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Avengers: Endgame has given us a huge "sigh of relief" when Cap lifted Mjölnir.

But as we know from Thor: Ragnarok Mjölnir was just a way for Thor to channel his power of lightning. I repeat "THOR's" power, because he is the god of lightning.

So how did Captain America generate lightning bolts to fight Thanos in the endgame?

EDIT: I don't know why people are marking this as a duplicate of How did Captain America manage to do this? These are two different questions at their core. Here I am not questioning Captain America's worthiness for lifting Mjölnir, instead, the focus is on the power of generating bolts of lightning which are shown in the movie.

zero-one
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2 Answers2

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Whoever is worthy can possess the power of Thor. From the first Thor movie:

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

So, since Cap is worthy, he possesses all the powers of Thor.

Daeron
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    Yeah, the way I interpreted it is Odin stripped Thor of his powers, imbued Mjolnir with them in Thor 1. Then when it was destroyed in Thor 3, they returned to him. But since they brought Mjolnir forward from the past, there were two copies of Thor's powers in the final fight, one in Thor and one in Cap. – Azor Ahai -him- Apr 29 '19 at 16:26
  • @AzorAhai .. fantastic add to the answer! – MovieMe May 08 '19 at 13:03
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    I don't think so @AzorAhai, in Thor Ragnarok, Odin says to Thor in the dream sequence that It was to help him control and channel his powers, Mjolnir was never his source of strength. This was the exact dialogue "Are you Thor the god of hammers? That hammer was to help you control your power; to focus it. It was never your source of strength." – Encrypter Aug 26 '19 at 06:16
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Niffler is correct, Thor is powerful but the hammer also has power in itself and can only be wielded by someone who it considers worthy.

In addition to this though there is a scene from one of the previous Avenger movies where a number of the Avengers try to move the hammer and all fail much to Thor's amusement...with one exception.

Captain America doesn't immediately want to try and move the hammer and when eventually pressured into it he puts his hand on the handle and it moves slightly. Thor notices this and reacts but then the Captain pretends to be unable to move the hammer and everything continues as before.

This also feeds into Thor's line where he says "I knew it!" when he sees the Captain wielding the hammer. Thor has suspected ever since that moment that Captain America secretly had the ability to use Mjolnir.

Tim B
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    I don't think that the earlier incident when everyone was trying to move the hammer, Captain "pretended" to not be able to move it. I think he wasn't worthy of it at that moment – RC0993 Apr 29 '19 at 15:10
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    @RC0993 Go watch it again. The hammer moved and he moved it back and then claimed not to be able to move it. – Tim B Apr 29 '19 at 16:00
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    Supporting evidence: https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/128941/does-captain-america-purposely-avoid-picking-up-thors-hammer-in-avengers-2 – Tim B Apr 29 '19 at 16:00
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    “Is he not? Are we sure?” Whedon responded, a hint of teasing in his voice. “Did he fail? Or did he stop?” – Tim B Apr 29 '19 at 16:02
  • Its a claim not an evidence. Although I won't rule it out of the possibility that he Cap is worthy because in comic books Captain lifted the hammer. But is wasn't how the movie was shot. There was no point of not lifting it up at that time if he could. – RC0993 Apr 29 '19 at 16:06
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    @RC0993 Plenty of point, he's a good guy and didn't want to embarrass Thor when he realized he could move it. He would definitely have felt that initial movement and if he wanted bragging rights could have claimed that movement for it. Instead he realized it, and Thor saw it, and then he saved Thor's face by not showing him up. Part of the reason he was worthy in the first place! All of which is supported that in End Game he knew he could lift the hammer and in fact went and did so and Thor's shout of "I knew it!" when he sees Cap doing so. – Tim B Apr 29 '19 at 16:08
  • Its a possibility. – RC0993 Apr 29 '19 at 16:11
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    @TimB Whedon's comments don't mean anything because he commits to nothing. Captain America puts all of his considerable strength into lifting Mjolnir, and it only barely moves. I think that's evidence that he's in some small way worthy, but he's definitely not able to wield Mjolnir at that point in time. – Anthony Grist Apr 29 '19 at 20:45
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    Ahh the sweet joy of hearing "Niffler is correct" :D – Daeron Apr 30 '19 at 00:04
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    @AnthonyGrist Watch this clip https://youtu.be/o3bhQwY0KCY?t=77 he grasps the hammer, he pulls - it moves slightly and Thor sees it move. He then hesitates, someone says "come on cap", then he pretends to pull but you can see he isn't really trying. The grip is loose and he never actually puts his legs or back into it. – Tim B Apr 30 '19 at 01:12
  • @TimB Not sure if your audio and video are out of sync, but the "Come on Cap" is before his first attempt, not the second. There's clearly straightening of his legs on the second attempt, as there was in the first, and the grip looks the same on both. There's nothing in that YouTube video (or the entire movie on Netflix, which I used to rewatch the scene multiple times before my initial comment) to suggest that he wasn't trying on the second. – Anthony Grist Apr 30 '19 at 21:00
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    @AnthonyGrist The scene is definitely short ambiguously, deliberately so. I always got the impression that he deliberately didn't move it though and End Game seems to support that. Your suggestion is possible too but we've never heard of an "almost worthy" setting, you are either worthy and it moves or you are not and it doesn't move at all. – Tim B May 03 '19 at 08:57
  • In a reddit session, Kevin Fiege said, Cap was always worthy, that time in the Avengers, he was being modest. – Encrypter Aug 26 '19 at 06:12