We know from the movies that Stan Lee driving a truck couldn’t budge it, nor could Stark’s Iron Man glove when he was wearing it. To me that signals that inanimate objects being wielded by others can’t move it. However it was also on the floor of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier at one point so that could be indicative that intent is important too. Hence I’d posit that Thor could leave it on a truck without the owner knowing, and it could be driven around, or leave it on a elevator and the guy calling the elevator from the ground floor isn’t going to end out staring at wreckage.
Vision isn’t being wielded by others. One can also argue that the absence of darkness in Vision made him worthy, however, he didn’t get powers, so I feel like that rules that theory out. I think the hammer seeing Vision as both not alive along with not acting upon it as a vessel of something/someone else attempting to move it is the more logical take. Basically Vision is the aforementioned elevator in this scenario. Ground Floor, Hammers.
Or the writers could be implying something in the hammer handover scene, and poorly writing elsewhere. Take your pick really.
I think the easiest thing “plot-wise” is to endow the magical object itself with a sort of sentience. Like not as much as the Sorting Hat in HP, but to the tune of that.
I strongly feel Vision definitely is sentient, as anyone who’s seen TNG would know the arguments made for Data, and they very much apply here. If we assume the first, and there is something in the hammer that judges people, then yeah, it’s hard to explain how some can move the hammer a bit, but not gain the power, despite the wording of the spell. Cap almost moves the hammer, even making tor raise an eyebrow slightly. So perhaps there’s “degrees of worthiness”. And Vision is pretty high up there, but not “have all the power” high. Or perhaps the power just didn’t manifest at all because Vision didn’t even try to “tap into” it. Who knows, comics can explain it however they feel like.
But I would not agree that Vision is “an elevator”.
“Prove to the court I am sentient.” - Captain Picard (from “ST:TNG The Measure of a Man”)
These are fun to talk about but yeah, it does boil down to “take your pick.” Still, doesn’t mean we can’t have fun theorising.
Not as lengthy as your guys comments but a theory I’ve heard on why captain America can budge it is that he IS worthy but he doesn’t recognize that. In other words he doesn’t think he’s worthy to wield Mjolnir. It’s been a while since I watched avengers or heard the theory so I forgot the why behind it.
