Marvel Directors Confirm Captain America Was Always Worthy to Hold Thor’s Hammer
Competition between the Marvel superheroes has always been one component of the MCU movies, and we’ve all seen how it could sometimes lead to civil war. Then again, some of the friendships among the heroes has meant occasionally withholding certain power trips out of respect for their fellow comrades.
The friendship between Captain America and Thor is a good example. Not only are they close friends in the movies, but Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth are both like brothers in real life. According to a recent Russo Brothers reveal, Cap was perhaps always worthy of wielding Thor’s hammer (Mjolnir), yet took the initiative on not embarrassing his friend.
What are the details on this, and does it really make sense Steve Rogers was continually worthy to hold Mjolnir?
The theory extends back to a pivotal scene in ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’
Go back in time a little (your own Marvel time raid) to when Avengers: Age of Ultron first released in April of 2015. There was an important scene when Steve Rogers nudged Mjolnir on a table, making it seem possible for him to pick up the hammer.
The question everyone had was whether the hammer was about to deem Steve worthy, or if Steve held off deliberately picking up the hammer to avoid making Thor feel bad. Thor could see that Cap probably was worthy to pick up Mjolnir and couldn’t believe it.
Perhaps their friendship was sealed when Thor realized Steve wouldn’t pick up the hammer in favor of his friend. This theory alone seems to be canon based on what the Russo Brothers said recently during a Reddit Q&A.
Many fans have piped in on Reddit, though, to question whether Steve really was worthy at the time and had to wait a while until he finally did wield the hammer in Avengers: Endgame.
The Russo Brothers helped fill in on a lot of fan questions
Those of you who happened to catch the recent Russo Brothers Q&A on Reddit had a rare occasion to see the producers answer many fan questions that keep conversations about the MCU movies red hot. While they answered everything from what their favorite character arcs are to how they handle brotherly creative disagreements, the theory behind Captain America and Mjolnir still had some fans baffled.
More than a few users preferred some of the fan theories about this more than the definitive answer. It goes to show theories developed by the fans often take a life of their own beyond the creators, hence why producers often lament their own creations escaping their control.
According to the fan theory, Steve Rogers was possibly still lacking something, hence why Mjolnir didn’t choose him immediately. Not until Avengers: Endgame did he finally prove himself worthy of picking up Thor’s hammer, which he ultimately did.
If this saved the friendship between Thor and Cap, there was still obviously some rivalry there over the matter. Chris Hemsworth recounted one favorite scene in Avengers: Endgame as an example.
Switching out hammer sizes
During the epic battle sequence in Avengers: Endgame, we see Stormbreaker fly into the hands of Captain America. However, Thor looks at Cap and says: “No, give me that. You have the little one.” Thor then proceeds to throw his smaller hammer to Cap.
Chris Hemsworth recently cited this as his favorite scene in the movie during a promotional video for the upcoming Avengers: Endgame Blu-ray release. We can see why since it shows Thor still respecting Cap while making it clear he has a bit of envy over the Mjolnir issue.
The worthiness of Cap holding Mjolnir seems a moot issue now that he decided to stay in the past and live out his life as a regular citizen. Most of the focus now goes to Mighty Thor in upcoming Love and Thunder and whether she’s really a better Thor than the sometimes broken down male counterpart.
