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Writer's pictureSaanvi Golia

The Science Behind Marvel

Hello, I am Saanvi of Asgard and I am here, on earth, my favourite planet to educate humans on the actual science behind your favourite superheroes. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is filled with sensational humans with fascinating abilities. Teenage geniuses are swinging through the streets of New York by the means of mere spider webs, billionaires creating impenetrable armour in hidden caves and aliens flying through wormholes to Earth. All of these characters seem to lie firmly in the realm of fantasy but the technology behind them might not be as far fetched as you think. It has one foot rooted in fantasy while the other rooted in science.


Let's take an example of the Spiderman movies. When we first watch Spiderman, we automatically think about how unrealistic it is that a guy can hang from the top of the Empire State Building just by using spider webs! Although in reality, spider silk is incredibly tough and is stronger by weight than steel. It is also very elastic and “Capture Silk” (i.e. sticky silk for catching prey) remains unbroken after being stretched 2-4 times its original length. I hope this convinces you that Peter Parker is not a fraud but just a foolish kid who got himself bitten by a radioactive spider.


Let's take another example of the ‘Strongest Avenger’. Hulk's massive strength and size can be explained in two ways - first that Hulk was exposed to Gamma radiation and his DNA underwent chromosomal shattering or chromothripsis like a vase breaking into pieces.In the case of Bruce Banner, there's a switch for all the genes representing his normal self and those that let him transform into the Hulk. It's believed that the Hulk's trigger is Bruce Banner's anger, but didn't Banner say in The Avengers that he was always angry? So instead of "turning on" the Hulk, he might've just been "turning off" his normal self to transform. There's still a lack of ‘scientific evidence’ about how the hulk keeps his trousers on after the transformation. Sadly, this is where I conclude, leaving you with these examples that should convince you that there's not much of a gap between science fiction and science.

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