<P> A common misconception is that the shield can "magically" return to Captain America . The "superhuman serum" that enhanced Captain America's physical attributes also improved his mental faculties--such as cognition, perception, balance, aim, and reflexes--to near genius - level . This allows him to instantly calculate ballistic - physics and predict the probable trajectory of objects in motion . This makes him a perfect shot . He can dodge or deflect bullets with his shield without collateral ricochet to civilians, to calculate where or how the shield will bounce and when it will return to his location, or trip a running person to cause them to fall into a specific position . In Avengers: Age of Ultron, he pulls the shield back to him after it is stuck, but this is through an electromagnet fastened on his arm . After his memories are altered to make him believe that he is a Hydra sleeper agent, Rogers uses his precise knowledge of the shield to put Sam Wilson, its current wielder, in a position where he will fail to save a senator from Flag - Smasher by arranging for Wilson to be forced to throw the shield in a manner that Rogers knows from his own experience will miss its target by mere millimetres, as part of his agenda to undermine Sam's status as Captain America . </P> <P> In his debut, Captain America (secretly U.S. Army Private Steve Rogers) is equipped with a triangular, badge - shaped shield made from vibranium . After complaints by rival comic - book publisher MLJ that the design was too similar to that of its own patriotic hero the Shield, Timely Comics replaced the triangular shield with a disc - shaped one . </P> <P> While the origin and fate of the original shield were not described in the original comics from the 1940s, the shield's fate was revealed decades later in 2001 through a retconned story . According to the tale, King T'Chaka of the African nation Wakanda met Captain America in early 1941 and gave him a second sample of vibranium, an alien metal with unique vibration absorption properties and found only in Wakanda and the Savage Land . The new Vibranium sample was used to make Captain America's circular shield and his triangular one was retired . </P> <P> Captain America received a second triangular shield that he used until given his disc - shaped shield, which was personally presented to him by President Franklin Roosevelt . This second triangular shield would be kept in storage with Rogers' other personal effects after the war . It was recovered at some point after Rogers joined the superhero team the Avengers in The Avengers #4, and was kept at Avengers Mansion . It was destroyed by the supervillain Mr. Hyde during a raid on the mansion by Baron Zemo's Masters of Evil, and later "plucked from time" and restored by Zemo in Thunderbolts #105 (Oct. 2006). The shield (along with other sentimental items thought destroyed) was returned to Captain America . A third triangular shield is kept in the Smithsonian Institution . It was used by Captain America when he foiled a terrorist attack on the museum itself after the loss of his usual shield; it was then given to him in gratitude . This shield is destroyed several issues later by a Kree alien warrior . </P>

What is captain america's shield made of in the comics