By Melissa B, Registered Dietitian
We all know that Captain America is in ‘peak human condition’ but still just human–but simultaneously being able to do things way beyond what even gold medal Olympians can do. For example:
Cap can run up to 70 miles per hour (Sentinel of Liberty 1). By contrast, Usain Bolt (the fastest man in the world) can run up to 27.78 miles per hour for a short amount of time (Austin).
Cap can bench press either 1100-2200 lbs–not sure if that’s both weights or total amount (Captain America 402). And then he can bicep curl helicopters–that are moving away from him (Russo)! My favorite scene by far.
Someone said online that the helicopter in the movie was a Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil, which seems reasonable to me. It weighs 2,588 pounds (Wikipedia). The world record for a strict bicep curl is 251 pounds (Jackson). So Cap can curl 10 times the human record. That’s not even counting the additional weight from it moving away from him–probably more like 4,000 lbs at that point.
| Cap | Reference | Real World | Reference | |
| 1 | Judo flips an enemy who weighs approximately half a ton (1102 lbs!) | Captain America Vol. 1 #308 | ||
| 2 | Michael Phelps swam 13 kilometres a day, 6-7 days a week; That works out to at least 80,000 meters per week. Even on Sundays and birthdays. | https://olympics.com/en/news/michael-phelps-training-regimen-workut-diet | ||
| 3 | Holds up the weight of a semi-constructed building | Captain America Vol. 3 #10 | ||
| 4 | Throws his shield fast enough to catch up to a rocket | Captain America Vol. 3 #27 |
So we have evidence that Cap is more like superhuman, or at least made to seem that way. Peggy confirms in Captain America: The First Avenger: “Your metabolism burns four times faster than the average person,” and Captain America #359 explains Cap is able to force his body to metabolize things faster. The information we have about his eating habits from the comics does not seem to support that he is eating nearly as much as we would expect for these statements (we could also say that eating food–or going to the bathroom for that matter–is not a concern in almost any genre of stories–who wants to know that Cap went to the bathroom before End Game?). I just expected that he would be eating more than 2 orders of scrambled eggs and put at least cream in his coffee. In fact, based on all the food references (compiled table at the end of the article), his diet seems to consist of coffee, wine, and burgers. Very nutritious.
I pulled a few of Cap’s meals and put them next to some of Bolt and Phelp’s.
Cap’s favorite meal is recorded as American (no surprise there) cheese on whole wheat toast and milk (Captain America 309). Phelps would regularly have 1.1 pounds of pasta, two big ham/cheese sandwiches on white bread with tons of mayo as well as energy drinks for a meal (Olympics).
In #398, Cap has black coffee, two scrambled egg orders, toast, and orange juice (Captain America 398). Bolt would have dumplings made of flour, water, butter, and milk called Johnny Cakes, and boiled potatoes (Mireia Cervera).
As a breakfast in Sentinel of Liberty 4, Cap had pancakes, over easy eggs, and bacon or sausage (Sentinel of Liberty 4). On the other hand, Phelps would have three fried egg sandwiches, topped with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, fried onions and mayo, three chocolate-chip pancakes, a five-egg omelette, three sugar-coated French toasts, grits, washed down with two cups of coffee (Olympics)!
A mid 1900’s era meal that Cap had in #750 was pickled beets, creamed chipped beef, mashed potatoes, and green peas (Captain America 750). Bolt ate things like a large amount of fish, with rice or pasta, then whole wheat bread and vegetables (Mireia Cervera). Both Bolt and Phelps are carb loading. Cap is…. being normal??
It is recommended that the average person get 25-35 kcals/kg of body weight. I made a chart to compare some of their calories/body compositions.
| Cap | Reference | Real World | Reference | |
| 1 | Average person needs 25-35 calories per kg; so likely 1360-3180 between various weights | |||
| 2 | Cap is 6’2” and 240 lbs (109.1 kg) | Captain America Vol. 1 #286 | Michael Phelps at 85-90 kg body weight when competing. | https://olympics.com/en/news/michael-phelps-training-regimen-workut-diet |
| 3 | If the same amount of calories/kg as Michael=12,873 calories a day | Michael Phelps at 10,000 calories: 118 calories/kg during competition | ||
| 4 | 2% body fat=essential body fat only (can I say how unusual this is? It is NATURAL to have up to 24% body fat for men. Even athletes have 6-13%!) | Captain America Vol. 1 #328 | Michael Phelps: 8% body fat=athletic level | https://olympics.com/en/news/michael-phelps-10000-calories-diet-what-the-american-swimmer-ate-while-training- https://www.calculator.net/body-fat-calculator.html |
Since Cap’s metabolism burns four times faster than the average human, he should be getting down 51,492 calories a day (12,873 x 4). Holy guacamole! (Incidentally, did you know avocados are a great source of energy, Vitamin E, monounsaturated fat, folate, *intake of breath* AND potassium?!? He could really use some of those. Maybe on his burgers.) And don’t even get me started on his protein or fat needs! Therefore, I am really leaning on the idea that the serum changed his metabolism to absorb energy more efficiently or expend much more effort on the same amount of energy, or both (a very plausible theory given that insane number of calories we calculated above). Not to mention that my calculations are made for regular humans and not serum injected ones. Probably just as well.
| Cap’s Foods | Reference | |
| 1 | Coffee | Tales of Suspense Vol. 1 #59 |
| 2 | Goat milk | Captain America Vol. 1 #237 |
| 3 | Two “super-dogs” (some sort of chili dog) and a big orange | Captain America Vol. 1 #241 |
| 4 | Apple pie | Captain America Vol. 1 #245 |
| 5 | Spiced Wine | Captain America Vol. 1 #256 |
| 6 | Wine (got tipsy) | Captain America Vol. 1 #261 |
| 7 | Favorite repast is American cheese on whole wheat toast and milk | Captain America Vol. 1 #309 |
| 8 | Hamburger (Burger deluxe) and coffee | Captain America Vol. 1 #324 |
| 9 | Some sort of noodle dish. Likely pasta primavera but the noodles are thicker than would be expected | Captain America Vol. 1 #375 |
| 10 | Black coffee, two orders of scrambled eggs (one order might be for someone he’s with, but a later panel makes it seem like it’s just for him), toast, and orange juice | Captain America Vol. 1 #398 |
| 11 | A burger? Hard to see and is just called “The Usual” | Captain America Vol 3. #5 |
| 12 | Wine. Some sort of food but it’s not defined at all | Captain America Vol 3. #20 |
| 13 | Drinks some wine | Captain America Vol 3. #37 |
| 14 | Cap goes fishing. Doesn’t necessarily eat them | Captain America Vol 3. #49 |
| 15 | Pancakes, eggs, hash browns, and link sausage | Captain America Vol 4. #21 |
| 16 | Burger and fries | Captain America Vol 4. #26 |
| 17 | Pancakes | Captain America Vol 4. #27 |
| 18 | Burgers (under a quarter pound) | Captain America Vol 5. #16 |
| 19 | Alien fruits and animals in dimension Z | Captain America Vol 7. #3 |
| 20 | Drinks a beer | Captain America Vol 9. #3 |
| 21 | Drinks a beer | Captain America Vol 9. #18 |
| 22 | Fried chicken and drinks a beer | Captain America Vol. 9 #24 |
| 23 | Pancakes, over easy eggs, and bacon or sausage | Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty Vol. 2 #4 |
| 24 | Pickled beets, creamed chipped beef, mashed potatoes, and green peas | Captain America #750 |
Works Cited
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Mireia Cervera, Mireia. “The diet of Usain Bolt.” 16 3 2022, https://flaxandkale.com/en/blog/la-dieta-de-usain-bolt. Accessed 22 3 2025.
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Olympics. Michael Phelps’ 10000 calories diet: What the American swimmer ate while training for Beijing Olympics?, https://olympics.com/en/news/michael-phelps-10000-calories-diet-what-the-american-swimmer-ate-while-training-. Accessed 22 3 2025.
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Waid, Mark, and Andy Kubert. Captain America 20. vol. 3, Marvel.Wikipedia. “Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil.” Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_AS350_%C3%89cureuil. Accessed 22 3 2025.