Captain America's shield
Captain America's shield is the primary defensive and offensive piece of equipment used by the Marvel Comics superhero Captain America, and he is seldom seen without it. Over the years, Captain America has had the use of several different shields of varying composition and design.
The original shield
In his first appearance in Captain America Comics #1, published by Timely Comics prior to the United States' entry into World War II, and as designed by Jack Kirby, Captain America (secretly Private Steve Rogers) was equipped with a triangular, badge-shaped shield. This original shield was said to be made from a bulletproof alloy. After complaints by rival comic book publisher MLJ that the shield design was too similar to that of their own patriotic hero the Shield, the triangular shield was replaced by a discus-shaped one.
While the origins of the shield were never described in the original comics, decades later the story would be told through retroactive continuity. According to this, the original triangular shield was given by Captain America to King T’Chalka (father of T’Challa, the Black Panther) of the fictional isolated African country Wakanda as a pledge that the nation would remain uninvolved in the rest of the war. The original shield still resides in Wakanda as a national treasure.
A second triangular shield was given to him upon his return of from that country, and Rogers would use this until given his disc-shaped shield. This second triangular shield was kept in storage with Rogers' other personal effects after the war. It was recovered at some point after Rogers joined the Avengers and kept at Avengers Mansion. However, it was destroyed by the villain Mr. Hyde during a raid on the mansion by Baron Zemo’s Masters of Evil. A third triangular shield was kept in the Smithsonian Institution, and would very briefly be used by Rogers years later.
The indestructible shield
The circular shield most associated with Captain America made its debut in Captain America Comics #2. A concave metal disc roughly 2.5 feet in diameter and weighing 12 pounds, it is virtually indestructible and has remained his most constant shield over the decades.
Again through retroactive continuity, it was established that the shield was presented to Rogers by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The shield was created by an American metallurgist named Dr. Myron MacLain, who had been commissioned by the US government to create an indestructible armor material to aid the war effort. MacLain experimented with vibranium, an alien metal found only in Wakanda that had unique vibration absorption properties.
During one of his experiments to fuse vibranium with a steel alloy, MacLain fell asleep and woke to find the experiment a success. However, this was due to an unknown catalyst entering the process during his slumber, and he was unable to duplicate the result. The vibranium-steel mix was then poured into a mold for a tank's upper hatch to create the disc shape and painted to become Captain America's symbol.
Rogers' indestructible shield has often been referred to as being an adamantium-vibranium alloy. This is not the case: adamantium was only developed after Rogers was revived from suspended animation, during MacLain's later experiments to try and duplicate the material of the shield (Avengers Vol. 1 #66, July 1969). This error first arose in the Captain America entry in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe (the composition of the shield was accurately described in the Adamantium entry) and was propagated in several subsequent stories by writers using the Handbook as a reference. Writer Kurt Busiek finally set the record straight in Avengers Annual 2001.
The vibranium in the shield is what absorbs virtually all of the kinetic impact from any blows that the shield receives, allowing it to withstand incredible amounts of force without injuring Rogers in the process. The vibranium is also a likely factor in the way Rogers throws his shield: he often uses it to ricochet around a room and strike various opponents with little loss of velocity in its forward movement after each impact.
When Rogers returned from suspended animation, Tony Stark "improved" the shield by incorporating electronic and magnetic components in it so that Rogers could even control it in flight. However, Rogers soon discarded the additional components because he found that it upset the balance of the shield.
During his early years in the Avengers, when it was not firmly established that the discus-shaped shield was indestructible, the shield was destroyed several or lost several times in the comics, to return with no explanation. It was retconned that these were steel replicas, with the actual shield being borrowed by Stark for analysis and returned to Rogers later.
Destroying the indestructible
While the shield was dented by Thor during a fight with Rogers due to the power of the Odinforce (Thor repaired it later), to date, the shield has been destroyed only twice, both times ultimately due to the same agency.
The first time was when it was destroyed by the god-like being known as the Beyonder during the Secret Wars mini-series. Rogers used one of the Beyonder's machines, a device that could repair objects using the power of the user's mind, to reconstruct the shield. However, this would have repercussions years later.
When Rogers dropped his shield in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean during an adventure, the shield sank to the bottom, seemingly lost forever, and he used several replacement shields for some months. A recovery team working for Tony Stark managed to retrieve the shield from the ocean floor, but when it was dropped on the deck of the ship, it shattered into dozens of pieces.
Examining the pieces with Stark's help, Rogers and Stark discovered that when Rogers put the shield back together with the Beyonder's machines, a small submolecular imperfection was introduced into the vibranium. With each additional impact over the years, the flaw grew until the shield shattered. However, the consequences were far graver. The shattering of the shield had created a vibranium "cancer", a shockwave that was propagating throughout the world, violently detonating any vibranium it found, from mineral deposits to that used in the construction of ships and equipment. The shockwave was travelling to the Great Vibranium Mound in Wakanda, where the resulting explosion could destroy the world.
To prevent this, Rogers travelled to Wakanda with the pieces of the shield taped together, prepared to sacrifice what remained of it in an attempt to absorb the shockwave. However, the villain Klaw (who was made up of living sound waves) had reached Wakanda ahead of him. Klaw stood in the path of the shockwave, absorbing it himself and increasing his own powers considerably. When Klaw next attacked Rogers, the latter instinctively raised the taped-together shield in defense. When Klaw struck the shield, his shockwave-augmented power somehow refused the shield, and Rogers defeated Klaw.
Future versions
Given its its powerful symbolism, the indestructible shield has been shown in many alternate futures of the Marvel Universe.
- In the timeline of the Guardians of the Galaxy, the shield was used by Major Victory.
- In the "Future Imperfect" setting, where the Hulk became the Maestro and was both the last surviving superbeing and a despotic ruler, an ancient Rick Jones assembled a trophy room as a tribute to the fallen heroes, with the shield among them. Jones used the shield to defend against one of the Maestro's blows, but the impact was too powerful for even it to absorb. Jones was sent flying back and was impaled on Wolverine's skeleton. When the Hulk, plucked from the past, threw the shield to attack his future self, he managed to injure the Maestri. The Maestro then commented that Rogers could never throw the shield hard enough to do him any damage. After the battle, Jones was cremated; the Hulk poured Jones's ashes over the shield, affixing it with an apoxy, and then threw it into space.
Other shields
- While Rogers was asleep in suspended animation, three other men used the identity of Captain America, all using steel replicas of the discus shield. The last, 1950s Captain America was also placed in suspended animation after becoming mentally unstable. When he was revived years later, Rogers had awoken and the two clashed, and the 1950s Captain America's shield was broken during this fight.
- In the 1980s, in a story written by Mark Gruenwald, Rogers chose to resign his identity rather than submit to the orders of the United States government and took the alias of "The Captain" instead. This extended story arc was intended to illustrate the difference of Captain America's beliefs from his replacement who was intended to illustrate the jingoistic attitude that the popular movie character Rambo embodied and which Rogers did not share. During this period, the role of Captain America was assumed by John Walker, the former Super-Patriot, who used both the costume and the indestructible shield. (Captain America #332-#351, 1987-1989).
- In his new identity of "The Captain", Rogers initially used a pure adamantium shield provided by Stark, but a falling out between the two led Rogers to return it. He then began to use a pure vibranium shield provided by the Black Panther. When Rogers returned to his Captain America identity, Walker became the USAgent. Walker would go on to have his own array of different shields over the years, the first of which appeared to be the last vibranium shield Rogers was using as the Captain. The USAgent has used shields with an eagle motif and one in the shape of a star, as well as a photonic energy shield.
- At one point, when Rogers was exiled from the United States and was briefly unable to use his shield, Sharon Carter provided him with a photonic energy shield designed to mimic a vibranium matrix.
- During the time when the shield was lost in the Atlantic, Rogers tried using a pure adamantium shield, but was unable to get used to the balance. He also tried fighting without a shield but also found it awkward. While up against HYDRA agents in the Smithsonian, he picked up the triangular shield that was being exhibited there and used it for a time before it was crushed by a Kree warrior. Sharon Carter next provided him with another photonic shield, but one whose shape could be controlled to morph the energy field into a wider force field, a bo staff or even fire a projection of the shield. While he enjoyed the versatility, Rogers noticed a number of drawbacks, particularly its inability to ricochet. Rogers gave one of the energy shield gloves to a freedom fighter in an oppressive future he traveled to and received a replacement from S.H.I.E.L.D. when he got back to his own time.
- The Ultimate Universe version of Captain America uses a shield of pure adamantium, although that metal may not possess the same properties in the ultimate universe as it does in the mainstream Marvel Universe.