The Science of Science Fiction (In Marvel)

There's no doubt that when we look at the Avengers on the big screen, we see a group of people who are larger than life with extraordinary abilities. Tony Stark with his intellect and iron suit, Thor and his magical lightning hammer, Captain America with his shield and heightened physical capabilities, Black Widow and her stamina and healing, etc. They all sound unreal, right? Surprisingly, there's more science to them than you may think.

Starting with Tony Stark, a.k.a Iron Man, we can figure out that his suit isn't actually made of iron. Since iron is dense and heavy, that metal would make flying quite difficult. In the movies, he says his suit is made from a gold titanium alloy, but even that would be too heavy. If his suit isn't made of iron or a gold titanium alloy, then what could it possibly be made of? Nitinol. Nitinol is a nickle titanium alloy that's durable and light weight, perfect for flying around and taking a few hits. There could also be some carbon fiber and graphite in his suit for the extra hot areas like his rocket boots and his laser gloves. Speaking of different elements, Stark's power source comes to mind. Originally it relied on palladium to function, but since that was slowly poisoning him, he decided to create a whole new element. Sounds like a work of fiction, but actually this has been done before. Humankind has already created 20 synthetic elements and more could be in the making even now.

Next, we can take a look at the hyper-regenerative abilities of Black Widow and Captain America. The two super humans could possibly have super macrophages, special white blood cells tasked with fighting infection and healing wounds. Their macrophages could be hard at work, rapidly producing growth factors to rapidly heal wounds.

While it isn't a super power, Captain America's shield is definitely a work of fiction, right? Well we can assume the shield contains steel, a light weight and sturdy metal that would be able to take quite a bit of roughing up. But steel alone probably wouldn't make the perfect shield. Steel is a poor shock absorber, so picking up the slack is the imaginary mineral called "vibranium." Vibranium can absorb any amount of shock dealt to it without any problem. It gets the job done, but all that energy has to go somewhere. In a fight with Thor, we see something interesting going on when the hammer hits the steel and vibranium shield, it gives off sparks of light! This implies that vibranium turns shock into light energy. Now that's some science!
 

I always think it's interesting when people are able to back science fiction with actual facts. It adds a feeling of realism to the larger than life films we see on the big screen.

I feel like I got a bit of a chemistry lesson when the video was talking about Iron Man (or rather "Nitinol Man")

What science could back up the Hulk or Thor, the two most unreal characters in the Avengers (in my personal opinion)

Backing up your sci-fi with facts gives your film a sense of possibility. It takes a larger than life and brings it down to Earth, making it more relatable (and in my opinion, more enjoyable).