Meta: What does 'worth' mean in the MCU?

[rescueironman]

I'm slowly in the process of transferring some of my meta from Tumblr onto here. This one comes from a discussion that falsecaterpillar and I had about what it means to be worthy enough to lift Mjolnir? 

She said:

I get such a warm feeling when I think to myself “Tony wasn’t worthy enough to lift Mjolnir so he ended up creating someone who is.” It’s so representative of who Tony is as a person. Always about progress. Pushing for betterment. He wants to be left in the dust – just like he told Dr. Helen Cho (”That’s the plan”) just like he told Peter (”I wanted you to be better”). 

My interpretation of that moment was as follows:

Have you considered that the “worth” could also mean self worth?

 

Hear me out: In Thor, when Odin cast Thor out, he said he wasn’t worthy to lift Mjolnir. When Thor broke into that Shield facility and failed to lift the hammer, I think he was still feeling guilty at his actions.

 

He realised that his hotheadedness undid centuries of peace between the Aesir and the Jotuns, and he personally disappointed his father. When Loki sent the Destroyer to New Mexico, Thor offered himself up to atone for his mistakes. He probably thought all of his actions ultimately led to that moment and he accepted his pending death - and in doing so, he cleared the guilt festering at his conscience. And boom, his powers were restored because he suddenly felt worthy again.

 

When you fast forward to Age of Ultron, every Avenger who tried to lift the hammer carried with them personal guilt.

 

Tony - his guilt over the destruction Stark Industries-made weapons sowed on innocent lives, the deaths of Yinsen and the American soldiers, his inability to save Obadiah etc.

 

Steve - his guilt over not being able to save Bucky in the 1940s and then having to watch what Hydra did to his best friend for decades.

 

Rhodey - he was an Air Force pilot who had been in combat situations before. He probably had lingering guilt over lives he couldn’t save, lives that were lost unnecessarily.

 

Bruce - his guilt over all the innocent lives that perished under the Hulk’s rampage.

 

Clint - though we don’t have much of his backstory, apart from the secret family that was shoe-horned into the narrative, he worked for Shield. He had to have done something dubious in his past over which he still bore some guilt.

 

Widow didn’t even bother trying.

 

The point is that all of the Avengers still harboured guilt they hadn’t made peace with - and, as a result, they each thought themselves unworthy (subconsciously). Hence, why none of them could lift the hammer*.

 

Vision, meanwhile, was just born and he was an android. He processed guilt and worthiness in a different way than the Avengers. Hence, why he could lift it.

 

*Even Loki tried to lift the hammer in Thor but couldn’t because he bore the guilt of betraying Asgard.

 

I know this is probably a reach on many levels but I’ve always wondered about what exactly it meant to be worthy enough to lift Mjolnir.

Comments

[falsecaterpillar]

I agree with you entirely, because the best judge of one's character is honestly themselves--especially when the only alternative is to suggest there's some higher power or that Mjolnir itself has some sort of intelligence.

Which makes me wonder...

Could Thanos wield Mjolnnir? He thinks his cause his pure and worthy. He sees himself as a noble warrior.

[rescueironman]

I think he would have been able to lift Mjolnir because he's a Titan. I think in the MCU the Asgardians, Titans and Kree are on par; plus Thanos has conviction. He has somehow convinced himself that he is doing the right thing, which is both impressive but also extremely terrifying.

[falsecaterpillar]

The thought of him being able to lift Mjolnir makes me ill. Ha, imagine Thor seeing it happen, he'd be so betrayed.

[rescueironman]

Lol. Thor would be the equivalent of sadfleck.jpg.

That said, even Hela was able to lift the hammer while Loki struggled. I think it speaks volumes about his character. Despite being the god of mischief, thinking himself to be the rightful ruler of Asgard and Jotunheim, he was still unable to lift it.

What about the Hulk though? He would not necessarily carry with him Bruce's baggage. Why wasn't he able to lift Mjolnir in The Avengers?

[falsecaterpillar]

Maybe a small part of Loki always did secretly feel unworthy? Like he talks a big game, but on the inside he's all "I'm worthless."

As for Hulk, maybe he's self-aware enough to know he's got problems? Hulk will let Bruce resume control if he knows Bruce's expertise is needed.

[rescueironman]

I have always enjoyed Loki's story in Phase One. His arc had a similar, complex narrative as Tony's did, with Thor being his breakout performance. The Avengers was great too but after that, it felt like Marvel didn't know what to do with him anymore.

That makes me excited for the limited run TV show they're developing for him.

As for Hulk, it'd have been good to get some clarity on the character. The distinctions between him and Bruce. But we were robbed.

[papersarkany]

An interesting alternative to the usual take I see in fic, where Mjolnir reflects Odin's spells and nothing more and Vision can lift it the same way a table can hold it, because AI/synthezoid/etc are not deemed 'people to be evaluated' by Odin's spell.

[rescueironman]

It does make wonder how Odin was able to 'take' Thor's power in the first film if it had always been a latent presence inside him, as Odin said in the third.

[papersarkany]

I usually explain this sort of thing as being at least partly rooted in belief. Thor believed he needed Mjolnir to access his power, therefore he did indeed need Mjolnir to access his power.

However, my take on Odin's de-powering of Thor was that it wasn't that Thor's power wasn't Thor's, it was that he had no defences against Odin's power, so Odin could and did do what he liked. Thor could theoretically have fought it but he had no training, no understanding, no knowledge of that fact.

... this does not reflect well on Odin.