MCU Doctor Strange vs Mjolnir

[Khaat]

So I was watching Doctor Strange on Netflix and it occured to me: he sacrificed himself an uncounted number of times to save the Earth from Dormammu. Would Doctor Steven Strange be worthy to lift Mjolnir?

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, almost everyone took a shot at lifting Mjolnir, but only one came close: Steve Rogers. While Steve was unworthy to lift it, he moved it enough to cause Thor to drop his stupid grin for a second. Steve has died to save people (Captain America: The First Avenger), but his loyalties ultimately lie with individuals (as seen in Captain America: Civil War): he is "unworthy" because he puts his friends above others. Vision was able to lift Mjolnir because he was intended to save innocents (by design), and hadn't had the opportunity to do much thinking about who he was in relation to that programming. Would Vision still be worthy after Civil War? I'm thinking it's less clear:

Stark: "How did this happen?"
Vision: "I became distracted."
Stark: "I didn't think that was possible."

By comparison: Thor destroys the Bifrost to save the frost giants of Jotunheim, them spends two years fighting for peace across the nine realms before getting back to Earth to see Jane Foster (Thor: the Dark World - even then, only because she disappeared from Heimdal's sight). In the meantime, he visited Earth to collect Loki and to fight the chittauri invasion (Avengers), but left without seeing Jane. Crappy boyfriend, but worthy to wield Mjolnir.

Otherwise, we have magic items (relics) introduced in Doctor Strange that are treated as intelligent or discerning at least, so Mordo and the Ancient One are surprised to see the Cloak of Levitation on Strange ("It came to you?" "It's a fickle thing.") If Strange is already aware of powerful magic items having this kind of... attunement prerequisite(?), he might approach Mjolnir with an even better understanding of it than Thor does* (Thor isn't a "wizard", while Odin is. Sort of.)

Some magic is too powerful to sustain, so we imbue objects with it, allowing them to take the strain that we cannot.

Also

You're ready when the relic decides you're ready.

So it may not even be Odin's enchantment but Mjolnir itself that's making the determination: the keyed condition from Thor (2011) may not be the basic condition of 'worthy'.

(Many of the online search results I ran across were focused only on the comics version/continuity. I'd like to concentrate on the MCU version of characters and events/history.)

*Doctor Strange may be in the best position (short of Odin) to actually define the terms of the enchantment for the audience. Also, with Mjolnir's destruction in Thor: Ragnarok, Odin or Strange will have to put it back together, right? Suddenly the manner in which relics are described in Doctor Strange make more sense for the way Mjolnir can function: perhaps the immobility and extra hard-hitting-ness come from "borrowing" inertia or force or gravity from "the heart of a dying star", rather than being one of the more technological explanations fandom has put out there.

[Solauren]

I don't think you can count Dr. Stranges deaths as self-sacrifice.

Mostly because it was his plan to trap himself in a time-loop. As the loop reset itself over and over, only the last one mattered in the end.

I have no doubt if he remembers his deaths, some of them were very painful, but since Dr. Strange was confident in the tactic, it's not really a sacrifice.

Also, he didn't come off as a guy that suffered multiple painful experiences/been tortured afterwards, so I doubt there were lasting effects.

[Khaat]

I don't think you can count Dr. Stranges deaths as self-sacrifice.

That's akin to telling a Christian, "Jesus rose from the dead, so his suffering and death doesn't really count". Try it, it's probably a lot of fun!
I think Strange feels differently, as he remembers each loop. I know I would.

*snip*
Strange: Dormammu! I've come to bargain.
Dormammu: You cannot do this forever.
Strange: Actually, I can. This is how things are now. You and me, trapped in this moment, endlessly.
Dormammu: Then you will spend eternity dying.
Strange: Yeah. But everyone on Earth will live.

Also, he didn't come off as a guy that suffered multiple painful experiences/been tortured afterwards, so I doubt there were lasting effects.

Dormammu: But you will suffer.
Strange: Pain is an old friend.

Lose or bargain, Strange committed.

As both he and Dormammu were aware of the previous loops, it isn't "just the last one that counted", since the last one was only the last one because of all the previous loops. Strange had also had his life stripped from him in the crash and failed recovery, and finally learned "It's not about you." (<- the same lesson Thor learned! )

[Shroom Man 777]

Strange was aware that he activated a time loop, he might've had a counter that counted how many loops happened, but is it certain that he utterly remembered each and every death he experienced?

[Gandalf]

Strange was aware that he activated a time loop, he might've had a counter that counted how many loops happened, but is it certain that he utterly remembered each and every death he experienced?

Dormammu clearly remembered them, so I don't see why Strange wouldn't.

[Tribble]

Well in Captain America's case he was just having some fun, if the situation had been serious and/or Thor was incapacitated I think Mjolnir may have allowed him to pick it up. He might be worthy during a crisis, just not quite worthy enough at that particular moment.

IMO Mjolnir probably wouldn't willingly let Dr. Strange wield it, as while he has done heroic things he didn't appear to have the same warrior mindset that Thor has, or Captain America. While they don't start battles unnecessarily, they both lvie for it and enjoy the challenge to a degree. Even Vision was designed to save people via using his powers in some form of combat or another.

I say "willingly" because its possible that Dr. Strange might be capable of altering Mjlonir or moving it against its will, we really don't know the full scope of his abilities atm.

[Shroom Man 777]

Strange was aware that he activated a time loop, he might've had a counter that counted how many loops happened, but is it certain that he utterly remembered each and every death he experienced?

Dormammu clearly remembered them, so I don't see why Strange wouldn't.

Dormammu is the timeless being here.

[Crazedwraith]

Although sacrifice yourself for your friends was how Thor redeemed himself and proved himself worth of the Hammer in Thor. It can't be the sole criteria. Stark was similarly willing to sacrifice himself in Avengers and couldn't shift in the slightest. The other heroes are willing to make similar sacrifices at the end of Age Of Ultron, so it's in all their characters.

Doesn't mean they can lift the hammer.

Worthy is such a nebulous term that it's basically meaningless.

[Lord Revan]

Although sacrifice yourself for your friends was how Thor redeemed himself and proved himself worth of the Hammer in Thor. It can't be the sole criteria. Stark was similarly willing to sacrifice himself in Avengers and couldn't shift in the slightest. The other heroes are willing to make similar sacrifices at the end of Age Of Ultron, so it's in all their characters.

Doesn't mean they can lift the hammer.

Worthy is such a nebulous term that it's basically meaningless.

I think that's the writer's intention "worthy" is meaningless without the cultural values that deem the worth of a person so writers won't write themselves into a corner as easily.

Best way to define "worthy" is "matches the values and qualities the asgard desire in a good and just person" which obviously doesn't help us much in saying who should be worthy and who shouldn't.

[Khaat]

Huh. Watched Thor again last night, was keeping an ear out for a couple of things:

Mjolnir... its power unequaled as a weapon to destroy or a tool to build. A fit companion for a king.

1) power unequaled as a tool to build. I wonder if we'll ever see that.
2) companion for a king. Mjolnir is a character, not equipment. Oh, the things I could do reffing a game with that twist....

If the jotuns had gotten their hands on even one of these relics...

So "relics" (enchanted items) ten years before Doctor Strange defines the term for us (and that they choose their hero, explicitly), beyond the assumption that the items in the vault are powerful weapons (because "weapons vault").

Back to the discussion:
Strange has become, while not the Sorceror Supreme of Earth (yet), a singular defender of it. He put the Earth and its people ahead of his own safety and comfort, or even his friends specifically (sorry, Bucky Christine!) He chose to not go back to being a surgeon; the Ancient One's death scene laid it out: go back to your life, or take on the Big Boy Pants. If that doesn't make him worthy, they're going to have to do a lot better at defining it in the future.

And there were deeper secrets to learn then, but I did not have the strength to receive them. I chose to settle for my miracle, and I came back home.

Magic's Big Wheels aren't about just knowing, but internal strength, and in Strange's case, a talent for it:

You were born for the mystic arts.

He also didn't also fix his hands (or the watch Christine had given him, that he had been wearing during the wreck, and that he almost lost to muggers in Kathmandu.) Ok, so Strange maybe has a little baggage.

I'd have to put it that Thor has a strict code of personal conduct, AND a commitment to duty (defend the peace across the Nine Realms). He has little or no baggage.
Moreover, Mjolnir (sort of like the TARDIS) seems to know where the story is going (or at least needs to go next.)

- Tony has been looking for a way to hand off the heroic responsibility for a while: the Steel Legion, Ultron, the Avengers in general. Sure, he promised Pepper he'd stop, "... and then and then and then. The truth is I don't want to stop." He's conflicted.

- Steve has also been conflicted since Winter Soldier - the organization he came out of the ice and believed in turned out not to be. He's lost Peggy, and has been hunting for Bucky since then. He longs for his connections to his past. He'll do the job, but his faith is only up-close and personal.

- Rhodey is a soldier and a buddy, he's not champion material (sorry!)

- Barton is conflicted: he'd love to quit, but it's just too quiet for him.

- Banner... is conflict personified.

- Natasha is water: she'll be whatever shape you pour her into. No telling what Mjolnir would think of her.

[ANGELUS]

I believe there is more than just a set of rules to decide if someone is worthy or not. It's not like a simple algorithm "if - then - else", but more like the hammer has an intelligence of its own and decides who is worthy or not... the hammer can decide, just like the Dr. Strange relics.

That would explain why some characters are able to lift it for a short period of time and then not anymore (Just as Superman was able to lift it on that awful Justice League Avengers crossover, although I don't know if it is considered canon at all), or why Thor has lost the ability to lift it from time to time... the hammer decides each time.

[Lord Revan]

We should also remember (as I've already pointed out) "worthy to wield Mjölnir" is deemed thru Asgard standards of "worthy" and not those of 2010s america (or other terrestial countries for that matter) and those standards most likely differ.

[Khaat]

I think we've been talking past each other (mostly in agreement):
- Mjölnir, being a relic, decides for itself who is worthy (except when Odin lays on the extra? terms in Thor)
- the standard isn't "contemporary values" based (but Thor did have use of it at the start of Thor, when he was still an ambitious adventurer/peacekeeper, but Odin's heir and intended to become king of Asgard and senior-most defender of the Realms)
- the standard can vary (but that is comics-based, and I didn't want to go there)

In Thor, his test to get Mjölnir back was basically to live up to the oath he swore at the start:
"Do you swear to preserve the peace? Do you swear to cast aside all selfish ambition and pledge yourself only to the good of all the Realms?"
Again, very plot-device/deus ex machina , in that Mjölnir seems to know the flow of the story and what's required.

While heroes like the Avengers protect the world from physical dangers, we sorcerers safeguard it against more mystical threats.

And that field shares some overlap with Thor's, as the post-credits scene from Doctor Strange shows us:

So, I keep a watchlist of individuals and beings from other realms that may be a threat to this world. Your adopted brother, Loki, is one of those beings.

Which may also give us: Asgard is not another place in this universe, it's in one of those other universes? Which could also explain why the Guardians of the Galaxy aren't dodging Asgardian Peacekeepers, but "local powers".