Avengers: Endgame Directors Reveal Why Cap Didn’t Lift Mjolnir In Age Of Ultron

Avengers: Endgame had a ton of standout moments, from the thrilling time heist to the intro where Iron Man and Nebula are saved by Captain Marvel. Still, as great as those moments were, the epic battle against the Mad Titan and his Chitauri army is perhaps the one scene that stands head and shoulders above the rest as being the most memorable.

Of course, the sequence came with its fair share of nail-biting, pulse-pounding twists and turns, but the most shocking of them all might’ve just been the moment where Steve Rogers surprised us all by summoning and wielding Thor’s mighty hammer, Mjolnir. It came as such a shock because if you remember back in Age of Ultron, a bunch of the Avengers each tried to lift the weapon for themselves, including Cap. And while he wasn’t able to do so, he did manage to wiggle the hammer slightly.

This begs the question of how he went on to wield it in Endgame though and while the Russo Brothers have since confirmed that Cap’s always been worthy, that brings up yet another question: how come he didn’t pick it up back in Age of Ultron then? Well, Anthony and Joe have now chimed in on the matter once more, explaining:

He always could [lift it]. Our interpretation of the famous scene in Ultron was that when he realized he could pick up Mjolnir he quickly chose not to, because he didn’t want to embarrass Thor.

That explanation certainly makes sense, but just because the Russos see things this way doesn’t mean we all have to. After all, some people think that Steve’s ability to wield Mjolnir was simply a product of his character development across the MCU. That could be the case, too, as if you recall, in the Ultron scene in question, Cap did seem a bit oblivious to the fact he almost moved the hammer, with Thor being the only one who really noticed.

In any case, the moment where Captain America finally wielded the weapon in Avengers: Endgame was truly something special and you can now relive it as many times as you’d like given that the film is available on Digital HD and is coming to Blu-ray on August 13th.