Blue Shield, or Joe Cartelli, is a fictional superhero that appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by Tom DeFalco and Frank Springer. He first appeared in Dazzler #5. Take a look below for 23 more fun and interesting facts about Blue Shield.

1. Blue Shield received an entry in the original Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #2 and the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition #1.

2. Joe Cartelli was born in the Bronx, New York. He is the son of Frank Cartelli, who was gunned down by the mob.

3. Joe Cartelli became a crime fighter, and started to infiltrate the Barrigan crime family, masquerading as a mobster.

4. At one point, he acquired a belt with micro-circuitry of unknown origin that could give him the Blue Shield powers. He used this to fight the mob and various other criminals.

5. Blue Shield allied with Dazzler at one point.

6. Blue Shield attempted to join the Avengers, but was approached to become security director for Project: Pegasus, a secret research project of the U.S. Government.

7. At some point, Blue Shield’s powers were changed from being part of the belt he wore to being natural to Joe Cartelli.

8. Blue Shield registered with the Initiative, and was assigned to New York, where he worked alongside Jackpot.

9. Originally, Blue Shield possessed no superhuman abilities and was required to wear his force-belt to achieve them. However, long term exposure to the field generated by the belt has altered his genetic structure and, as a result, he no longer requires the belt to produce his powers.

10. Blue Shield has superhuman strength and is approximately 2.25 times stronger than the strongest human athlete.

11. He can run and move at speeds greater than the best human athletes. He can achieve a maximum speed of 50 miles per hour over short distances.

12. He’s capable of generating a protective force field around his body, which enables him to withstand heat, punctures, concussion and extreme temperatures.

13. His protective force field is known to stop projectiles such as knives and high caliber bullets.

14. Blue Shield’s force field can absorb the shock of impact of any force up to at least 1 ton of pressure per square inch.

15. His force field filters out unwanted particles in the air, giving him immunity to gases and pheromones.

16. Blue Shield is usually seen wearing body armor, which may be a variation of the Guardsman armor.

17. Blue Shield’s force-belt acts upon his bio-energy to generate an oscillating frequency of bio-energy that interacts with nearby atomic particles in a way to generate a self-supporting force field.

18. The force field created by his belt used to radiate 1 inch from every point on the surface of his body, protecting him from objects that could move at speeds of up to the speed of light.

19. The force field that surrounds Blue Shield tends to glow blue with harmless Cherenkov radiation, is imperceptible to the touch from within, but has a warm, spongy feel from the outside.

20. Blue Shield once helped Alison Blaire, who is also known as the Dazzler, against the crime boss Bo Brannigan who was controlling the Terror Tank.

21. Blue Shield resigned from Project: Pegasus when he failed to protect the project from the alien life-form called Omnivore.

22. The character appeared sporadically through the years since his first appearance, having made appearances in Dazzler #14, Contest of Champions #3, Marvel Age Annual #1, Captain America #352, Quasar #8, Marvel Super Heroes Volume 3 #3, Quasar #51, The Avengers Volume 3 #6, and the Amazing Spider-Man Volume 2 #550.

23. When he worked alongside Jackpot he clashed with Spider-Man but Spider-Man quickly evaded him and got away.