Can robots pick it up? Maybe its a Doombot.

ummm.... Yes, now that you mention it, Machines can move it. They won't get the powers naturally and they still have to be strong enough to move it....


Still after all these years the "Doombot" bait and switch is getting a little old.

An old issue of Thor, I think when Eric Masterson was Thor, had Doom use machines to move it. I can't quite remember how that worked out... other then Masterson got the hammer back, obviously. Still, it was some machines Doom used.

Well, the hammer isn't actually leaving the ground on the cover. I'd say it's more of a case that the cover is meant to tantalize and suck you in, but won't bear out inside (like the shots where you see a villian standing over the dead bodies of the heros on the front cover, something really common).

I'm not sure you have to be all 'that' strong to lift it. The ice creatures that Thor's grandfather made could lift it.

It should be important to note, the Asgardians consider Cap to be a sort of 'honorary' Asgardian. Even Loki has commented several times on the nobility and purity of his spirit.

I would fully expect Cap to be able to pick it up and wield it (he meets all the requirements, nobility, courage, feats of legend and worthyness, warrior's heart). If Beta Ray Bill can wield it with no problems, don't see why Cap couldn't.

Can you lift the hammer by lifting the ground the hammer is on? If the Hammer falls into a chair, can you lift the chair?

As someone just mentioned, in Norse mythology, Thor wears a gauntlet. So the armored hand you're seeing could be Thor and not Doom. The reason why they chose to make the hammer appear in a FF comics is probably due to the Civil War storyline where the focal point of the story would revolve around the FF.

Spidey has also been show to be able to lift it--he didn't wield it, but he casually handed it back to a dumbfounded Thor, after Thor had lost it.

And, whatever else you can say about Doom, he certainly meets those requirements...

Nobility: Check
Courage: Check
Feats of Legend and Worthyness: Check
Warrior's Heart: Check

Even if Doom wasn't 'worthy' to lift it last time he tried, it doesn't mean he isn't now, anyway. So... Come on, Doom!

Umm yeah, probably. It just wouldn't do any good. The key is that "Whosoever lifts this hammer, if he be worthy, will possess the power of the Thor"

There may be many ways to "move" the hammer from one place to another, but You still don't get the power of Thor, unless you're worthy enough to pick it up.

When did Spidey do that?!? I'm real interested in finding that issue

As for Doom. I always like to point out that "worthiness" is a subjective idea. The enchantment was put on the hammer by Odin, Chief God of the Vikings. By Viking standards Doom would DEFINETLY be considered worthy

I dug out my books to find it for you, but the Thor/Spidey team-up I thought I remembered it from didn't have it... I remember it pretty vividly, so maybe I just mixed up my team-ups... Or maybe I just wanted it to happen so badly that I dreamed it, and was remembering the dream, lol.

Doom may be noble in the 'Baron' sense of the word, but he's not exactly good or always honorable. Yes, he keeps his word, but he's also willing to use old friends and lover's skins for power and the like. I think one has to be more overall noble than Doom to qualify.

Heck, I'd sooner see Magneto wield it, and his conviction has slipped enough times (like when he does the rare 'kill human' thing instead of directly trying to help mutants) that even he I doubt.

Doom meets the 'nobility' of blood, but not 'nobility' of purpose, and so would not be able to lift Mjolnir.

Everything Doom has ever done has been in service of one of three goals, with a fourth intermediate goal.

I'll first address the intermediate goal. To acheive power, in order to further his three goals. I want to emphasize that Doom has never sought power for it's own sake, he always intends to use the power that he gains. So for Doom power is not a true goal, but rather a means to an end.

His goals:

1) To rescue his mother's soul from eternal torture and damnation in Mephisto's realm

2) To improve the lives of and protect humanity, particularly the citizens of Latveria

3) To destroy Reed Richards, his only rival

He succeeded in #1, so obviously that's no longer a current goal.

Now, many of the heroes and world governments disagree with Doom's concept of improving the lives of humanity--but this does not necessarily make him wrong. Even if you believe he is, Doom himself truly believes that what he does to this end is right. He even consciously and deliberately gave his life to protect the people of Latveria. As far as I'm concerned that's the very definition of nobility--the feeling that the extra powers/rights/privledges granted to you requires equivalent extra responsibilities and sacrifices to take care of those without. In other words, "with great power comes great responsibility". Of course the next writer brought him back with a crazy plot-twist because you can't have a dead Doom for long, but the fact remains that he did so.

His one major downfall, and fatal flaw, is his obsessive hatred for Richards, and the lengths to which he will go to destroy him. Now, the question becomes whether this flaw is enough to make him not "worthy". Maybe it does and maybe it doesn't. I doubt the Norse sensibility would say that a hatred for one individual makes one unworthy, though. Otherwise Loki might've caused Thor to lose the ability to wield it long ago.

Well, for one thing, he has another flaw. He says it himself when he goes on about how "power" is his destiny. A good example was in the Infinity Gaunlet, when he let his thirst for power get in his way, and made a grab for the Gauntlet and was (literally) smoked by Thanos. That made for a really good issuse of Dr Strange, actually.
Another thing tho is that the power of Thor goes to those who are worthy, but, it is Thor's power, so Thor should be able to weild the Hammer no matter how he feels about Loki.

Actually, there have only been a few who've picked up the hammer and of those few, I can only think of two who got the power of Thor. One was Beta Ray Bill, the other was Wonder Woman. I'm sure I['m missing one or two others, but if I recall correctly, Cap picked up the hammer but didn't get the power. I didn't see Spidey pick up the hammer, tho I do recall him trying to pick it up in one of the old Marvel Team-up issues.

Cap may have not gotten the classic costume change, but he sure whalloped a whole lot more than Cap strength would have allowed. Thor was convinced he was worthy.

Also during the whole Thor-odin issues, he did become "unworthy". Of course he had the whole Odin thing going, so his "power" wasn't missed.

Ugh!