10 Subtle Changes That SAVED Iconic Comic Book Characters

The original Captain America shield, as the movie so helpfully showed, was originally - well - a shield. It was angular, sort of diamond shaped, good for blocking bullets but not a lot else.

While Captain America wasn't necessarily in danger of being cancelled, especially after that first issue sold so well, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby quickly realized that the captain needed something a bit more creative, for the sake of excitement if nothing else.

So they redesigned the shield to be a perfectly circular disk shape, as well as simplified the color scheme to instead be two red stripes, two white, and a blue center with a big white star in the middle. This not only made it more easily recognizable, but its disk shape meant that Cap could now throw his shield to take down enemies, making for more creative and dynamic fight scenes.