The Worthy: Six Other Heroes Who Have Lifted Thor’s Hammer, Mjolnir

Eric Masterson

First time lifting Mjolnir: Thor #433

What happens when one Norse god kills another? He gets banished, that’s what, even if the one doing the killing is Thor and the target of his wrath was Loki, who definitely had it coming.

Before he goes away for all eternity (obviously his sentence was commuted), Thor says he’ll never leave Earth unprotected, transferring his powers to supporting character Eric Masterson. The well-meaning Everyman had been serving for a while as the mortal secret identity for Thor, similar to the way Donald Blake did in the past, but when Thor was banished, Eric actually became Thor.

The next issue, Odin figured “What the heck” and gave Mjolnir to Masterson. So did the power make him worthy, or was he that way before he was transformed? We’ll never know for sure, as the real Thor eventually returned and reclaimed his rightful position as the God of Thunder, while Odin pulled the “I’ll make this guy another weapon” and had the mace Thunderstrike crafted for Masterson. He carried on as Thunderstrike for a while until he was killed by Bloodaxe, a totally 90s villain if there ever was one.