In Jason Aaron and Javier Garrón’s Avengers #36, a member of the team goes up against Khonshu and proves to have control over Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir.
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Avengers #36, by Jason Aaron, Javier Garrón, Jason Keith and VC’s Cory Petit, available now.
In the Marvel Universe, there are only a few people who are able to wield the mighty hammer of Thor, Mjolnir. The Asgardian weapon has an enchantment on it that allows only the very few who are worthy of heart and spirit to wield it, and manifest the powers of the God of Thunder. Over the years, a few characters such as Captain America, Beta Ray Bill and Jane Foster have all proven worthy to lift Mjolnir. Even Loki and a human named Adam Aziz were recently able to lift the hammer, although that is due to the hammer’s enchantment exhibiting strange behavior.
An thanks to Avengers #36, we can add another Avenger to the list of characters able to control Mjolnir, but not because of any changes in the hammer’s enchantment. Due to a forgotten piece of ancient Marvel history, Black Panther was able to exhibit some measure of control over Mjolnir.
At the start of Avengers‘ “Age of Khonshu” storyline, Moon Knight helped his god steal power from some of the most powerful superheroes in the world in order to face the coming threat of Mephisto, and part of this significant power grab meant stealing Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. It turns out that Khonshu has control over the hammer because the Uru that it’s made of is a moonstone. As god of the moons, he has control over the very substance of the hammer, which allows him to manipulate it. Khonshu isn’t worthy of the hammer, but he’s able to control it thanks to this workaround.
However, Black Panther has control over it for similar reasons. In Avengers #36, Khonshu faces T’Challa in battle, and the god attacks the King of Wakanda by throwing Mjolnir right at him.
However, Black Panther is actually able to make the hammer move, forcing it to miss him as a target. Then, he makes it fly all around him, showing that he clearly has some control over it.
As Black Panther says to a puzzled Khonshu, “Mjolnir knows my tribe, knows us well.”
With this, the issue shows a brief flashback panel of the first Black Panther, who fought alongside the Avengers 1,000,000 B.C. during the prehistoric era. This Black Panther can be seen with Mjolnir in his grasp, summoning the power of lightning. This ancient team of Avengers was lead by Odin, who wielded a recently-forged Mjolnir on Earth at the beginning of time, long before he would put an enchantment on the hammer for his son to become worthy of it.