--- title: Here's How Much It Would Cost To Be Captain America description: It's all about the shield canonical: https://time.com/4299373/captain-america-cost/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-19T19:26:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:42.453Z og:title: Here's How Much It Would Cost to Be Captain America og:description: It's all about the shield og:url: https://time.com/4299373/captain-america-cost/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83c43391a35acdd5/69888fc4428a9e5caecd24a1/captain-america.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3278 og:image:height: 1844 og:image:alt: captain-america og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's How Much It Would Cost to Be Captain America twitter:description: It's all about the shield twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83c43391a35acdd5/69888fc4428a9e5caecd24a1/captain-america.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's How Much It Would Cost to Be Captain America > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: The High Cost of Being Batman [Watch (HLS stream): The High Cost of Being Batman](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/omF4kTMP.m3u8) (1:27)  _Published 2016-03-25. Taking a look at how Bruce Wayne spends his money._ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 19, 2016 7:26 PM UTC  Chris Evans in Captain America: Civil War. Chris Evans in Captain America: Civil War. Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Apr 19, 2016 7:26 PM UTC Have you ever wondered how much it cost for Steve Rogers to become [Captain America](http://time.com/3001241/marvel-captain-america-black/?iid=sr-link1)? According to a new—and very detailed—[infographic](http://www.twizzle.co.uk/how-much-would-it-cost-to-be-captain-america/), the cost of becoming the greatest American hero comes in at a whopping $55,114,220. The first step in Rogers’s transformation from Average American Soldier into a super patriotic superhero was Project Rebirth, a scientific experiment that today conservatively cost around $516,000\. The uniform is worth an estimated $3,720 (far [less than Darth Vader’s costume](http://time.com/4294289/darth-vader-suit-cost/?iid=sr-link4)), a standard issue military firearm runs about $900 and the 2014 Harley-Davidson 750 motorcycle that he rode in both [_Captain America: The Winter Soldier_](http://time.com/49893/captain-america-winter-soldier-trivia/?iid=sr-link5)and _Avengers: Age of Ultron_ costs about $7,500. The element that puts [Captain America](http://time.com/3999562/marvel-captain-america-civil-war-footage/?iid=sr-link3)‘s accoutrements into the stratospheric price range, though, is his shield. Dr. Myron MacLain made the Captain’s shield out of an iron and [vibranium](http://marvel.wikia.com/wiki/Vibranium) alloy, which is virtually indestructible (that’s why [Black Panther’s](http://time.com/4281426/ta-nehisi-coates-black-panther-marvel/) suit is made out of it, as well). Vibranium is a completely fictional, yet incredibly expensive material. As the infographic points out, in issue 607 of the Fantastic Four, it was priced at $10,000 gram. Considering Captain America’s shield weighs in at 12 pounds, that means it is worth a whopping $54 million (a.k.a. more than the [GDP of Tuvalu!](http://statisticstimes.com/economy/countries-by-gdp.php)). Good thing it’s indestructible, because Captain America would need one heck of a Kickstarter to buy a new one. While $55,114,220 is a lot of money, considering how many times Captain America has saved the planet from destruction, it’s still a good investment. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4299373/captain-america-cost/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4299373/captain-america-cost/"},"headline":"Here's How Much It Would Cost to Be Captain America","datePublished":"2016-04-19T19:26:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:47:42.453Z","description":"It's all about the shield","url":"https://time.com/4299373/captain-america-cost/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Marvel","comic books","Superheroes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83c43391a35acdd5/69888fc4428a9e5caecd24a1/captain-america.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt83c43391a35acdd5/69888fc4428a9e5caecd24a1/captain-america.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"captain-america","caption":"Chris Evans in Captain America: Civil War.","creditText":"Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4299373/captain-america-cost/","name":"Here's How Much It Would Cost to Be Captain America"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The High Cost of Being Batman","description":"Taking a look at how Bruce Wayne spends his money.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/omF4kTMP/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-03-25T16:34:09.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/omF4kTMP.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4299373/captain-america-cost/","duration":"PT1M27S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4299373/captain-america-cost/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```