An original screen-used hero Mjolnir from Joss Whedon’s 2012 ensemble superhero blockbuster The Avengers, wielded by Chris Hemsworth as Thor, the crown prince of Asgard.
In the film, Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. reactivates the “Avengers Initiative,” assembling a team of superheroes to save the planet from Loki and his invading army. Thor, based on the Norse mythological deity of the same name, wields his weapon of choice, Mjolnir, a large, square-headed gray hammer with a short, round handle wrapped in brown leather and culminating in a looped lanyard. The name translates as “The Crusher” or “The Grinder,” and in the lore of the films the hammer was forged by Dwarven blacksmiths from the fictional Asgardian metal uru. Its side carries the famous inscription: “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”
This hammer is one of the main Mjolnir hammers used throughout the film, and was deliberately made heavy to help Hemsworth sell the weapon’s supernatural weight on camera, a physical prop built to make a myth believable. As the signature weapon of one of the founding Avengers and from the film that launched the modern era of the shared superhero universe, the hero Mjolnir stands as a true centerpiece of blockbuster film history.
