Unpopular opinion: I disliked the fact that they watered down Bucky’s strength so much. He’s a super soldier with super speed,hearing,reflexes and strength and It was shown at times but the other when it was actually needed it was not. He didn’t hear Zemo manipulating the kids in episode 3. He couldn’t pull off the door in episode 6 when he was able to do so with fury’s car door and the helicopter and staring wheel. So funny lol
We love unpopular opinion around here and it may come as a surprise but I actually agree with you!
There were quite a few times throughout the series where Bucky’s super strength seemed to be on hiatus or at the very least downplayed. And for the fact that one of the main ideas of the show was the quest for super serum and battling supersoldiers, they certainly missed the opportunity to truly show why supersoldiers are so dangerous (and why Zemo is vehemently against their existence) by highlighting Bucky’s experience and abilities from decades of being The Winter Soldier.
Just the fact that multiple characters were able to just toss the shield around with ease, *cough* John Walker *cough* was a bit too much for me. Even the kids playing with it, was a head scratcher as cute as as it was. I’m pretty sure Steve’s skill and strength were imperative in how effective the shield was as a weapon.
But back to Bucky, I would’ve loved to have seen his superb marksmanship in action as well as all of the supersoldier attributes you mentioned. We got a couple scenes of him with a gun but considering how skilled he is, I wish we had seen more. It often felt like Bucky was being matched in combat despite the fact that he has much more experience than the baby supersoldiers that make up the Flag Smashers.
Madripoor would have to be the best example of Bucky’s experience, when he’s putting on the show and pretending to be the winter soldier in order for the team to get the serum intel. Maybe that was on purpose, showing that Bucky doesn’t always engage to the highest possible degree, and is more careful about the amount of force he uses because he’s trying specifically not to kill. That he doesn’t ever let himself unleash this side of himself for a plethora of reasons. I’m not saying we didn’t get to see Bucky fight, because of course we did. It’s just that aside from the scenes where he was the winter soldier (or pretending to be), the fight sequences left something to be desired.
Even with supposed super speed, Sam is pretty much keeping up while running in heels 😆
And I’m absolutely not knocking Sam’s superhero skills, because we know he doesn’t have the serum (and he doesn’t need it!) but I would still expect to see some evidence of that, particularly in fight scenes. Instead, we see that Sam has virtually no trouble keeping up and beating an entire squad of chemically enhanced beings, which again is a bit curious. The most obvious example we see of the stark difference between Sam and Bucky’s physical strength is during the boat montage in Louisiana.
I did enjoy getting to see Bucky show off his reflexes and combat skills that mirror the Dora Milaje in the shipyard fight and again hint at the fact that he must have trained with them, or watched them closely, in Episode 6.
I must admit I did audible squeal when we got the much-anticipated return of Bucky’s knife-handling skills. The scenes were seriously mouthwatering and harkened back to when we were first introduced to the world’s most feared super assassin. Man, who would’ve known thought were simpler times.
As much as I wish we would’ve gotten even more content of Bucky being a certified badass™️. Extra points to whoever put Bucky back on a bike because god only knows the boy needs to straddle *something*
Love this. So here's what I'm thinking.
The Bucky we've seen until this point was still either actively the Winter Soldier or recovering from that head space. The Bucky we see in TFATWS is in therapy and I believe he really doesn't want any part of all that. So he holds back, maybe he's afraid of hurting people.
We see the flash back showing Ayo proving the words don't work but that doesn't undo all the trauma he's carrying bc of things he was forced to do. Neither does the therapy. It's still there and still messing him up.
He's making an active decision to not be a machine. The Soldier doesn't do that. No punches were ever pulled and that's what separates them. Bucky CAN still do everything the Soldier did, but his need to distance himself from that part of his former life may not be allowing him to perform to that capacity. He didn't even kill Zemo in the end. Could have. Probably should have. Didn't.
I thoroughly believe he did slow down to run with Sam. Also that pulling the rail of the boat off was nothing but a dig. He did it only to tease and since there was a very slim chance of him injuring anyone with that action it probably never even crossed his mind to hold back. Just the opposite, you always go full strength if it will make your friend look bad. Lol
This...
Vs this
They are not the same man.
Also,
Obviously.
