It’s been a while since I’ve posted. I’ve been running low on creativity and my attention span has suffered so badly throughout the course of the pandemic that it’s hard for me to watch a full, new movie (minus Barb and Star Go To Vista del Mar). So, I’m just as surprised as you to be posting! But lately something has been on my mind, and every time I talk about it in public, my boyfriend tells me that I get too emphatic. And this topic is none other than the fact that Bucky Barnes is one of the most interesting characters in the MCU.

A lot of men I talk to about Marvel say: “Damn, why does Bucky need to be saved so much? He must be weak to need to be saved that often.” or “He killed so many people. He’s a bad guy.” These are the main critiques I hear about BB, and ones that I hope that by explaining his character arc and adding some of my own thoughts, will be addressed. If you have any others, lmk, I’m so curious!

For those of you just tuning into my mental breakdown over a fictional superhero character, there are a few things you need to know about Bucky and his backstory in the MCU. Spoiler alert!!!! I’ll be spoiling lots of things.

Look, Captain American is so often written off as a boy scout (no thanks to Whedon’s writing of Cap in the first Avengers and Age of Ultron) but he is the exact opposite. In his first standalone film, he betrays government orders and goes behind enemy lines (to save his best friend since childhood, our good pal Bucky). In the sequel, he, Black Widow, and Falcon literally become enemies of the state (again, to save Bucky and to dismantle a corrupt government system). In his third film, he takes after the Nomad character trajectory and abandons his government and fights his Avengers family for what reason? To be there for Bucky, who was falsely accused of a terroristic act. I could talk about how Captain America doesn’t believe in the American government but rather the ideal of America all day, but this article is focused on the other super soldier who doesn’t get his due credit.

First, Bucky was friends with Steve Rogers since childhood. When Steve’s mom died, Bucky was there for him and took care for him. When Steve continually got himself into trouble as a 5’4″, 130 pound kid who would always stand up for what is morally right or reasonable, Bucky would step in and protect Steve. Bucky goes off to fight in WWII, leaving Steve to become Captain America after receiving a super soldier serum. Doctor Erskine, who chose Steve for the program, tells him the serum amplifies what is already there, and then says that iconic line: “You will stay as you are. Not a perfect soldier, but a good man.”

Little does Steve know that while all this is happening to him, Bucky has been captured and is being experimented on by HYDRA doctors, trying to develop their own super soldier serum. Steve eventually rescues Bucky, and they go off and fight Nazi’s together until Bucky falls to his presumed death from a rail car on a mission.

In the next film, you find out that Bucky never died back in WWII, rather, he was captured and brainwashed and trained into the Winter Soldier, an assassin that is noted as having changed the course of history several times with his missions (JFK, Howard Stark, and dozens more.) His brain has been a blender for 90 years, and he hasn’t known anything but fighting. That’s exhausting. Can you imagine doing nothing but fighting for 90 years? In Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Steve goes from hunting the Winter Soldier to discovering the Soldier’s true identity during a fight. The two see each other for the first time since Bucky fell from that rail car, and when Steve calls him by his name, Bucky’s haunting answer hangs between them and you can watch the existential crisis happen in real time as he says “Who the hell is Bucky?” You see Bucky getting “wiped” after he tells his HYDRA handlers he recognized Steve (which is so horrific. How many times was he close to remembering who he was and getting out before his memory was wiped?!) The film ends with Bucky saving Steve’s life after an explosive-filled fight scene between the two, and Bucky escapes from the hold of HYDRA, out in the world by himself for the first time since the 40s.

Captain America: Civil War (2016) sees Iron Man/Tony Stark pushing Steve for more government regulation on superheroes while Steve pushes back, citing constantly shifting agendas for organizations and people. After an explosion at the U.N. that kills the king of Wakanda, T’Chaka, Bucky is labeled as the prime suspect. Bucky was framed – the poor man was trying to piece together his life and just buy some prunes in Budapest – by Baron von Zemo, whose family was killed by the Avengers. Zemo knew that Bucky had killed Tony Stark’s parents, and knew that discovery would break up the Avengers. When Tony discovers the truth, he attacks Bucky and Steve, who end up winning but walking away. Bucky goes to Wakanda, where he becomes the White Wolf and gets rid of the Winter Soldier programming that’s haunted him for so long. Of course, the Avengers eventually team back up, along with Bucky, to fight Thanos in Infinity War and Endgame.

The first time I watched the first Captain America movie, I vaguely could recall details and character names. It didn’t leave a huge impression on me, to be honest. Then I saw CA:TWS and I realized “holy shit, Bucky is one of the best characters and probably my favorite,” and the more I think about it, the more reasons I have.

I feel like it would be easy to have Bucky be jealous or resentful of Steve’s sudden strength and fame and, well, everything after Steve becomes Captain America. Never once does Bucky show any sign of that. He’s just following his pal Steve, the kid who couldn’t walk away from a fight. The whole power dynamic shifts for the first time in their friendship, which can’t be easy for a person to just swallow. But Bucky just makes jokes and is happy to see his friend again. There’s no drama, no personal agony over that shifted dynamic.

Bucky is a clear example of someone experiencing PTSD. The man has seen, and unwillingly done, some horrific things. But ever since he got out from under HYDRA’s control, he’s done the hard work of recognizing the past, and trying to forgive himself and make amends. As we see in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021), he does so both in Wakanda, where he sheds the trigger words for his Winter Soldier programming, and at home, attending therapy sessions and following his therapist’s advice. TFATWS is so interesting to me, because you’re watching someone try to heal an unimaginable wound and continue with their daily life. 90 years later, he’s trying to reconcile pieces of his life and things that he’s done that he had no control over.

It’s so haunting to think about not being in control of your own body. No other character in the MCU has a similar story, and I can barely think of any who have gone through so much trauma.

I will always defend Bucky, who, even after his best friend abandons him to be with a woman who had moved on and married and had a life (don’t get me started on Endgame Steve), is trying to live up to the ideals he and Steve shared – not a perfect soldier, but a good man.

What do you think? Does Bucky have one of the most interesting backstories of a Marvel character? Is Hal right, and I’m way too emphatic about a superhero? Let me know your thoughts.