WARNING: Spoilers for Avengers Endgame ahead.
Steve Rogers finally wields Thor’s hammer Mjolnir in the Marvel blockbuster; a scene that has had audience members loudly cheering.
But how is it even possible?
A new fan theory has come up with an explanation – and it’s been going down a storm, with thousands of upvotes giving it a 92% score on Reddit.
The user, MDuncan1182, explains how Steve is now “worthy” enough to be granted the power of the hammer.
“In Age of Ultron we see that he is able to move the hammer because for a moment the hammer senses all the good that Cap is but then it notices his one fault,” they wrote.
“Later in the movie Scarlett Witch gives all of the Avengers nightmares and they see their worst fears realised. Cap’s worst fear is that there will be no more fight. No more war.
“THIS is the exact reason Odin took Mjolnir from Thor and placed the spell on it.
“‘Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.’ Remember that Thor had a strong desire for combat regardless of the consequences. He was unable to see how to resolve conflicts without violence. This seemingly makes someone unworthy.”
The theorist added: “Now back to Cap in Endgame. He has never felt such defeat like this ever before in his life.
“But rather than punching away and breaking 30 punching bags a day (Avengers 2012) he is counselling people through their loss.
“Then in the elevator he easily could have taken all those guys down (we have seen it before in Winter Solider 2014) but this time he realizes he doesn’t need to fight when he can trick them and no one gets hurt.
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“He obviously had no choice but to fight Thanos when he was right there in front of them but he did not want to ‘punch his way out of this one’ – Black Widow (Civil War 2016)… he just wanted to bring back everyone they lost.
“Now to the end… just like Tony. Cap is ready to rest.
“He is ready to live a normal life and just be happy. He isn’t Captain America anymore. He hasn’t been since the Snap. He has just been Steve Rogers.
“Trying to do what’s right and go back home. This makes him worthy.”
Chris Evans has made no secret of the fact that his time in the MCU is over now.
But at the end of the film, we saw him pass his iconic shield over to Falcon – which could prove vital to the upcoming spin-off series, Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Avengers: Endgame is now in hot pursuit of Avatar’s all-time box office record – which is a win/win situation for Zoe Saldana for obvious reasons.
Avengers: Endgame is out now.