Is Moon Knight Actually Worthy Of Wielding Mjolnir?
With the recent release of "Moon Knight" on Disney+, the manic Marvel hero has received a big boost in exposure. By now, most Marvel and MCU fans are at least familiar with him as Marc Spector, the special forces operative with dissociative identity disorder who begins fighting crime under the alias Moon Knight. However, there's much more to Spector than just moonlighting as a knight in white leather.
On top of having multiple personalities and the ability to kill a man 17 different ways with a paperclip, Moon Knight also has some mystical qualities to his character. In fact, the title Moon Knight was actually bestowed upon Spector by the Egyptian moon deity, Khonshu. This means that while most of the time Marc is a semi-normal man without any special super powers, Khnoshu might occasionally grant Spector certain magical privileges in very rare situations.
Oh yeah, and Marc is also capable of lifting Mjolnir. Yes, you read that right. As strange as it may be, there have been times where a mentally unstable, sometimes morally gray individual like Marc Spector has wielded Thor's mighty hammer, the same hammer that supposedly prevents the unworthy from even lifting it. Here's the catch, though. Marc may have lifted Mjolnir, but he actually isn't worthy. As it turns out, there's a surprising reason why.
Khonshu's moon-based powers have certain advantages.
Before we get into how Moon Knight once wielded Mjolnir, we should explain how we know that doesn't make him worthy. The tell-all clue in this situation is that Moon Knight has technically never wielded the hammer in his own two hands. The one time he even tried in "Doctor Strange: Damnation #3," it initially appeared as if he had lifted it, but things were not entirely as they seemed. The hammer quickly flew out of his hands and towards Jane Foster (during her time as Thor). As it turned out, Jane was actually just recalling the hammer as Spector attempted to lift it. In essence, Spector was simply a pitstop on Mjolnir's path towards the truly worthy. Notably, enough people were confused by this moment that comic book writer Donny Cates was forced to clear up the issue (via CBR).
However, there was one another time when Moon Knight actually managed to wield Mjolnir in battle. He just didn't physically pick it up. In 2020's "Avengers #33," Moon Knight found himself going toe-to-toe with Thor (the one whose name is actually Thor this time). During this bout, Moon Knight begins to psychically wield Mjolnir against Thor, battering the god with his own weapon. He revealed that because Mjolnir was forged from Uru, metal ore extracted from the moon of a long-dead universe, Moon Knight can actually control it thanks to Khonshu's influence. Thus, the unworthy Moon Knight was able to wield Mjolnir (with Khonshu's help) because Khonshu holds jurisdiction over all moons, regardless of how hammer-like they appear.