How Strong Is Captain America? (MCU & Comics)

Steve Rogers, Captain America, and Cap. These are the names that we often call to that iconic superhero who is stressed with the adornment of the stars and stripes that symbolizes the United States of America. Living up to his name and duty as a powerful soldier, Steve Rogers commits to his duty as one of Earth’s mightiest heroes to defeat any evil that attempts to destroy his beloved planet, and of course his good old country. But how strong is Captain America?

Captain America is known to be stronger than an ordinary human being. He has the strength multiple times higher than that of a well-trained human fighter. He got that strength by participating in the Super Soldier serum trials. But there is more to just raw strength when it comes to Cap.

If you want to know more about this strength, I will discuss everything about his overall strength in every movie that he was in. I will also explain some details about his feats when using his signature shield, as well as Mjolnir when he was deemed worthy to wield it. 

How Strong Is Captain America In The First Avenger?

Joining the Allied Front, Cap joined in multiple skirmishes all over Europe. In one of his briefings, he learned that his best friend, Bucky, was captured by the Axis forces. Cap has awesome strength, good aim using guns, as well as wits in war tactics (which can be regarded as strong in terms of intelligence). Cap goes on to rescue Bucky and his comrades. At first, Cap looked very frail and is a small person. But after getting injected by the Super Soldier Serum, he attained a strength that’s multiple times stronger than an average human.

During Bucky’s captivity, he was also injected with the same Super Soldier serum by the axis forces. He was rescued by Cap before the brainwashing could finish. With Bucky rescued, Cap along with the few soldiers who joined him in the skirmish would band together to form the Howling Commandos. 

In one of the said skirmishes, Bucky was assumed dead by the team after falling from the train to icy waters in the mountains. With Bucky gone, Steve would mourn for his friend alongside Peggy Carter, Steve’s love interest. With the support of his superior officers, loved ones, and his allies, Cap continued to end the war as a super-soldier. 

Cap would end up fighting the Red Skull. The Red Skull, Johann Shmidt, was the very first person to be injected with the Super Soldier serum by Erskine’s design. Since the serum wasn’t stable yet, Johann injected himself with the serum with huge consequences. The Red Skull is also known to have the same level of strength as Cap.

Along with the help of his new shield made out of Adamantium, he defeated the Red Skull and with no other option available, proceeded to crash the aircraft in frozen waters to stop Red Skull’s plans. After saying goodbye to his comrades, Cap would disappear for 70 years. The crash was also a testament to Cap’s resilience as he survived the incident without any serious damage to his body. 

How Strong Is Captain America In The Avengers?

Upon learning that the world was not at war anymore, He would take up Nick Fury’s offer to be a part of a team he’s assembling. The Avengers was a team made of powerful individuals ranging from soviet spies, a billionaire, a scientist, and even a Norse God. They were created to battle emerging threats ranging from terrorists, criminals with powerful technology, to even world threats. The team would constantly fight with one another and would eventually team up when Loki would make his big attempt at taking over the Earth.

The Chitauri invasion of Earth showed how they can work as a team. With Steve’s knowledge of warfare, he would provide the team with tasks playing to what each individual was good at. This shows his great Leadership qualities especially when he directed the police on what streets of New York needed help the most and where the defensive line should hold. 

As a fighter, He trained in hand-to-hand combat with S.H.I.E.L.D. combined with his experience during World War II and applying the use of his Vibranium shield in his arsenal, He can take out groups of aliens even solo. Alongside his peak human strength, He can lift a side of a car to help people pinned under the debris. He is also a compassionate person willing to throw himself in the fight to rescue and protect civilians.

His arsenal only consists of his shield made out of Vibranium. Vibranium is a metal in the Marvel Universe that is so strong that even bullets will deflect upon impact. When he fights, aside from punching and kicking, he throws his shield to his enemies and bounces of from one enemy to the other, and returns to Steve. 

How Strong Is Captain America In The Winter Soldier?

In Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier, Steve finds himself working at S.H.I.E.L.D alongside Black Widow. Nick Fury, the figurehead of S.H.I.E.L.D. was targeted by HYDRA for assassination in broad daylight. Though the initial hit failed, Fury was “Taken out” by the Winter Soldier. Cap upon engaging the winter soldier realizes that it was his best friend Bucky Barnes. 

After falling from the train during World War II, Bucky was captured by HYDRA and is brainwashed to perform assassinations throughout history. Along with Black Widow, Cap unravels the secrets of HYDRA being in high positions of power all over the world and trying to rescue the brainwashed Bucky with a new ally, Sam Wilson. 

The movie shows that cap has been taking his training seriously while employed by SHIELD. He can fight with the likes of Batroc at the start of the film. Being at peak human performance, He has also applied Gymnastics and Athleticism to his arsenal for more fluid movement. 

During his fight with HYDRA, he planned with Nat and Sam to take out HYDRA agents within SHIELD. His brawls with the Winter Soldier show that aside from strength and endurance, He shows heart in trying to get his best friend back, even allowing the Winter Soldier to kill him during the final fight of the film before breaking through his brainwashing.

How Strong Is Captain America In The Age Of Ultron?

Since HYDRA made itself known to the world during the events of the Winter Soldier movie, The Avengers took on HYDRA installations all across the globe eventually coming into contact with the Maximoff twins. With threats emerging all over the world, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner created Ultron as an extension for the Iron Legion, a peace-keeping force. 

When Ultron became sentient, he deemed all of humanity a threat to itself and intended to wipe out humanity with the Iron Legion. Knowing that they created Ultron, The Avengers takes on Ultron along with the Iron Legion to put a stop to his plans of destruction. New allies emerge in the heat of the battle with Vision, Scarlet Witch, and Quicksilver.

Captain America goes all out in this movie. Fighting hordes of the iron Legion, Ultron’s army. Knowing that the enemies are machines, he fights with his shield using it to decapitate and destroy the machines. 

Since his only means of ranged fighting is throwing his shield, he mostly focuses on ground-based enemies and lets Hawkeye and Iron Man take out flying enemies. He also employs tactics like letting Iron Man shoot his Repulsor Beam to his shield acting as a laser turret towards enemies.

How Strong Is Captain America In Civil War?

In one of the Avengers’ missions in taking out HYDRA resistance, Crossbones, not willing to be taken into custody, attempts to blow himself out and take out Cap along with himself. In a quick lapse of judgment, Wanda uses her power and pushes Crossbones to a building.

His bomb goes off taking out a building with 26 people. Due to the events of Age of Ultron and this incident, the government proposes the Sokovia accords, which means that the heroes will be government-sanctioned. 

With Iron Man seeing this as being compliant with the government, Cap sees this as an invasion of privacy and trust because being government-sanctioned heroes means that they would be forced to do the “dirty work” of the government and military. Heroes will not be able to help people unless given the OK signal by the government hence Cap was against the accords. This eventually divides the avengers in half with new heroes on each side.

This movie had a lot of fight scenes but focusing on Cap, not much has changed. He still fights for what is right, such as helping Bucky and preventing Stark from being a murderer. The movie just shows that he can be brutal even against humans when his friends are in danger like the beat-down Iron Man received along with compassion when he stopped and didn’t kill Stark.

How Strong Is Captain America In Infinity War and Endgame?

After the events of the Civil War, most of the Anti registration has been incarcerated in The Raft. Most of Cap’s comrade who wasn’t caught are hiding but promises Stark that they will return if the world needs them. 

Thanos shows up on Earth along with his generals and the Chitauri fleet to gather all 6 infinity stones so he can cull the population in half to give life in the galaxy a chance to recover from the overuse of natural resources. The Avengers, knowing what they will face, band together to secure the stones before Thanos can achieve his ultimate goal.

In both Endgame and Infinity War, Steve lost his iconic shield and is given by the Wakanda government a replacement. He still fights the same way, mostly using his fists, kicks, and shield throws. 

All through his journey in the MCU the one thing that stands out the most in Captain America is his Heart. He doesn’t give up even though things look bleak and desperation kicks in. Though in Endgame he got a huge power-up. 

He wields Mjolnir, Thor’s Hammer, for he was deemed worthy to wield it. Using the shield along with the hammer, he can defend himself and take out hordes of enemies by shooting lightning from Mjolnir.

How Strong Is Captain America In The Comics?

In the comics, Captain America is best known as the leader of the Avengers and a symbol of freedom. He may not have the tech that Stark has or the strength of Gods like Thor. But his willingness to serve and protect humanity even going up against Gods or otherworldly creatures while being just at peak human performance thanks to the Super Soldier serum. 

Through the years many have donned the mantle of Captain America like Sam Wilson, Bucky Barnes, and Isaiah Bradley but Steve Rogers is best known with the title. Now the question is, Just how strong is Captain America in the comic books, and is it different from the MCU?

Steve is a competent hand-to-hand fighter. He’s not the best like Shang Chi or Iron Fist but he has beaten the Red Skull and Baron Zemo multiple times in the past. Even when pitted against a group of HYDRA agents, he can still win solo even without the shield. 

Also in the comics, Captain America’s shield is made out of a mix between Wakandan Vibranium and proto-adamantium which makes it virtually indestructible. Thanks to the Super Soldier serum, Cap has the strength to hold on to the shield even when taking huge explosive damage directly aimed at the shield. 

Aside from defense, Cap also uses the shield as a projectile weapon, mostly throwing it at an enemy to knock them out. He also throws it and bounces off one enemy to the other until either cap or someone as strong or as agile can catch it. 

You also have to consider how he thinks because he is a skilled tactician that can flawlessly command the Avengers even in the heat of battle. He is also agile thanks to the Super Soldier serum. He can employ flips and kicks while fighting multiple enemies. He is also known to stay in the fight for longer periods due to his endurance. Steve is not much different than “Comic Cap” in terms of strength.

How Strong Is Captain America’s Shield?

In the comics, The first shield cap used in World War II was triangular. The shape of the shield would late be changed to a disc shape because it is identical to the shield used by The Shield. 

The first shield, the triangular one, was a shield made out of steel. The more iconic disc-shaped shield is made of Wakandan Vibranium and proto-adamantium which makes it virtually indestructible. 

Thanks to the Vibranium’s properties, it can absorb kinetic blows and vibrations applied to the shield without injuring Steve. It’s also because of the properties of vibranium that allows the shield to ricochet off enemies with little loss of speed after each impact.

Although considered virtually indestructible, there have been moments in the comic universe where the shield was broken. In the Secret Wars storyline, Cap’s shield was partially destroyed by Doctor Doom due to him getting the godlike powers of the Beyonder. After the events of Secret Wars, the heroes are temporarily granted the ability to realize their wishes. Captain America’s wishes were for the shield to be fixed.

Also, in the 2011 storyline Fear Itself, The serpent (Odin’s brother and God of Fear) breaks the shield in half with his bare hands.

How Strong Is Captain America with Mjolnir?

In the movie Avengers: Endgame, one of the most iconic scenes was steve using the hammer of Thor, Mjolnir. With it, He can summon lightning to strike groups of enemies. The hammer itself is made of Uru metal and with the blessing of The All-Father Odin, Can only be wielded by who the hammer itself deems worthy. 

Since the nature of Mjolnir is magic, the hammer can be thrown at an enemy then can be recalled by the person using it. Though this event lasted for a short moment as after the events of Endgame, Steve was an old man and has given Falcon the shield.

In the comics, there have been 2 events wherein Captain America (Steve Rogers) was deemed worthy by the hammer and wielded it. The first one was in 1988 when Steve gave up the mantle and became The Captain sporting a black and red costume. 

The second one was in the event Fear Itself. When Cap’s shield was destroyed, he wielded Mjolnir to rally the Super Heroes against Serpent. There is also the time in where evil Cap wielded the hammer in the Secret Empire story but that is a story that many Marvel fans don’t want to acknowledge. 

How Strong Is Captain America’s Punch?

When it comes to Steve Rogers, he is not as strong as The Hulk or Thor. As said before, the serum only gave Steve peak human performance aka the physical peak form a person can achieve. He is strong in human standards, just imagine at 6’2” height and 240lbs a person in peak condition. He can lift 800lbs and has the agility, strength, speed, endurance, and reaction time superior to any Olympic athlete who ever competed.

Even with his strength, he has gone toe-to-toe with villains bigger and stronger than him. He has beaten giant robots and alien invaders. He has also won against the likes of Red Skull, Baron Zemo, Winter Soldier (when he was a brainwashed assassin), Wilson Fisk, Serpent Society. 

During the Civil War storyline, Steve fought both heroes (Those who sided with Iron Man in the registration act) and villains (Those who registered had many benefits and the added permission to hunt the heroes they hated who were anti-registration). 

Being the leader for heroes’ rights without the consent of the government’s intervention, he was the one who was mainly targeted by both heroes and villains. The civil war came to an end after many heroes and villains were beaten all across New York and Steve Rogers deciding to surrender after beating Iron Man and not wanting to kill his former friend. 

As you can see, Captain America is not just all about being a buffed-up human being thanks to the power of technology. He is also a well-trained specialist in the art of war and is well-experienced in fighting any evil that might destroy the world as well. After all, his qualities are the actual reason why Mjolnir deemed him worthy of possessing its powers. Therefore, Cap is not just strong, but skilled and truly good-hearted.