Bucky Barnes made his debut in Captain America: The First Avenger. We never expected him to appear as the villain in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. But I must admit one thing that Bucky nailed it as the Winter Soldier. But the character was somewhere overshadowed because of Captain America. It happened again in the following MCU movies. Finally, his character was explored a bit more in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier released recently on Disney+. The series revealed a few sad things about Bucky Barnes. Let’s check them out.
1. The White Wolf might have lost its position in Wakanda
Bucky was wrongly framed by Zemo for the UN bombing and the death of King T’Chaka. T’Challa initially wanted to kill him but spared his life when he came to know the truth. Bucky then decided to go on cryogenic sleep till a cure is found for his brainwashing. In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Barnes breaks Zemo out of prison. He betrays the trust of Wakandans since they cured him of his problems. He was asked to stay away from Wakanda. Well, this might be temporary.
2. Doubts the faith of Steve Rogers
Steve Rogers stopped the destruction of the world and he had to fight his best friend Bucky Barnes in order to do that. But still, Steve had faith in Bucky. He tried to protect Bucky from Iron Man and T’Challa since he knew that Bucky was innocent. But Bucky had doubts about Steve’s decision of giving the shield to Sam Wilson. This was because Sam handed the shield to the government. But Bucky controlled himself and tried to be a good man because of Steve’s faith in him.
3. Bucky did not rest for 90 years
Bucky was thought to be dead following his fall from the train. But he was found by HYDRA. They experimented on him and this made him the Winter Soldier. He was assigned on various missions of killing people. This also included Tony Stark’s parents. Overall, Bucky did not get a chance to take some rest. Even when he came out of his cryogenic sleep, he had to fight against the Mad Titan Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War.
4. No mission or purpose to guide him
Bucky was initially a brainwashed soldier. He was asked to assassinate people. Later he also joined the Avengers to fight a huge threat like Thanos. Overall, he always had a goal that helped him to move forward. Now as seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he is now more that brainwashed soldier. He is no more the Winter Soldier. It is something that he has decided to leave behind. He is helping Sam Wilson to become the new Captain America. Now his missions are complete and he does not have anything left to focus on.
5. He was not chosen as the successor of Captain America
Steve Rogers retiring as Captain America was something that left MCU fans in tears. No one expected that something like this would happen. The mantle was passed to Sam Wilson. But even Bucky was Steve’s close friend. But he was not chosen to become the next Captain America. This might be because Bucky has already been through a lot when he was the Winter Soldier. Maybe Steve did not want him to suffer more. Although Sam Wilson was the perfect choice for this, but it still makes us sad to see what happened with Bucky.
6. Sam won’t let Bucky flirt with his sister Sarah
Bucky was seen trying to date girls in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. He was trying to live a very normal life. He was no more the Winter Soldier. A relationship between him and Black Widow was teased but not explored in MCU. Bucky tried his luck in a few places. At the same time, he was also struggling to forget his past as the Winter Soldier. But later a connection was seen between him and Sam Wilson’s sister Sarah. Even Sam saw the same thing and warned Bucky to stay away from his Sarah.
7. Deals with PTSD and suffers nightmares
Bucky was being controlled by HYDRA when he was the Winter Soldier. HYDRA somewhere damaged Bucky’s brain. Despite the fact that his brainwashing problem has been solved, Bucky was seen suffering from PTSD and nightmares in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Bucky has gone through a lot. He has fought many wars and has also killed many innocent people. Life was never easy for him after he became the Winter Soldier. Maybe he was trying to forgive himself for the bad deeds he has done. We also saw him sleeping on the floor in the Disney+ series.
8. His oldest friend is no more with him
Steve Rogers retired as Captain America in Avengers: Endgame. He was happy to be a superhero but also regretted for not being able to live his life fully with Peggy Carter. Steve and Bucky were friends since World War II. Bucky left to find his own path after Rogers’ retirement. But he is now left alone. Somewhere the line “I am with you till the end of the line” turned out to be true. Maybe this was the end. Bucky now must learn to move forward without his oldest and closest friend.
9. Steve Rogers’ shield was the closest thing he had
Bucky was seen taking therapy sessions to deal with his other issues. In one scene, he attended the session along with Sam Wilson. There we saw him saying that he was disappointed with Sam Wilson for handing over Steve Rogers’ shield to the government. Bucky knew that John Walker was not perfect to be Captain America. This proves that Steve Rogers was very important to Bucky. Maybe he felt like he lost Steve Rogers because he lost the shield. It was the only memory sign of Steve Rogers Bucky had with him.
10. Tries to atone for his past as the Winter Soldier
Bucky was trying to recover from his past as the Winter Soldier. He went through therapy. He had a list where he wrote the names of the people he wronged. He crossed them off one by one. He also became close with the father of one of the Winter Soldier’s victims. We also see him confessing that he killed his friend’s son. This closed both his friend and Bucky’s list at the cost of their friendship. We might get to see a changed Bucky whenever he appears next time in the MCU.
So these were the sad things about Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier.
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