You still haven't answered my question of why Hela > Thanos in such a way that Thor was able to fight equally with Thanos while previously being stomped without the hammer, but wouldn't be able to do the same against Hela despite having Stormbreaker
I have though. Hela was unharmed by a weaponless awakened Thor too, just like Thanos. I even acknowledged that this match was closer than my initial belief. Hela wasn't even scratched by Thor in the slightest. She merely got pushed and caught under rubble, but sustained no notable harm. Based on what I've seen, the AP gap between stormbreaker and hela shouldn't be that large. Coupled with that, Hela's superior skill, and Thor's lower dura, I believe she takes this.
I think you're forgetting that Hela was immensely casual during that encounter for the most part. Once she realizes that Stormbreaker probably isn't a joke she'd start fighting seriously.
Thor also could barely affect Thanos without the hammer, if at all, and he was able to turn the stomp with Stormbreaker.
Iirc, pretty much the entire fight with Hammerless Thor vs Thanos was offscreen. The only thing we see Thor doing on screen was attempting to hit him with a metal pipe.
Again, she was in a rather laid back attitude and was reacting and parrying to a vast majority of his attacks. Most of his attacks she was actually evading, not just tanking and ignoring.
Thor with the assistance of Valkyrie. Hela was mainly just throwing them aside and ensuring that the ship didn't leave. If you rewatch it you can see that she wasn't constantly combatting Thor, she was mainly just dodging and tossing them aside.
True, but she could simply be killed before she realizes such a thing. Afterall even if she realized the significance of Stormbreaker, she might not realize how powerful it is, since the other Asgardian weapons like Gungnir and Mjolnir were no real threat to her in Thor's hands, resulting in her being hit with the weapon, just like she was hit by Gungnir, potentially killed her.
Eh, you can't really compare Stormbreaker to Mjolnir against Thanos' army, when they're fodder to both weapons anyway, it's like saying a nuke and a gun are comparable, since they can both eradicate a fly. Not to mentiin Hela dosen't always try to destroy her opponent's weapon, Gungnir, Valkyrie's sword and the various other weapons used against her come to mind. Either way, nice debating with you (even if I only but in late into the affair).
