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In Avengers: Endgame in the final battle with Thanos,

Captain America not only was able to wield Mjolnir, but also used its lightning powers.

And I remembered in Thor: Ragnarok when Thor complained to Odin about being powerless without the hammer, to which Odin replied

Are you Thor, the God of hammers? The hammer is only to control your power.

or something like that (don't remember exact words).

This led me to believe that Mjolnir was just a powerful weapon, rather than the source of lightning. Then reading Stack Exchange I was reminded about Odin's enchantment that he placed on Mjolnir in the original Thor:

Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.

And by "power of Thor", I assume he meant the power of lightning? This seems like a contradiction with what he later said. Was Odin just trying to motivate Thor since

Hela was beating him pretty easily. But then again, he was able to "hit her with the biggest lighting in the history of lightnings" without Mjolnir.

So which is it about Mjolnir?

galacticninja
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Renat
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    No contradiction, the enchantment just lets other worthy people able to tap into Thor's powers. – TheLethalCarrot Aug 07 '19 at 11:13
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    I'd argue that possess is a lot stronger than tap into. – Renat Aug 07 '19 at 11:20
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    IMO power of Thor means lot more than just lightning. is Thor only possess the power of lightning? – Vishwa Aug 07 '19 at 11:21
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    Thor is god of lightning (not hammers), the hammer channels that power, other people who wield the hammer are able to channel Thor's powers. I don't understand where the contradiction lies? – Gamora Aug 07 '19 at 12:00
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    It simply means that Steve Rogers is the God of Hammers. Bruce, meanwhile, is the God of Gammas. Tony's the God of Screwdrivers and/or Cocktail Shakers. – Paul D. Waite Aug 08 '19 at 09:22
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    @Paul: Tony is definitely the God of Screwdrivers. – Ink blot Aug 08 '19 at 13:23
  • @Bee Not lightning. He's God of Thunder, both in the literal meaning of the name Thor, and in the MCU Ragnarok movie where he was frequently misnamed Lord of Thunder, also Sparkles. – Rich Aug 08 '19 at 19:51
  • Related (maybe even duplicate): https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/99898/how-did-captain-america-use-this-power – molnarm Aug 09 '19 at 07:37
  • @Rich, a simple typo – Gamora Aug 09 '19 at 08:18
  • I don't know. How is "Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor." unclear? – xdtTransform Aug 09 '19 at 13:33
  • The "It Was with You All Along" is not related to the logic of the hammer. The fact that Thor believed that is power was in the hammer is illogical. But that's because Thor never was the smart one. It's not the hammer was inside you all along! – xdtTransform Aug 09 '19 at 13:40
  • Or it's simply an inconsistency. It's a movie, not a book about physics. Some inconsistencies can be accepted. – FarO Oct 08 '19 at 11:47

2 Answers2

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No, he's not being inconsistent.

Thor's powers are his, they're not granted by Mjolnir. He's capable - even if he doesn't realise/know it - of using them without Mjolnir, including after it's destroyed as he does in Thor: Ragnarok.

In the first Thor movie, Odin takes Thor's powers away from him, and then places the enchantment on Mjolnir. The intention is that, once Thor proves he's actually worthy again, his powers will be returned to him.

As a side effect of the enchantment, anybody else who happens to be worthy will also possess Thor's powers, while they're holding Mjolnir (for some definition of "holding"). This is what allows Captain America to summon lightning; he doesn't use Mjolnir to do it, but he has to be holding Mjolnir to have the ability to do it.

Anthony Grist
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    Which begs the question, if the hammer grants the "power of Thor", what happens if Thor becomes, I don't know, overweight, lazy, and unclean? Would the wielder suddenly start sitting around and playing Xbox? – MivaScott Aug 07 '19 at 22:05
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    @MivaScott afaik there's no indication that overweight, lazy, and unclean Thor does not posses Thor's powers like lightning.. but that does not answer your question (i don't have an answer, sorry) – hanshenrik Aug 08 '19 at 00:01
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    Maybe wielding the hammer gives you lightning powers, super strength, super healing, and mad Fortnight skillz. – Robyn Aug 08 '19 at 03:36
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    @MivaScott "Control of lightning" is a power. "Being fat" probably isn't – Chronocidal Aug 08 '19 at 09:40
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    @MivaScott he gets the power of still playing Fortnite 5 years from now! – KeineMaster Aug 08 '19 at 12:21
  • @MivaScott I'm pretty sure Thor did become overweight, lazy, and unclean in the last movie - admittedly he had shed the last two before the final fight scene, but I didn't see Captain America become overweight. As for Xbox skills, no doubt there is a tiny bit of shared skill set between killing your enemies on-screen versus actual combat. – Michael Aug 08 '19 at 17:25
  • So this basically works like Sauron and his ring. – void_ptr Aug 09 '19 at 03:37
  • @void_ptr Not exactly. Sauron put a large amount of his own power into the One Ring, so he was substantially weaker without it. There's no indication that Thor becomes weaker if/when somebody else is wielding Mjolnir and using the powers granted by doing so. It's also not clear whether the One Ring gives the same set of powers to all wearers; Sauron wasn't invisible while wearing it, for example. – Anthony Grist Aug 09 '19 at 13:09
  • @Michael I'd think every vet from the 40's would disagree with you about having an edge on an XBOX FPS, including the Cap. Just sayin'. – jpaugh Aug 10 '19 at 18:10
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Clearly Thor's lightning powers, his ability to fly/hover and his super strength/durability are not derived from Mjolnir, because he demonstrates them in both Infinity War and Endgame while wielding Stormbreaker. Stormbreaker was forged by a dwarf and not enchanted by Odin.

In which case, it seems that Mjolnir must grant some other powers to whomever is worthy of lifting it. In Endgame we see that Captain America is able to produce lightning and throw Mjolnir with improbable force similar to how Thor does, and Thor is able to use the same powers with Stormbreaker at the same time. It's not clear if Captain America is made more durable while holding Mjolnir.

Therefore, Mjolnir must duplicate Thor's innate powers. Thor does not lose them when someone else has it, or it is destroyed. Maybe after some time they "rubbed off" on him and he doesn't need Mjolnir any more.

user
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  • Yeah, I got it now. Although, like you mentioned, it is redundant. It is just the lore of the Marvel universe. Odin could have worded his enchantment differently, then we wouldn't have cool moments of Steve using the hammer and the shield! – Renat Aug 08 '19 at 14:16