Winter Soldier’s trademark knife toss doesn’t make any sense at all. In the MCU, Bucky Barnes is something to reckon with. He has been an elite soldier in the U.S. military. He was later captured by HYDRA and subjected to super-soldier experiments. Bucky’s left arm was replaced with a cybernetic arm. He also went through an upgrade which offered him a new metal arm made of Vibranium.
The Winter Soldier was kept in cryogenic suspension by HYDRA. They had enough time to train Bucky and make him one of their skilled and proficient assassins. He was already a lethal sniper. But with Hydra’s rigorous training, he became a master of mixed martial arts. He may not be equal to Dora Milaje but he is still one of the best field operatives. His best skills have been shown in Captain America: Winter Soldier.
Bucky went toe to toe with someone as skilled as Steve Rogers. When he was fighting with Steve, we saw his trademark knife toss. But the issue here is that his move does not make sense practically. In a knife fight, the main purpose of knife toss is to change the reach during a fight. Bucky starts his battle with Steve Rogers holding the blade in what is called an icepick grip.
An effective knife toss can move to another grip like a typical dagger hold. This type of knife toss is very useful from a tactical point of view. This is because a change in grip means your reach has changed and you can take your opponent by surprise. This is why knife tosses usually happen out of sight, so you have not telegraphed the fact that your reach has been extended.
But Bucky does the toss in the open. This means that Steve Rogers is well aware of what is going on. The strange thing is that he starts with an icepick grip and ends with the same knife hold. This means there is no change to his reach. Winter Soldier’s knife toss can work as a distraction and draw Steve Rogers’ eye to his right hand while Bucky attacks with his metal left arm. But Winter Soldier never takes advantage of this momentary distraction.
When we speak of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the knife toss has no use. It is just a cool move that looks impressive for viewers. But in reality, no fighter would do a knife toss like that. But despite this, the knife toss has been one of the most memorable moves of the Winter Soldier. Bucky performed the same type of knife toss in the fourth episode of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. But on that occasion, there was a point to it. He flipped the blade he captured for tossing it to the ground so that it would be taken out of the fight. The Winter Soldier’s move made some sense this time.
Now that we’ve seen enough of the Knife toss, let’s see if Bucky has something new to show in the coming episodes. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier returns this Friday. Here’s the official synopsis of the series:
Following the events of “Avengers: Endgame,” Sam Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) and Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) team up in a global adventure that tests their abilities—and their patience—in Marvel Studios’ “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.”
Directed by Kari Skogland, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier, Daniel Brühl as Baron Helmut Zemo, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carter, Wyatt Russell as John Walker, Desmond Chiam, Miki Ishikawa, Noah Mills, and Carl Lumbly.
