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Summary
- Captain America lifting Thor’s hammer in Endgame was iconic in MCU history and originated from an important comic book moment.
- The significance of Cap sharing the hammer with Thor in the comics led to a major turning point in their relationship.
- The moment was initially based on a conflict involving Cap and Iron Man, leading to Thor’s realization of Cap’s worthiness.
“Written in the Book” is a feature that is basically the reverse of another feature of mine called “Follow the Path,” where I spotlight changes made to comic book characters that are based on outside media, as well as characters who entirely came from outside media. Nowadays, there are so many comic book films and TV series out there that we can spotlight examples of TV and film adapting specific and less famous comic book stories to other media (so no “Spider-Man lifts up debris” or stuff like that). Today, we look at how the most epic moment from Avengers: Endgame was also an epic moment in the comics.
The moment in Avengers: Endgame where Captain America lift Thor’s hammer is not only one of the most famous scenes in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) history, it has become one of the most famous scenes in movie history PERIOD, as recordings of audiences reacting to the moment went viral during the 2020 lockdowns as the film’s one-year anniversary passed.
Following hours of almost grim misery, the moment was a brief respite for the fans, a moment where they could celebrate and feel pure joy, before the iconic reveal that the heroes who seemingly died in Avengers: Endgame actually WERE brought back to life prior to Thanos attacking Avengers headquarters with his army. It was an iconic moment, and yet what’s interesting, it was also a very important moment in the comic books that the moment was based on, although in a much different way.
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How was Captain America lifting Thor’s hammer treated in the MCU?
In the MCU, the films almost treated Captain America being able to wield Mjolnir as a sort of fait accompli, but in a cool way. Essentially, we were teased as early as Avengers: Age of Ultronthat Cap was able to lift the hammer, and while Thor feigned indignance over Cap possibly being able to lift the hammer at the time, you could tell even then that he was not just impressed, but that he was almost sure that Cap COULD do it.
So that is why the ultimate moment in Avengers: Endgame was not just cathartic for the fans, but it was for Thor, as well, to know that he truly COULD share the hammer with his good friend and fellow superhero….
That was how Captain America lifting the hammer was treated in the MCU, as a triumphant moment, and one that raised everyone’s hopes. In the Marvel Universe, though, the hammer lifting had a much more personal meaning for the God of Thunder.
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How was Steve Rogers lifting Thor’s hammer treated in the Marvel Universe?
It all started when Steve Rogers decided that he could no longer continue as Captain America after the government put a new Commission in charge of the government’s official superheroes. Steve had to give up his costume and his shield, with the government naming the anti-hero known as Super-Patriot the new Captain America. Steve didn’t want to stop being a superhero, though, so he took the name The Captain, and continued fighting crime on his own. Tony Stark even made him a special new shield.
However, Tony was also in the middle of his iconic “Armor Wars” storyline, where he was shutting down any armors built using his stolen technology, even armors used by HEROES! This led Tony into conflict with Steve when Tony shut down the armors used by the Guardsmen in the government’s special supervillain prison known as The Vault. Steve tried to stop him, and Tony actually incapacitated Steve in the process. There’s a geat page where the temporarily paralyzed Steve just shoots DAGGERS at Iron Man.
This led Steve to actually return the shield that Tony made him, and ask Tony to turn himself in. Tony declined. Steve and Tony’s relationship took years to recover from this fight (it wasn’t until after Operation: Galactic Storm that Tony and Steve finally quashed their beef….and, of course, many years later they would have a whole OTHER problem with the superhero Civil War).
This led into Thor #390 (by Tom DeFalco, Ron Frenz and Brett Breeding. It is important to note that it was Breeding who specifically asked DeFalco and Frenz to do a story where Captain America was able to lift Thor’s hammer), where Thor reunited with the Avengers and Cap told Thor what had happened. Thor was conflicted. He obviously respected Cap, but Iron Man was one of his closest friends. Could it be possible that the government replaced him for a good reason? Was the man now calling himself The Captain no longer someone on whom Thor could rely upon?
It was an interesting conflict. However, things cleared up for Thor when he was attacked by minions of the evil God of Death, Set! Thor was separated from his hammer and Cap decided to try to get his friend his weapon and something special happened…
Cap delivered the hammer to Thor and the tide of the battle had shifted. Once it was over, Thor realized that he couldn’t very well doubt Cap anymore after seeing him be worthy enough to wield Mjolnir…
In the years since, Thor has generally been closer to Cap than Iron Man in the comics and this story was a major turning point in that development. So it is interesting that this became a major moment in the comics for a whole other reason than it was a major moment in the MCU, but it WAS still a major moment.
