Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3146 to 3150 (1-5 February 2016)
Morituri:
Cap's shield, like Thor's hammer, is a Plot Device.
It negates ALL kinetic energy and momentum of anything that hits it. Which has led to some decidedly peculiar applications in-canon, such as getting thrown out of an airplane and hitting the ground at terminal velocity, shield first - and being unharmed.
Tova:
--- Quote from: Morituri on 06 Feb 2016, 14:44 ---Cap's shield, like Thor's hammer, is a Plot Device.
--- End quote ---
You mean Plot Shield. :claireface:
Zebediah:
Okay, so it's Comic Book Physics in action. Because a real shield would have to do something with all the kinetic energy it absorbed - most likely get very, very hot.
Or we could do some extreme handwaving and say something like the energy gets quantum-tunneled through another dimension, which would cause all the physicists to scream "That's not how physics works!"
Tova:
I felt vaguely motivated to google the topic, and I read the first promising link I came across. I have to say, watching geeks try to rationalise the physics is hilarious.
I found a long post trying to discuss it in reference to Newton's Third Law, tried to work out how much impact was absorbed versus reflected, and showed only a couple of glimmers of self awareness.
"Obviously, a bit of hand-waving is needed here, ..."
Ha ha ha, no really?
"... it's also important to keep in mind that applying real-world physics to a comic book will almost always result in frustration."
That's not going to stop anyone. Well, obviously.
Morituri:
Yeah, if you're going to have a Plot Device that works in ways completely alien to physics, handwaving just isn't enough.
Rather than trying to give it ANY justification or rationale, it's better to declare that it works because of IJD technology.
IJD?
"It Just Does."
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