Captain America's shield

Captain America's shield is a fictional item appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. It is the primary defensive and offensive piece of equipment used by Captain America, and is intended to be an emblem of American culture.
Over the years, Captain America has used several shields of varying composition and design. His original heater shield first appeared in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), published by Marvel's 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics. The circular shield best associated with the character debuted in the next issue, Captain America Comics #2.
In his debut, Captain America (secretly U.S. Army Private Steve Rogers) is equipped with a heater-style shield made from steel. After complaints by rival comic-book publisher MLJ that the design was too similar to that of its own patriotic hero the Shield, Timely Comics replaced the triangular shield with a disc-shaped one.
While the origin and fate of the original shield were not described in the original comics from the 1940s, the shield's fate was revealed decades later in 2001 through a retconned story. According to the tale, King T'Chaka of Wakanda met Captain America in early 1941 and gave him a sample of vibranium, an alien metal with unique vibration-absorption properties and found only in Wakanda and the Savage Land. The vibranium was used to make Captain America's circular shield, and his triangular one was retired.
Captain America received a second triangular shield that he used until given his disc-shaped shield, presented to him by President Franklin Roosevelt. 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 superhero team the Avengers in The Avengers #4, and was kept at Avengers Mansion. It was destroyed by the supervillain Mr. Hyde during a raid on the mansion by Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil, and later "plucked from time" and restored by Zemo in Thunderbolts #105 (October 2006). The shield (along with other sentimental items thought destroyed) was returned to Captain America. A third triangular shield is kept in the Smithsonian Institution. It was used by Captain America when he foiled a terrorist attack on the museum itself after the loss of his usual shield; it was then given to him in gratitude. This shield is destroyed several issues later by a Kree alien warrior.
The shield destroyed by Hyde and restored by Zemo was eventually passed on to Elijah Bradley, the teenage hero known as the Patriot and leader of the Young Avengers.
In 2010, the history of the original shield was revised. In the limited series Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers, Captain America, Sergeant Nick Fury and the Howling Commandos meet Azzari (grandfather of T'Challa)—the Black Panther and king of Wakanda during World War II. Aided by Wakandan military forces, they repel a series of Nazi attacks led by the Red Skull and Baron Strucker. During the battle, the Red Skull (wearing a battle-suit) crushes the triangular shield, and Captain America uses a circular vibranium shield provided by T'Challa to incapacitate the Skull. The weapon serves as the inspiration for the circular shield that the super-soldier begins using upon his return to America, and the encounter marks the beginning of friendly relations between the United States and Wakanda.
The round shield most associated with Captain America made its debut in Captain America Comics #2 (April 1941). A near-indestructible concavo-convex metal disc approximately 2.5 feet (0.76 m) in diameter, weighing 12 pounds (5.4 kg), it has remained Captain America's most constant shield over the decades.
In Captain America #255 (March 1981), it is established that the shield was presented to Rogers by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The shield is created by fictional American metallurgist Myron MacLain, who had been commissioned by the US government to create an indestructible armor material to aid the war effort. MacLain experiments with vibranium.
During one of his experiments to fuse vibranium with an experimental steel alloy, MacLain falls asleep and awakens to find that the resulting alloy had been set in a tank hatch mold. However, he was not able to duplicate it, because as MacLain described it, "some unknown factor" was present during the experiment that he could not identify. The shield was then painted to become Captain America's weapon and symbol. MacLain would later attempt to recreate the shield's metal to no avail, his experiments instead eventually yielding the super-metal adamantium. While adamantium has been portrayed as practically indestructible, MacLain said it was "no match" for the mysterious Proto-Adamantium shield.
Rogers' shield is more durable than regular adamantium and is essentially indestructible. The vibranium grants the shield unusual properties, allowing it to absorb all of the kinetic impact and vibrations from any blows that the shield receives without injuring Rogers in the process.
Soon after his revival from suspended animation and rescue by the Avengers, Rogers briefly experimented with Stark's modification of the shield which included a magnetic mechanism that enabled Rogers to hold the shield through a corresponding magnetic mechanism attached to his left glove, as well as communications equipment. These modifications allowed Rogers to launch the shield from his glove and control it mid-flight. However, Rogers decided to have those modifications removed and restored the holding straps since he found that he preferred to physically throw the shield himself and the electronic equipment spoiled the shield's balance to enable him to do that effectively.
After Rogers' death, S.H.I.E.L.D. takes over custody of the shield, with one replica on display in a museum, and another replica buried with Rogers. The real one is kept by S.H.I.E.L.D. to be used by the new Captain America, whenever they deem it appropriate to train a new one. After failing to find a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent capable of throwing it properly, Stark offers the shield to Clint Barton (known at that time as Ronin), who does manage to throw it. During his first outing as Captain America, Barton encounters the Young Avengers and scolds Kate Bishop for using the Hawkeye name. She tells him that the "Real Cap" gave her that name in honor of his at the time dead friend. This leads Barton to refuse to be Captain America. The shield is subsequently stolen by the Winter Soldier, who did not want anyone else to carry the shield. Inevitably, in an effort to honor Rogers' last wishes, Stark offers to let the Winter Soldier (Bucky Barnes) keep the shield, and serve as the new Captain America. Bucky accepts. This offer is made "off the books", and only the two of them, the Black Widow, and the Falcon, are aware of the situation.
Although Bucky attempted to return the shield to Rogers after his resurrection, Rogers let Bucky keep it as he felt that he could do more good in his new role as Commander Steve Rogers rather than Captain America. Rogers used a photonic shield in its place when circumstances called for him to go into combat. He reclaimed the shield for good after Bucky was apparently killed during the Fear Itself event— Bucky really going underground after his past as the Winter Soldier was exposed— that also resulted in the shield being broken and reassembled by Asgardian blacksmiths, who add some of the mystical metal Uru to the reconstructed shield, making it even stronger than before, although it is left with a noticeable scar that Rogers decided to keep to give the shield character. This premise was not observed in subsequent storylines, or considered canon, as artists have not continued depicting the shield with the scar.
In the 2003-2004 Marvel Comics/DC Comics inter-company crossover limited series JLA/Avengers, Superman is given the shield by Captain America to wield in battle in the final confrontation with Krona, and is impressed with its might. When he asks where he could get one just like it while battling foes, Thor replies, "Enjoy it while thou canst, Superman. There is none other like it in all the worlds". Throughout the final battle, the shield changes forms between the pointed shield and the circular shield due to various temporal ripples caused by Krona's equipment, and Superman even loses the shield altogether at one point when he morphs into his energy form while Cap reacquires the photonic shield, although the metal shield reappears on Superman's arm after he morphs back into his regular form.
Over time the shield has been damaged or destroyed several times within the confines of the Earth-616 continuity:
Captain America's shield is a recurring item throughout the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Like its comic book counterpart, it is circular, relatively lightweight, but unlike its comic book counterpart, it is made of the nearly indestructible Wakandan metal, vibranium. It is created by Howard Stark and given to Steve Rogers during World War II. Within the MCU, the shield is seen as a symbol of Captain America's strength and legacy.
In production for Captain America: The First Avenger, the shield, which is depicted as both a defensive tool and a weapon, came in four types: metal, fiberglass, rubber, and computer graphics (CG). Prop master Barry Gibbs specified that "We had the 'hero shield,' which was made of aluminum, for our beauty shots [and] close-up work. We then created a lighter shield that was aluminum-faced with fiberglass back, for use on a daily basis. ... And then we had a stunt shield made of polyurethane, which is sort of a synthetic rubber ... and we made an ultrasoft one we put on [Evans'] back, so that if there were an accident, it wouldn't hurt him." Visual effects supervisor Christopher Townsend said Evans "would practice swinging the practical shield so he knew the arc and the speed at which he should move. We would take the shield from him and shoot the scene with him miming it. Then we would add in a CG shield".
The premise of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier revolves around a moment in the film Avengers: Endgame (2019) which depicts Steve Rogers bequeathing the shield and the mantle of Captain America to his friend Sam Wilson. Marvel Studios chief executive Kevin Feige said this was intended to be a "classic passing of the torch from one hero to another", but when Marvel Studios got the opportunity to make television series for Disney+ they decided to expand this into an entire story about Wilson becoming Captain America, with the shield serving as a symbol for the superhero title. Mackie said the series would explore Wilson's backstory and treat him as a "regular guy" in a world of superheroes, while "walk[ing] the line of who is going to take up the [Captain America] shield" after Endgame.
The shield has been used as a promotional symbol associated with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A model of the shield was sent as a gift by Chris Evans, who plays the role of Steve Rogers in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to a 6-year-old boy who had sustained injuries when defending his sister from a dog attack. Before the premiere of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, an image of the shield was projected onto landmarks such as the London Eye and the Singapore Flyer. Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, meanwhile, also paid homage to the shield by covering the university's 'Great Dome' with a design of the shield, drawing approval from Chris Evans on Twitter. The shield has also been included by Epic Games as an in-game accessory in the popular video game Fortnite.
A model of the shield was also held in a swearing-in by San Jose, California Republican councilman Lan Diep, with various speculation that the shield was a metaphor to symbolise opposition to Republican President Donald Trump. The use of the shield as a symbol of American nationalism by Trump supporters in the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, meanwhile, drew criticism from Neal Kirby, the son of the shield's comics creator, Jack Kirby, who said that the shield symbolized "the absolute antithesis of Donald Trump".
In Chile, the shield also represents the right-wing political party Republican Party (Partido Republicano). One of those politicians who uses the shield is José Antonio Kast, who used the shield back in 2019.