Skip to main content

marvel - When and why did the shape of Captain America's shield change?


In his first appearances, Captain America's shield is an elongated triangle with three peaks at the top:


Original sketch of Captain America


Joe Simon's first sketch of Captain America


Kite-shaped shield


Cover of Captain America issue #1, 1941


Now, of course, his shield is round.



Captain America with rounded shield


Late 60's issue of Captain America


When did this change occur, and why?



Answer




I cannot find any in-universe reason as to why this occurred, but out-of-universe I can.


Apparently the original sketch of Captain America came to the attention of Archie Comics (then MLJ Magazines) - they noticed there was a similarity between Captain America's shield and the chest detail of their own character The Shield (below).


The Shield


Consequently, Captain America's shield was changed to the Kite design.


(Source: Cronin, Brian (2009). Was Superman a Spy?: And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed. Plume. pp. 135–136. ISBN 978-0-452-29532-2.)




When


The Marvel Wikia site refers to President F D Roosevelt presenting Captain America with this. This puts it between 1933 and 1945


Franklin D Roosevelt presenting Captain America with his new shield


From Captain America Vol 1 255: 'The Living Legend' in which



It details the origin of Captain America and focuses on his early adventures in 1941-42.



Why


As correctly pointed out in the question:




Rogers was originally issued a traditionally "kite" shaped shield made of mundane steel, as well as a sidearm.



(Source)


This new disc-shaped shield, however, had two main advantages:


1: It was better as an offensive weapon


He discovered:



that its excellent aerodynamic properties made it an effective offensive weapon




(Source)


2: It was made of a nearly indestructible alloy



Originally, Dr. Myron MacLain was attempting to perfect an indestructible alloy as strong as the legendary 'Adamantine', which Hercules' Golden Mace was made from. Dr. MacLain was hoping the alloy would provide a distinct advantage in the armor of American war machines, during World War II. The Doctor worked tirelessly, using the exotic Vibranium metal and an unknown substance. While the Doctor was asleep, as a result of his exhaustion, an unknown factor caused the metals he was working with to bond.



(Source)


An almost indestructible shield has obvious advantages over one made from 'mundane steel'!


Not only is the shield nearly indestructible though, it also has other useful properties which are inherent to Wakandan Vibranium, namely the ability to absorb vibratory energies in the vicinity.


The Wiki page on his shield explains the following (however bear in mind that it does not reference the said sources):




Some sources say that Dr. MacLain chose the discus shape because of its versatility, while other say that he used an existing cast designed for tank hatches.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

According to TVTropes ( usual warning, don't follow the link or you'll waste half your life in a twisty maze of content ): In Ghostbusters, it's strongly implied that Dana Barret, while possessed by Zuul the Gatekeeper, had sex with Louis Tully, who was possessed by Vinz Clortho the Keymaster (key, gate, get it?), in order to free Big Bad Gozer. In fact, a deleted scene from the movie has Venkman explicitly asking Dana if she and Louis "did it". I turned the quote into a spoiler since it contains really poor-taste joke, but the gist of it is that it's implied that as part of freeing Gozer , the two characters possessed by the Keymaster and the Gatekeeper had sex. Is there any canon confirmation or denial of this theory (canon meaning something from creators' interviews, DVD commentary, script, delete scenes etc...)? Answer The Richard Mueller novelisation and both versions of the script strongly suggest that they didn't have sex (or at the very l...

Why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize Missy right away?

So after it was established that Missy is actually both the Master, and the "woman in the shop" who gave Clara the TARDIS number... ...why didn't The Doctor or Clara recognize her right away? I remember the Tenth Doctor in The Sound of Drums stating that Timelords had a way of recognizing other Timelords no matter if they had regenerated. And Clara should have recognized her as well... I'm hoping for a better explanation than "Moffat screwed up", and that I actually missed something after two watchthroughs of the episode. Answer There seems to be a lot of in-canon uncertainty as to the extent to which Time Lords can recognise one another which far pre-dates Moffat's tenure. From the Time Lords page on Wikipedia : Whether or not Time Lords can recognise each other across regenerations is not made entirely clear: In The War Games, the War Chief recognises the Second Doctor despite his regeneration and it is implied that the Doctor knows him when they fir...

story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...