Comic books aren’t exactly bastions of factual information. Tiny infinite energy machines? Impossible to lift hammers? Hulks? It’s not really believable.
But gun retailers Miculek.com want to prove that Captain America’s shield is actually bulletproof.
On their YouTube channel, you’ll find a video where they put Cap’s shield to the test with live ammunition on a shooting range. There’s no ifs and buts about this, it’s a comic book item being put in the line of fire of a quick succession of eight .45 caliber bullets from an 1911 handgun.
…Well, we lied. There is a single “but” here, because Captain America’s shield is made of the fictitious metal called Vibranium. Because Stan Lee is not a metallurgist, the folks at Miculek had to make a compromise. That comprise is solid titanium.
To keep some of the “facts”, however, the shield has the same dimensions and weight as in the comics ( 2.5 feet [0.762 metres] in diameter and 12 [5.44 kilograms] pounds if you wanted to know). But can that stop a bullet?
Good news for Captain America, it most certainly can. Unlike in the books and movies, though, those bullets did leave a lot of damage. This is more “bullet resistant” than “bulletproof”, but it makes taking a shield into a gunfight something that looks a lot less silly.
But that’s only half of what the shield is known for. Mr. Rogers is seen tossing the disc more often than not, so next week we’ll get to see how that goes with a new video. We suspect it won’t be as successful.
