Brainiac #5 Can Captain America's indestructible shield really exist?

Yet there are also super men who seem a lot more realistic and fit perfectly a science fiction film. They are ordinary people, maybe a little smarter or richer than average, who can play a superhero with the help of handy technology and smart gadgets. Two of these kind of superheroes we see in Captain America: Civil War. Captain America himself and his 'opponent 'Iron Man.

The latter is a wealthy engineer who has built his own robot suit - a suit that inspired engineers from different arms manufacturers and private companies. Flying and shooting with energy weapons just like Iron Man isn't feasible yet, but walking longer, stump harder or simply getting the needy people in- and out of bed without effort is possible. Thus, a simplified version of Iron Man could exist in real life.

And what about Captain America? What makes him a hero is first and foremost a bit of blurry science. A 'supersoldierserum' changed a normal guy into a muscular fighting machine. A trick that is impossible. The second and much more distinctive part of Captain America's superhero is his indestructible shield. And that shield is a very different story.

Scientists throughout the world are working on even lighter and firmer materials. For example helmets for motorcyclists, the housing of aircraft or the armor of soldiers. In the film, Captain America's shield is built by a US military engineer.
The nice thing is that this engineer really has a counterpart in real life. He is called Suveen Mathaudhu. This material expert (and seasoned superhero lover) also works for the US government and is trying to make Captain America's shield reality.

That search for more powerful materials does not only allow Captain America's shield to become reality but also opens the door to other superheroes who need to have technology and armor in addition to their human skills. Batman for example.

'Captain America's shield is not so crazy yet', says mathematician Suveen Mathaudhu. 'In fact, it is nothing but a very advanced bike helmet'.

Suveen Mathaudhu is trying to make Captain America's shield reality. Why does a material expert focus on Captain America's shield? "For my work, I research into how to make metals lighter and stronger, and to the basic mechanisms and physics that hide behind it. That ultimately led me to superhero strips and science fiction. There you can see a lot of different types of advanced metals that are very interesting. "

But those metals were devised by the filmmakers. Is it possible to build Captain America's shield?
'I think so. There is no fundamental nature that prohibits it, although it seems unlikely that it will be an ordinary piece of metal that fits that job.
"The basic concept is very interesting. The shield absorbs kinetic energy, stores it, channels it or bends it off. That's the case with Vibranium (the fictional element from the comics) which is very common in the Marvel universe. '

How would such a real shield look like?
"Many things we already have can do the same - channeling, storing or deflecting energy. Bicycle helmets for example, or the helmets carrying soldiers, even the armor of vehicles. We are now looking at some metals that are much stronger than conventional metals. I also do research here, but I see others who work on such things. "

Are we already near the shield from the film and comics?
'Yes and no. These materials can never process the amount of energy Captain America's shield will handle. An enormous shot of an energy weapon, for example. But they are getting closer in the near future. For example, in the first movie of Captain America, they say to him when he gets the shield: this is the sturdy, lightest material that exists. That's exactly what we're approaching: making lighter materials, which are so strong that they can, for example, replace steel in all kinds of conventional applications. In that sense, we are very close to that shield. "