One of the most powerful aspects of 2019's Avengers: Endgame was how it didn't just unite Marvel loyalists, but superhero movie fans on the whole. It capped over a decade of films from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, celebrating the template many studios would try to follow to capture pop culture success. And a lot of that had to do with how well-knit the Infinity Saga was, culminating in the war against Thanos.
Interestingly, the highly versatile Chris Evans, who played the iconic Captain America in the MCU, tweeted to acknowledge the three-year anniversary of the movie that ended Phase Three. But what's most interesting about his online interaction is the final fight he was enjoying actually proved Endgame had a better Thor than Chris Hemsworth's version for one deadly reason.
It all comes down to the killing blow, which the Odinson botched in Infinity War. Had he flung his ax into Thanos' head, the Mad Titan wouldn't have been able to take half of life away across the cosmos. Unfortunately, Thor wanted to gloat and by purposely not going for the head, shoving Stormbreaker into the villain's chest, The Snap occurred, leaving Thor depressed. It was sympathetic but still, the guilt was understandable because it proved he wasn't the mature, battle-smart and responsible king Odin had envisioned.
In Endgame, though, when Cap grabbed Mjolnir in the finale, twirled it around and started to batter the Mad Titan, even Thor was impressed. He lapped it up as the Sentinel of Liberty used his shield and the hammer to deal several massive blows to Thanos, with almost all the strikes aiming for his skull. Luckily for the villain, he had on his strong armor and was deft in bobbing and weaving, but Cap improvised, bringing the lightning down to try to kill him. Fans never saw Steve cut loose like this before, but he simply knew he had to lose his moral compass or else the Infinity Gauntlet-powered genocide would occur again.
The moment Thanos was electrocuted and sprawled on the ground, Steve jumped into the air and tried to smash the hammer down onto his cranium to end things once and for all. This would have been the definitive blow, and one Thanos wouldn't have been able to walk away from. Reconciling all this, it proved at least Cap learned from Thor's mistake.
The relentless, bloodthirsty tyrant rolled away, however, dodging and then using his blade to wound Steve, counting his lucky stars the Avenger didn't make contact. Steve would eventually require help from his peers, but this reinforced Cap was the better strategist, tactician and soldier, adapting on the fly. It's why the hammer, which took to Cap in Age of Ultron, became his tool. In that sense, as badass as the Odinson was, Steve understanding what the mission needed and the intimidating impact he made as a fearless leader transformed him into a way better Thor.
