WATCH: Engineer creates real-life, touch-activated Thor’s hammer

MANILA, Philippines – In Marvel lore, if you can pick up Thor’s hammer Mjölnir, it means you’re worthy to rule Asgard. “Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor,” an inscription on the hammer says.

Freelance engineer Allen Pan, who goes by the YouTube handle Sufficiently Advanced, probably drew inspiration for his moniker from a perennially quoted line from sci-fi luminary Arthur C. Clarke, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” (as The Guardian points out).

In his latest video upload, Pan encased a microwave oven’s transformer electromagnet inside an ornate replica of Mjölnir, and embedded a fingerprint scanner to its handle responding only to his touch. “Magnets that get turned off, if you’re me!” he said in the video.

He challenged onlookers at Venice Beach to take on the challenge of picking up his contraption that he stuck to steel surfaces like manhole covers. Kids and adults alike stepped up to the plate only to be left clearly bewildered.

The video has racked up over 9 million views as of October 17, Saturday.

Currently, Pan who commits himself on YouTube to “make pretend things into real things,” is trying to reach out to actor Chris Hemsworth and Marvel figurehead Stan Lee to get them to register their fingerprints for his invention. He wrote this shout-out in the video description. – Rappler.com