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The Science of Superheroes!

Superheroes in comics and movies can do amazing things! But are any of those things actually possible? Let's Find out!

Bibliography and Recommended Further Reading

Works Cited

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Ahlstrom, Dick. “The Science behind Superheroes’ Powers An Irish Scientist Has Written a Book That Delves into the Secrets behind the Extraordinary Abilities of Superheroes.” The Irish Times, 28 Apr. 2016, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/science/the-science-behind-superheroes-powers-1.2619521#:~:text=The%20most%20common%20way%20for,abilities%20acquired%20from%20other%20species

Allain, Rhett. “Could MJ Really Hang on during Spider-Man’s Swing?” Wired, 15 Oct. 2021, www.wired.com/story/could-mj-really-hang-on-during-spider-mans-swing/.

Allain, Rhett. “How Many Peanut Butter Sandwiches Does It Take to Fuel a Hulk?” Wired, 19 Aug. 2022, www.wired.com/story/how-many-peanut-butter-sandwiches-does-it-take-to-fuel-a-hulk/.

Allain, Rhett. “Let’s Unpack the Pendulum Rocket Fallacy.” Wired, 7 Dec. 2020, www.wired.com/story/lets-unpack-the-pendulum-rocket-fallacy/.

Allain, Rhett. “The Physics of Bullets vs. Wonder Woman’s Bracelets.” Wired, 6 June 2017, www.wired.com/2017/06/physics-bullets-versus-wonder-womans-bracelets/.

Allain, Rhett. “The Physics of Spider-Man’s Webs.” Wired, 29 Apr. 2014, www.wired.com/2014/04/the-physics-of-spider-mans-webs/.

Alvarado, Sebastian. The Science of Marvel: From Infinity Stones to Iron Man’s Armor, the Real Science behind the MCU Revealed! Adams Media, 2019.

Ashish. “Science of Captain America: What’s The Secret of His Superhuman Strength?” Science ABC, 9 July 2022, www.scienceabc.com/humans/movies/science-of-captain-america-whats-the-secret-behind-his-superhuman-strength.html.

Avraamidou, Lucy. “Superheroes and Supervillains: Reconstructing the Mad-Scientist Stereotype in School Science.” Research in Science & Technological Education, vol. 31, no. 1, 2013, pp. 90–115, https://doi.org/10.1080/02635143.2012.761605.

Bloodworth, Sarah. “The Science behind ‘Black Panther’s’ Vibranium Suit.” The Daily Texan, 28 June 2018, thedailytexan.com/2018/06/28/the-science-behind-black-panthers-vibranium-suit/#:~:text=It%20was%20introduced%20as%20a,suit%2C%20making%20him%20virtually%20unstoppable.

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Christensen, Bill. “Real Mineral Nearly Identical to Superman’s Kryptonite.” LiveScience, 11 Jan. 2008, www.livescience.com/1467-real-mineral-identical-superman-kryptonite.html.

Čirjak, Antonia. “Does the 4th Dimension Actually Exist?” WorldAtlas, 16 Mar. 2020, https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/does-a-4th-dimension-actually-exist.html#:~:text=The%20Tesseract,-No%2C%20we%20are&text=A%20tesseract%20is%20an%20object,the%20one%20we%20can%20perceive.

Collins, Sibrina N, and LaVetta Appleby. “Black Panther , Vibranium, and the Periodic Table - ACS Publications.” Journal of Chemical Education, 2018, pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jchemed.8b00206.

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Dupont, Andrew. “Do Hulk’s Legendary Gamma Rays Exist in the Real World?” We Got This Covered, 12 Aug. 2022, wegotthiscovered.com/movies/do-hulks-legendary-gamma-rays-exist-in-the-real-world/.

Finger, Bill, and Bob Kane. “Batman.” Detective Comics, Edited by Vincent Sullivan, vol. 1, no. 27, May 1939, pp. 1–7, https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Detective-Comics-1937/Issue-27?id=5124. 

Fitzgerald, Barry W. “Using Superheroes Such as Hawkeye, Wonder Woman and the Invisible Woman in the Physics Classroom.” Phys. Educ, vol. 53, no. 3, 2018, p. 35032, https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6552/aab442.

Follows, Michael. “Superhero Science: From Fiction to Fact.” Physics World, 14 Mar. 2018, physicsworld.com/a/superhero-science-from-fiction-to-fact/.

Follows, Mike. “Heroes and Villains: The Science of Superheroes.” Science in School, 15 Dec. 2022, www.scienceinschool.org/article/2017/heroes-and-villains-science-superheroes/.

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Fox, Sarah T, et al. “Anticipating the Ageing Trajectories of Superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.” Bmj, vol. 375, 2021, pp. e068001–e068001, https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2021-068001.

Franz, Julia, and Katie Hiler. “The Physics behind 2017’s Biggest Superhero Movies.” The World from PRX, 20 Aug. 2017, theworld.org/stories/2017-08-20/physics-behind-2017-s-biggest-superhero-movies.

Gleiser, Pablo M. “How to Become a Superhero.” Journal of Statistical Mechanics, vol. 2007, no. 9, 2007, pp. P09020–P09020, https://doi.org/10.1088/1742-5468/2007/09/P09020.

Godino, Edward. “How Does Superman Fly? The Comics Have the Answer.” ScreenRant, 27 July 2020, screenrant.com/how-does-superman-fly-explained/.

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Howorka, Stefan. “Spider Silk: Understanding the Structure–Function Relationship of a Natural Fiber.” Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci, vol. 103, 2011, pp. 131–185, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-415906-8.00007-8.

Inglis-Arkell, Esther. “The Physics of Superman.” Gizmodo, 13 June 2011, gizmodo.com/the-physics-of-superman-5810945.

Kakalios, James. The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics : A Math-Free Exploration of the Science That Made Our World. Gotham Books, 2010.

Kakalios, James. The Physics of Superheroes. Avery, an Imprint of Penguin Random House, 2009.

Kirby, Jack. “Meet Captain America.” Captain America Comics, Edited by Joe Simon, vol. 1, no. 1, 20 Dec. 1940, https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Captain-America-Comics.

Kiseleva, Aleksandra P., et al. “Recent Advances in Development of Functional Spider Silk-Based Hybrid Materials.” Frontiers, 29 May 2020, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fchem.2020.00554/full.

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Lee, Stan, et al. “Iron Man.” Tales of Suspense, I, no. 39, Dec. 1962, pp. 1–13, https://readcomiconline.li/Comic/Tales-of-Suspense-1959/Issue-39-Facsimile-Edition?id=201779.

Locke, Simon. “Fantastically Reasonable: Ambivalence in the Representation of Science and Technology in Super-Hero Comics.” Public Understanding of Science (Bristol, England), vol. 14, no. 1, 2005, pp. 25–46, https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662505048197.

Lorch, Mark, et al. The Secret Science of Superheroes. Royal Society of Chemistry, 2017.

Lunau, Kate. “The Science of Superheroes: To Run at Even One-Hundredth the Speed of Light, the Flash Would Have to Eat 150 Million Cheeseburgers.” Maclean’s, vol. 125, no. 8, 2012, p. 56. https://uosc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01USC_INST/273cgt/cdi_gale_infotracmisc_A282512687

Lunawat, Rajat. “Can We Make the Fictional Metal Used in Captain America’s Shield?” Science ABC, 9 July 2022, www.scienceabc.com/pure-sciences/will-able-synthesize-newer-elements-adamantium-vibranium.html.

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Muscio, Alessandro. “The Ambiguous Role of Science and Technology in Marvel Superhero Comics: From Their ‘Golden Age’ to the Present-Day.” Technological Forecasting & Social Change, vol. 186, 2023, p. 122149, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2022.122149.

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Ramezaniaghdam, Maryam, et al. “Recombinant Spider Silk: Promises and Bottlenecks.” Frontiers, 1 Feb. 2022, www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2022.835637/full.

Reynolds, Cormac. “The Science behind the Superheroes: Can Superpowers Be Created?” Engadget, 13 Mar. 2020, www.engadget.com/2016-02-15-the-science-behind-the-superheroes-can-superpowers-be-created.html.

Robinson, Lynne. “The Super Materials of the Super Heroes.” Jom (1989), vol. 64, no. 1, 2012, pp. 13–19, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-012-0256-x.

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Weiner, Adam. “The Science of Superheroes.” Popular Science, 26 Apr. 2021, www.popsci.com/entertainment-gaming/article/2008-01/science-superheroes/.http://www.popsci.com/entertainment-gaming/article/2008-01/science-superheroes/

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 Zehr, E. Paul. Becoming Batman: The Possibility of a Superhero. 1st ed., Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.