Rewatching and just a question that popped into my head is why Cap attempted to lift mjolnir during their battle with Thanos as he already knew he couldn’t lift it before? Was it like his last ditch effort (im sure theres a better term) to try and lift it? Did mjolnir like speak to him and told him he is now able to carry it. I know he can lift it because hes worthy but i just dont get why he tried after he knew he couldn’t in AOU. Edit: ik he nudged it in AOU but he didnt fully pick it up
Why did Captain America attempt to life mjolnir in Endgame?
QuestionHow exactly did he know he could lift it, having never tried before? Looks to me like he tried and it moved a little. He wasn't worthy yet. If, like many say, he knew he could but didn't wanna do it or show Thor up, why not just stay seated and not try lifting it? That's a better way to not show up Thor.
He isn't psychic.
He knew he could lift it when he made it move in AOU. That movement wasn't him struggling. It was him realizing he had the ability to lift it and deciding not to, in that split second.
That's why he knew he could use it against Thanos.
At least, that's how I interpreted this theory.
Go back and watch the party scene in Age of Ultron again. You will get it.
yes Hammer moved, was a very cool detail and Thor saw it
(this hammer can't even be wriggled an atom if not worthy, so ppl saw it wiggle and knew Cap could have lifted it)
It's possible he could in AoU and pretended he couldn't to spare Thor's feelings. It does nudge when he tried. If you prefer that take, proceed.
This. As Thor exclaimed "I knew it!".
Another case of “watching the movies answers your question”
Funny thing though, the first two times I saw Endgame, the theater was so loud I didn’t hear Thor say this at all
You mean you don't unintentionally stare at the subtitles throughout the whole movie like I do?
I do actually but I meant the theater. I saw Endgame in theaters like 6 times
This person MCUs
🫡
That’s how I interpreted it. When they were fighting Thanos, the time for protecting feelings was over; they had to save the universe.
Also by endgame I don’t think Thor cared anymore
I think this is more or less canon. In the comics, lifting Mjolnir isn’t a thing you can “kind of” do if you’re “a little” worthy, it’s just a binary thing - you’re either worthy and you can lift it or you’re not and you can’t. By that logic, Steve being able to make it budge means that he could have lifted it if he wanted to, but he chose not to to spare Thor’s feelings and/or not make his team think he’s better than them
Thor could do it, then he couldn’t, then he could again. So it seems possible that somewhere in between AOU and Endgame, Cap became fully worthy of lifting it through his continued sacrifices for the greater good.
As usual though, the real answer is “because this is how the writers wanted it to happen.”
I’m sorry, I think you misread what I typed. Historically, there is no becoming “fully worthy,” you just are or you aren’t. He was able to make it budge, which means he was able to lift it. He just chose not to. At least, that’s what the comics, Joss Whedon, and the Russo brothers say.
I know that the MCU is not the comics, and that if it’s not actually shown in the movie, it’s fair game to be disregarded in the future, but until then I’m choosing to believe what the directors say
In Thor 1, Odin specifically stripped Thor of his powers and placed the conditions on Mjollnir. Once he became worthy he could lift Mj again. Steve was worthy all along.
I believe he could lift it in AOU. He just chose not to for his buddy Thor. Otherwise he wouldn’t have even been able to make it scoot that little bit. In Endgame he knows it’s an option for him because he already knows he can lift it.
Yeah it shows it starts to move in AOU and the hammer doesn't weigh much if you can lift it. Way less than Cap would struggle with. So I think the second he knew he could, he let it go.
Yeah, during AoU when Vision and Thor are discussing Mjolnir:
Vision: "It's terribly well-balanced."
Thor: "Well, if there's too much weight, you lose power on the swing."
Mjolnir is very light to those who are worthy, and immovably heavy to those who aren't.
I believe the directors confirmed after Endgame that he always could but he didn't because he didn't want to upset Thor. That's why in AoU you see Mjolnir move slightly. If you rewatch it, the scene makes more sense and his reaction after "failing" is him exaggerating his disappointment.
He always could lift it. Jane could but not Steve Rogers?
He could in AOU. He always could.
There’s a few things going on as to why Cap didn’t lift it in AoU. As everyone already stated numerous times, because he knew it wasn’t a good time to do it and he wanted to let Thor save face.
Another is cinematography and story wise it would really detract from Vision lifting it later on in the same film and Cap fully lifting it in Endgame. (Literally one of my favorite in theatre moments. The packed crowd exploded when it happened.)
You see it budge slightly in AoU. He just didn't want Thor to feel bad
He tried because he knew he could. He didn’t want to show up Thor in AoU so he pretended he couldn’t.
He could always lift it. If he couldn’t it wouldn’t have moved at all in AoU. He chose not to do so to show respect to Thor.
That’s why in Endgame Thor says “I knew it!” when he’s revealed to have thrown the hammer.
Alternatively, if you don’t like that explanation, Thanos was whooping their asses. It’s a desperate situation so why not try and lift the hammer, it did move in AoU after all so might as well try and see if you can find some edge in this fight.
He could lift it. No one who can't lift it could budge it, it's binary worthy or not so him rocking it a bit in Ultron was him lifting it and choosing not to fully lift it to make Thor happy. In Endgame games are over. Plus Thor "knew it" as he's a much more mature and not worried about it like he was in Ultron.
My thought was in AoU he learned he could carry it with that little nudge. But A. He is already kind of embarrassed being the goodie two shoes of the team. And B. He is just a nice guy. And it means nothing to him if he can pick it up but obviously Thor takes a sense of worth and pride in being the only one to lift it. And cap is to nice to take that from him for no reason then bragging rights.
Given it was close and it clear Cap couldn't do anything to Thanos who was about to kill Thor, why not try lift it?
As I recall , he didn't lift it as much as it came to him, flying through the air, suggesting that it chose him in that moment while Thor was unable to wield it effectively.
I don’t think that’s right. There’s a shot of it being lifted off the ground, then it hits Thanos, and then it flies into Steve’s hand in the same way it flies into Thor’s after he throws it. It looks like the order events is meant to be Steve sees Thor struggling, Steve picks up the hammer because he sees it unattended and knows he can, Steve throws it at Thanos.
It's hard to tell where the hammer is before it 'rises' and they clearly and intentionally obscured a lot of details so the moment he catches it would be more impactful. It definitely does appear to 'float' when it comes off the ground, given how slow and consistent the movement is, and even has a sound accompanying it that sounds like a 'floating' sound to me.
But as we all know, film plays small tricks to invoke emotion and you could be right that the scene showed Cap picking it up without showing him picking it up. The direction it comes from, and returns to, is where Cap is standing, after all. They just filmed it with less details so that the big reveal happens when he catches it and that is way cooler than watching him just casually picking it up haha.
It's also possible, given the lack of specificity during the scene, that Thor called the hammer to him and alley-ooped it to Cap after the initial strike as he wasn't yet in a good position to wield it, thinking in that moment 'I think he's worthy' and then following that up with 'I knew it'. The 'I knew it' is assumed to be a reference to AoU but it could be his immediate next thought after he essentially sent Mjolnir to Cap and his intuition was correct, that Cap was worthy to use it.
I’m invoking Occam’s razor here. I think it’s pretty clear that he picked it up.
No Occam's razor necessary, I found a behind the scenes image showing him picking it up but the camera leaving him out of frame. You were right, definitively!
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3d
That was in infinity war not endgame
Beat me to it, lol. Groot was dusted loooonnggg before that battle...5 years, to be precise.
Because he knew in age of ultron....
Cause it was cool dude jeez.
He could lift it in AoU. He chose not to.
Not sure if you’ve seen the movie but they were fighting thanos at the time.
He nudged it in Age of Ultron so he knew he was worthy and say that Thanos was close to cutting Thor with Stormbreaker, Tony was unconscious, the rest of the team was under the compound and they didn't know the others were on their way in the portals.
He could have lifted it in AoU but didn’t, to protect Thor’s ego
Steve nudging Mjolnir and then faking like he knew he couldn't lift it (throwing up his hands and shrugging...awesome acting by Chris!) is one of my favorite small moments in the MCU.
Steve always knew. You can tell he’s subtly aware in AOU. He’s a humble guy and spared Thor’s ego.
One of the most "hell yeah" moments in the entire MCU, and OP was confused by it
He was worthy because he didn't pick it up in AoU. He didn't want to.
Desperate times call for desperate measures
The "He could always lift it" is a very popular (and plausible) theory, but not the only one. There's also "The only thing keeping him from lifting it in Age of Ultron was that he was keeping the truth about Tony's parents' death from his one friend, in order to protect his other friend." Thus, after Civil War, and an appropriate amount of penance, Cap would be able to lift it. And perhaps he had enough self awareness (he did end up running Sam's therapy group for up to five years) to realize this about himself, and thus he figured he could.
The problem is that Mjolnir worthiness has never been defined in the MCU. Just because you keep reiterating "worthy" it doesn't really explain much of anything. Yes, I know about the behind-the-scenes stuff. But if it hasn't happened on screen or in print somewhere, it's not cannon.
Circling back 'round to AoU and my favorite theory is that Cap is still holding onto his secrets concerning Tony's parents' deaths. Preventing him from successfully lifting Mjolnir. That it's not until the events of Civil War that there is a resolution (or rather, a falling-out because of it) that enables Cap to now lift Mjolnir in Endgame.
Also, why not try a last-ditch effort to pick it up when you've got all your cards on the table but you're still getting your ass kicked?
Maybe he couldn't in AOU but the nudge meant it was possible. He may not have wanted to because acknowledging that this magic hammer was real may mean there is more than one god. He might not have been ready yet. Then when endgame comes and he goes to space in the beginning the camera focuses on his eyes when 2 other people have also not been to space. Thats the moment he knew for sure that there is more to this universe than just earth. His mind opened up to all possibilities and became ready for the hammer.
Or he could but dropped it at the moment he felt it move and just kept that in his back pocket if it was needed.
He Def knew is AoU he could lift it and decided the right thing to do was to not do so. Arguably that's a lesson every leader must learn: the art of not using power, and something Odin would have wanted Thor to learn.