The Stucky Meta Library

A library that tries to collect all Stucky related meta found on Tumblr, feel free to send in the ones that haven't been added before. Can be used as a place for reference or research. Icon by apharti. Mods personal blog is here.

[stuckymeta-library]

welcome to the stucky-meta library

here, i am trying to collect all the stucky meta posts that i can find, so that the fandom can use it as a place to look for references and collective thoughts.

there is the possibility that meta posts contradict each other and they might differ from (also my) personal headcanons, but I want to include everything that is about steve and bucky. 

feel free to send me any post that I have missed, or ask any other questions :)

due to uni, personal life and depression i am not super active, but i check in regularly to see whats new!

[daredevilgorl]

The fact cap says ‘on va voir’ to Batroc is the antithesis of the stereotypical American Warrior. A different director would have had him respond ‘I don’t speak asshole’ verbatim but that’s never been who cap is. So much of the brilliance of Captain America is the dichotomy between how the government pushes the cap image of the quasi colonial republican propaganda machine and Steve’s gentle nature, liberalism, respect for all peoples, and complete ambivalence about America, in this essay I will…

[amarriageoftrueminds]

Hey I couldn’t help but read your notes under the war footage deleted scene bc I’m a stalker, have you ever read the infodump on Ao3? It’s about everything historical that has to do with stucky, from Bucky’s uniform breakdown to his rifles to which historical battles the commandoes could have been a part of, including reselling of the events and dates, plus explanation of how the commandos fit in time-wise. If you haven’t I will try to find it, it’s a very fascinating read and helps if you want to write historically correct commandoes fic (I’m a sucker for those and we were so robbed in tfa)

(in ref to CATFA post)

Omg no I haven't thanks so much for alerting me to it though (hope you can find it; If you do I'll edit this post with a link).

I find that kind of meta super interesting to think about!

EDIT: LINK HERE.

[luna-rainbow]

Just here thinking “even when I had nothing, I had Bucky” is literally “Bucky was my everything”, and so on the Helicarrier Steve gives up everything he now has — his job, his reputation, the mask, the shield, the title, and almost his life — to get Bucky back because that’s how much Bucky is worth.

[luna-rainbow]

So today I opened up the canto dub of CATWS because I wanted to double check the dub for a fanvid (they dubbed Steve’s line of if you’re going to a fight you need to have a suit into “I promised him I’m never leaving him behind” and I was like NO WAY). Anyway bad news that was not the offical dub, but the end of the line quote is still super gay in both dialects of Chinese.

I seriously think the English version is softened by the addition of “the line”. I’m with you to the end of the line — the front line? The train line? The marching line? And maybe in context of them both joining the army, that seems to make it lean more towards bromantic than romantic. That ambiguity doesn’t carry through to the Chinese (or Japanese) translations.

Cantonese: (text) Because I’m with you until the end. (Dub) Because I’ll walk with you until [indefinitely]. (*) There’s slight variation between the two because the spoken dialect of canto doesn’t convert well to written.

Mandarin: Because I’ll walk together with you until the very end.

(*) Both Canto and Mando adds the word “陪” which is a more proactive word than “I’m with you”. It means “I’m willingly accompanying you” but it also has something more intimate than “accompany”, kind of like “I’ll have your back, I’ll be by your side, I’ll support you”. Even within the word itself, it has a sense that even if no one else is around, they will still be a companion.

Japanese: because [we’re] together unto the very end. (*) People who know Japanese will know that the language often implies the pronouns. This sentence can also be “because [I’m] together with [you] unto the very end”.

I also want to point out the lines before this (ahhh Japanese your pronouns are such a mine of treasure).

“君とは戦わない　親友だからだ” “貴様を殺す　それが俺の任務だ” (I’m not going to fight you, you are my friend / I’m going to kill you, that’s my mission)

Ahhhhh I died. The Winter Soldier calls Steve “kisama” (“you” derogatory), which is not surprising because he sees Steve as his enemy. But Steve calls the Winter Soldier “kimi”!! He calls him “kimi”!! 🙈🙈🙈

I dunno if that’s my weaboo going off but firstly as we said the Japanese tend not to use pronouns if they can avoid it, they’d rather refer to someone by name directly (even while they’re talking to them). But the translators decided to use “you”, and not only that, they chose “kimi” (okay I know there is a dearth of choices but still!) which is a word of endearment. Basically you use it to refer to juniors you’re very close to, your family (in your generation or younger) and your boyfriend/girlfriend 🙈 The term comes with a slight patronising sense which is why you’d never use it for people who have seniority over you.

I’m going to use this summary because it captures what I’m trying to get at.

Another way to look at this is assuming that the "you" you're talking about is some cute, sweet, frail creature of sorts. Ok, that's a bit extreme. But it holds that sort of meaning when you think it can be used by fathering figures (actual fathers, employers, elders) and by intimate friends or childhood friends. It's saying "you are not dangerous" in a way, and that may be perceived as "you are some weak nobody" which is why it can sound condescending or it can sound friendly depending on context. (Source)

So basically here’s Bucky screaming at Steve going “NO I DONT!! SHUT UP!!”

And here’s Steve going “oh you sweet little meow meow I’m not afraid of you.” 

So no surprise Bucky responds with “KISAMA” which as they say is as close as you’d get to a “fuck you” in Japanese.

This is not even getting into the translation of “friend” as “兄弟” in Canto (“brother”) and “親友” (best/intimate friend) in Japanese 🙈

[luna-rainbow]

@capitainrogers Going to make another post because your words gave me Thoughts as they always do! And I always feel bad writing an essay under GIF posts ^^;;

I too have always objected to the idea that Steve taking Bucky's side in CACW was the "first time he did something selfish" or the proclamation that he went back to the 40s because "he finally did something selfish". As you say, Steve has always taken the action that he believes in, i.e. he's always made the choice that makes himself most at ease, and it just so happens that what makes him most at ease is sticking to his morality.

I'm not even sure what the right word for it is, it's not quite selfish, nor is it quite self-centered, maybe "self-driven"? Like I don't feel he thinks about "saving the world", per se, when he charges into action. He thinks about the situation in front of him, and he does the thing that's going to make him able to live with himself, even if that means making other people upset -- and as you say, it's just lucky for the world that what drives him is his need to do what's right even if that doesn't reward him. In a less morally upright person you might call it self-gratification or hypocritical charity, but Steve is genuinely willing to sacrifice almost everything to do what's right. This is in contrast to someone, say, like Nick Fury, who wants to think about the bigger picture and is willing to compromise to keep the maximum number of people happy. Steve is not willing to compromise when it comes to principles. It's two very different world views and there's probably a lot of proponents for making the compromise that's going to save the most people, but on the other hand one can argue that once you do compromise on principles...the effects are long-lasting and ultimately detrimental.

Bucky's role in this is...poignant. Steve's personal attachment to Bucky in the 3 movies always aligns with his ideological goals. I think I'm stealing words from people, but Bucky is his North Star when Steve says he can't ignore a situation going South.

(Just to rehash) In CATFA, Bucky "leads" Steve into joining the war "because I can't do any less". Bucky also instigates Steve's first major disagreement with the establishment and pushes him into truly taking up the Captain America mantle. The crux of Steve's argument with Phillips is to save the "rest of the 107th" after he was told Bucky had died. Sure, part of his crazy solo rescue mission was the hope Bucky was still alive, but the less personal part of it was Steve not being able to walk away from the situation -- when Phillips scorned that Steve wouldn't understand they would sacrifice more men trying to rescue the 107th than they would save, Steve clenches his jaw and does the job himself.

In CATWS, Bucky's appearances were key in several turning points in the story, and his existence reinforces Steve's resolve to bring down SHIELD. In CACW, Bucky was the avatar of an enhanced person who was presumed guilty before a proper investigation, and as an extreme example of someone who had his agency taken away and could not be held responsible for his actions. Protecting him was therefore in line with Steve's stance that the Avengers needed to retain agency (and hence responsibility) in their own hands and that everyone deserved the presumption of innocence.

Consistently, whenever the mission involves Bucky, Steve's moral choices always aligned with his emotional need to protect Bucky. Now let's rewind a step and remember how we said Steve is someone who will always make the choice that he can live with and he refuses to compromise when it comes to principles? So is it any accident that his morally correct choices always lead him to Bucky? No. From an in-universe point of view, Steve would not have chosen to consistently lay down everything he had to help Bucky if he did not believe that it was the morally correct choice and if he didn't believe Bucky was the person who deserved all of this. From a story point of view...come on guys, just admit you wrote Stucky into the narrative.

Also note Steve's astounding confidence when it comes to Bucky. In CATFA, even after Phillips said he had signed Bucky's condolence letter, Steve says to Peggy "you don't know that (he's dead)". In CATWS, he didn't even question that the long-haired guy who didn't recognise him and who didn't know "Bucky" was, in fact, definitely Bucky. When Sam reasons that Bucky might not recognise him, Steve says he will. In CACW, Steve says to Natasha that he should be the one bringing Bucky in "if he's that far gone", but when he's in Bucky's apartment, he doesn't even ask?? Bucky's the one who brings up the Vienna explosion. Just as Steve always finds himself heading towards where Bucky is, he also expects that Bucky will be where and who he's looking for, and like, I feel like that says oodles about the type of person Bucky is to get that sort of trust from someone like Steve.

Bucky is Steve's moral compass, not necessarily in the sense that he is the mentor or the aspirational figure, but in the way that his story always encompasses the theme of Steve's story, and going after Bucky always leads Steve down the path that aligns best with his principles.

[imposterogers]

the minute the winter soldier mask falls off & steve realizes who he’s looking at, he immediately falls out of his defensive stance. even when the winter soldier points a gun at steve’s head, he doesn’t move until a missile is fired from behind him and his instincts take over to duck. I just……….

[imposterogers]

no I just really want to talk about this moment bc 

steve when the winter soldier’s back is turned: shield up flush against him, in a defensive stance, crouched lower 

steve when the winter soldier turns around and he realizes its bucky: stands straight up, shield hanging against his side

steve when bucky had a gun pointed at his head

steve only ducking bc nat shot the missile from behind him

[dork-adios]

[otp-holic]

No, but REALLY!

The way Steve says it, it’s like Bucky looking at him and NOT EVEN KNOWING HIM it’s the most hurtful and unimaginable thing to happen.

To a guy who woke up in another century, who went through every upside-down experience one can imagine… Bucky looking at him AND NOT KNOWING HIM is what actually breaks reality, the thing he could not fathom.

AND THEN we see Bucky, whose world (the real one, the one behind the decades off brainwashing) is suddenly there before him! He’s seeing a glimpse of the it beyond the mental-wiping BECAUSE HE KNEW HIM. He’s sure, twice sure when he doesn’t even know who he is, suddenly things make A LITTLE SENSE BECAUSE HE KNEW HIM.

So yeah, I’m not ok, because the only thing that is a constant in their lives, what gives meaning to who they are and to the world they live in, is that THEY KNOW EACH OTHER. Their love for each other, their presence in each other lives, their memories of each other.

And you tell me steve/bucky wasn’t IN THE TEXT?

I’m going to keep crying while hiding in a corner.

[biblesandbilletdoux]

I think its really interesting to see the difference between Marvel creators' descriptions of steve's relationships with Bucky and Peggy respectively. His devotion to Bucky throughout the Captain America trilogy is reduced to a desperate attempt to hang on to the last remnant of his past, which, I think is unfair considering Steve's first 'screw everything else' rampage to save Bucky goes back to World War, when he was very much, a 'man in his own time. Why, then, is Steve literally going back in time to be with Peggy seen as 'true love' and him 'getting rest'(which he could have had in the future too) and not what it is, an unhealthy and desperate attempt to hang on to his past?(which he seems to have moved on from in his previous movies) I'm a little confused by the double standards to be honest

[bbyboybucket]

Okay can we talk about Bucky’s awkwardness and lack of social skills for a second? Because I’m always like “haha Bucky is so awkward” but honestly, when I actually think about it, it’s a very sad and interesting topic. Because in Bucky’s case, you have someone who used to be very charismatic, outgoing, and just a people-person in general and now he’s done a complete 180. What makes it so interesting is that there’s so many reasons for it too.

I mean, stating the obvious, Hydra has fucked him up. In so so many ways but here we see a lot of inputs work into a specific outcome. We know Bucky is utterly lonely and friendless. His therapist stated so, she even went through his phone and he has hardly any contacts nor does he make calls or texts. Even if the burner phone theory is true, we still know Bucky doesn’t have any friends outside of a man he’s stalking. We see he actively ignores Sam’s attempts to reach out to him.

In the aspect of ignoring Sam, his one potential chance at friendship, it’s most likely out of deep insecurity and trust issues. Bucky is obviously closing himself off. He’s afraid of himself, afraid that he’s a monster and he can’t change his WS ways. He’s afraid of hurting people. But the more he comes to terms with the fact he has his mind back and isn’t going to go WS on anyone, unprovoked, he develops other fears. He’s scared of being a burden, he doesn’t want to burden Sam with all his other issues. He doesn’t want to force him into a friendship or make Sam feel like he has to talk to him to because that’s what Steve wanted (which is not why Sam reaches out to him but in Bucky’s mind it feels that way.)

He also doesn’t want to scare people. He doesn’t want people to see him as the WS or hate him because of it. He’s afraid of that rejection. Very clearly shown by how he covers up his arm and is desperate to hide it. That’s part of the reason why he doesn’t attempt to make any new, real friends or even acquaintances. He’s terrified of someone seeing the real him and being afraid/coming to despise him. But he knows it’s likely to happen because he views himself in that same, negative light and he knows a lot of people are already not fond of the winter soldier. But he also now has abandonment issues, wether or not he’ll ever admit it. He’s afraid of having someone again just so they can leave him like Steve did.

Overall, his insecurities make him very socially anxious. He’s constantly worried about the way others view him. Moreover, his various issues make it hard for him to have the energy to interact with people. He’s constantly plagued by nightmares and flashbacks, self loathing, etc. Even his partially self-induced loneliness has a major effect on his wellbeing. His PTSD drains him. He’s constantly angry, sad, and very very tired. It takes a lot out him to try to be social too. Which is why, a lot of times we see him not being warm or in a good mood when he’s interacting with others.

But his actual awkward behavior comes from far beyond all of that. It’s way more. Because when he wants to be social, when he works up the courage to put himself out there a bit, when he genuinely wants to make a connection with someone…he struggles. I mean first and foremost, it’s obviously going to be difficult for him to adjust to modern times. He’s fine with technology, he does great with that but he’s not familiar with how society is now. It’s vastly different than the life he had before and he struggles to relate to people in that aspect. But that isn’t even the most major issue, that he can eventually learn to work around.

The biggest cause of him lacking social skills is because he was held captive for so long. He was separated from normal people and the world in general. He was completely isolated other than interactions with his abusers or people he was sent to kill. He wasn’t allowed to speak unless he was told to report missions or give orders to others on said missions. He was forced to be silent and only have work-related interactions or ones that were related to his maintenance as a weapon (ie: working on his arm, wiping him, etc.). He spent a lot of time with a mask on, not being able to show his face even. He never was even allowed to have thoughts or opinions about things. All he knew was “Do what is commanded or be punished”. He was never allowed to be human, he was conditioned to be less than that. And the second he started acting even slightly human, he was wiped and tortured. With all that time, (even if it didn’t really feel like 70 years in his perspective), he’s forgotten how to be social and normal because he hasn’t had the chance to be.

We see that even before the TFATWS, he’s struggling to break that. In civil war, he even struggles to talk to Steve of all people, only really talking if it’s related to their issue until Steve makes the first move of bringing up a memory. In the credits scene of Black Panther, we see Shuri trying to talk to him but he’s very limited in his responses.

In TFATWS, he is more talkative, thankfully, but he still has issues with it. He’s near shy, won’t actively engage with someone unless they come to him first or if he’s angry. Even when he does make that first move, it’s often in an odd way. Just like how instead of texting or calling Sam to ask if he could come down to Delacroix, he just shows up unannounced with the suit. He just pops out of nowhere, moves a big heavy item, and drops off the case.

He’s more apt to interact with people he already knows but even then, we see that he’s very short in responses, spends most of his time quiet, and struggles to making conversation. Just like with Yori, he sits during their lunch very quietly and mostly focuses on his food. Or on his painfully awkward date with Leah where he seems visibly uncomfortable. It’s not because he’s not attracted to her or doesn’t like her, it’s because he knows he can’t handle it. Him saying “there’s a dance to these thing, I haven’t danced since 1943” wasn’t necessarily meant as literal dancing. He said that because he knows that he’s not good with dates or being personable, it makes him nervous, he struggles to make conversation, he doesn’t know what to say or do, he struggles with being himself (especially since he’s not sure who he really is yet). He’s aware of this. It’s why most of his online dating attempts fail. It’s because he’s socially awkward.

He’s even a bit uncomfortable in situations with Sam, not because Sam is making him uncomfortable, but rather Bucky doesn’t know how to act or what to say. That’s why he stares so much even, because he quite literally doesn’t know what else to do besides stay in his own head like he’s used to doing.

So even when he wants to try, when he desperately wants to interact with others and to make friendships, it’s very very hard for him. So sometimes, it’s easier for him to be aloof and rude, than to strain himself trying to be personable.

He probably gets very frustrated with himself because of this too. It’s even sadder because in his mind, he doesn’t see himself as Hydra’s victim. So he blames himself for this newfound difficulty, for being so weird and impersonal. It’s incredibly frustrating for him to remember how easy things used to be, how easily he was able to make friends and get dates, and be a social butterfly. But he can’t find that easiness anymore and he doesn’t understand why. When he tells Dr. Raynor that he’s trying…he really is. He cant escape his difficultly in this area and it pisses him off. It makes him feel even more insecure than he already does.

All of this isn’t even counting how he sometimes acts in ways that are considered socially unacceptable, without even realizing it. That’s a whole other side of this.

All in all, as much as I make jokes about Bucky being kinda weird and awkward (because truthfully it can be very funny), it’s also pretty sad to think about.

[imposterogers]

i’m not even in the stevebucky fandom and i don’t have any strong feelings about them whatsoever and i still fully believe that steve/bucky could have been the best love story in the entire mcu. like honestly just the content that we have for them already is more romantic than pretty much all the canon mcu couples. it makes complete logical sense for them to be together??? and people say this about mlm/wlw ships all the time but it really is so true for them that like... if one of them was a woman they would undoubtedly be together in canon... sorry i know you know all of this but scrolling through your blog is really getting me annoyed that stevebucky didn’t happen....... like....................

the thing that gets me about stevebucky is that their relationship was literally framed in a romantic context. like, I legitimately think it’s impossible for the writers to not notice what they were doing. i’m not trying to minimize the importance of platonic male love in the media we consume, but it doesn’t change the fact that the characters were placed into traditionally romantic tropes, and made borderline flirtatious comments to each other. 

I mean, let’s start from the beginning 

-steve (the damsel) is being beaten up in a back alley behind a movie theater, where bucky (the dashing knight)  knew exactly where he was because they were supposed to meet to watch a film together 

-they then go on a “double” date, where bucky pays more attention to steve’s reactions than the girl’s. when steve slips away and tries to enlist, he follows, and says “They’ll catch you. Or worse, they’ll actually take you.” he wants his “sweetheart” safe on the homefront while he’s away at war

-when steve hears about the 107th being captured, their roles immediately switch. steve becomes the “knight” bucky becomes the “damsel”. steve risks his role as captain america and his life just at a chance bucky might be alive. when steve is trapped in the burning hydra base, bucky yells “no! not without you!”. it is made explicitly clear that they both would rather die than leave the other behind

-at a bar, over drinks, bucky says to steve “you’re keeping the outfit, right?” which is a direct implication that he thinks steve looks good in it 

-when peggy enters the bar, bucky is visibly jealous. while, because its two men, the audience is left to assume steve has the affection of the hot chick, if we look beyond that, bucky could also be seen as being jealous/hurt that other people are beginning to see steve as a romantic interest and Incredible Human Being, when for years, bucky had steve all to himself 

-when bucky falls from the train, steve goes back to that same bar where he asked bucky to join him (stay in war for him, not go back home without him). peggy says to allow steve to allow bucky the dignity of his choice (to stand by steve, to die by steve) and that’s when steve decides to avenge his death. he says, “I’m goin’ after Schmidt. I’m not gonna stop till all of Hydra is dead or captured.” he very literally becomes the first avenger (hence the title of the movie) for bucky. 

let’s fast forward a bit 

-ITS BEEN A LONG LONG TIME (still not over that)

-when the winter soldier’s mask fell off, steve stopped in his tracks and allowed himself to be captured by hydra because of the shock (even when I had nothing, I had bucky), and bucky broke through 70 years of brainwashing from the sound of steve’s voice (the man on the bridge, I knew him). true love conquers all babyyyy

-til the end of the line = til death do us part

-sam tells steve that the winter soldier might not be the type that you save, but the type that you stop, but it is very clear that steve is not capable of making the choice to stop him 

-on the helicarrier, steve lets himself be beaten bloody by bucky. bucky chooses a “stranger” over everything he’s been programmed to know, then proceeds to keep a journal with a big picture of steve in it 

-civil war happens (I hate civil war so i’m not getting into it) but essentially its reiterated that over everyone and everything, steve and bucky choose each other 

-in infinity war, when everyone was dusting away, bucky calls out steve’s name so that steve would turn and look at him, allowing him one more glimpse at his “love” before he died 

i’m just not sure how anyone could provide this kind of content (including the fact that they lived together, went to art classes together, etc) and be surprised people shipped it. the issue with stevebucky, is it goes beyond a simple “shippers being shippers” sort of situation. they’re written with so much undying love, so much devotion and jealousy and intrinsic detail, its actually a shame they weren’t a canon couple, because even without it being canon, they’re the best written and strongest written romantic couple marvel has (to date) put onto the big screen 

[amarriageoftrueminds]

What infuriates me is, the writers pick certain beats as romantic – what they themselves define as a romantic moment – for Peggy, but also have Bucky act out the same beats, as if it doesn’t count. 

Look at the way they introduce them both: dressed in the same kind of uniform, cutting the same wasp-waisted silhouette, being at first magnanimous, and then knocking on their ass a bully (who refuses to behave). 

But we’re supposed to infer that Steve only finds these things attractive in one of them. 

Then why give the exact same actions to two different characters, if there’s supposed to be a specific emotional import attached to those actions in one of the cases? 

They also specifically went out of their way to alter the characterisation of Bucky, from canon, to incorporate a different, canonically gay character, then cast a guy whose back-catalogue consist of playing more than one gay character. 

If it wasn’t meant to imply at the very least that Bucky is in love with Steve, then why did they do both of these things? 

Why are there no romantic flashbacks of him and Peggy,  since H.A. was already slated to star in TWS? (Only a nightmarish vision in AOU?) It’s because they also had to have flashbacks of Bucky, and knew that if they included one of Peggy as well, number 1, the Peggy flashback would suffer by comparison, and 2, it would’ve been impossible to deny how romantic the Bucky flashback was. 

I also find significant the fact that they bend over backwards to avoid giving Steve and Bucky scenes where they’re alone together, especially post ‘give cap a boyfriend’. 

They’re always at a fair, in a pub, in a group of three, with a swat team battering at the door, etc. Because as soon as you do put them alone in a scene together, you get the helicarrier, Stan’s smoulder and Cevans’ absurd shyly-batted lashes, Romance and UST – and the homophobes in charge are made uncomfortable. 

Even the scenes with one other person present often end up being accidentally Stucky; Peggy comes to hit on Steve and all you can see is Bucky’s jealousy; Sam thinks he’s taking part in an interrogation only for Steve to immediately soften when Bucky smiles; even when Tony’s trying to kill them, but what’s the Hero Shot from the trailer? Steve and Bucky throwing the shield back and fore. 

[luna-rainbow]

It's fascinating to me how a lot of the people who were fans of Bucky from caws and cacw era seem to be the ones calling out the inconsistencies, ooc, and ableist stuff with his character in tfatws. While the people who weren't fans of his character or even disliked him now like his character in tfatws a lot more.

Before I start, I wasn’t a Bucky fan until I started watching TFATWS. I’ve been saying CATWS is one of my favourite MCU movies for years, but uh…the reason I loved it wasn’t for Bucky, per se. And let’s just say when I went to the US around the timing of CACW, the Tsum Tsum I bought wasn’t of Team Cap. I definitely didn't dislike him, but if you asked me my favourite MCU characters before this year, I don’t think he’d even be in the top 5. So...uh, anomalies do happen.

I'd be really curious about people who disliked him before TFATWS then found him likeable. I wonder what changed their mind?

As for why older fans are disappointed - as always with disappointment, it's the mismatch between reality and expectation. I think there's a couple of things here.

From a canon point of view, Bucky was established as a caring, supportive and loyal friend in CATFA. While we didn't see much of his personality in CATWS, we saw the torture he was subjected to, his vulnerability in the hands of his captors, and his heartbreak when all of the lies came apart. In CACW he was standoffish with people he didn't trust, but there was also a surprising softness and a dogged protectiveness in spite of everything he had been through. This is carried over in BP, IW and EG, as brief as his scenes were (kudos to Sebastian) -- there was gentleness, there was a quiet pain, there was stoic determination, and there was the trustworthiness.

Now from the fandom side, 7 years is a long time for things to brew - head canons, metas, hot takes, alternative explanations, fanfics...and all of that bleed into fans' impressions of Bucky's character. Again, Sebastian brought more to the story than Bucky's handful of lines, but there's a lot that isn't explicitly depicted that could be extrapolated, such as how much torture Bucky had to undergo to lose his sense of identity. There's also a lot of blanks in his story that invite theories, such as what his family life was like, what sort of work he did before he joined the military, what sort of hobbies he had etc. Fans who have lived with him for 7 years have a fully-fletched person they're carrying into the start of TFATWS.

But in TFATWS, we are introduced to a different Bucky, one that is raw and irritable, bordering on careless and petulant. It was an acceptable starting point, as his grief and anger and guilt are all believable emotions for what he's experienced, but the series then refuses to address any of the underlying issues.

It is afraid to talk about the hurt Steve's decision caused him (and Sam!) and circles around Steve's meaningless absence. It ignores the pain Hydra has caused him over 70 years of torture and forces him to amend for the pain Hydra caused others. It dismisses the importance of body autonomy to a Prisoner of War like him, and makes several jokes about enslavement, body modifications and "disarming". It drives him into uncharacteristically irrational and thoughtless actions -- when canon told us Bucky was someone who cautiously stayed under the radar for 2 long years even while amnesiac and confused.

It flaunted Bucky's pain and anger and guilt while sweeping all the causes of his pain and anger and guilt under the rug, then it told us he was healed by "owning" what happened and that's my villain origin story.

TFATWS did not match up to older fans’ expectations of Bucky’s character, his arc, or his interactions with Sam. I think a small part of that is fanon getting in the way, but a much larger part is TFATWS ignoring established canon, particularly the issues that made Bucky a unique and sympathetic character.

[amarriageoftrueminds]

It genuinely astounds me how people can think Bucky's love for Steve was unrequited when Steve dropped such obvious hints on him being madly in love with Bucky

Yeah just the way Steve continually dodges any discussion of his lovelife when it's framed around women.

(Asked about dancing by Peggy he specifies not dancing with women, which is fuckin weird, cuz this is the 1940s Steve, comphet is universal, the 'women' you'd be dancing with is obviously implied, so why did you need to specify?

But when he's recreating this scene with Nat, in the future, where men can date men, suddenly he's talking about dating 'someone'.

Why did he change his language?

Why did he specify women at a time when only dating women was allowed, but not at a time when dating both men and women is allowed?)

Also the fact that his allegedly romantic scenes with the women they're trying to smoosh him against (Peggy, Sharon and Nat) are mostly just him talking about Bucky.

Another thing the dudebros writing it get wrong is this sense of reciprocity between Steve and Bucky -- as if Steve is only going out of his way to help Bucky because he owes him, for all those years of friendship.

Complete crock of shit, because Steve absolutely 1000% does NOT befriend people unless they are, for want of a better phrase, already worthy of his friendship.

He's a loner and a stoic by temperament. He doesn't need other people's help, he just appreciates those who would be kind enough to help those in need (like Sam did when he first met him).

Also, those who are loyal and honest.

(You see this in his friendship with Nat; when she's lying and backstabbing and cracking jokes about serious things, he's hostile; when she's proven she’s courageous and loyal and honest, he warms up to her.)

Steve has moral standards, and those who don't meet them, don't get to have his friendship. It’s not a transaction: it's a mark of quality. He absolutely would not have had Bucky around for 20+ years (TWENTY FUCKIN YEARS!) just to be Polite.

Ergo, he's not helping Bucky as some kind of payback.

Which isn't to say that Bucky is in the same category as Steve's friends, because he isn't.

Steve never does anything for anyone else on a level with what he is willing to do for Bucky; certainly not for the women we're supposed to believe he's in love with. We've seen what he's like with his friends, (even the ones he's been kissed by!) and the way he is with Bucky is not it.

And what I think a lot of people miss is the fact that what Steve said, 'shared life experiences', does NOT mean 'similar' experiences.

Shared means they were actually there with him, sharing the experience, living it too, and there's only one living person to whom that has ever applied.

(Contrary to the untrue claims of the AC show, Saint Margaret was busy shuffling flags around a desk while Steve was fighting for his life on the continent.) 

And 'life experiences' aren't just 'bad things they were also there for' it means things that have shaped his life.

So that's: his childhood, his tough adolescence and early adulthood in Brooklyn (Brooklyn is so important to him!), the loss of his mother, becoming a supersoldier & fighting in WWII, and how those last two have changed how people see him.

Steve has one or two similar life experiences to Sam.

(Though the biggest one they had in common evaporates the second Bucky comes back from the dead.)

And a couple of shared life experiences with his fellow Avengers.

But no one has the complete set like Bucky does. 

And in fact, it’s only Bucky that allows anyone else to share a life experience with Steve in the first place -- Peggy and Howard only shared the plane to Krausberg with Steve because of Bucky. Steve only crashed the plane (which got him to Avengers-age and fighting Aliens after the Tesseract which dropped from said plane), because of Bucky. Steve, Sam and Nat have ‘taking down Hydra and going on the lam together’ as a shared life experience because of Bucky. Even when Bucky isn’t physically there he’s driving Steve’s life.

And, knowing Steve from their shared early time together means Bucky is the only person alive who has ever proved (PROVED!) that they appreciate Steve for who he really is inside, not just Captain America. 

Erskine had his own self-interest in mind when he approached Steve; Bucky didn’t. Whatever else he is, Sam is also a Cap fanboy; Bucky isn’t. 

And that's why Steve struggles to find anyone else, even when he believes Bucky is dead (tho Carters are right there and obviously gagging for it).

His bar for passion and intimacy has been set astronomically high.

[amarriageoftrueminds]

What you said about how the Avengers movies erased Bucky just adds to the list of reasons Civil War should have been an Avengers movie, not the end to the cap trilogy. They sidelined Steve and Bucky's relationship constantly, despite constantly building it up outside of the films themselves, because they couldn't figure out how to deal with an obviously romantic arc between two men, they couldn't make it not gay, so they relegated Bucky to an occasional plot device and destroyed Steve's character arc and the core of who his character is to try and put an end to it once and for all. Funnily enough, all it did was make us more vocal and push them even harder.

(XXX)

Yup! 

And the reason why CW wasn't an Avengers movie is because it placed importance on a character the other Avengers movies erased; but it was still written like one, so it was up RDJ's ass and tried to pretend Tony mattered to Steve, and it didn't land because those two barely tolerate each other.

(Whereas T'Challa, now; there's a rich guy with daddy issues and wearing a metal suit whom Steve can actually respect!)

Outside of that plot, they're so desperate for Peggy to have been the most important person in Steve's life, and so terrified of Bucky's obvious queerness, that both the Avengers movies and PC's show couldn't even mention Bucky's name!

Homophobe alert!

I'm just trying to think of one thing Steve ever did that indicated Peggy was important to him at all, let alone as important as Bucky?

He moved to DC for work, not for her, and happily moved back to Brooklyn as soon as SHIELD fell.

He called New York home three times (not DC or England, where she was).

He went back in time to bring Bucky and everyone else back, but not her, and to replace Infinity Stones.

If visiting someone who's unwell is a sign of importance then she is as important to him as Nat (at TWS-stage of their friendship), as Wanda (at CW level of friendship), as Happy is to Tony (in IM3), and as Steve was to Sam (again, at only TWS-stage of their friendship).

Crying at her funeral was nonsensical in a film in which he’s defending Bucky’s innocence, because her corruption and incompetence is what lead directly to Bucky’s suffering, and Steve knows that. 

By that point she should’ve been dead to him anyway. 

(But Captain America doesn’t mind Nazi collaborators now, suddenly?? Ignoring the previous Cap movies, that’s how you know it’s an Avengers movie! But Bucky can be included if he’s a reason for splitting up Steve and Tony, because that’s anti-gay, isn’t it?)

Seriously, what did Steve ever do to indicate she mattered to him?

In Brooklyn, in Europe, and on the Valkyrie, he left her behind at every opportunity. He looked sadder about flying away from his friends than he did saying goodbye to her forever!

But suddenly in EG it's her he misses (she's been dead for years! of natural causes! while married to someone else, Steven!) 

When Sam and Bucky and Wanda and Vision died right in front of him?

Wtf is wrong with these people?!

How do they produce this dross and still get paid?

[unknownunseenunheard]

Endgame Steve: *Wants to go back in time to be a literal homewrecker*

Actual Steve Rogers:

Wants to go back in time so he can save Bucky then live the rest of his life alone with him in seclusion

[biblesandbilletdoux]

I think its really interesting to see the difference between Marvel creators' descriptions of steve's relationships with Bucky and Peggy respectively. His devotion to Bucky throughout the Captain America trilogy is reduced to a desperate attempt to hang on to the last remnant of his past, which, I think is unfair considering Steve's first 'screw everything else' rampage to save Bucky goes back to World War, when he was very much, a 'man in his own time. Why, then, is Steve literally going back in time to be with Peggy seen as 'true love' and him 'getting rest'(which he could have had in the future too) and not what it is, an unhealthy and desperate attempt to hang on to his past?(which he seems to have moved on from in his previous movies) I'm a little confused by the double standards to be honest

[rosettyller]

Something I've seen, over and over again, particularly in fics, is Bucky/the Winter Soldier being ordered to go kill Captain America. Or Hawkeye, or Iron Man, or whoever, and him having fairly basic knowledge of them, but no awareness of his own personal relationship to them.

But there is no evidence in the movies to suggest this would happen; in fact it points in the opposite direction.

When he says "But I knew him", it wasn't "but I knew Captain America". There's nothing to suggest he knows Steve's name, or even who he is, apart from some guy that he knew.

Pierce doesn't say who Steve, or Natasha/Sam/Sitwell are, or why specifically Bucky was supposed to take them out. He just tells Bucky that they're bad, and HYDRA's good.

Also, in the scene at Pierce's house.

Again, Pierce doesn't name names. He says 'two targets, level 6.' He gives a timeframe for when they need to be killed by. That's it. He doesn't say 'kill Captain America."

When he's with the Russians, too.

It's not, "steal the supersoldier serum from howard stark, kill any witnesses". They likely don't tell him what he's stealing (past what it looks like so he steals the right thing), or even who from.

Most likely, for most of his mission, they showed him a photo of the target/s, and told him to go and kill them.

It makes sense for them to not tell him what he's doing, because

a) it humanises him. To them, he is not a human, but a weapon. But if they start explaining everything to him, he becomes closer to their equal

b) the more he knows, the more he thinks. The Winter Soldier is an empty shell, and he follows the orders of his handlers without thought. If you give him information, he's going to start thinking. Questioning. And they can't have that. The moment he starts questioning them, he's wiped.

What if he decides he doesn't want to kill a guy and his wife, who have a son? Or an innocent bystanders who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? It could jeopardise all of HYDRA, when they spent so long infiltrating SHIELD. Not a risk they can take. (the whole camera on the road thing in civil war makes no sense, but that's a meta for another day)

c) it could trigger memories. You really think learning all about Captain America's not going to trigger memories? Or Howard Stark, who he was most likely close to? He didn't need to know who they were to kill them, so it's not a risk HYDRA would take.

TL DR; HYDRA would not have given the Winter Soldier the names of his targets, or information about them, as it was too much of a risk, and more than he needed to know.

They didn't tell him what he didn't need to know to go and shoot them.