:21:28Z")
Did Steve actually budge it a little? It’s subtle, but there’s a screeching sound and immediate zoom on Thor who looks nervous, then visibly relieved when Steve stops trying. It seems to me that Steve Rodgers should be more worthy than Thor. What dark secrets is he harboring? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/30 "2018-05-09T13:40:09Z")
[I doubt I could succeed where the great Stan Lee failed.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdjMNDZb4_E) Still, I’d have a go. It’s intesting that I couldn’t find any source which attempts to identify what the characteristics of “worthiness” are. I suspect that I wouldn’t meet the Viking standard though. And if I understand correctly, anyone who does lift it becomes the new leader of Valhalla, which is a job I wouldn’t want for more than a week or so. So if it started to budge, Id probably let go quick. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/31 "2018-05-09T13:49:36Z")
Asgard. New leader of Asgard. Dang the edit limit! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/32 "2018-05-09T14:03:02Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Depends, do I have a nail that needs banging? [I don’t know 'bout that.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyRl24_JGxQ) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/33 "2018-05-09T15:09:00Z")
> [@Frazzled](#): > > Did Steve actually budge it a little? It’s subtle, but there’s a screeching sound and immediate zoom on Thor who looks nervous, then visibly relieved when Steve stops trying. It seems to me that Steve Rodgers should be more worthy than Thor. What dark secrets is he harboring? > [@TruCelt](#): > > [I doubt I could succeed where the great Stan Lee failed.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdjMNDZb4_E) Still, I’d have a go. > > It’s intesting that I couldn’t find any source which attempts to identify what the characteristics of “worthiness” are. I suspect that I wouldn’t meet the Viking standard though. And if I understand correctly, anyone who does lift it becomes the new leader of Valhalla, which is a job I wouldn’t want for more than a week or so. So if it started to budge, Id probably let go quick. If “worthy” means “worthy to be King of Asgard”, then naturally Captain _America_, heroic icon of a nation founded on the idea that nobody is worthy to be king of anybody, wouldn’t meet that standard. ---
**Author:** ![Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/34 "2018-05-09T15:11:49Z")
I’m of Scandinavian descent. OF COURSE I’M GOING TO PICK UP MJOLNIR! The catch is that the only way I’m going to be around the magic hammer is if there truly is a crisis underway and I’m caught in the middle of it. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/35 "2018-05-09T15:17:17Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > I would certainly try, and almost certainly fail. I’ll tell you who _could_ have done it, though: Mr. Rogers. No, he tried and failed. Didn’t you watch the clip?🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/36 "2018-05-09T15:17:46Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > As others have said, _hell_ yes I’d try. There’s no way that I’m worthy of it, but to be able to say that I had a chance to do so would be awesome. > > In the comic books, it has. > > Marvel just concluded a story arc in which Jane Foster served as Thor for a time. During her tenure, she was also increasingly ill from breast cancer\*. By the end, she was essentially bedridden (and painfully thin), but could still pick up Mjolnir. > > - > - When she’d transform into Thor, part of the transformation was Mjolnir purging her body of any poisons or toxins – which included the chemotherapy drugs she was being given. But, as the cancerous cells were “her,” Mjolnir’s enchantment didn’t touch those. Thus, becoming Thor kept neutralizing the treatments she was taking. In the movies it’s also shown to be just not that heavy. Thor hangs it on a coat rack and rests it on a coffee table. It’s just magically held down. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/37 "2018-05-09T16:16:08Z")
If Superman and Beta Ray Bill can lift it why not try? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/38 "2018-05-09T16:58:09Z")
> [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > No, he tried and failed. Didn’t you watch the clip?🙂 He does manage to move it a tiny bit, and Thor’s reaction to that is priceless. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/39 "2018-05-09T17:48:15Z")
> [@ekedolphin](#): > > I would certainly try, and almost certainly fail. I’ll tell you who _could_ have done it, though: Mr. Rogers. > [@Mr\_Shine](#): > > No, he tried and failed. Didn’t you watch the clip?🙂 Not [that](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_America) Mr. Rogers, [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers) one! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828/40 "2018-05-09T22:15:56Z")
> [@Barbarian](#): > > I’m of Scandinavian descent. > > OF COURSE I’M GOING TO PICK UP MJOLNIR! > > The catch is that the only way I’m going to be around the magic hammer is if there truly is a crisis underway and I’m caught in the middle of it. Likewise. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-try-to-lift-thors-hammer/813828.md?page=3)