Thor: Ragnarok Created A Problem With Captain America's Biggest Avengers: Endgame Scene
What exactly are Thor's powers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? His actual threshold of strength and durability is tested several times throughout the MCU, but they fluctuate wildly. In one film, Thor (Christ Hemsworth) has trouble besting Captain America (Chris Evans) in hand-to-hand combat, but in another, he can seemingly withstand the heat of a solar flare. In one film, his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) states explicitly that they aren't gods, but in "Thor: Love and Thunder," Thor travels to Mount Olympus to converse with other deities, proving that he is indeed a god.
Perhaps Thor's powers need to fluctuate and remain unclear for dramatic reasons. If you have a literal god on your superhero team, why do you need other members at all? One might think that Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, would be able to slam his hammer into the face of any alien attacker and reduce them to pudding without much effort. When the alien hordes attack, I'm going to be behind Thor, not the man armed with a bow and arrow.
Thor's mighty hammer, Mjölnir, is also a little unclear. It can't be lifted by anyone "unworthy," and it can be thrown in such a way that allows its holder to fly. It can also summon lightning. This was confirmed in a notable battle sequence in 2019's "Avengers: Endgame," wherein Captain America uses the hammer's lightning powers. In the 2017 film "Thor: Ragnarok," however, Thor used his lightning powers without the hammer. So which is it?
This minor continuity error was addressed in the book "MCU: The Reign of Marvel Studios" by Joanna Robinson, Dave Gonzalez, and Gavin Edwards. It seems the makers of "Endgame" actively eschewed continuity in favor of mere "awesome."
What does the hammer do?
To recall a few details from the MCU, Thor's hammer was destroyed by the evil Hela (Cate Blanchett) in "Thor: Ragnarok." It wouldn't be until "Avengers: Infinity War" in 2018 that Thor would replace his hammer with an equally powerful axe weapon he called Stormbreaker. Thanks to some time travel rigmarole, however, the original hammer was restored in time for "Avengers: Endgame" in 2019. The restored hammer was then used by Captain America in the film's climactic battle. What Captain America did to become "worthy" of using this weapon remains unstated. During the film's epilogue, Captain America returns the original hammer to the past from whence it came.
When Captain America used the hammer, as stated above, he gained Thor's lightning powers. This, however, contradicted a "Ragnarok" wherein it was stated explicitly — by Odin — that the lightning came from Thor's body and not the hammer. Indeed, the "Ragnarok" soundtrack blared out Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" to highlight this fact. It all makes sense, given that Thor is the God of Thunder.
"Endgame" co-screenwriter Christopher Markus recalls debating the Captain/hammer scene with the other filmmakers, and they did recall the "Ragnarok" line in question. They simply chose to ignore it. Markus said:
"There was certainly a debate at one point because particularly in 'Ragnarok,' it establishes that Thor can summon the lightning without the hammer. I think Odin even says, 'It was never the hammer.' And yet Cap summons the lightning with the hammer. You get to those things and you're like, 'It's too awesome not to do it! We'll talk about it later.'"
Evidently, they never talked about it, and "awesome" was all they wanted. If thousands of screaming "Endgame" fans are to be trusted, Markus seemed to make the right call.