Captain America is one of the most iconic superheroes in the world, so it makes sense that he an equally iconic weapon. Whenever Cap is rushing into action, fans can expect to see the hero using his shield to do everything from blocking bullets to throwing it at. Even though he is more than capable of defending himself without the shield, Captain America it as his best whenever he's got his trusty discus strapped to his arm.

While it looks like a simple weapon, the shield is actually a complex object with an interesting backstory. Instead of being an ordinary item, this mighty weapon has been a part of some of Marvel's biggest stories and used to fight some of comic book's scariest villains. No matter who is behind the Captain America mask, the shield is always an essential part of the costume and no new version of the character feels complete without the weapon. The leader of the Avengers will do anything to save his friends or the innocent people of Earth, so it makes sense that the item most associated with the character is a defensive tool. Since Avengers: Infinity War is so close, come check out these 15 things only true fans know about Captain America's shield!

15 WOLVERINE'S WEAPON

The red, white and blue shield may be primarily associated with Captain America, but that doesn't mean others haven't used it in battle. In Mark Millar and Steve McNiven's "Old Man Logan", the shield is hung above everything on a wall that includes other superhero relics like Thor's hammer and Iron Man's armor in the Red Skull's lair.

Red Skull has deemed himself President and sometimes even wears Captain America's costume while he goes about his business.

After Wolverine reaches the capital, he is immediately subdued and wakes up in the Red Skull's custody. Without even using his claws, Logan quickly takes care of the President's guards and confronts the President. Not only does Logan beat the Red Skull with Cap's shield, he also uses it to end the Nazi villain.

14 MAGNETO PROOF

While Magneto may be the master of magnetism, that doesn't necessarily mean he has an upper hand over Captain America in battle. Whenever the two characters clash, Magneto's ability to control and manipulate metal doesn't seem to work on Captain America's shield. While the villain can still control multiple types and sizes of metal objects around him and throw them at Captain America, he still has to keep an eye open to make sure he's not banged in the head whenever the shield is flying through the air.

Even though a few of Cap's shields have adamantium in them, a metal that Magneto has been shown manipulating in the past, the villainous mutant is still unable to get a grip and control the velocity of the shield.

13 EARLY LAWSUIT

The most iconic version of Captain America's shield is the round, discus one that he has brought into battle in both comics and on the big screen. Originally, his shield was shaped more like a medieval object that wasn't aerodynamic enough to be thrown around and used as a weapon on the battlefield.

In between Captain America issues number one and two, Jack Kirby changed the shield's design due to a threatened lawsuit.

The lawsuit came about because MLJ Publications had recently created their own superhero named The Shield whose costume included a flag design on his torso that looked exactly like Captain America's original shield. After receiving a warning letter, Kirby and Lee quickly changed the shape of the shield and went on adding new components to the Captain America mythos.

12 SYMBOL FOR SOCIETY

While Captain America himself is a defender of what he perceives as American values, his shield is just an inanimate object he uses to hit people. In the Marvel Zombies universe, on the other hand, it is used as a weapon and symbol of humanity for the last group of survivors. While Colonel America, a partially zombified version of this universe's Captain America, a hero who used to serve as president, he is now a tool for the survivors to help them wage their war for survival.

Steve Rogers' mind is eventually taken out of his body and put into the body of T'Channa, King T'Challa's deceased son, and he is used as a weapon to help keep humans safe. Colonel America may still wield his shield, but his abilities to think about anything except war or battle have disappeared.

11 SUPERMAN USED IT

While Captain America isn't the only hero who's used the shield, most of the characters are all members of the Marvel Universe. One glaring exception to that norm is the fact that Superman wielded the shield in battle during Kurt Busiek and George Perez's JLA/Avengers crossover. The event came out in 2003-2004 and saw the two superhero teams be used as pawns in a war between Krona and the Grandmaster to determine whether or not the Marvel Universe will be destroyed.

Both teams ultimately come together and try to flip the script on their godly overseers.

Unhappy with the way the games played out, Krona snaps and tries attacking Grandmaster to learn more information about Galactus. To take the unhinged villain down, Thor gives Superman his hammer and Captain America gives him the shield so he can rush into battle with the ultimate offensive and defensive weapons.

10 CABLE IS A FAN

Cyclop's son from a far-off future where mutants are constantly fighting for their survival, Cable is a big fan of Captain America's shield. The mutant cyborg who has limited telepathy and telekinesis, is also an expert marksman who can take down bad guys from across the battlefield. Although the character is shown fighting the Avengers in the "X-Sanction" event, he is actually a heroic figure himself who has claimed to have used Cap's shield multiple times in the future during his struggles for freedom.

During the "Age of Apocalypse" arc, Cable even claims that he lost his arm on a mission to retrieve Captain America's shield as a symbol of hope among the mutant resistance. It's this accident that clears the path for the character to have a cybernetic arm and become even more powerful.

9 CAPTAIN AMERICA GIVES IT TO BUCKY

When Steve Rogers died shortly after the events in Civil War, Tony Stark secretly gave Bucky Barnes Captain America's shield and told him that it was Steve's last wish for Bucky to take over the mantle. While Bucky did things his own way, he was even shown regularly bringing a gun into battle, something Captain America hadn't done in decades, he was still a proud hero and Avenger who would do anything to defend others.

After Steve Rogers returned to the Marvel Universe, he was impressed with the behavior and actions of his former sidekick.

Instead of taking the shield back and returning to the heroic title he made famous, Steve advocates for Bucky to continue wielding the shield as he looks begins to inherit a more secretive, spy-oriented position in the Marvel Universe.

8 DIFFERENT MATERIALS

Over the years, Captain America has had a number of shields, so it makes sense that they are made from different materials. Some have been made of pure steel, some have been combinations of vibranium with other metals, and some of them are made of adamantium, the same material joined to Wolverine's skeleton.

For a while, the shield wasn't even made from physical materials at all. Instead, the shield was made of hard light and allowed Captain America to throw a disc made of pure energy at his opponents. Additionally, he could create energy bo staffs made out of light to use in battle that he has no physical equivalent for. No matter how cool the energy shields are, it's clear this traditional fighter prefers having something tangible in his hands to fight with.

7 GIFT FROM FDR

As mentioned earlier on the list, between Captain America issues number one and two Timely Comics decided to change the shape and design of Captain America's shield to avoid a lawsuit from a rival publisher. Instead of the triangular, pointed one that Captain America originally used, and later used in flashback stories, Steve Rogers is seen running into battle with a round shield that looks more like a trash can lid than a medieval weapon.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the character in issue #255, Marvel Comics decided to finally give the discus shield an origin of its own.

In order to properly thank him for his service, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gives the patriotic superhero a new shield to bring into battle with him.

6 GIFT TO WAKANDA

While one version of the shield may have been gifted to Cap by the 32nd President, Steve Rogers himself has gifted certain shields to others. Timely Comics may have needed to ditch the angled shield in favor of the round one, but that doesn't mean the original shield completely disappeared from canon.

About 60 years later, in Black Panther #30, Steve Rogers reminisces on his early days as a costumed superhero during the days of World War II. After performing a mission with King T'Chaka, Rogers gifts his shield to his new friend as a sign of trust. Years later, King T'Challa, the current Black Panther, tries returning the shield to his friend but Captain America refuses and allows the object to stay as a symbol of the friendship between the two countries.

5 USED AS AN URN

A shield can be used for many purposes, but most of them are related to fighting. Whether someone is blocking an attack or using a shield to attack, it's pretty obvious what shields are meant to be used for.

But, 90 years into the future where the Hulk is the only superhero survivor in a nuclear wasteland, the shield serves as an urn.

It's Rick Jones, a long-time Marvel sidekick who had worked alongside everyone from the Hulk to Captain America, whose ashes ended up in the shield. To honor his fallen comrade, the Hulk cremates Rick Jones and glues his ashes to the inside of the shield. Instead of leaving the shield in a mantle room, Hulk flings the shield as far away as he can so his adventure-loving friend will get to continue exploring.

4 CREATED BY MYRON MACLAIN

Dr. Myron MacLain, a skilled metallurgist who worked closely with S.H.I.E.L.D., was trying to come up with an indestructible metal he could use to defend Allied tanks during World War II. While the shield is made up of numerous materials that MacLain has worked with before, like vibranium and steel, MacLain isn't quite sure how the substance fused together. After overworking himself, MacLain fell asleep in his laboratory and woke up to discover a completed shield with no evidence of what happened to fuse all the materials together.

Unfortunately, MacLain couldn't replicate the experiment and was never able to make another exact copy. It was in his experiments to duplicate these results that he eventually created adamantium, the material that was fused to Wolverine's skeleton to give him the metal claws.

3 INDESTRUCTIBLE, AND YET...

Captain America's shield is one of the most damage-resistant objects in the Marvel Universe. Not only has the shield survived blows from Thor's hammer and Iron Man's blasts, it's even survived confrontations with godly beings like the Destroyers. The shield may take a couple of scratches every once in a while, but not even a rocket being fired right at it can put a dent in it.

Despite the shield's supposed indestructible status, it has actually broken a number of times.

Thanos was able to break it with the power of the Infinity Gauntlet and there was even a vibranium cancer that damaged the core materials inside the shield. At one point, the Molecule Man even breaks his shield, Iron Man's armor, Thor's hammer and Silver Surfer's board all at once with just a simple thought.

2 CAP'S GIVEN IT UP

Steve Rogers may be most famously known as Captain America, but that's not his only superhero name. Over the years, he's given up his shield numerous times to pick up other names like Nomad or work as the top-spy directly for the President. Rogers is a true hero and he is aware of where he can do the most good at any time. Sometimes he is able to do the most good with the shield, a perfect example is when he returned to the Captain America costume during the "Fear Itself" event, but sometimes he has to work outside the rigid Captain America structure to get things done.

Even without his shield, Steve Rogers is more than capable of defending himself. In addition to his Super Soldier skills, he often relies on an energy shield that mimics his original discus and allows him to reflect enemy blasts on the field.

1 STEPHEN COLBERT'S SHIELD

Stephen Colbert may just be a late show host, but he's also a big fan of pop-culture. The self-proclaimed lover of all things J.R.R. Tolkien cameoed in The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug, and was even gifted a dagger from the set of the original trilogy by Elijah Wood. Not to be one upped, Joe Quesada, the current Chief Creative Officer at Marvel, went onto the Colbert Report and gave the guest a new gift.

Cocky as ever, the satirical host takes the shield and believes that he is the only person truly capable of defending the country.

For the rest of the program's history, the shield can be seen hanging on Colbert's mantle alongside other props and inherited items. As if Colbert's Marvel street cred wasn't high enough, he also appeared in two Spider-Man comics back in 2007 and 2008.