10 Characters Who Have Lifted Thor's Hammer

6. Beta Ray Bill

Beta Ray Bill might boast a goofy name, but he wouldn't be loved by Thor fans if he wasn't a captivating character.

Introduced in 1983 in a way that didn't immediately broadcast is heroic destiny, the Walt Simonson creation was decidedly more monstrous than his contemporaries. Simonson did this to maintain a sense of ambiguity with the character, only divulging Bill's backstory with a series of references to the Korbinite race, an Alien species that resided within the cosmic vestiges of the Marvel Universe.

What makes Bill so important, however, isn't how monstrous he is, but rather that he was the first non-Norse character to pick up Mjolnir and wield the powers of Thor. Granted he only did so for a temporary period, but Bill found a fine replacement in Stormbreaker, a weapon bestowed to him by Odin in order to settle the contest between his son and the Korbinite.

Bill's been a persistent feature of the comics ever since, and in being the first to pick up Mjolnir, he sparked a trend other writers have been following ever since.