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12 Frequent Questions About Captain America’s Shield Answered

Captain America, Steve Rogers, has been the symbol of Marvel for almost a decade. The righteous one has now left us, but his comeback always remains a possibility. Played by Steve Rogers, the character had every possible element for the fans to love. That brings me to the infamous Cap’s shield. Now, the shield remains in question because we have seen its different versions and holders. So without wasting any more time, let’s answer the top 12 questions about Captain America’s shield.

Questions About Captain America’s Shield

1. How Does Captain America’s Shield Come Back To Him?

We have all seen Cap’s shield return to him after he throws it, exactly like a boomerang. It would also bounce like a ping-pong, tacking many enemies at once, but still return to him. It’s almost as if the shield is aware of its origin. This isn’t due to a magnetic device in the palm of his glove or anything like that. It’s simply because Cap has great reflexes and hence, can don the shield once it’s headed towards him.

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Moreover, he’s mastered the use of that shield to the point that he can angle it just right so that it’ll always come back to him. It’s mainly because of the super-soldier serum, but also his training. The fact that he can make it look effortless is ridiculously amazing. It gives us the feeling that no matter what, the shield will return to its rightful owner. Plus, he can make it happen at a moment’s notice.

2. What Is It Made Of?

Originally, the shield is made of a combination of vibranium and steel alloy. But in the MCU, it’s just vibranium. It’s incredibly rare and one of the most powerful metals. Generally, most of the world’s vibranium can be found in Wakanda. But some of it was discovered by the U.S. government, and they blended it with a steel alloy and create Cap’s shield.

One must remember that procuring vibranium isn’t easy in the MCU. That’s because Wakanda is a third-world country, built on a mountain of vibranium itself. They’ve hidden this mountain of vibranium from the outside world in order to prevent its wrongful use. They use the rare metal to power Black Panther’s suit, and mostly in all the high-end technology that they come up with.

3. Why Does It Bounce?

Questions About Captain America’s Shield

Initially, I was also confused when I saw the shield bouncing off of walls and dealing with a bunch of guys at once. I was like, why is it bouncing? Well, the answer is simple. It’s because of the fictional metal it’s made of, vibranium. It allows the shield to reverberate continue to bounce from place to place as long as it keeps getting hit on the side.

4. Which Characters Have Successfully Used Cap’s Shield?

Anyone can pick up Cap’s shield. It is not like Thor’s hammer where one has to be the right one. Well, Cap was able to lift that too, but I’ll steer away from that topic for now. Speaking of Cap’s shield, it’s not about who uses it, the point is if they use it as effortlessly and rightly as Cap or not. We have seen several allies of Steve Rogers have been able to pick up the shield in the middle of a fight and successfully wield it.

It’s not always the allies that use it. Bucky was able to catch it in The Winter Soldier. Moreover, Steve and Bucky both used the shield to tag-team against Iron Man. Spider took away the shield from Steve with much ease but practically couldn’t use it like Steve. Moreover, Black Widow and Hawkeye have used the shield to defend themselves until returning it back to Steve.

5. How Many Different Shields Does Captain America Use In The MCU?

Just like the comics, there might be variations of the shield’s appearance depending on the artist or the storyline, it’s similar in the MCU as well. Well, his first shield in the MCU was a prop during his tour to promote war bonds. But he still took it into battle. but the next one was the iconic circle with a star in the middle in his red, white, and blue color scheme. He used this very shield in most of the movie appearances.

But that shield was given a break for some time. In place of that, he got a pair of retractable shields from Wakanda as a gift. Before getting his original shield back in time for his big battle with Thanos. But Tony did work on a new shield for Cap. Well, it wasn’t used. So, if we do the math, Captain America has used a total of 4 different shields. though it might have looked like more to the audience.

6. Why Does The Shield’s Strength Seem To Fluctuate So Much?

This one might startle you a bit. The shield is actually very strong. So why does the strength of Captain America’s shield seems to change from scene to scene, sometimes even within the same movie? In Civil War, we see the shield bouncing off of cops, and in a different scene, it smashes through the wall. That is simply because you cannot show so much gore in a PG-13 superhero movie. Smashing walls is fine, but cutting people in half is not.

7. How Does Cap Fall Several Stories & Land On The Shield Without A Scratch?

In The Winter Soldier, Cap jumps out of SHIELDS’ building from a high altitude. He falls several stories and lands on the sidewalk without bearing a single injury. He lands on the shield, which is made of metal. But he is unharmed and far from being injured. Well, the science behind this is explained. The shield has been designed to absorb all the kinetic energy from falls like that. Hence, this prevented Cap from ever having to feel the impact of a fall himself.

8. Why Did Cap Have A Triangular Shield In World War II?

Questions About Captain America’s Shield

If not disappointed, I was definitely confused when Cap did not use the patent disc-shaped shield in most of Captain America: The First Avenger. But, it all made sense when the facts were followed up. This dates back to the character’s origins in the comics. When Marvel Comics was known as Timely Comics, Cap was armed with a triangular shield. The triangular shield is a medieval-style shield known as a heater-shaped shield, hence it was changed. And we are glad that it was rectified!

9. Does The Shield Absorb Or Reflect Energy?

Actually, yes. It does a little bit of both. In The First Avenger, we were told that it absorbs energy. Moreover, when Steve survived the fall in The Winter Soldier thanks to his shield, it confirms it, as I have mentioned above. But we have seen once that the shield actually deflects the energy.  in the first Avengers movie, Cap is shown deflecting the energy of Thor’s hammer Mjolnir with his shield and using it to bounce Iron Man’s repulsor blasts at the Chitauri as they try to invade Earth.

10. Who Created Captain America’s Shield?

Right off the bat, we know that it is Howard Stark who made Cap’s shield. According to an MCU tie-in comic, the shield was created by Howard, Tony Stark’s father. In the first Iron Man movie, we also see a partial replica of Cap’s shield in Tony’s workshop when he’s putting together his own armor. This was a subtle nod to the fact that Tony was mildly impressed by his father’s work, and wanted to put in the same thought to his suit. However, there was a big team involved in making the shield, but Howard was the mastermind.

11. Why Did Captain America Ditch His Shield In Civil War?

Captain America ditched the shield in Civil War. That is because Iron Man told him that he doesn’t deserve the shield because he kept the knowledge of Winter Soldier killing Tony’s parents to himself. After that, Steve decides to ditch the shield and leave it behind. The next time we see Cap with a shield is when he dons the specially curated retractables made by Wakanda that work at will. But the former moment was very heavy for the fans because it almost felt like Tony was deceived by Steve.

12. How Did Captain America’s Shield Deflect Thor’s Hammer?

Let me tell you about the scene first. In Joss Whedon’s The Avengers (2012), the first meeting of Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor is shown in the form of a fight. Thor’s clash with Iron Man angered him, so he took a beat at Cap with his hammer Mjolnir. As expected, Cap raised his shield to protect himself, and as Thor’s hammer collided with the shield, the impact is deflected and he’s sent flying back.

So obviously, if the shield was not made of vibranium, then Steve wouldn’t remain in the picture. The vibranium absorbed the kinetic energy from any impact to protect Cap from taking the hit. That is why Thor is sent flying back because he is met with his own power. This is one of the many occasions where Cap has survived because of the shield.

These were the answers to 12 frequently asked questions about Captain America’s Shield.

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