Today, we look at why Captain America's shield became round.

In Abandoned an' Forsaked, we examine comic book stories and ideas that were not only abandoned, but also had the stories/plots specifically "overturned" by a later writer (as if they were a legal precedent).

Now, this just makes me laugh. You see, as you might have noticed from a few of my columns over the years, when it comes to a discussion about Captain America's shield (which has come up a number of times over the years, of course, as everyone loves Captain America's shield, it's only one of the most iconic weapons in all of comic book history. Probably THE most iconic, next to Fancy Dan's throwing knives), my features are typically inspired by reader Hunter S.'s questions about Captain America's shield. However, this time, while I thought that Hunter had asked me about it, I went to my notes and he had not actually asked me about this one, so I guess I was just going to do this on my own, but then literally a day or so after I got the title and the header image approved, Hunter wrote me...about this very topic! Too funny.

In any event, let's take a look at why Captain America's shield became round in the comics!

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THE REAL LIFE REASON WHY CAPTAIN AMERICA'S SHIELD BECAME ROUND

The real life reason for the shield becoming round is fairly mundane, really. One of the things that you have to keep in mind about the early days of comic books is that most of the comic book companies at the time were very familiar with each other because almost all of the major comic book companies were originally pulp magazine companies who then got into comics, as well, and so everyone knew each other from the pulp game.

Few things made it more clear just how interwoven the lives of these companies were than the fact that Maurice Coyne, one of the three men who got together to form MLJ Comics (based on the first initial of each of their names: Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John L. Goldwater) continued to do the books for Martin Goodman on Goodman's comic book line even after Coyne was one of the owners of a rival comic book company. That's just how these guys rolled back then. It's similar to how National Comics (now DC) allowed Marvel to distribute their comics through DC's distribution system in the late 1950s after Marvel's distributor went out of business.

However, while they would help each other out, they were all still actively business rivals. One of the ways that this was often expressed was through threatened lawsuits with each other.

For instance, MLJ had introduced the first patriotic-themed superhero with the Shield in Pep Comics #1...

When Martin Goodman's comic book company put out Captain America Comics #1...

MLJ threatened to sue over Cap's shield being similar to the Shield's costume, so Joe Simon and Jack Kirby moved to a circular shield....

And that's the "real life" reason for why Captain America's shield was round. How about in the comics?

THE FIRST OFFICIAL EXPLANATION FOR WHY CAPTAIN AMERICA'S SHIELD BECAME ROUND

This is a weird one, because there are a lot of, like, hidden theories about the origins of Captain America's shield that don't actually come from the comics themselves, so I really don't know where they come from. For instance, one theory that I see a LOT (to the point where perhaps I should do it as a Comic Book Legends Revealed debunking it - unless it just DID appear in a comic book that I don't know about) is that Captain America's shield is round because it was poured into the mold for a tank hatch. That's a GREAT idea, but it's not actually in the comic book where the background of the shield was given, Captain America #303 (by Mike Carlin, Paul Neary and Dennis Janke). In that comic, it is true that Myron MacLain was working on making tank armor when he was given some Vibranim to work with and he discovered the alloy that created Captain America's shield through a mysterious mixture of Vibranium and steel into a super metal, but he specifically notes that he poured it into a disc-shaped mold because it would be the easiest thing to test...

Does that make sense? I really have no idea, but that's the official answer! At least, it WAS!

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HOW DID BLACK PANTHER INFLUENCE THE SHAPE OF CAPTAIN AMERICA'S SHIELD?

The miniseries Captain America/Black Panther: Flags of Our Fathers saw Captain America and Nick Fury and the Howling Commandoes go to Wakanda in World War II to keep the Nazis from taking the country over and taking control of its Vibranium supply. Captain America befriended the Black Panther of World War II (T'Challa's grandfather) and they fought in battle against Red Skull and some super-Nazis, as shown here in Flags of Our Fathers #4 (by Reginald Hudlin, Denys Cowan, Tom Palmer, Sandu Florea and Peter Pantazis)....

Captain America's original shield is destroyed in battle...

Black Panther gives him a round shield made out of Vibranium and Cap really likes it...

In the end, Black Panther offers Cap the shield, but Cap turns him down, but suggests that it DID give him a good idea for a new shield...

We then learn that, working under Nick Fury's direction, Captain America stole a piece of Vibranium...

And along with Cap's suggestion for a round shield, the Vibranium was used to make the special shield...

Evan Narcisse, Paul Renaud and Stephane Paitreau later retconned that retcon in Rise of the Black Panther #1, where it was revealed that Black Panther GAVE Captain America the piece of Vibranium as a gift...

That's it for this installment of Abandoned an' Forsaked! Thanks to Hunter S. for suggesting that I feature this one, even if technically I was doing it anyways! He couldn't have known that, so it still counts! Everyone else, feel free to send me ideas for future installments at brianc@cbr.com! I always love to know what stories interest people!

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