MIT students open dome with Captain America Shield

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Massachusetts Institute of Technology student jokers hit again, drawing inspiration from America's most popular film.

Over the weekend, MIT students covered the university's signature Great Dome with the giant cloth version of Captain America's red, white and blue shield.

Their efforts drew a Twitter account "Very Cool!" From actor Chris Evans, a Massachusetts native who plays Captain America in "Avengers: Endgame."

Very nice! https://t.co/jMQEPtnQdu

– Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) April 29, 2019

The shield climbed Saturday night and was shot Monday morning.

For generations, MIT students have staged similar jokes, which they call "hacks," on the dome.

A realistic police cruiser was placed on the dome in 1994. In 1999, it was decorated to look like R2D2, the "Star Wars" robot.

Raymond Huffman, a 20-year-old man from Long Island, New York, says that it has nothing to do with this year's farce, but that he posted on YouTube a video aerial that he filmed with his drone of the final product that has since generated tens of thousands of views.

Huffman said that a friend involved in the joke told him that the group had spent about six months planning the effort.

The tradition of farce is not an annual event at MIT and tends to occur spontaneously by groups of students who, for the most part, want to remain anonymous, he added.

"It's pretty cool to see the culture of computer hacking continuing," said Huffman. "These are things you hear about when you come to MIT for the first time."

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