How physically strong is MCU’s Captain America?

The movies come to our aid in answering the question, in particular Civil War.

One of Cap’s most impressive physical feats was preventing a helicopter from taking off. Online calculations estimate that to do something similar, he would have had to exert a force at least equivalent to that required to lift more than three tonnes.

In the same movie, he is able to kick a small van, moving it and sending a man several meters through the air, a feat that would require a force of at least one tonne.

In another scene, Friday tells Tony the force exerted by Captain America’s fists on the armor, and the strongest one shown is that in the image above: about 1346 Newtons. Far more than the force required to break the strongest bone in the body, the femur.

It’s not an insane number like the other estimates, but you have to consider that Cap exerted that force several times over on a metal stronger than steel, which would break the hand of any ordinary person.

The latest feat, perhaps the most amazing, is in the Winter soldier, when he lifts a steel bar whose weight has been estimated at around 10–11 tonnes. And he managed to do this for a few seconds despite being injured.

His strength is therefore in the range of several tonnes per limb in terms of the weight he is able to push and lift, far greater than even the best bodybuilder in existence.