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In Avengers: Endgame, Thor brings back Mjolnir (his hammer) from the past to his "future" self through the quantum tunnel. Later in the movie, Captain America gets hold of it being worthy.

However, I don't remember if Cap takes it back to the past in the climax. If he doesn't - that would break the spacetime continuum, Mjolnir being destroyed in the past.

If he does bring it back, how come he knows the exact time and place to return?

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Cap probably brings it back to the past.

I can't provide a picture, but Mjolnir is seen at his side when he goes back to place the Stones in the past, and it's nowhere to be seen when he gets back. I think he knew that thing had to be given back to time, to preserve the original "continuity", and did so.

As to when and where to return, it's not that hard to figure out: ask Thor when he picked it up, go to that very moment, sneak anywhere on Asgard, drop Mjolnir on the ground, go back to Peggy/the rest of the Infinity Stones. Past Thor can summon Mjolnir at will, and probably isn't that much regardant of where he left it - the hammer will just zoom into his hands.

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    to preserve the original "continuity" this is the one thing that doesn't make sense according to the time travel rules they lay out. If the alternate reality is destroyed and everything switches back to the normal reality than there should be no need to return the hammer.
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Apr 26, 2019 at 13:47
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    Similarly other thing that does not makes sense to me is The Avengers killed "Past" Thenos (2014 Thanos, when he was looking for stones),prior to when he snapped in Current present. Since Past Thanos is killed that breaks this timeline and creates parallel timeline when Thanos did not destroyed half of the universe being murdered in Past(2014).!
    – Milan Desai
    Apr 26, 2019 at 13:51
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    @MilanDesai The 2014 Thanos in the future is the alternate reality Thanos, when the stones were taken back to 2014 that reality ceased to exist.
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Apr 26, 2019 at 14:36
  • He doesn't have to even go to Asgard just get to the right time. The hammer will come to Thor from any distance.
    – Justin Ohms
    Apr 26, 2019 at 22:20
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    @JustinOhms sure but if the hammer takes 20 minutes to arrive, Thor's going to think something's iffy
    – Jenayah
    Apr 27, 2019 at 5:55
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Steve takes Mjolnir back into the past with him, you see it on the floor of the platform. Presumably he takes it back to Asgard, but, he could equally well as keep it for himself... we simply don't know what he does with it.

If he does bring it back, how come he knows the exact time and place to return?

It is safe to assume either Thor or Rocket told him the time this happened.

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    They would have to so he could return the Aether... and inject a solid stone into Jane Foster
    – GordonBennett
    Nov 28, 2019 at 13:29
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Well... have you wondered why did it take a while for Mjölnir to reach Thor when it was summoned? Maybe once when it took longer than usual it was because Cap placed it somewhere a little far away when he jumped back in time one last time....

And most importantly, Banner made it clear that your past doesn't and can't change the future in which you are... although that was contradicted when Cap showed up again as an old man... that too with his shield, all shining and new.

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  • I agree that that Cap's aging didn't quite seem to be explained. The model that I can see to make it work is that as Cap lived out his life in another time-steam (starting from the 1940s), and then jumped back to this timestream at the end of it, in order to say farewell. But there's not really any discussion of navigating between divergent time-realities previous to this.
    – Brondahl
    Apr 27, 2019 at 6:40
  • No, the hammer summoned by Thor is the one he takes with him, so it cannot have been placed there just beforehand by Rogers. If that were the case it would be a jinni object, existing only inside a loop and never created outside of that loop.
    – Kaitain
    Apr 29, 2019 at 19:01
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When Thor "borrowed" Meow-meow (that's its proper name) from 2013 Asgard, he had to get it back somehow... otherwise Thor 2013 would have noticed it missing, and found himself with no hammer at all for The Dark World, the first two Avengers movies, etc.

So it had to be returned to 2013.

Since Cap was going to 2013 Asgard anyway to return an infinity stone, he simply returned Mjölnir as well. That's why he took it with him at the end of Endgame.

The result of this is that Thor experienced the normal timeline as depicted in the films, but Meow-Meow had an alternate experience in the middle of The Dark World where it went to 2023 and fought 2014 Thanos, and then came back to The Dark World and finished the movie. If only hammers could talk...

Mind you, Thor didn't need to deliver to a particular place, only a particular time. It can find Thor.

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  • They make very clear that this is NOT how time-travel works, in Endgame. The Infinity Stones are special ~(see conversation with The Ancient One)
    – Brondahl
    Apr 27, 2019 at 6:37
  • @Brondahl "this"? What is "this"? I'm quite sure you read my answer wrong, since you are also not objecting to the other answers or answers on other questions that plainly state how time travel works in MCU. As for the Infinity Stones being special (following different rules), the Ancient One's speech doesn't mean that. Her concerns would be the same if he'd borrowed Hillary Clinton instead of the Time Stone.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Apr 27, 2019 at 12:57
  • You're wrong - go back and listen to that scene again. The Ancient One specifically says that they ARE specaial because the Infinity Stones "cause the passage of time" (or words very close to those). She was very specific. She ALSO had concerns about her own reality suffering for the loss of the stones, but that was expressed separately.
    – Brondahl
    Apr 27, 2019 at 18:57
  • As to why I haven't commented on the others - TheLethalCarrot has already called it out in Jenayah's answer, and the others Don't say "they had to return it"; yours does.
    – Brondahl
    Apr 27, 2019 at 18:58
  • That was like, the Ancient One's opinion, man, but Banner disagreed with it. There seem to be two camps here, and I think your camp is stuck in the "there must be timelines that fork off, surely, since every other sci-fi show has them" mindset. What if there was only ever one timeline?
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    Apr 27, 2019 at 21:58
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Cap goes back to the forties to replace the first stone, then lives a quiet life with his girl, replacing the stones as time goes on. This doesn't create a new time line because he doesn't change anything. He has to go totally unrecognized for this to work.

So what about Mjolnir? This means that from the 40s up to Dark World, there are 2 Mjolnirs, and somehow Thor doesn't notice. Maybe only the closest one comes when he summons it.

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  • pure speculation
    – KharoBangdo
    Nov 23, 2019 at 6:49
  • Ok haters lets do some math. In 2012 NYC, Cap and Tony have 2 PP cartridges. They use them to go back, mug Pym for 4 more cartridges and get the (Space? Mind?) stone. Then they jump home, using up 2 more cartridges.. That means cap can make exactly one jump (unless he mugs Pym again) back and one home. The only elegant solution is for Cap to stay in the timeline.
    – pguardiario
    Nov 28, 2019 at 7:51

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