What Is Thors Hammer Made of & How Heavy Is It?

Mjolnir, the hammer wielded in battle by Thor, is one of the most iconic weapons in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Have you ever wondered what the mythical hammer is made of? Perhaps, since only a few characters in the MCU can lift it, you would also like to know how heavy it is.

Thor’s hammer is made of Uru, an extremely hard-to-forge metal found on Asgard. Though the MCU has not given an official measurement of its weight, the hammer is generally accepted to weigh 42.3 pounds.

What Is Thor’s Hammer Made Of?

Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, has an interesting backstory which we learn about in the first Thor movie.

The hammer was commissioned by Odin, king of Asgard, for himself. It was forged by three Dwarves named Eitri, Buri, and Brok.

They made the hammer from a precious metal called Uru, which was present only on Asgard. Uru is an incredibly strong, powerful metal thought to be as indestructible as the vibranium-alloy adamantium.

What’s more, the metal has an extremely high melting point. The Dwarves who crafted the hammer built a forge in the heart of a dying star, as nothing else would have been able to melt the Uru.

It is said, in the comics at least, that the process of creating the hammer caused great explosions that shook the cosmos. These explosions were responsible for the mass extinction of the dinosaurs on earth.

Despite being extremely challenging to forge, Uru was used for creating other objects as well, not just Thor’s hammer.

The metal was also used in the creation of the Infinity Gauntlet.

What’s more, after Hela destroyed the hammer, Thor commissioned a battle axe to replace it. This axe, known as Stormbreaker, was also constructed of Uru by the Dwarf blacksmith Eitri.

How Heavy Is Thor’s Hammer?

Only a few characters in the MCU are able to lift Mjolnir.

In fact, in Avengers: Age of Ultron, we see characters repeatedly trying to budge it without any success.

With this in mind, you may be wondering: just how heavy is that hammer? According to the comics, Mjolnir isn’t nearly as heavy as you might expect.

A Marvel Comics trading card from the early 1990s listed the hammer’s exact weight: 42.3 pounds.

While this number hasn’t been confirmed in the MCU, it gives a pretty good idea of what the hammer most likely weighs.

Granted, 42 pounds is fairly heavy for a hammer, but most people would be able to lift that amount of weight without much trouble.

So what is it about Mjolnir? If it isn’t outrageously heavy, then why can only a few characters in the MCU pick it up?

When Odin acquired the hammer, he placed an enchantment upon it so that only those who were “worthy” could handle it.

For a character to be deemed worthy, they would have to live by the values and morals which Odin considered important.

Who Can Wield Thor’s Hammer?

Of course, this begs the question: who in the MCU is worthy to wield Mjolnir?

Aside from Thor himself, who was given the hammer by his father, only a few characters have been able to wield it.

Let’s take a closer look at each of these characters.

Odin

As mentioned, Odin was the one to commission Mjolnir’s creation. Later, he was also the one to place the enchantment upon it.

Because of this, he is able to wield the hammer. Not only that–due to the enchantment he placed upon the hammer, he is also the one who determines whether other characters are worthy to wield it.

Originally, he placed this enchantment on Mjolnir as a sort of punishment for Thor’s misuse of power.

Of course, Thor later proved himself worthy to wield the hammer, so he was able to use it again after many failed attempts.

Hela

Odin originally gave Mjolnir to his daughter, Hela. She used the hammer as she fought alongside Odin in battles to conquer the Nine Realms.

However, father and daughter began to have differences of opinion, with Odin taking more of a pacifist approach and Hela desiring to conquer more and more realms.

Hela turned against her father and attempted to take his throne by force. However, Odin gained the upper hand and imprisoned Hela in Hel, where she remained until his death.

Later, she caught Mjolnir when Thor threw it at her, crushing it in her fist.

Jane Foster

Thor’s love interest, Jane Foster, was not originally able to wield the hammer.

However, in Thor: Love and Thunder, the broken pieces of Mjolnir, which Hela had destroyed, put themselves back together. The hammer then chose Jane to wield it.

She picked it up like it weighed nothing and wielded it in battle while fighting Gorr. She also took on the title of “the Mighty Thor.”

Unfortunately, using the hammer came at a great cost for Jane: it rendered all treatments used in her battle with cancer useless.

Captain America

In Avengers: Endgame, Captain America surprised many fans by summoning Mjolnir to him and wielding it against Thanos. This after he appeared unable to do more than budge the hammer in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

By way of explanation, the president of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, stated that Cap had always been worthy of lifting the hammer–he simply refrained from doing so in Age of Ultron out of politeness.

Because the hammer he used against Thanos was from an alternate timeline, Captain America returned it to that timeline when he traveled back in history to return the Infinity Stones.

Vision

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Vision was created to combat Ultron. While speaking with the Avengers, he picks up the hammer and hands it to Thor, convincing the others that he is trustworthy.

Later, in a battle with Ultron, Vision wielded the hammer against the A.I. and, afterward, told Thor that it was “terribly well-balanced.”

Though these are the only instances when Vision handled Mjolnir, they proved that he was worthy to do so.

Conclusion

Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, is made of a rare and extremely tough metal called Uru. It was made by dwarves at the command of Thor’s father, Odin.

The hammer weighs a little over 42 pounds. Despite this relatively lightweight, only a handful of characters in the MCU are able to wield the hammer.