So, which non-Marvel characters could lift Thor's hammer?

[Knaight]

The thing about IP disputes at that sort of level is that they have a tendency to come down to which side has the will and the money to fight longest. Marvel itself may be on shaky ground when it comes to originality but Disney has a reputation for ruthless IP litigation and has the funds to match. When the cease and desist letters start coming in, even for a large company it's probably just not worth the fight.

Which gets back to my point about the benefit of it not being DC as the target of the lawsuit. It's absolutely worth it for DC to protect their comics, and that's a massive ugly IP war waiting to happen - it's basically contract MAD. Fox? Not so much, especially with Disney being the source of pressure.

[Lord Torath]

What about MCU Thanos? He was completely dedicated to Saving the Universe in as fair a manner as possible. He didn't seek the infinity stones for personal glory, but for a purpose he felt was more important than himself. At least as far as I understand him from watching Avengers: Infinity Wars.

[Jeivar]

What about MCU Thanos? He was completely dedicated to Saving the Universe in as fair a manner as possible. He didn't seek the infinity stones for personal glory, but for a purpose he felt was more important than himself. At least as far as I understand him from watching Avengers: Infinity Wars.

He also has a well-established taste for torture.

[Lord Torath]

He also has a well-established taste for torture.

True. He was happy to torture others to get the Infinity stones. In fact, that's how he got just about all of them, by torturing someone close to someone who had an Infinity stone (or knew where one was). I withdraw my suggestion.

[Mordar]

Sounds like George Washington to me.

Not sure I entirely agree with the list. In particular, I'm not sure I'd include Kingship/leadership.

I think, if you wanted to include anyone from Buffy, Xander might actually be a better choice than Buffy herself. Heck, Riley or Oz might be better bets.

I think the leadership element - at least in battle - seems to be significant. Now certainly as reflected by the Thor movie, but I think in the comics it may have linked more towards the Norse/viking idea (as presented in myth/legend) of worthy men leading other men...honors for the jarl and all of that kind of thing.

Winston Churchill is probably in with a chance, by the same criteria.

Was he every a soldier/warrior? Strength of arms and all that? Washington certainly. I simply don't know as much about Churchill pre-1940s.

- M

[Wraith]

Was he every a soldier/warrior? Strength of arms and all that? Washington certainly. I simply don't know as much about Churchill pre-1940s.

- M

He was a Hussar (Queen's household Cavalry) for the better part of 25 years, travelling from Britain, to India, to Cuba, to South Africa and back again. While in there, he openly criticised famous British generals for their crude and brutal tactics against defeated foes - executing prisoners, desecrating sacred sites and the likes - and once even donated a skin graft to another wounded soldier.

While he had some very offensive views (he loathed the Irish, and was on record as supporting using gas weapons on native Africans), there's little debate that he was usually valorous and successful as a soldier. The sort of things he got up to after he retired from the army and took up politics - including scaling the Alps, leading exploratory expeditions up the Nile and quite often getting legendarily drunk all across Europe and Northern Africa - only serve to make him a Thor-like figure even before he went on to lead Britain through World War 2.

Find his biography, if you can - Churchill was an unbelievable character, but apparently it's all true.