Hey Collider fans! John Rocha here. Avengers: Endgame absolutely
blew the doors off the box office this weekend and left many people surprised
by how much drawing power the film actually had. The film was also chock full of surprises.
One of the biggest ones was how Captain America was able to wield Mjolnir during the final
battle with Thanos. Many fans are now scratching their heads, after they clapped their hands
off in that moment, wondering how this was possible. Well, sit back, put on your Captain
America shield t-shirt, and let us clear up this mystery for you. Now, you’ll remember
that in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Cap was able to nudge Thor’s hammer a little bit which
caused the God of Thunder and the other Avengers to pause for a moment. It was the first indication
that he might be worthy enough to wield Mjolnir someday but not at that moment. Maybe he didn’t
want to embarrass Thor or maybe there was an issue with his worth? We will revisit this
question in a little bit. Let’s look at the question of worthiness to wield Thor’s
hammer first. Remember, that Odin enchanted the hammer twice over in the MCU. Odin fixed
it so that only the purely worthy can wield Mjolnir and once they do, they are able to
wield the full power of Thor. He put this enchantment on the hammer in 2011’s Thor
after the Thor arrogantly committed an act of war that could have cost numerous lives.
He eventually proved himself worthy by the end of the film and won his hammer back when
he was willing to Hercules this (bleep) and sacrifice himself for the one or ones he loved.
He extended this newfound desire to sacrifice himself for others in the sequel, Thor: The
Dark World, when he fought off Malekith and fought to save the Nine Realms. In the comics,
Captain America has wielded Mjolnir on two occasions. One of those occurred when he had
walked away from being Captain America and was known as just The Captain. It occurred
in The Mighty Thor #390 as he fought alongside Thor against Seth, the Egyptian God of Death,
and Seth's armies. During a heated moment in battle, Thor was thunderously knocked down
causing him to lose. The Captain picked it up and wielded it as decimated some bad guys
before flinging it back to Thor. The second time he wielded it in the comics was in the
2011 Fear Itself storyline as Captain America. Thor had been killed by his evil uncle the
Serpent and Cap grabbed Mjolnir and summoned the lightning, as you do, and decimated villains
left and right on the battlefield. Now let’s take a look at that scene in Avengers: Age
of Ultron. As we noted, Captain America was only able to nudge the hammer with one hand.
And in the next moment, he uses both hands to try to move it but to no avail. So it doesn’t
seem like he’s worried about Thor’s feelings in that moment. So what then? A popular fan
theory and one I cosign is that it’s because he is not fully worthy yet. SO why would that
be? Well, remember in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Cap learned that Bucky was
the one who killed Tony Stark’s parents. He doesn’t tell Tony once he finds out preferring
instead to defend his old friend, Bucky, who had obviously been under mind control. Cap
doesn’t come clean until the end of Captain America: Civil War. When Tony sees the video
for himself of Bucky’s crime, Cap finally confesses to hiding this fact from Tony. Tony
is devastated and angry as hell which leads to one of the best 2 on 1 battles you’ll
ever see onscreen. BUT it also restores Cap’s worthiness because he has taken responsibility
for his withholding the truth from Tony in order to protect Bucky. He accepts responsibility
and he is now worthy again. If we have learned anything about the MCU, it’s that being
able to stand up for others is a big part of your worthiness as a hero and that allows
you to wield Mjolnir when the moment is right. And that moment came in Avengers: Endgame
when Thor was about to get destroyed by Thanos but was knocked to the ground by a Mjolnir
wielding Captain America who proceeded to put a WHUPPIN on that Mad Titan much to our
cheering delight! There’s another time in the comics where Captain America wield Mjolnir,
but that was during Secret Empire and the less said of that moment the better. Ok. Hopefully
we’ve cleared it up for you why and how Cap was able to wield Mjolnir like a bad ass
in Avengers: Endgame and give that Mad Titan all he could handle during their battle at
the end of the movie. Let us know if we missed anything in the Comments section below. Remember
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