Can Thor Fly Without His Hammer?

As the God of Thunder, Thor can accomplish a few amazing feats with his hammer. He can control the weather, summon lightning, and fly across the universe if he needs to.

But Thor hasn’t always used his hammer. In Thor: Ragnarok, his sister, Hela, destroyed the relic. So you may wonder if its destruction caused Thor to lose his ability to fly.

Thor can still fly without his hammer, Mjolnir. But he can only fly much shorter distances. In Infinity War, he obtained Stormbreaker, replacing his demolished hammer. Stormbreaker allowed Thor to fly as though he still had Mjolnir.

What Can Thor Do With His Hammer?

Composed of an otherworldly metal called Uru, Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, contains many magical abilities.

Like Captain America’s shield and Iron Man’s repulsors, Mjolnir is Thor’s weapon of choice. He can fling his hammer at opponents and, although it’s not a boomerang, it always returns to him.

Thor can also use the hammer to fly and to shoot lightning bolts. Mjolnir can also summon rain, wind, and thunder.

Thor’s speed increases with his hammer, and it’s even capable of opening portals to other dimensions.

The hammer gives Thor an advantage over most opponents because they often can’t take it from him. If Mjolnir finds one worthy enough to wield its powers, it will allow them to. For example, it found Captain America and Jane Foster worthy.

But if it doesn’t feel a would-be wielder is worthy, it won’t even allow them to budge it.

Mjolnir can also absorb magical powers from opponents. So even if Thor faces someone well-versed in magic, they would have a tough time using any type of magical blast on the God of Thunder if he has the warhammer in his possession.

What Can Thor Do Without His Hammer?

While Thor is at his best with Mjolnir, you might wonder if losing it hinders his powers. The short answer is that Thor is almost as powerful without his hammer as he is with it.

Since he is Asgardian, he naturally has powers the average human doesn’t possess. Therefore, he never needed a technologically-advanced suit like Tony Stark (Iron Man) or a super-soldier serum (Captain America).

As an Asgardian, Thor’s speed, strength, endurance, agility, slow aging, and advanced healing can all come without Mjolnir. He also still has control of the weather, evoking thunder, lightning, and even hurricanes at will.

Sure, his hammer can enhance all of these abilities. But if he’s fighting it out with the average Midgardian, he would fare just fine without it.

Like all Asgardians, he can understand almost any language.

But can Thor fly without his hammer? The answer is yes, but he cannot fly as far. We saw this occur in Thor: Ragnarok, after his sister, Hela, destroyed Mjolnir.

We have also seen various examples of this in the comics. In one of Jack Kirby’s comics, we saw Thor flying through space without Mjolnir. When Oscar Jimenez created Contest of Champions II, we saw another example of Thor flying without Mjolnir.

How Fast Can Thor Fly?

Before we dive into how fast Thor can fly with Mjolnir, let’s first break down how he flies with the warhammer. When Stan Lee first created Thor, he didn’t want the character to lift his arms in a Superman pose and fly for no logical reason.

This was where Mjolnir came in, and to fly far distances, Thor needed to spin his hammer until it became propeller-like. When it spun fast enough, Thor lifted the Mjolnir, which pulled him through air and space.

An unbreakable strap prevented Thor from losing his grip on Mjolnir regardless of how fast he flew. When you look online you will find some sources stating there is no real way to measure his flight, but they have claimed he is faster than the speed of light.

Other sources say he could travel at the speed of sound, which equates to 770 mph. Whether he can fly faster than the speed of light or the speed of sound, good luck trying to watch him fly, as such speeds make him virtually invisible.

Can Thor Still Fly With Stormbreaker?

If Thor can’t get his hands on Mjolnir, Stormbreaker is his next-best option. When Hela destroyed Mjolnir, he needed a replacement, so during Infinity War, this replacement came in the form of Stormbreaker.

Unlike Mjolnir, you don’t need to be deemed worthy to wield Stormbreaker. Thor, however, constructed Stormbreaker to be a weapon strong enough to kill Thanos, something we saw in Avengers: Endgame.

The relic was capable of teleporting Thor, as we also saw in Infinity War. It can also invoke changes in the weather.

And yes, it also enables flight at the same speeds as Mjolnir. We saw this occur several times during the Battle of Wakanda, And if you noticed anything, it’s that Thor was just as effective in flight with Stormbreaker as he was with Mjolnir.

Can Other MCU Characters Fly With Mjolnir?

In the MCU, several characters have wielded Mjolnir, so you may wonder if they can fly like the God of Thunder if they wield it.

The short answer to this question lies with Odin, who once said, “Whoever holds this hammer, if he is worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”

This tells us that any character who Mjolnir deems worthy of wielding it won’t just be able to fly, but they will fly at the same speed as Thor.

We kind of saw this in action when Captain America first wielded Mjolnir, as he swung it as though ready to take flight when he battled Thanos in Endgame.

Instead of flying, Cap was able to jump higher than even his super-soldier serum allowed.

Therefore, we can safely say that yes, beyond the shadow of a doubt, anyone wielding Thor’s hammer won’t just be worthy of flight, but they will possess any power associated with the hammer.

Conclusion

Thor can fly and evoke his powers without Mjolnir, but he cannot fly as far. However, this changes when he wields Stormbreaker, which grants him similar powers to Mjolnir.

With Mjolnir and Stormbreaker, Thor can fly at least at the speed of sound, which is 770 mph. Other sources say he can reach the speed of light, allowing him to travel anywhere in the universe in seconds.

Thor isn’t the only character in the MCU worthy of lifting Mjolnir. We’ve seen characters like Vision, Captain America, and Jane Foster wield the relic. And anyone who wields it can fly and will possess the same power as Thor.

Sion Fawkes

Sion Fawkes has been covering Star Wars since January 2022, expanding his expertise in Star Wars Canon, Legends, and MCU. When not writing, you can find Sion in the gym or running trails. He also likes watching sports and listening to audiobooks.