What if Storm wasn’t the only X-Man to wield Thor’s hammer? The third and final season of the animated anthology series What If…? sees Ororo Munroe — voiced by X-Men: The Animated Series and X-Men ’97‘s Alison Sealy-Smith — thunder into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Storm, Goddess of Thunder and Mistress of the Cosmic Elements. As one of the Guardians of the Multiverse alongside Captain Carter (Helen Sadler), Kahhori (Devery Jacobs), and Byrdie (Natasha Lyonne), the weather-manipulating mutant goddess wields the enchanted hammer Mjølnir in a reality observed by Uatu the Watcher (Jeffrey Wright).
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But in a multiverse of endless possibilities and infinite realities, other mutants have been worthy of Thor’s hammer inscribed with the words: “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”
Storm: Goddess of Thunder
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Storm once lost her mutant powers after the government agent Peter Henry Gyrich shot her with a neutralizer gun created by Forge (leading to the Lifedeath storyline, adapted in X-Men ’97) in 1984’s Uncanny X-Men #185. Loki, the god of mischief and half-brother to Thor, had the Enchantress bring Storm to Asgard in 1985’s New Mutants Special Edition #1 as he plotted his revenge against the X-Men (who foiled his plans in X-Men/Alpha Flight #1-2).
Coveting Storm’s power to control the elements like Thor, Loki enthralled Ororo by gifting her Freya’s cloak of golden feathers so she could transform into a falcon and once again take to the skies as the wind-riding Storm.
The trickster god planned to have Storm succeed Thor as his Goddess of Thunder and aid him in his quest to become ruler of Asgard, so he bestowed upon her a hammer that gave her powers like her mutant abilities: Stormcaster. When Storm realized the god of lies had tricked her into attacking her teammates on the X-Men — nearly killing Wolverine with the Asgardian lightning cast from her hammer — she renounced her powers and returned to Earth a mere mortal at the end of X-Men Annual #9.
In an alternate reality that branched off from that point in time in 1990’s What If #12 (“What If… the X-Men Had Stayed in Asgard?”), Storm remained on Asgard and helped defeat the Goddess of Death, Hela, and Thor renounced his claim to the throne. Thor then named the Goddess of Thunder as the sovereign ruler of Asgard.
Rogue: The Mighty Mutant
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1994’s What If…? #66 asked: “What if Rogue possessed the power of Thor?” Rogue of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants used her ability to absorb the powers of Ms. Marvel, then the Avengers Captain America and Thor. After draining Thor of his godlike power, Rogue killed Earth’s mightiest heroes and was able to lift Thor’s enchanted hammer.
As Thor’s father, Odin, sent his most trusted warriors (Sif, Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg, and Balder) to Midgard, Loki brought the transformed Rogue to Asgard so he could seize the throne from Odin. But a contrite Rogue, recalling the memories she absorbed from Thor, turned on Loki and — as Odin’s daughter — became the mightiest mutant as Midgard’s new Goddess of Thunder. Thor’s hammer was altered to read:
“Whosoever holds this hammer, if he — or she — be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”
The X-Corps
During the events of 2015’s Secret Wars, the multiverse was destroyed, and God Emperor Doom formed Battleworld: a patchwork planet composed of the fragments of worlds that no longer exist. When She-Hulk assembled A-Force as protectors of the island of Arcadia, the team — Captain Marvel, Medusa, Nico Minoru, and Singularity — crossed paths with an alternate version of their teammate Alison Blaire: a Dazzler Thor.
Dazzler was dispatched to arrest A-Force for crimes against Lord Doom, but she joined forces with the heroes to defeat the mutant sorceress Countess. A-Force also showed a glimpse of other Mjolnir-wielding mutants in Doom’s Thor Corps: the X-Men Nightcrawler and Colossus.
All episodes of Marvel’s What If…? are now available to stream on Disney+.
