The leaked Avengers: Doomsday footage put one of the movie’s biggest questions back on the table: who lifts Mjolnir in the fight against Doctor Doom?
The trouble is, the leaks circulating right now don’t give the same answer.
The footage says one thing. A scoop that predates it said another. Here’s where the two collide, and which one is actually holding up.
The Footage Says Steve Rogers
The leaked scene — now circulating in a higher-quality version — is fairly clear on this point.
As Doctor Doom activates his Sentinels, Thor calls Stormbreaker to his hand while Steve Rogers, standing beside him, summons Mjolnir. Sam Wilson is also there with the Captain America shield. Multiple outlets breaking down the footage describe the same beat.
There’s even a reported reason for it. According to one breakdown, the moment pays off a sequence teased at CinemaCon, where Thor reacts with disbelief at seeing Steve again, and Steve summons Mjolnir to prove who he is.
If accurate, that means the hammer lift isn’t a random crowd-pop; it’s tied to an exchange Marvel has already shown privately, which makes the leaked version harder to dismiss.
And it tracks. This is the Steve Rogers who went back in time at the end of Endgame, lived a life with Peggy, and was already established as worthy when he lifted Mjolnir in that 2019 finale.
Notably, he’s in plain clothes here — no suit, no shield — because Sam Wilson is Captain America now. This is just Steve. Him holding the hammer is a callback, not a revelation.
The “Scoop” Said It’s Not Steve
Here’s the contradiction. Before any footage leaked, an unverified scoop making the rounds claimed that a major character — specifically not Steve Rogers, and excluding Thor — would be the one to lift Mjolnir against Doom.
That claim never came with a track record strong enough to bank on, and it should be treated as exactly what it was: pre-release chatter.
But it’s worth raising precisely because the leaked footage now appears to contradict it.
If the scene is real and it’s Steve, the scoop was simply wrong. The more interesting question is what happens if the scoop wasn’t.
So Why Wouldn’t the Leaks Match?
There are three honest explanations, and they’re worth laying out rather than picking one.
The scoop was wrong. The simplest answer. Unverified leakers miss constantly, and a clear-eyed look at the footage suggests this one did. If it’s real.
The footage is fake. The clip is still pixelated, Marvel still hasn’t issued takedowns, and a chunk of the fandom is convinced it’s AI. If it’s a fabrication, “Steve with Mjolnir” is exactly the obvious, expected image a faker would build, and the real moment could still belong to someone else.
The leak is a plant. The spicier theory, and not just ours — outlets have openly wondered whether some of this material is less an unauthorized leak than orchestrated marketing. Drop the safe, expected version of the worthiness moment into the wild, soak up the buzz, and keep the actual surprise under wraps for December. It’s speculative, but in 2026 the line between leak and campaign is thin enough to ask. The Russos have done it before as they put fake footage in the Endgame trailers (digitally hid the Hulk, removed Mjolnir, etc).
The Roads Not Taken
If the scoop is right and it isn’t Steve, two names are worth a mention, because they’re the choices that would hit harder.
Loki
Loki is the poetic guess. He’s in the film, and “the trickster proves himself worthy of his brother’s hammer” is exactly the redemption beat the MCU loves. Clean, satisfying, and safe.
Sam
Sam Wilson is the one that would have stopped the theater cold.
Sam is the Avenger defined by having no powers at all; he carries the shield because he chose to, not because a serum or a hammer made him, and he’s spent two projects doubting whether he’s earned it.
Put Mjolnir in that man’s hand, and you don’t get nostalgia — you get the thematic capstone of his whole arc, the hammer telling Sam what he refused to believe about himself.
It’s the bold swing the Multiverse Saga has been accused of dodging. And if it’s done, there’s no doubt the internet would explode.
Bonus: Doctor Doom
What’s Actually Confirmed
To keep the record clean: Steve Rogers’ return is confirmed, and Sam Wilson leading his own Avengers team is confirmed.
Everything about who lifts Mjolnir rests on leaked footage Marvel has neither verified nor taken down, weighed against a scoop with no real pedigree.
The likeliest answer right now is Steve, as the footage is consistent and on-brand for the character. But “likeliest” isn’t “confirmed,” and until Marvel says so, the hammer stays an open question.
Avengers: Doomsday opens Dec. 18, 2026. For everything confirmed, rumored, and leaked, see our full Avengers: Doomsday news and updates hub.
