Every Time Mjolnir Shattered in Marvel Comics

Thor Odinson is many things: God of Thunder, founding Avenger, son of Odin, All-Father. But above everything Thor is and has been, he will always be the worthy wielder of Mjolnir. 

The Mighty Mallet has accompanied Thor across nearly all of his adventures, amplifying his godly powers and bringing the thunder down on his enemies. However, Mjolnir has not always been there for him. In fact, the hammer was outright destroyed on several occasions. 

Though Mjolnir is nearly indestructible, Thor has faced a number of enemies capable of destroying it. Thankfully, though, the Hammer of Hammers has always been reforged and returned to Thor’s side, good as new. Let’s take a quick look back at every time Mjolnir has been shattered and remade over the years, putting the God of Thunder to the ultimate test each time.

Mjolnir vs. the Destroyer

The very first time Mjolnir shattered, it was by one of the only beings actually capable of breaking it: the Destroyer. JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY (1952) #118 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Vince Colletta, Stan Goldberg, and Artie Simek featured the debut of the enchanted armor called the Destroyer. In an attempt to hide a previous scheme involving Nornstones from Odin, Loki lured an adventurer into the temple housing the Destroyer, so that the explorer’s mind could give it life. 

When Thor arrived later, he was too late to stop the transfer and ended up becoming the singular target of the Destroyer’s rampage. With its powerful might, the armor unleashed a beam that split Mjolnir in two, right along the hammerhead. Thankfully, with a little remote help from Loki—who, once again, was trying to save his own skin—Thor outwitted the Destroyer and survived the battle, after which he traveled back to America and reforged Mjolnir at a steel mill in Pittsburgh (somehow).

Mjolnir vs. Molecule Man

AVENGERS (1963) #215 by Jim Shooter, Alan Weiss, Dan Green, Christie Scheele, and Joe Rosen features the return of Molecule Man, surprisingly thanks to a blunder on the Silver Surfer’s part. Having grown up bullied by his peers, Molecule Man explained to the Surfer that all he wanted was revenge against the world that made him who he is—and, inspired by the cosmic hero, he decided to model his revenge after Galactus and virtually eat the Earth using his molecular powers. 

To this end, Molecule Man set up a dome in New Jersey and got to work, alerting all the Avengers, including Thor. But Molecule Man got the better of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and disintegrated their signature weapons, dispersing Mjolnir into thin air. It was not for long, though; once Avengers newbie Tigra talked Molecule Man down, he peacefully returned everyone’s gear—except for Iron Man, whose armor was replaced with a leisure suit.

Mjolnir vs. Exitar the Exterminator

In THOR (1966) #388 by Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz, Brett Breeding, George Roussos, and John Workman, Thor faced two Celestials—Exitar the Exterminator and Arishem the Judge—in an effort to prevent them from purging the unworthy alien world of Pangoria. Upon discovering that the Celestial was essentially invincible from the outside, Thor exploited a weakness in Exitar’s armor to attack it from within. 

Braving the incomprehensible insides of the cosmic being and its body’s defenses, Thor eventually found a way to stop Exitar by attacking its inner “head dome.” By wrapping Mjolnir in his Belt of Power and pouring his life force into it, Thor succeeded in breaking through, but at the cost of completely shattering Mjolnir. 

Even with this great effort, Thor failed to stop Exitar, who carried out the purge, but only of Pangoria’s wicked elements. Having completed the work of pruning Pangoria’s dry branches, the Celestials banished Thor from the planet for interfering, sending him off the way he came in—which included repairing Mjolnir for him.

Mjolnir vs. Perrikus

THOR (1998) #10 by Dan Jurgens, John Romita Jr., Klaus Janson, Gregory Wright, Kevin Somers, and Richard Starkings saw Thor and his allies under siege by the Dark God Perrikus. Perrkius wanted a death battle with Thor and tore Asgard apart in search of it. However, when Thor finally came to give Perrikus what he wanted, he found that the dark deity was surprisingly resistant to Mjolnir’s might. 

Even more surprising was how Perrikus sliced the hammer in half during what was meant to be a finishing blow from Thor. Without his hammer, Thor reverted back to Jake Olson, his helpless human form, but he was still able to use the residual energy from the broken Mjolnir to repair his hammer and escape.

Mjolnir vs. Loki (and Friends)

In THOR (1998) #80 by Michael Avon Oeming, Andrea Di Vito, Daniel Berman, Laura Villari, and VC's Randy Gentile, Loki discovered the original mold that cast Mjolnir. Seeking to destroy the gods and take over the world, he stole it from the dwarven craftsmen of Nidavellir and gave the mold to Surtur, who created multiple Mjolnir-like hammers with it. 

These hammers were weaker than the original, but their combined might as wielded by three of Loki’s allies was enough to shatter Mjolnir itself in a massive explosion. Thor later went to Sutur himself to repair the hammer, in exchange for allowing the Fire Giant into Asgard to wage one final, glorious battle as part of an effort to end the Ragnarok cycle. In the end, the only Realm that survived was Midgard.

Mjolnir vs. Bor

In THOR (2007) #600 by J. Michael Straczynski, Olivier Coipel, Marko Djurdjevic, Laura Martin, Paul Mounts, Christina Strain, and Chris Eliopoulos, Thor’s grandfather, Bor, was cast down into Midgard under a spell that made him see people as demons, thanks to a long-festering plot by Loki. As he lashed out and mourned the death of his son Odin, even the full roster of Avengers couldn’t stop Bor, who displayed enough power that he could have destroyed Earth in his rampage. 

In one last push, Thor finally put Bor down with Mjolnir, but at the cost of breaking the hammer—and a subsequent banishment from Asgard. Doctor Strange was able to repair it later by channeling Thor’s Odinforce into the shards of the mallet.

Mjolnir vs. Mangog

In MIGHTY THOR (2015) #705 by Jason Aaron, Russell Dauterman, Matthew Wilson, and VC's Joe Sabino, Mangog—an unstoppable being of hate incarnate—nearly destroyed Asgardia. Fortunately, Thor, Goddess of Thunder hurled the beast into the sun. Once there, she bound Mangog in chains meant for the Fenris Wolf and used Mjolnir to anchor him in the heart of the sun. However, this meant Thor would revert to Jane Foster, her mortal form, while still inside the sun, dooming her. 

Mjolnir was later reforged during the War of the Realms, when Thor Odinson used the God Tempest to rain sunfire and Mjolnir fragments down on Malekith the Accursed.

Mjolnir vs. Thor

Mjolnir’s most recent shattering came in THOR (2020) #23 by Donny Cates, Nic Klein, Matthew Wilson, and VC's Joe Sabino. When a mysterious being known as the God of Hammers traveled the Nine Realms committing mass murders in Thor’s name, it eventually came to light that this new god was Mjolnir itself. The hammer’s time with Mangog had corrupted the spirits within it—that of the Mother Storm/God Tempest and the fallen dwarves who forged the mallet—creating a wrathful amalgamation of primal god and hate beast. 

Combining the power of his birth mother Gaea and the full might of the Odinforce, now fully transferred to him as the Thorforce, Thor shattered the hammer himself, purging it of its ghosts. While he recovered in Thorsleep, his sister Angela gathered Mjolnir’s shards and, together with the angels of Heven, reforged the All-Father’s hammer. 

However, the angels' lack of expertise left the mallet with golden cracks. That was quickly fixed in THOR ANNUAL (2023) #1 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Ibraim Roberson, where Thor called down the Odin-Storm to properly fuse Mjolnir back together, sealing the cracks and pushing out the gold.

Behold Mjolnir, born anew, in THOR ANNUAL #1, on sale now!

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