How Can Doctor Doom Lift Thor’s Hammer Mjolnir in Comics? Explained

How Can Doctor Doom Lift Mjolnir

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Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, is one of the most powerful weapons one could wield. However, almost nobody can wield it since the person has to be deemed worthy to even lift it off the ground. Many superheroes couldn’t lift it, like Spider-Man, Reed Richards, etc. But, we’ve seen some villains lift it – like Doctor Doom. So, how can Doctor Doom lift Thor’s hammer Mjolnir in comics?

Doctor Doom lifted Mjolnir only briefly while he was trapped in Hell, and Mjolnir accidentally fell there, opening an interdimensional rift. Doom grabbed onto it and escaped his hellish prison, but once they were back on Earth, Doom couldn’t lift Mjolnir again.

While a concrete explanation was never explicitly stated, it’s likely that the magical enchantment wore off just enough while Mjolnir was in Hell – a completely different dimension from Thor, it’s master. Doctor Doom took the chance and didn’t really wield Mjolnir but rather lifted it and used it to escape to another dimension. Here’s how it all played out.

How Did Doctor Doom Lift Mjolnir In The Comics?

Whether you like him or not, have an understanding for his actions, or judge him for them, Doctor Doom is a villain. In fact, some of the things he had done – including torture, wiping out hundreds of lives, etc. – make him one of the worst Marvel villains ever.

On the other hand, you have Mjolnir – Thor’s hammer that nobody can lift if they aren’t deemed worthy. That basically means almost nobody can lift it but Thor himself and maybe a few others. So, how in the world did Doctor Doom lift Mjolnir in the comics? Well, Doom did lift Mjolnir briefly, but there’s a loophole.

In Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #500, Doctor Doom was trapped in Hell and kept as a prisoner after being tricked by the Hazareth Three – a group of demons who amuse themselves by giving people certain powers in exchange for something they want – mostly souls, of course.

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But then, in Fantastic Four Vol. 1 #536-537, we learn that Doom escaped Hell – and we learn how he did it. He tried everything, but nothing worked until an interdimensional rift opened as a consequence of the huge battle of the Asgardians in Thor Vol. 2 #85.

Through the rift, Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, fell into Hell. Although he knew he certainly wouldn’t be deemed worthy, Doom gave it a go, grabbed onto Mjolnir – and it worked. They were both ejected back to Earth through the rift, meaning that Doctor Doom actually held and “lifted” Mjolnir for a second.

Seeing how vile Victor Von Doom tends to be – I mean, the guy just made deals with demons from Hell – him lifting Mjolnir never should’ve happened. It was corrected back on Earth, though, when he tried lifting it again and failed miserably – a huge blast of energy pushed Doctor Doom back, and Mjolnir was left unmoved.

Now, the exact explanation of how Doctor Doom could lift Mjolnir in Hell was never given, but we can draw some conclusions ourselves. Throughout Marvel Comics, whenever Thor and Mjolnir were separated for a longer time, the enchantment started to act a bit oddly.

So, one theory suggests that, as Mjolnir was in a completely different dimension, down in Hell, the enchantment “wore off” just enough so that Doctor Doom could use it to escape his prison. Also, perhaps the enchantment and its “standards” about the worthiness of an individual worked differently in Hell, surrounded by demons and evil.

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But, another theory – which I found more reliable – is that Doom never actually wielded Thor’s hammer. If you read between the lines, Doctor Doom actually threw himself into the interdimensional lift, caught Mjolnir, and both were ejected back to Earth. 

So, Doom didn’t actually wield Mjolnir – he just used it as a ride through the rift because Mjolnir would exit the rift with or without Doctor Doom.

Is Doctor Doom Worthy Of Wielding Mjolnir?

Now that we know how Doctor Doom lifted – or better said, used – Mjolnir to escape Hell, the question is – is Doctor Doom worthy of wielding Mjolnir? Well, the answer is yes, and no.

We see almost instantly that this particular version of Doctor Doom is unworthy of wielding Mjolnir, as the hammer rejected him with a huge energy blast when they were back on Earth. However, it seems that another version of Doctor Doom is, in fact, worthy of Mjolnir.

In a solicit synopsis announcing the All-Out Avengers Vol. 1 #2, as well as on the very cover of the comic that’ll come out in October 2022, we see Doctor Doom wielding bot Captain America’s shield and Thor’s hammer Mjolnir.

As it turns out, the Avengers are battling none other than Doctor Doom, who has them almost beaten, but a new, heroic version of Doom steps in and actually joins the Avengers to fight – himself. Therefore, although Victor Von Doom, as we know him is unworthy of Mjolnir, there’s obviously a version of him who is, indeed, worthy.

We still don’t know the full story behind a heroic Doctor Doom wielding two of the most iconic Avengers weapons, but the cover looks epic, and I can’t wait for October 12 to pick it up!

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