Thor's Hammers Ranked From Weakest To Strongest

Iron Man has his armor, Captain America has his shield, and Spider-Man has his web-shooters, but there are few superheroes who are as strongly identified with their equipment as Thor. For centuries, he's been depicted wielding the mighty Mjolnir, whose crushing blows resound with the sound of thunder across the Nine Realms. In Norse Mythology, it's by far his most recognizable piece of iconography.

In the comics, though, Mjolnir isn't the only weapon that the God of Thunder has used in his many battles against the forces of evil, and it's not even the only weapon to bear the name "Mjolnir." With that weapon currently destroyed, Thor has the potential to wield more hammers than ever before, so join us as we take a trip through the Asgardian armory. From the mallets inspired by mythology to the super-scientific Marvel Comics equivalents, here are Thor's hammers ranked from weakest to strongest!

The original version of Mjolnir that we saw in the pages of The Ultimates wasn't actually Mjolnir at all. Instead, in keeping with that book's questions about whether Thor was actually a god or just some delusional but super-powered Norwegian gentleman, it was the product of technology, not magic.

While he would eventually turn out to be the earthly reincarnation of the God of Thunder, Thor's original set of equipment was developed by the European Defense Initiative, including a harness and belt that granted him super-strength, super-human toughness, and the ability to fly. The problem with that design was that it required a pretty massive external power source, but when Thor suggested they put their super-battery into a giant hammer he could swing around, that was solved pretty neatly. Or as neatly as it can be when your big idea is to put your suit's most crucial component inside a thing you're going to bang against killer robots and the Hulk, anyway.

While the E.D.I.'s hammer was certainly formidable — and interchangeable with other hammers, leading to the interesting idea of Thor having an entire action-figure arsenal with different looks that he could choose from — it was far from flawless. As a piece of human technology, it lacked both the sheer power of the magical Mjolnir and the enchantments that made Thor the only one able to use it. As a result, it was pretty easily replicated by villains, including a Soviet super-soldier named Perun, who paired his hammer up with a similarly powerful sickle, because comics have never exactly been subtle.

After spending a few years swinging around his technological hammer, the Thor of the Ultimate Universe was granted the genuine article by Odin once again.

Like the core universe's version of Mjolnir, this version granted its wielder incredible powers, most of which involved the ability to smash problems into a fine red mist. It did not, however, have the worthiness enchantment — or any other enchantment that could keep anyone else from lifting it. Needless to say, this caused a lot of problems, including incidents where the hammer was picked up and used by enemies like the Ultimate universe's extremely genocidal version of Magneto.

There was one other interesting aspect to the fact that anyone can wield it, though. When it found its way to Earth-616, better known as the core Marvel universe, it was used by Volstagg, one of Thor's closest Asgardian allies. When he hefted it in order to defend Asgard, the noble but definitely past-his-prime warrior wasn't just turned into Thor, he was turned into an incredibly powerful version called War Thor. Unfortunately, that transformation also made him prone to incredibly violent rages that saw him attempting to destroy entire realms in the name of vengeance and, once separated from it, he was left comatose. A pretty high price to pay just to use a hammer that's also an axe.

While it's technically not a hammer, Jarnbjorn is definitely close enough that it deserves a spot on the list. The Odinson has wielded this axe on a few occasions during his considerably long life — both in his younger days, before he proved his worthiness of Mjolnir, and more recently, when he found himself unworthy once again.

While it lacks Mjolnir's thundering ability to channel lightning and grant Thor the power of flight — along with some of that hammer's more esoteric abilities, like spinning so fast that it causes interdimensional teleportation — it's still a gigantic magic battleaxe crafted by the gods. That alone makes it pretty formidable, and allows it to live up to the meaning of its name: the Iron Bear. It's incredibly sharp, can slash through the armor of the space gods known as the Celestials, and was also enchanted to be completely indestructible. Of course, they said that about the original Mjolnir, too, and it turned out that it wasn't quite as indestructible as advertised.

It's worth noting that Jarnbjorn's most memorably powerful moment isn't exactly one of its best. The first time Thor took it into battle after losing his hammer due to unworthiness, it was taken away from him by Malekith, who promptly used it to cut off Thor's arm. That's the sort of thing that's going to happen when you're used to swinging around a weapon no one else can lift, but any weapon that can almost effortlessly sever a god's limbs has to be pretty potent.

After Mjolnir's destruction, Thor briefly continued to wield Jarnbjorn, but let's be honest: in a world full of nails, sometimes a god just needs a hammer. To that end, Thor contacted a dwarven blacksmith named Screwbeard, the same dwarf who had crafted his new prosthetic arm, and got him to make a new hammer.

Sadly, it didn't work out quite as well as it did the first time, and that hammer broke on its first outing when Thor shattered it by hitting the unstoppable Juggernaut in 2018's Thor #1. The good news, though, is that Screwbeard had made plenty of backup hammers, and teleported an entire arsenal to Thor, who used their combined power to take down the Juggernaut and the cultists of Cyttorak that were helping him. Eventually, he found one that would stand up to some heavy use, and knocked out one of the Juggernaut's teeth with it before departing.

The Golden Hammer is still new enough that it hasn't been named yet — although Screwbeard mentioned that one of the other destroyed hammers was called "Hulksmiter," so we can assume this one has a similarly badass title just waiting to be revealed — so it's difficult to judge its true power. It has, however, been mentioned in the comics that it's made of a less pure form of Uru, and likely won't hold up as well as the original Mjolnir did.

The original Mjolnir has long been considered one of the Marvel Universe's most powerful artifacts, and for good reason. Even if it was just an indestructible uru mallet empowered by the Odinforce, it would be a pretty respectable weapon, but that's just the tip of this particular enchanted iceberg.

What really makes Mjolnir so powerful is that it's directly tied into the power and godhood of Thor. While the Odinson himself retains his godly strength even when he's separated from the hammer, the enchantment on the hammer means that anyone worthy enough can truly become the God of Thunder by lifting it. Thor might not be the god of hammers, but in a lot of ways, that hammer is Thor, and grants that identity to its wielders, including Jane Foster, Beta Ray Bill, and even Loki on one occasion.

Or it used to, at least. While Mjolnir weathered plenty of figurative and literal storms in its time, and was thought to be indestructible, Odin probably should've asked Eitri the Dwarf for a lifetime warranty. It was destroyed when Thor — Jane Foster — took it into battle against the otherwise unstoppable Mangog, launching it and the villain into the sun. The only thing that survived was a pebble-sized chunk of Uru that was still pretty difficult for the unworthy to lift. Still, you have to give it credit: something that can only be destroyed by launching it somewhere that's 27,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit and constantly exploding with nuclear reactions isn't exactly fragile.  

In the comics, Thor has only wielded Stormbreaker on a few occasions. Instead, this hammer belongs to Beta Ray Bill, an alien hero who once found himself battling Thor in one of those classic misunderstandings that happen so often with superheroes. During the battle, Thor was separated from Mjolnir, and Bill, who had sacrificed his body to safeguard his entire race on their journey through the stars, was able to prove his worthiness by lifting the hammer and briefly taking over the identity of Thor.

After Odin decreed that the two heroes would battle to the death to determine who would get the hammer and the title — a battle that Bill actually won — Bill once again proved himself by saving Thor's life, and swore an oath to be an ally and brother to him, which he's kept ever since. To reward his valor and cement the alliance, Odin granted him Stormbreaker, a new golden hammer crafted by Eitri and the dwarves of Nidavellir. Powered by the Odinforce, it was said to be Mjolnir's equal in every way, and even gave Bill the ability to transform back into his original form.

So if they're equals, why does Stormbreaker rank higher? Simple: Mjolnir got destroyed, but Stormbreaker's still around. Being in one piece tends to give it a bit of an edge.