Avengers Endgame writer admits there’s a big error in film’s coolest scene, but ‘it was too awesome not to do’

Avengers: Endgame co-writer Christopher Markus has admitted that there’s a narrative error in the film’s epic final battle, when Captain America summons Thor’s hammer.

The biggest crowd-pleasing moment in Avengers: Endgame contains an error. When Captain America summons Thor’s old weapon, Mjolnir, it is meant to be a culmination of a narrative seed that was laid years ago. But co-writer of the film, Christopher Markus, has admitted that the moment might not be logically sound.

Captain America wields Mjolnir in Avengers: Endgame.

“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’,” Markus recalled to Slash Film. “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’.”

Co-writer Stephen McFeely said that the idea for the scene originated as far back as 2015. “It was a 3×5 card on the board early on,” he said. “It was actually in the [outline] that we gave Marvel in the summer of 2015. ‘Cap picks up Thor’s hammer.’ And it was like, ‘Yeah, we’re doing that somewhere.’ I remember debating about whether we should see – I think we shot it both ways – you see Cap, he looks at Thor and Thor is so screwed, and then Cap looks over and he sees the hammer. Do you reveal it that way first? You could do it any number of ways.”

Executive producer Trinh Tran said that Chris Evans’ excitement while shooting the scene was palpable, and that she was particularly satisfied with providing fans with the narrative closure that they’d first teased in Avengers: Age of Ultron, when Captain America almost moves Mjolnir. “I remember how excited Chris was,” she said. “Obviously he’s read his scene and knew what was going to happen, but when you’re standing there holding it and lifting it up, it’s a pretty amazing feeling. I think the excitement on him was so captivating. I know there were certain moments – people portal-ing in, him holding the hammer – there are certain moments where they’re so excited, and having him lift it up was gratifying knowing that what we had teased in Ultron kind of came to an end in terms of, he really can lift it. I can’t describe it. I didn’t grow up reading comics, but I was geeking out over the fact that I got to see that.”

Avengers: Endgame is the highest-grossing film of all time, unadjusted for inflation. The film concluded the stories of Robert Downey Jr’s Tony Stark, Evans’ Steve Rogers, and Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow, although a Black Widow prequel is due for release later this year.

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