Did Captain America predict the coronavirus in 2011? Screengrab from Marvel movie goes viral as internet sleuths investigate

For the past few days, a screengrab from the first Captain America movie has been widely shared online, with several fans suggesting that the scene ‘predicts’ the coronavirus pandemic. Internet sleuths have now seemingly debunked the claims.

The screengrab, from the post-credits scene of Captain America: The First Avenger, show Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers waking up in modern-day America, and running out into Times Square. As he looks around in confusion, he is met by Samuel L Jackson’s Nick Fury. But if in the background, eagle-eyed fans noticed that the a couple of billboards might be carrying hidden meanings. While the one over Steve’s right shoulder is advertising Corona beer, another over his left shoulder appears to look like the spiked illustration of the actual coronavirus.

Other fans also notice a billboard that reads “By George, we did it!” which they took as a reference to the George Floyd protests. “OMG ITS NOT FAKE. Captain America. On right, coronavirus, on left a corona beer and a sign that says BY GEORGE WE DID IT. Captain America The First Avenger from 2011!” one person wrote in a tweet. “Well it’s official: Captain America: The First Avenger predicted the coronavirus,” wrote another.

A friend who’s fully into the covid conspiracies sent me this post that says Captain America predicted the coronavirus outbreak in 2011, and while its obviously bs, I started fixating on that circled image on the right. pic.twitter.com/N4XywDTZEx— William Mullally ???? (@whmullally) June 11, 2020

But an internet sleuth went on an investigation, and this is what they found. “A friend who’s fully into the covid conspiracies sent me this post that says Captain America predicted the coronavirus outbreak in 2011, and while its obviously bs, I started fixating on that circled image on the right,” they wrote in a tweet. “It looks so familiar. What is it? I began to investigate. At first I thought it reminded me of a YA novel cover design from that era. I went through all the main ones until I remembered the Divergent cover had the same colour scheme, but not quite the same design. Close, but no cigar,” the Twitter user continued.

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The sleuth then began figuring out when the scene was exactly filmed, and “Looked up every movie and broadway show released from April through the summer. Nothing.” The sleuth continued, “I started watching random YouTube videos and looking for images from April 2011 in Times Square. No clear view of the poster. Wes started scouring Bing and google street view.” Finally, they wrote, their friend found a clear image taken of Times Square from around the time when the scene was filled and “recognized the logo and the colour scheme. We cracked the case.”

The Twitter user shared their findings. The billboard over Steve’s left shoulder doesn’t show the coronavirus, but is instead an advertisement for Barilla pasta.