Hackers Turned MIT’s Giant Dome into a Captain America Tribute
It was a spoiler-free celebration of Avengers: Endgame.
MIT by Niall Kennedy on Flickr/Creative Commons
MIT’s famous Great Dome got a patriotic (and spoiler-free) makeover Sunday, thanks to some anonymous pranksters. The “hackers,” as they call themselves, transformed the dome into a massive Captain America shield in honor of Avengers: Endgame, which came out over the weekend.
No one knows who’s behind the prank, much less how they did it. The shield appears to be a large tarp secured across the dome with wires.
The shield showed up Saturday night. It can be seen from as far away as Boston University, all the way across the Charles. Luckily for the hackers, it doesn’t reveal any vital information about the movie, which has resulted in nonstop griping about spoilers both in person and online.
@MIT looks like @CaptainAmerica has taken his #Endgame strategy to your dome. @Avengers #YoureWelcomeDisney #GreetingsFromBU pic.twitter.com/PkWwPMBiXh
— Jeffrey Simeon (@ElJefe900) April 28, 2019
Endgame crowded theaters across Boston and the world over the weekend, raking in $350 million in the United States and a mind-boggling $1.2 billion worldwide.
So many people were dying to see the 22nd installment of the Avengers franchise that showings started as early as 7 a.m. at the AMC Boston Common.
Honestly, Thanos was no match for the staff at the Barker Engineering Library before the shield, but this just seals the deal for sure. https://t.co/4vsryuzEzU
— MIT Libraries (@mitlibraries) April 29, 2019
This isn’t the first time the dome has been the site of a hack. MIT students, probably looking for any way to let off some steam from studying physics all day, pull pranks on campus all the time.
The dome was turned into a way-larger-than-life R2D2 ahead of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace premiering in 1999. A car miraculously appeared at its summit in 1992, complete with a dummy driver dressed as a cop inside. A TARDIS, the blue telephone booth from Doctor Who appeared on the dome in 2010. And in 2017, the dome turned into the globe for Earth Day.
Captain America himself, Sudbury’s own Chris Evans, has not commented yet, but he’s being pretty discreet on Twitter these days thanks to the whole spoiler situation.
Update, April 29, 11:10 a.m.: Evans seems to be a fan.
Very cool! https://t.co/jMQEPtnQdu
— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) April 29, 2019
