Bless Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan for this, because I am LIVID:
Marvel and the Russo's were completely prepared to assassinate Steve's character development and the importance of his relationship with Bucky, to have him leave Bucky behind with no hesitation after fighting to get him back for 3 moves, and to have all their important goodbye conversations happen offscreen while Steve's onscreen goodbye to Bucky was emotionless and dismissive.
They didn't tell Sebastian Stan that he wasn't getting the shield, a completely life and career altering opportunity that he was a serious contender for, until literally 40 minutes before the scene happened, giving him no time to process a huge disappointment and lost opportunity which likely didn't feel great - even if we know he's extremely happy for and supportive of Mackie.
They didn't give Seb a script until just before the scene giving him no time to think about his performance or how Bucky would feel losing Steve for the final time, in arguably one of the most important scenes in the history of their relationship.
They ignored and dismissed his protests about how much there was left to say between Bucky and Steve and how dissatisfying their ending was, telling him they talked offscreen and not to worry.
And now we learn that they were prepared to completely exclude Bucky/Seb from Steve's final scene, to have him not even notice or acknowledge Old Steve, his oldest and only fucking friend in the world!
They were prepared to have Steve and Sam not even acknowledge Bucky's existence, and for him to just fade out quietly. They were prepared to have Sam not question whether Bucky may be a contender for the shield as if he didn't exist and was never important to Steve. They were prepared for Seb not to be involved at all in the handing over of the Cap legacy and the start of a new phase at Marvel, after 10 fucking years of being a linchpin of Captain America movies.
Anthony and Seb had to come up with and fight for a way to incorporate Bucky into this final scene and the handing over of the Cap legacy, because Marvel were not prepared to.
So stan Seb for, despite the way he is constantly treated at Marvel, fighting his corner for the sake of Bucky and the fans because that's what he truly cares about.
And stan Mackie for being a excellent friend and a consummate professional, for giving up part of his big moment to make sure Seb was included and for recognising Bucky's importance to Steve and the shield.
Stan them both for having actual respect for their characters, the storyline and the fans, unlike Marvel.
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