The Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently in a COVID-19 mandated holding pattern. Assuming there are no further delays, fans will get to see the beginning of Phase Four on Nov. 6, when Black Widow hits theaters. After that, it will be a while before fans see another film featuring an MCU Avengers original.

Thor: Love and Thunder is scheduled for release on February 11, 2022. Until then, fans can only speculate about how Natalie Portman's Jane Foster will gain the power of Thor. After Hela destroyed Mjolnir in Thor: Ragnarok, it seems like Foster will be slinging a replacement hammer. Or will she? One fan has a theory about how Foster could get her hands on the genuine article.

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Reddit user u/TheMediocreCritic put forth the theory that Foster will get her hands on Mjolnir because Hela didn't actually destroy it in Ragnarok. What she destroyed was a fake. According to this theory, Foster will be able to wield an intact version of the original, iconic hammer, as she did in the comics.

The theory hinges on the involvement of a character who has been written out of the MCU; Steve Rogers. It puts forth the idea that a time-traveling Rogers, during his journey to return the Infinity Stones, planted a fake version of Mjolnir for Hela to destroy. TheMediocreCritic suggests this could have happened during Thor and Loki's trip to Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum in Ragnarok, with Rogers swapping a replica Mjolnir and taking the real one.

The theory assumes that Rogers held onto the genuine article for decades after he returned to the past to live with Peggy Carter until it was needed. TheMedicoreCritic imagines a scene at the beginning of Love and Thunder where an elderly Rogers makes a cameo, bestowing Foster with the hammer.

Chris Evans making a cameo in Love and Thunder, as an elderly Rogers, would be a crowd-pleaser. It's hard to argue against the idea that Evans donning his Captain America costume again would cheapen the catharsis of Endgame's ending. Having Old Man Cap on hand for Foster's transformation, and to interact one last time with Thor, would be an appealing way around that.

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It's also a highly unlikely one. Despite some recently expressed nostalgia for his time in the franchise, Evans has moved on. Hanging the plot of Foster's transformation to the Goddess of Thunder moves this from the realm of fan theory to fan fiction. It also risks further sidelining Thor in a movie where he's already likely to be a supporting player if the comics are anything to go by.

Even if Evans could be convinced to make a cameo, or his presence is explained but kept off-screen, there are a few other plot holes here. Beyond how Rogers would acquire a fake hammer and how he could keep Thor from summoning it, there's how he could trick Hela into believing she'd destroyed the actual Mjolnir.

Hela knew the Infinity Gauntlet in Odin's treasure vault was fake. Why wouldn't she be able to pick out a fake Mjolnir? In MCU canon, she has wielded the hammer before Thor. It's not as if she wasn't familiar with it. To be fair, there is an explanation for this apparent plot hole.

If Hela knew Mjolnir was fake, she likely would destroy it anyway, given that would be of no use to her. You could even make a case that she'd take extra pleasure in causing Thor anguish over a fake hammer, assuming she knew he thought it was the genuine article. That said, squaring this plot hole would require a lot of exposition and references to Hela, which would only be worth devoting screen time to if she were returning. There's been no indication of that thus far.

The biggest argument against Cap gifting Foster the hammer comes down to agency. Of all the possible ways she could gain the power of Thor, being literally handed the hammer by an old man is the least dynamic way of reintroducing Foster as a hero. Something that involves her scientific background, or anything that shows her actively taking on the role, would be better than being gifted the power by a man Foster's never interacted with on-screen before.

Director Taika Watiti is looking to bring an over the top romance to his second Thor outing. As fun as it is for fans to speculate on how the cinematic version of the female Thor gets her hammer, that doesn't seem like Watiti's top priority. Hopefully, how Foster gets the hammer is less important than what she does with it.

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