Captain America's Shield

also known as The Vibranium Shield · Steve Rogers's Shield · Sam Wilson's Shield

Howard Stark's prototype, passed from Steve to a government man to Sam Wilson.

15 entries 8 films 7 episodes 24h 24m

The shield is the only MacGuffin on the site with a succession crisis: it is a single disc of vibranium that Howard Stark made by accident, and three different men carry it as Captain America. Fifteen entries take you from Project Rebirth in 1943 to Sam Wilson's first film in the role, and the Falcon and the Winter Soldier stretch in the middle is the heart of the order — six episodes about who gets to hold it. It is also worth knowing it is absent from Infinity War entirely; Steve had left it on the floor in Siberia.

Not started · 24h 24m of viewing ahead

Captain America: The First Avenger
Film · 2011124m
Howard Stark shows Steve a round vibranium prototype he calls a curiosity, Steve picks it over every other option, and Peggy Carter tests it by emptying a pistol into it. It goes into the Arctic with Steve and the Valkyrie in 1945.
Also in
What If... Captain Carter Were the First Avenger?
What If...? · S1 E1 · 202133m
Alternate 1943. Peggy Carter takes the serum and Howard Stark builds her a Union Jack version of the same vibranium disc — a different physical shield, but the same design brief and the same maker.
Also in
Iron Man 2
Film · 2010125mcameo
A cameo, and not Steve's shield. An unfinished prototype disc is lying in Tony's basement workshop, and Coulson picks it up and wedges it under the particle accelerator to level it.
Also in
The Avengers
Film · 2012143m
Recovered from the ice with Steve and back in service. Notably it takes a full-force Mjolnir strike in the forest fight without a scratch.
Also in +4
Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Film · 2014136m
The shield does most of the heavy lifting in the film's best set pieces, and then Steve drops it deliberately — he lets it fall off the helicarrier rather than keep fighting Bucky Barnes, and Bucky pulls him out of the Potomac.
Also in +2
Avengers: Age of Ultron
Film · 2015141m
Standard duty across Sokovia and the opening HYDRA raid, plus the running gag of Steve throwing it as a platform for other Avengers.
Also in +6
Captain America: Civil War
Film · 2016147m
Tony Stark's last word in Siberia is that his father made the shield and Steve does not deserve it. Steve drops it on the floor and walks out, and the shield stays with Tony for the next seven years.
Also in +4
Avengers: Endgame
Film · 2019181m
Tony pulls the shield out of his car boot and gives it back before the time heist. Thanos breaks it in half in the final battle, and in the last scene an elderly Steve hands the repaired shield to Sam Wilson on a bench.
Also in +17
New World Order
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier · S1 E1 · 202149m
Sam decides the shield belongs to Steve and donates it to the Smithsonian in a public ceremony. The episode ends with the US government announcing a new Captain America — John Walker — holding it.
Also in
The Star-Spangled Man
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier · S1 E2 · 202150m
Walker debuts with the shield on a talk show and then on a mission, and Sam and Bucky have to work alongside it. Bucky's line about the shield being the closest thing he has to family is the thesis of the series.
Also in
Power Broker
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier · S1 E3 · 202153m
Walker carries the shield through the manhunt for Zemo across Berlin and Riga, increasingly using it as a badge of authority rather than a tool.
Also in
The Whole World Is Watching
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier · S1 E4 · 202153m
The turn. The Dora Milaje disarm Walker and take the shield off him with insulting ease, and then, after Lemar Hoskins is killed, Walker uses the shield to execute an unarmed Flag Smasher in a public square and the vibranium is left covered in blood.
Also in
Truth
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier · S1 E5 · 202160m
Sam and Bucky take the shield back from Walker in a brawl at a warehouse; the government strips him of the title. Sam then spends the episode learning to throw it properly, and Bucky delivers a Wakandan case at the end.
Also in
One World, One People
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier · S1 E6 · 202151m
Sam flies as Captain America with the shield and vibranium wings, uses it through the whole New York rescue, and closes the series by putting Isaiah Bradley in the Smithsonian exhibit beside it.
Also in
Captain America: Brave New World
Film · 2025118m
Sam carries the restored shield as Captain America in his own film, pairing it with his wings, and the plot turns on whether a man without the serum can be trusted with it.
Also in