Hello and welcome to Comic Drake where I talk about comic books and my name is Drake!
Ah yes, Mjolnir.
The worthiness enchantment on this hammer is one of the coolest things about the Marvel
Comics version of Thor because it actually didn’t have that in the original Norse mythology
and that’s maybe why I’ve done so many different videos on the hammer itself, complete
with a million and a half comments about how my pronunciation is not up to people’s standards.
I don’t care.
Regardless, I have seen a lot of questions online about if Magneto, the master of magnetism,
can manipulate the Uru metal that Mjolnir is made out of and it didn’t help that my
old boss, MatPat, did that Film Theory on Magneto’s “fatal weakness”.
Anyway, I want to use some examples from the comics and a little bit of science to put
this debate to rest once and for all.
Before we get into things we need to first and foremost make it very clear that there
is a difference between moving or manipulating the hammer and actually wielding it.
It’s one thing to simply move the hammer from point A to point B, but Magneto would
not be able to get the strength boost or any of the associated Thor powers that we’ve
seen Mjolnir grant its wielders.
For the purposes of this video, we are strictly looking at if Magneto can manipulate Mjolnir
using his inherent mutant abilities.
Okay.
So magnets, how do they work?
It’s actually a really interesting concept because if we’re going to get technical,
literally everything on the planet exhibits some sort of reaction to magnetic fields.
In fact, there are six different types of magnetism, but there’s three main ones.
For now though, let’s focus on the most common and easiest to observe forms of magnetism
which is ferromagnetism.
This is the sort that most of y’all are probably familiar with by using plain old
magnets you can find on your kitchen fridge!
Ferromagnetism naturally works on ferrous materials, hance the name, which is anything
containing iron, nickel and cobalt.
These are what people typically refer to as magnetic materials and that’s usually what
we see Magneto manipulate and control, ferrous metals or alloys containing them.
In fact, in New Mutants #40 all the way back in 1986, we can see that Magneto is NOT able
to control Captain America’s shield which as we know is a combination of Vibranium,
Adamantium, and an unknown third element.
Since Mags isn’t able to affect the shield, we can determine that it is in fact, not ferrous.
Alright so using ferromagnetism, the easiest way to determine if Magneto can manipulate
Mjolnir is to find out if Uru itself is ferrous.
Because like I said, the only metals that we know of that are ferromagnetic are cobalt,
iron, and nickel, but who’s to say that future fictional elements don’t also fall
into this category.
Let’s take a look.
From what I’ve been able to gather, Uru hasn’t shown any inherently magnetic qualities
so this is going to get trickier.
It’s completely worth noting though that the magic inside of Mjolnir actually grants
its wielder some power over magnetism since Thor has exhibited feats of reading and controlling
magnetic fields such as when he was able to lift an entire alien craft out of the water
using nothing but magnetism.
With the ability to create its own magnetic fields, it’s certainly possible that Mjolnir’s
natural powers could interfere with Magneto’s.
However, it’s been explicitly shown that Magneto’s mutation is more than a match
for this mystical mallet.
In fact, the first time that we’ve seen Thor and Magneto fight was in Journey Into
Mystery #109 in 1964 and in it, Magneto’s magnetic force field can be seen deflecting
Thor’s blows.
In addition, Magneto was able to stop Mjolnir midair when Thor flung it at him.
Oh yeah and as a quick fun side fact, Thor ended up beating Magneto by using Mjolnir
to suck away Magneto’s magnetic field.
That has nothing to do with the video itself, but it’s too silly to not share in my opinion.
Anyway, this fight shows that Magneto is able to REPEL Mjolnir, but that’s still odd considering
that years later, Magneto was unable to manipulate another Uru hammer in any capacity during
the Fear Itself event.
By that logic, Mjolnir should be in the same category as Captain America’s shield, but
we can play devil’s advocate and say that there IS a chance that the Dwarves who made
Mjolnir included some sort of ferrous material inside of the hammer and it’s that Magneto
was manipulating back in 1964.
Here’s the thing though, if we look back at Super-Villain Team Up #14 in 1977, we can
see that Magneto is able to repel not just Mjolnir, but also Captain America’s shield
AND Iron Man’s suit.
See, comic books are a collaborative medium and character’s power sets can vary from
writer to writer.
Ultimately though, it shouldn’t matter what materials are or are not ferrous since there
is strong precedent that Magneto has control over EVERY SINGLE form of magnetism.
Yep, this is where the other two major forms come into play, paramagnetism and diamagnetism.
See, some non-ferrous materials are still attracted to magnetic poles via paramagnetism,
but that force is weak and is usually canceled out by simple gravity.
Now paramagnetism is NOTHING when you compare it to the forces of ferromagnetism.
However, Magneto has been shown to be able to create a strong enough magnetic field to
literally lift mountains so that would make controlling paramagnetic materials no problem
at all if we’re dealing with smaller objects.
Then there’s diamagnetism which is like paramagnetism, but in reverse.
See, diamagnetic items actually repel magnetic poles, but again the force that’s exerted
is pretty weak.
Using this form, magnetic fields can actually repel glass and even water!
I mean heck, diamagnetism is even how scientists have been able to make frogs float in midair!
That’s pretty similar to when we’ve seen Magneto “reverse the force of gravity”
in New Mutants #35 in 1986.
Due to his mastery over the every type of magnetism and the fact that every single object
reacts to magnetic fields in some way, shape, or form, Magneto should in theory be able
to manipulate ANYTHING that he wants simply by having enough strength and skill to expertly
attract and repel materials at will.
If we’re going to be honest, Magneto definitely has that kind of power at his fingertips which
is how we’ve seen him go so far as to manipulate freaking trees just as easily as a block of
iron.
That’s what makes Magneto so freaking scary and overpowered.
It doesn’t matter what Mjolnir is made out of because it doesn’t matter what ANYTHING
is made out of.
Magneto can manipulate it nonetheless.
A paper clip will bend to the same exact principles for Magneto as water, glass, wood, anything.
That’s just the interesting concept of being an Omega Level Mutant like him.
It’s terrifying and awesome and this is why I love comic books.
They’re so stupid, but they work!
But hey, if you like this video then why not consider subscribing or even watching another
one?
I personally want to recommend our video on what makes someone worthy of Mjolnir in the
first place.
I had a lot of fun combing through decades or Thor lore and made a nice comprehensible
video for you guys to take a look at without having to comb through all of it yourself.
Anyway, I hope you learned a little something new and maybe I’ll see you next time!