Avengers: Endgame Director Explains How Thanos’ Blade Beat Captain America’s Shield

Avengers: Endgame‘s home release is here and fans are hyped to re-live the adventure in the comfort of their own homes. The debates are sure to rage and moments like Thanos‘ big faceoff with Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America will be discussed widely. In a final stand against the Mad Titan, the three Avengers draw their line in the sand and are thoroughly rebuffed by the big bad. Captain America finds himself in a bit of a close shave when all that stands between him and Thanos is his trusty shield.

Up until that moment, the fight had been going pretty well. Cap had saved Thor’s life by wielding the hammer and beating the Mad Titan back. But, after losing the advantage, Thanos slices chunks out of Captain America’s nigh-invincible shield and tosses him away. Luckily for Steve Rodgers, reinforcements were on the way…

During the commentary track for the film, the filmmakers talk about that impressive blade a bunch. During this initial showdown, co-writer Stephen McFeely points out just how strong Thanos’ new toy is and what that means for Vibranium moving forward in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“You can also see that while Vibranium is the strongest substance on Earth, whatever Thanos’ straight razor there is made out of is stronger,” He said.

Now that we’re all trying to get the image of the villain trying to shave with that thing out of our heads, this is a pretty succinct answer. Thanos’ double-bladed weapon proves to be every bit as powerful as the weapons wielded by the Avengers’ Trinity. Many assumed that other than against other vibranium, Cap’s shield couldn’t be beaten. Black Panther taught us that vibranium (an element that crashed to Earth from the cosmos) is the most powerful metal around; however, Joe Russo told Comicbook.com earlier, there were some serious doubts cast on vibranium’s rank as the “most powerful metal” in the MCU.

“Clearly Thanos is a thousand-year-old character who has fought everyone in the universe and is the greatest: He’s the Genghis Khan of the universe, so he would have the greatest weapon,” Russo said. “He knows of Eitri, he’s been to Eitri to have his glove created. Did he have them create his blade as well? Potentially. But it’s interesting that it could destroy the shield.”

That last mention of Eitri and Nidavellir playing a role in creating Thanos’ weapon is interesting, as a lot of Marvel fans have looked to that as an explanation in the past. Joe Russo is also pretty coy when mentioning the intrigue of the weapon destroying Cap’s shield, which seems like one of many lanes of possibility that the Russos left open for future Marvel Cinematic Universe storytellers. If anything is clear after Endgame, it is that there are threats bigger than the heroes can imagine among the stars.