One of my first thoughts when I woke up this morning was that–out of EVERYONE in the MCU–James Buchanan Barnes has had the weirdest freaking perspective on the change the world went through in all the movies.
Like he starts out as just a normal human dude–guy in the 40s joining the war effort, like most other young adult men at the time would have.
Then his scrawny pal gets super tall and buff but he could maybe chalk that up to Steroids or something. He, himself got captured and experimented on, which is awful, but not a thing unheard of at the time.
Then he’s “KIA” and doesn’t know anything. For a bit.
Then almost a century goes by that he probably only remembers like snippets of nightmare after nightmare, dissociated from the experiences but unable to fully reject or accept them. Who is he anymore? What has the world become? Is this Purgatory? Is this Hell? He doesn’t have much time or lucid consciousness to consciously take in the newer world around him.
Then, when he finally breaks free, he has to go on the run and piece it all together on his own. This future world, the new technology, how history remembers him and his friends, all these crazy and colorful superheroes. Aliens, magic, themed villains.
And it’s all A Lot but he’s doing his best to get by. But after all the hurt he’s caused others, and all the craziness of the Civil War being over him, when he doesn’t even have a good sense of identity anymore as it is, it’s too much. He needs to have time to process and heal, and deprogram.
Then it’s assumed he’s been woken periodically for Shuri to help deprogram him and for the Wakandans to kindly take him in and help him readjust. But he’s in a totally foreign country, a secret country that’s been hidden forever and that he could never have imagined! He’s in a very different time, place, and mindset now. He looks different, he feels different, he’s missing an arm. This isn’t what he signed up for in the 40s. This isn’t how he thought his life would go.
But at least his ridiculous friend is still here with him, despite everything. Just like he said, with him until the end of the line.
And then aliens attack and magic is flying everywhere and the army of a secret society is leading the assault and and and and
there’s a fucking norse god, a humanoid tree, and a talking raccoon
and the raccoon is fighting with him
and at this point, Bucky just fucking accepts it
TLDR: Bucky Barnes is the epitome of the Mood™:
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