Towards the end of Avengers Endgame (minor spoiler ahead, friends), Captain America did
something we all knew was eventually inevitable; he lifted Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, using it
to fight against Thanos in the final epic conflict of the film.
Steve Rogers proved he was worthy, and he’s come a long way since he was able to make
the hammer budge during Avengers Age of Ultron.
It’s something the hero has proven to do multiple times in the comics as well, once
in 1988 in the Mighty Thor issue 390, in 2011’s Fear Itself, in 2017’s Secret Empire by
the real Cap, and plenty of other times in alternate universes and What If stories.
But that got many people thinking; who else could potentially be worthy of wielding Thor’s
hammer?
And, more importantly, who never will be?
While anything could happen in the future of the MCU, we’ve journeyed into hypothetical
land once again to give your our picks for the top 10 strongest avengers who will never
be able to lift Thor’s hammer.
And really, they’re all strong.
They’re Avengers after all, people.
We’ll be looking at both the MCU and the comics, since there’s only a handful of
people who have lifted Mjolnir in the panels over the years.
Let’s get to it.
10 Spider-Man Let’s start off our list with one of Marvel’s
most beloved characters, and one of the most endearing of Avengers members, Spider-Man.
Spider-Man may be a character who could arguably find himself lifting Mjolnir in the MCU, but
when it comes to the comics, it seems a little more unlikely that the web slinger would find
himself worthy.
That’s simply because of his opinion of himself.
While his actions might scream worthy, Peter has always struggled with a lot of guilt.
He devotes a lot of time feeling guilty over things, things that were either directly or
indirectly connected to his doing.
Like that one time that Loki owed him a favour, and Peter ended up using it over 100 issues
later to bring an innocent civilian back to life because of an accident that he indirectly
influenced.
Loki was alright dude, if this is really what you want to waste your wish on, alright.
It’s like he’s constantly a cautionary tale, in which the tragedies in his life prevent
him from ever gaining personal happiness unless he’s serving society for the better.
Peter often doesn’t feel worthy about himself, and self-doubt never really pays off well
in the comics overall, now does it?
Looking at you Thanos.
Looking at you.
9 Two-Gun Kid Two-Gun Kid aka Matthew J Hawk was a short
lived Avenger, who joined the team in 1978 in Avengers issue 174.
Two Gun Kid is a time traveler from the 19th century, who joined as a reserve member.
Prior to that, in Avengers issue 147 two years prior, he was given an honorary status.
He time travelled and fought with the Avengers once, then decided to take a tour of the country
with Hawkeye of all people, and then kind of made some appearances here and there before
going back into the past.
That didn’t last though, because he’d come back to the present, and work alongside
She-Hulk.
All in all, he’s a character whose such a blip on the radar in the Avengers history
that we highly doubt Mjolnir would even recognize his existence at all.
8 Wolverine Wolverine was briefly an Avengers in 2005
as part of the New Avengers team, joining in issue 6 of that series.
He’s been on a few Avengers squads over the years, including the Avengers Unity Squad,
and even managed to juggle being an Avenger and an X-Men member at the same time.
Currently, he’s a member of the Savage Avengers and the X-Men.
So why would he not be deemed worthy?
Well, for one, there’s that attitude of his.
His catchphrase is literally “I’m the best there is at what I do, but what I do
best isn’t very nice.”
Second, Logan, while being a complex and dynamic character, is ultimately a product of the
tough anti-hero trope that emerged after the Vietnam War.
He uses deadly force often, too, which makes it questionable as to whether he’d qualify
as worthy, despite generally fighting for good.
7 Scarlet Witch Scarlet Witch in the comics would definitely
have a tough time with the whole being worthy requirement.
But that’s a whole pandora’s box we ain’t touching.
Instead, let’s look at the version from the MCU; a character who initially was a villain,
but then joined the Avengers at the end of the Age of Ultron alongside her brother Quicksilver,
who shortly afterwards met his untimely end.
Wanda wants to do the right thing.
But until she has a better grasp over her powers, that might be a tad difficult.
The Lagos controversy, which happened at the beginning of Captain America Civil War, is
a prime example of that.
When Crossbones triggered his suicide vest, hoping to explode himself and Steve Rogers,
Wanda used her powers to pull him out of Steve’s range.
But in doing so, destroyed buildings and killed innocent bystanders, Wakandan humanitarian
workers; something that was a major catalyst for the Sokovia Accords, which would establish
a UN panel to oversee and control the super powered team.
Over time, perhaps Wanda’s story might take her in a direction that is arguably more worthy,
but who knows.
We’re just happy she’s getting her own show (yeah, yeah with Vision, but still, little
victories you guys).
6 Black Widow Cause she’s dead now.
But actually friends, Black Widow is a character who is constantly in conflict with her past,
and with the MCU version in Avengers Endgame, Marvel Studios tried to emphasis more of that
internal struggle Natasha was having before she met her untimely end.
While it seems likely we’ll be seeing her solo feature film take place in the past,
there’s still the odd chance now that the multiverse has opened up that we might see
a different version of Natasha who is considerably more worthy to Mjolnir’s standards.
But don’t get your hopes up.
Marvel Studios is very adamant that she’s dead.
What party poopers.
5 Hawkeye (MCU) Prior to coming back into the Avengers’
fold, Hawkeye had gone full blown Ronin and was running around the globe brutally murdering
criminals as a way to fill his ever growing void from losing his family.
Yes, they’re criminals, but damn, Clint, gotta be so ruthless?
Perhaps prior to this, had he kept up his good SHIELD behavior, he would’ve had a
somewhat possible chance of being considered worthy by the hammer, but post Mohawk days,
we’re not so sure.
4 US Agent US Agent was a part of the Avengers in the
comics as part of the Post-Inferno recruits between 1989 and 1990.
The government had appointed him the West Coast Avengers team in issue 1989, and he
proved to be a major dick, causing many of the team members to quit because of it.
US Agent’s history of being a dick is a detailed one.
US Agent aka John Walker first appeared in the comics as a super villain named Super
Patriot, in Captain America issue 323 in 1986.
The whole purpose of this character’s creation was to counter the message in Captain America’s
comics about patriotism being entirely ‘good’.
Walker was described by his creators as someone who, I quote, “embodied patriotism in a
way that Captain America didn’t – a patriotic villain.
More realistic and more pragmatic.”
Years later, during the Heroes Return event, he briefly appeared in the third volume of
Captain America in a story titled American Nightmare in which he tried to steal an experimental
jet plane.
To be fair, he was until the control of villain Nightmare, but really, after everything else
he had done as a villain and a corrupted hero in the past, I wouldn’t put behavior like
that past him.
3 Namor Ah yes, another character who is too big of
an asshole to ever wield Thor’s hammer.
Except the difference between Namor and US Agent is that Namor is actually quite likable.
Controversial opinion?
Don’t come at me.
Namor the Sub Mariner had joined the team in 1985 in Avengers issue 262.
Namor is largely considered to be the first known comic book anti-hero, being a short
fused character who also has a penchant for seeking vengeance when he feels he’s been
wronged.
He’s pulled off stunts like trying to invade Wakanda before.
But he also fought alongside Captain America and the original android human torch against
Nazis during World War 2.
He’s aided heroes, he’s antagonized them, he’s a beautiful array of things all in
one.
But when compared against the likes of Steve Rogers’ nobility, well, Namor doesn’t
really hold up a candle to that, does he?
And let’s be real, Mjolnir ain’t no sorting hat.
It’s not going to spend a hot second debating whether Namor’s good outweighs his bad.
2 Sentry Sentry was a recruit of the 2015 New Avengers
team, a group that was formed when there was a mass breakout of the super villain prison
the Raft.
Sentry, along with Wolverine, Luke Cage and Echo all found themselves a part of the team
over the first 11 issues of this new series.
But how could the man with the power of one million suns not be worthy of lifting something
that arguably probably isn’t as powerful as he is?
That’s because of his alter ego, who is also his archenemy, the Void.
Void is the dark entity that lives within Sentry as a side effect of his powers.
In Marvel Now, the two have actually fully merged, making him one of the most powerful
mortal characters in the Marvel comics.
Still, having an evil half probably doesn’t help much in the worthy department.
1 Hank Pym Oh Hank Pym.
Hank Pym is a character who has done a whole lot of bad crap over the years, much of which
can be blamed on his poor mental health, which is pretty unfortunate.
Hank was one of the original Avengers, joining the team in its very first issue in 1963.
When it comes to his laundry list of questionable actions, we honestly don’t know where to
begin.
I guess for starters, Hank wanted to created a living robot, and in his attempts, created
Ultron, who rebelled against him and the Avengers, wiped Hank’s memories after he had a nervous
breakdown, and then was eventually defeated.
The Avengers looked into Ultron’s past, discovered Hank was responsible, Hank descended
into breakdown number two and then became Yellowjacket.
Yellowjacket was the product of a schizophrenic breakdown.
He kidnapped Janet, acted like a complete dick, then was later revealed to be Hank.
As time passed, he began to feel more and more inadequate, and snapped during a battle
with a foe who had surrendered, attacking her.
He was court martialed by the Avengers, then came up with a wacky plan to trick them into
thinking they needed him by attacking them and then saving the day.
Janet was like yo, you’re being crazy, and he proceeded to hit her, which became one
of the most controversial moments in comics to date.
Hank and Janet would split up, and Hank would go become a scientific advisor to the West
Coast Avengers, and then eventually tried to commit suicide.
I could keep going, but I’d prefer not to.
Currently, he’s merged with Ultron into a cyborg, but really, it’s more so Ultron
wearing Hank’s skin as a costume.
It’s a whole can of worms we won’t open up in this video, sorry everyone.
You bet your ass you’ll never see Michael Douglas doing
that in the MCU.
Alright there we have it friends!