Anyone Can Lift Stormbreaker in the MCU, but What about Marvel Comics?

Thor is known for wielding a lot of different weapons. Some of those were quite usual and could be used by anyone. Still, Thor’s most famous weapons are those that can only be lifted by him and/or a small number of other characters who are either powerful enough or worthy enough to utilize them. Mjolnir, Thor’s famous hammer, is certainly the most famous among these weapons, but the Stormbreaker is not far behind. So, do you have to be worthy to lift Stormbreaker, or is that a completely different weapon?

Article breakdown: In Marvel comics, like Mjolnir, Stormbreaker can only be lifted by worthy people, as was explained by Beta Ray Bill, the original owner of the Stormbreaker. In MCU, Stormbreaker had no enchantments placed on it, meaning that anyone strong enough to pick it can wield it. Stormbreaker’s origin in Marvel comics Stormbreaker was created after a fight between Thor and Beta Ray Bill at Skartheim. After the battle, Bill felt guilty about his victory, now feeling that Mjolnir was Thor’s by right. In a compromise, while Bill justly won the battle, Odin had the Dwarves of Nidavellir create a new hammer made for the cyborg warrior, crafted from the same Uru metal as Mjolnir. With the help of Eitri and other dwarven blacksmiths, they forged Stormbreaker.

After a battle against Surtur’s demonic army, Odin bestowed another spell upon the Stormbreaker. By hitting the weapon on the ground, Bill could return to his true and deadly self. This, in turn, removed the ’60 second rule’ from Mjolnir, although it has never been made clear whether Stormbreaker also has the same rule.

For a short period, Stormbreaker and Bill were endowed with cosmic powers granted by the Silver Surfer to save Bill’s life. This physically changed the appearance of the hammer to that of an ax-like weapon with a hole in the center. Both Bill and the weapon soon returned to their original states.

During a fight between Beta Ray Bill and Thor, who had become a Herald of Galactus, Bill prevented Mjolnir from returning to its owner’s hand. Seeing no options to agree, Thor called Stormbreaker and destroyed it by striking him against Mjolnir; as of today, the Stormbreaker is still destroyed.

Stormbreaker and worthiness A big question concerning Stormbreakes is whether this weapon has the same worthiness criterium as Mjolnir, which we discussed here on Fiction Horizon. Let us recapitulate this.

The Worthiness Enchantment is a powerful enchantment initially put on Mjolnir by Odin that prevents anyone deemed unworthy from even picking up the hammer, let alone using its powers. Regardless of their physical strength, an unworthy person cannot move the hammer from its place. The only exception to this rule is when the hammer floats in the vacuum of space – you can pick it up, but it remains unusable.

Worthiness is not something that is explicitly defined, but it is assumed that one must have a good and noble heart, a strong will, and the determination to do what is necessary (even kill, perhaps) to save those he must protect. The sheer power is not an important factor, as well as each of the criteria individually – they must all be present for a person to be considered worthy. This is why some superheroes cannot lift it, mostly because they lack the determination to do anything necessary to save the day.

So, does Stormbreaker have the same enchantment? In the comic books, it does. Namely, as we have already stated above, Stormbreaker was commissioned by Odin in the same manner as Mjolnir was as a gift for Beta Ray Bill. To make it as similar to Mjolnir as possible, Odin put a worthiness spell on it, making it unusable for anyone deemed worthy.

On the other hand, the MCU version of the weapon was created without Odin’s intervention, which means that it had no enchantment placed on it and was, therefore, a normal weapon without any special properties.

Can anyone lift Stormbreaker? MCU vs. comics This, finally, brings us to the question of the day – can anyone lift Stormbreaker? We know that this was not the case with Mjolnir, which is why most characters who’ve come into contact with it couldn’t use it. Is the Stormbreaker designed to function in the same manner? Depends on the source.

In the comics, Stormbreaker is a weapon that is enchanted with the worthiness enchantment, which is a property bestowed upon it by Odin in the same manner as he bestowed it upon Mjolnir. This means that, in the comic books, only those who are worthy are able to use Stormbreaker; only Thor and Beta Ray Bill have, so far, satisfied that requirement, although, with the Stormbreaker’s recent destruction, it remains to be seen how this is going to be resolved. A line of aliens and Korbinites tried to lift Stormbreaker, but to no avail; as Beta Ray Bill explained, this was because they were not worthy.

Yet, in Secret Invasion, the Skrulls managed to take the weapon and split it into two halves, although they later forged it back into one weapon. How exactly they circumvented the worthy enchantment is a mystery, but they are the only non-worthy users of the weapon we know of.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has a different rule, though. Namely, in the MCU, Stormbreaker was a weapon forged without Odin’s intervention; it even happened after his death in Thor: Ragnarok. It was forged in the same manner as Mjolnir, but the weapon did not have any enchantments placed on it, as there was no one to do it. This meant that it was just a regular weapon, albeit a very powerful one, which in turn means that it could have been wielded by anyone.

This explains how other characters, such as Thanos and Groot, managed to use the Stormbreaker. It was just a regular weapon, and they did not have to be worthy to lift it or use it in a fight. They, of course, did not have access to Thor’s powers, so the weapon was significantly weaker in their hands, but it was still usable.

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