Marvel And DC Are Cool!

Marvel side blog featuring movies, comics, and art. Reblogs and thoughts. Flllow back from waterfireflyer2.

[bisexualisteve]

also i looooooooooooove how tony stark only gives a fuck abt the sokovia victims when its an american kid. oh this charlie spencer boy is dead? time to wallow in guilt and make it everyone else's problem. oh you're saying that thousands of sokovians are dead, displaced, and no longer have a home? ...ehhhh, those poor eastern europeans can figure it out for themselves

[seizethegay420]

The government when the Chitauri invaded: Omg fuck the Avengers! They caused so much property damage and cost so many lives during their attempt to stop the end on the world as we know it! They need to be put in check!

Also the government when the Chitauri invaded: Nuke 'em

[uglynavel]

I'm just gonna say it. I hate Irondad so much. The fact that the mcu erased Peter's true hero and father figure, UNCLE BEN from the movies will always piss me off thr highest levels of pisstivity!!

There's so many people Peter has hero worship for before Tonky Stank. Cap, Daredevil, Johnny Storm, Bruce Banner and Reed Richards!!

Not making Steve or Bruce his father/mentor figure was so dumb. Steve and Peter have similar backstory and the most in common when it comes to being a hero and morals. Especially mcu Peter and Steve

I'm sorry but I'll never love the irondad/ ironboy Jr dynamic and I'm glad Tony is dead and Peter can finally be Peter Parker/Spiderman and not be tied to Tony all the time

[stardustrider]

Bucky "I'm not flirting" Barnes, professionally charming by accident

[buckydeservesthebest]

An interesting fact about complex trauma that some people may not like, but as someone who formally studies psychotraumatology (and who came across an OP like this one), I feel almost compelled to clarify: A survivor of abuse who suffers from chronic C-PTSD and who internalizes the guilt and identity of the abuser (does not believe they are a victim but rather a perpetrator) CANNOT—neither from a psychological nor a neurobiological perspective—“flirt” or feel “instant attraction” to a stranger.

This is not an opinion at all, it is a *clinical fact.*

Complex trauma prioritizes survival, not attraction. In severe C-PTSD, the nervous system is organized around: threat detection, damage control, and avoidance of exposure.

That means that when faced with new stimuli (including people), the brain first asks, "Is it safe?" Not "Am I attracted to it?"

As long as Bucky does not feel secure in himself (because he continues to believe he is inherently "bad" as the Winter Soldier), any impulse involving intimate closeness is *inhibited*. It is not a question of character: it is adaptive neurobiology.

A tragic and real fact about C-PTSD is that living in perpetual hypervigilance changes the basic functioning of the brain.

In chronic traumatic stress:

- The HPA axis (cortisol) is overactive,

- The amygdala dominates evaluation,

- The relational prefrontal cortex is compromised.

In this state:

- Curiosity diminishes,

- Relational play disappears,

- Spontaneous attraction does not emerge.

Because the nervous system is literally busy surviving, *not* bonding.

And the other undeniable fact is the way trauma alters the production of neurotransmitters, eliminating any possible reading of "immediate attraction." This is literally the neurophysiology of attachment.

- Dopamine (anticipation/pleasure): suppressed when the brain assesses threat.

- Oxytocin (bonding/trust): not released without a perception of safety.

- Serotonin (emotional stability): altered in complex trauma, favoring rumination and guilt.

For Bucky, closeness is not associated with reward, but with moral hazard ("I might hurt someone").

That's why the idea of "instant attraction" is not only improbable: it's neurobiologically incongruous.

There may be attempts at lighthearted jokes as an effort to socialize using social masking, but it could *never* be a true equivalent of what the real search for connections is.

And I mean, Sam doesn't know Bucky remotely well enough to assume when he's "flirting," and in fact Bucky specifically denied that claim.

-----

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk on post-traumatic attachment and why it is impossible for those who suffer from complex trauma to "fall in love at first sight."

I hope I haven't made anyone uncomfortable...

[buckydeservesthebest]

Why continuing to call Bucky “Winter Soldier” is not only unfair but also harmful and re-traumatizing for him.

Several days ago, there was a controversy on x.com due to a comment in which a user pointed out that the name Winter Soldier is comparable to a slave name for Bucky. As you can imagine, many responses (mainly from Sam's fandom) reacted with “outrage” because their argument was basically that “a white man can't have a slave name” or “there's nothing wrong with it because Bucky wants to reclaim the name Winter Soldier and ‘give it new meaning.’” Not only are both ideas completely fallacious from a narrative standpoint, but psycho-traumatology refutes this idea, demonstrating the intrinsic damage in imposing a label on a victim by their abuser.

Since I am studying psychology and have also taken official courses on complex trauma (and thanks also to the opinion of one of my professors who has a PhD in psychotraumatology and fortunately knows Marvel, who has helped me analyze the subject), I can say that there are many foundations in trauma psychology to refute this nonsense.

In psychology, names or labels imposed by abusers become a constant reminder of trauma, functioning as a trigger that reactivates painful memories or feelings of helplessness. This phenomenon is well documented in the literature on PTSD and C-PTSD, conditions that Bucky clearly exhibits within the canon.

The name “Winter Soldier” is not just an alias: it is an instrument of control, a symbol of identity deprivation. Hydra not only gave him that name, but also redefined what it meant to be Bucky Barnes, erasing and annihilating his ontological sense of self and replacing it with a dehumanized figure—a machine, a weapon.

The literature on trauma (van der Kolk, 2014; Herman, 1992) explains that labels imposed during abuse become direct reminders of the trauma. Repeating those labels outside the context of therapeutic processing perpetuates revictimization.

From a clinical perspective, the name “Winter Soldier” functions as a conditioned stimulus (trigger) that reactivates the post-traumatic stress response: flashbacks, depersonalization, hypervigilance, or guilt. In that sense, using it “as a joke” or “as part of his past” is not only a way of invalidating his trauma but also trivializes his suffering by reducing it to an object of ridicule.

Again, insist on calling Bucky “Winter Soldier” only serves to evoke memories of his time under HYDRA's control, reinforcing feelings of loss of agency or identity. As we saw, he experienced a crisis of derealization/depersonalization (which is part of the symptomatology of C-PTSD) when he was forced to pretend to be the WS again. This contradicts the principles of trauma-focused therapy, which emphasizes creating a safe environment and avoiding stimuli that perpetuate pain.

And guys, literally, Bucky's arc in TFATWS was based on his active work to reclaim his identity as James Barnes (what the hell do you think his line “I'm not longer the Winter Soldier, I'm James Bucky Barnes” means!?), which is a clear and conscious active rejection of the “Winter Soldier" label.

Speaking exclusively about this specific line, it says much more than meets the eye. It's incredible how, even though Marvel shows no interest in Bucky or in accurately portraying therapy, everything he has done throughout The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is precisely what Michael White and David Epston describe in narrative therapy: reconstructing his story, rewriting his identity.

“I’m not the Winter Soldier anymore. I’m James Bucky Barnes.”

That phrase is an act of self-definition: he chooses his own name, his own narrative, and in doing so regains agency over his story.

Calling him “Winter Soldier” after that is a complete narrative invalidation: it denies him the right to be the author of his own story. In narrative psychology, this is considered a form of symbolic violence—forcing the survivor to inhabit an identity that no longer belongs to him.

The argument that “you can't erase your past” is a deeply superficial interpretation of the concept of trauma integration. Integration is not acceptance of abuse as identity, but assimilation of the past into a narrative in which the subject has control and meaning (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004).

Accepting that the trauma occurred is not the same as identifying with it. In fact, insisting on the use of the name that represents that trauma is precisely not only what prevents its healthy integration. This is exactly the type of behavior that in trauma is called symbolic boundary violation: a narrative is imposed on the survivor's identity without their consent. This is NOT an act of affection, but rather an act of usurping agency.

When Bucky says “I'm not the Winter Soldier anymore,” he is not denying his past; he is affirming that that past no longer defines him. It is the difference between having a traumatic past and being the trauma.

Sam, being a war veteran and group therapist for other traumatized soldiers, should understand the basic principles of trauma recovery. His repeated use of the Hydra label—and especially his jokes at the expense of Bucky's trauma—are narratively inconsistent if the clinical dimension of the character is taken seriously.

Beyond the intentions of the script, these interactions reproduce a form of invalidation that is painfully common for survivors in real life: when their suffering is trivialized or reinterpreted by others as something “in the past” that they “should get over.”

The name “Winter Soldier” strips Bucky of his humanity, reducing him to an instrumental role. In trauma literature, this is linked to the notion of objectification of the survivor: treating them as a function (weapon, resource) rather than as a person (Herman, 1992).

Reversing this requires precisely the linguistic recognition of his humanity—Bucky Barnes—as he has chosen it.

Respecting the name chosen by a survivor is not a semantic courtesy, but an act of symbolic reparation. It is recognizing that their identity belongs only to them.

Oh, and please, let's talk about how certain people try to deflect Sam's total failure not only as a VA but also as Bucky's supposed friend/ally by saying “oH BuT hE CaLleEd hiM ‘UnClE’ WInTeR SOlDieR, tHaT cHaNgEs tHe cOnTeXt oF tHe NaMe.” *Sigh* my friends, that's not how trauma works. This is a false belief that intention or tone can neutralize the traumatic weight of a trigger.

According to Bessel van der Kolk (The Body Keeps the Score, 2014), traumatic memories are not stored as verbal narratives but as sensory and somatic fragments: sounds, words, images, or physical sensations associated with the event.

Therefore, when a survivor hears a word linked to their trauma—such as “Winter Soldier” for Bucky—their brain does not process the tone or intention of the speaker.

What is activated is not a rational interpretation (“he called me uncle”), but an automatic physiological response mediated by the amygdala and the autonomic nervous system.

In other words: The tone does not change the trigger coding; the body reacts the same way, because the body does not distinguish irony, humor, or affection.

Believing that the impact of a trauma trigger is mitigated by a “nice” word is as absurd as saying that an insult is less hurtful if you say it affectionately. NO, the damage is still there. From the perspective of the traumatized brain, tone is irrelevant; the stimulus remains threatening.

The way Sam trivializes the name ‘Winter Soldier’, knowing full well the trauma it represents for Bucky—decades of abuse and dehumanization by HYDRA; added to all his other sarcastic comments (‘bionic looking machine that killed almost everyone he knew’, ‘cyborg brain’, etc.), it shows not only a lack of respect for Bucky's situation, but also a lack of empathy and minimal interest in considering the impact of his words.

In psychology, empathy involves understanding another person's pain and adjusting our behavior accordingly. Sam, as a veteran counselor, knows Bucky's past and how names or labels like ‘Winter Soldier’ act as traumatic triggers. Trivializing it only rekindles his guilt and dehumanization.

Trying to excuse this as “just humor” ignores that the impact outweighs the intention, according to studies on trauma that emphasize that the effect of a comment matters more than the intention behind it. In the ethics of care, *those who know about another's trauma have a DUTY to act sensitively*, not wait for the victim to point it out (Gilligan, 1982). Sam's knowledge of Bucky amplifies this obligation.

Also psychology clearly distinguishes between the intention of the person using the language and the impact on the traumatized person. Peter Levine points out that the effect of a trigger depends *solely* on the subjective experience of the victim, NOT on the perception of the sender.

Once again, attempting to disguise this as “humor” ignores a crucial aspect that I mentioned earlier: Impact trumps intention, a basic ethical principle in trauma. This is a central principle in all trauma-informed care approaches.

The SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014) guide states that the first pillar of trauma-informed care is to do no harm, and that includes avoiding language, behaviors, or environments that may re-trigger traumatic responses.

Intention, tone, or “kindness” do not exempt one from responsibility.

In fact, when someone close or in a position of authority (such as Sam) uses a term associated with trauma, the harm becomes even greater because it breaks the expectation of safety and empathy.

Again, for Bucky, “Winter Soldier” evokes memories of loss of agency, and adding “uncle” does NOT alter that subconscious association. That Sam, with his knowledge of Bucky's past, does not reflect on all this is not only an ethical failure as a counselor, where he is expected to protect traumatized veterans, but also a failure of his interpersonal responsibility as Bucky's ally and supposed friend.

[legalandnotease]

It's crazy that people think Bucky should apologize to Tony for Hydra murdering his parents (at Bucky's unwitting hands), but no one talks about Tony apologizing to Bucky for the fact that everything that happened in CA:CW was literally his fault :/

Tony made the decision to create Ultron -> Ultron destroyed Sokovia -> Zemo lost his family and decided to get revenge -> he murdered T'Chaka and framed Bucky -> Bucky was used to get revenge on the Avengers

For some reason, the movie chose to portray it as if Zemo held everything more against Steve than Tony, who literally CREATED ULTRON, so no one sees it...

Bucky lost his home, was almost murdered several times, beaten, exiled to Wakanda and all of this is a consequence of Tony deciding to build a murderbot behind the Avengers' backs…

Hi Nonny

As far as I am concerned, Tony should have been made to formally apologize to Bucky *and* given him compensation.

Not just because of Ultron and all that happened to Bucky as a result (although there's a case to be made for financial compensation on that basis) but also because Howard Stark recruited the man who tortured and mutilated Bucky in the first place.

Zola was working for Howard when they sawed off what was left of Bucky's left arm and froze him. Whether he knew about it or not, Howard Stark and SHIELD baically indirectly funded the Winter Soldier Program.

I believe as the heir of Howard Stark, Tony should have been forced to compensate Bucky and indeed other victims of SHIELDRA on that basis alone. Maybe Ava Starr and Hank Pym as well, since Howard attempted to steal and weaponize Hank's tech.

[cats-chaotic-mind]

I saw this post on insta and I about crashed out.

This is the most braindead take I’ve ever seen. And so many comments were AGREEING WITH OP!!

What Bucky did while operating as the Winter Soldier is not Bucky’s fault. He was TORTURED. BRAINWASHED. MANIPULATED. MIND CONTROLLED. He had NO CONTROL over his own actions for 70 years.

If ANYONE owes Tony’s family anything - it’s Hydra.

And to be quite honest, I don’t feel sorry for Howard Stark in the slightest. First of all he was primarily responsible for operation paperclip, which recruited Dr. Arnim Zola (you know… one of the first ones to experiment on Bucky?!?) to SHIELD. He was the one who decided to trust the wrong people, he was the one who brought Maria.

So no. Bucky doesn’t owe anyone SHIT. He already spent enough time “making amends” for shit that wasn’t even his fault.

Bucky deserves to live in peace. He deserves to retire. He deserves love.

[deliciousmuchentuchen]

moar ugly sketches with Loki >___<

[luna-rainbow]

Bringing this back because there is still confusion: Bucky is not responsible for the crimes of the Winter Soldier. The analogy is not “if you crashed your car and killed someone you still need to be responsible for what your car caused”. It is not “if you’re a soldier who followed orders you still need to be responsible for the life you took”. Bucky was not distracted or indoctrinated. He was induced into a state where he had no idea who he was, could barely recall what he did, and where “he will do anything you tell him to”.

The correct analogy is “if someone hijacked your car, tied you up and locked you in the trunk, then drove your car into people, you are not held responsible for what happened to the victims because you were as much a victim as they are”. Yes, maybe you will feel guilty for not putting up enough of a fight, or for not killing the hijacker when you thought you had a chance. But you should be told by your good therapist that while your guilt is a natural reaction of a good person, it wasn’t your fault and you should not make contact with the other victims on your own, much less apologise on behalf of the people who hijacked your car.

I hope that’s how you get treated in the real world anyway.

[moonykat]

Okay, here I go again. Opening up the wound after I promised I would just let go of my anger over tfatws and what they did to Bucky, and ignore the existence of said show.

Every single thing they did to Bucky in tfatws is an absolute insult to any trauma survivor. It's victim blaming at its highest and the fact people still think any person that criticizes the show is doing it out of spite because of a ship or because we are babying Bucky, is delusional and have obviously never understood Bucky Barnes.

Eating and smiling at the end of the show doesn't mean recovery if it wasn't earned. Bucky was taken from point A to Z while not only skipping the most important part of his recovery and development, but messing with every single one of the things that deserved to be a milestone in his recovery.

No character, no character at all in the show treated him with respect, as the survivor he is, as a person who needs recovery to be healthy again. not. a. single. person. in. the. show.

The writers think of him as a villain who needs to pay for his crimes, his therapist thinks of him as a villain. Every person in that show thinks of him as someone who has to pay for things he did. Make amends?? So if I'm tortured and stripped away of my ability to say no, and I'm used, and people are hurt, that's on me?

That show mistreated Bucky Barnes in the lowest most disgusting way possible, by blaming him for people Hydra hurt. By making him go face to face with Zemo. By making him go back to be the soldier and imply that all that violence was not a result of hydra's torture, but a part of him that's always been there.

Worst of all, they've caused other people to think Bucky deserves to pay. Very vocal people, who have no idea how trauma works. What it does to you.

I think the writers and audiences have forgotten that scene in the vault, where they electrocuted him, where even the speech told by Pierce was in order to make him believe he was doing good. People conveniently forget what they want so that they can enjoy a show and be happy because Bucky is eating cake, when no person, after Steve, has done a single thing to let him now he is not to be blamed for things he was forced to do.

[luna-rainbow]

You’ve kinda said everything that needed to be said but I’m just in a ranty mood. TFATWS is a piece of terrible writing on many, many aspects, but I’m just going to focus on Bucky.

1. It ignores pre-existing canon that Bucky was tortured into a mindless puppet. Hydra was not “your people”. Bucky did not have a choice in his fights and it makes no sense for him to say to a revenge-blinded Walker “don’t go down this path, believe me, it doesn’t end well” because he had never been in that situation. It did not make sense for him to tell Karli, who is making the choice to mass murder people, “you think it’s worth it but in the end the nightmares just won’t go away”. Bucky’s nightmares were of innocent bystanders the Winter Soldier killed on mission; they had nothing to do with what he believed was worthwhile because he had no say in it.

2. Despite that, they’re aware enough of his lack of consent and lack of capacity to make an off-hand rape reference and never address this with the gravity it deserves. 🤢

3. Undoing everything that had contributed to Bucky’s recovery and healing. His relationship with Steve and Sam (yes, the moments were fleeting but he was much softer with Sam in IW and EG than he was in TFATWS). His relationship with Wakanda. Everything he had established in the previous canon was ignored or systematically dismantled. His relationship with Steve is reduced to a piece of metal and an imaginary moon-dweller. His relationship with Wakanda is made antagonistic purely to set up a 3-way fight and to develop Walker. His relationship with Sam is petulant, and neither of them are allowed to discuss the immense grief hanging between them.

4. The complete lack of research or care about veteran trauma, complex PTSD and therapy. The extremely amateur take of healing by “fixing” (amending), of addressing misplaced guilt with “apologising”, of undoing wrong done onto him by calling “bullshit” (for wanting peace after 90 years?) and “doing the work” and “making the victims feel better and not about making yourself feel better”. Bucky’s therapy should focus on him and him alone, because he is not responsible for the other victims. SHIELDRA is. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD HE HAVE BEEN ENCOURAGED TO APPROACH VICTIMS WITHOUT A MEDIATOR PRESENT (AND THEIR CONSENT TO MEET HIM) THAT IS SERIOUSLY FUCKED UP FOR EVERYONE INVOLVED.

5. The completely unearned fairytale ending that might as well just be Bucky drinking a fairy potion of happiness for all I care.

If they want to write about trauma and disability, do the work. How many trauma victims have they talked to? Retired vets with PTSD? Mental health professionals? Upper limb amputees? They didn’t because they didn’t care. Not about trauma, not about disability, and definitely not about Bucky as a character with clear established canon.

[tragicfantasy-girl-deactivated2]

So, I am a relative newbie to the MCU and a new Bucky fan. I have to admit when I first watched FaTWS I liked it, but it might have been because I was just impressed by something shiny which promised a lot of Bucky Barnes.

I was a *bit* uncomfortable with some of the therapy scenes even then though- and honestly I'm glad I found some posts by more seasoned fans. Also, I love your breakdown.

1: Made no sense to me either. Why is he talking to a revenge-crazed man as though he's talking from personal experience? He never killed anyone in revenge. He shot enemy combatants in war who were trying to kill him comrades and then was tortured into being an assassin.

Don't even get me started on that convo with Karlii. "Have you ever fought for anything greater than yourself....". Shut up Karli. He fought in two of the worst wars in the history of the MCU againt Nazis and a deranged demigod.

You have murdered more people than he did in 30+ years having been literally tortured into it- you did it willingly and knowingly for your own ends. Which makes you little better than HYDRA who used Bucky as a living weapon.

Also, what was it wih that constant "the Winter Soldier is still in me/still in you?". Like its some *bad side* of Bucky that is waiting to come out at the slightest provocation? What the actual....? Its not his alter ego. The Winter Soldier is not part of him. He wasn't just one bad day away from a murderous rampage. The WS was a living weapon created via torture and activated by mind control.

2: His eyes. Just that vacant, dead look in his eyes. IRL I would suspect he might be disassociating to just cope with the potential trauma and horror of being used again. Poor Bucky (and Sebastian Stan *phenomenal face acting* as usual...).

There is nothing funny about this. Its disgusting.

3: THANKYOU. What is it with this series seeming to ignore everything we saw in the movies, or just totally changing the personality, motives and characterization? Is his just a Disney thing?

I could not get the obsession with Steve's shield he seemed to have in the series. Is this the same sheield which Steve literally *threw away* in The Winter Soldier because he could not bring himself to hurt his best friend any more? Is this the same shield which Steve gave back to Tony in Civil War so he could save his best friend lying injured and helpless on the ground? The shield he again discarded because *his friend* meant more to him than being Captain America ever did?

THAT shield? Bucky should not care remotely for the piece of metal or who it goes to. Fighting for it, like a dog over a piece of meat? That's totally against his established characterization.

Also- they *dared* to give John the same dialogue in that scene as Steve had during his and Bucky's fight in The Winter Soldier. Even the same stance: holding up the shield whilst they run at each other. Which shows that they *have* seen the movies. They are aware of what happens in them- they just chose to ignore the existing continuity.

4: Also... THANKYOU.

That ridiculous therapist woman- and also Sam. SAM who is supposed to have a background working with traumatized veterans literally callling Bucky a "freak" and openly making fun of not only his trauma but also his physical disability. "The bionic staring machine" - really? Dehumanizing. As if he hasn't had enough of that already.

We even had to endure Bucky saying that another traumatized veteran on the verge of a breakdown was "acting crazy" and that he recognized it because he himself was crazy. When did it become acceptable to call a person with PTSD "crazy"? Did I not get that memo?

No character, no character at all in the show treated him with respect, as the survivor he is, as a person who needs recovery to be healthy again. not. a. single. person. in. the. show.

Honestly, the doctor in The Winter Soldier who was tending to Bucky after he came back from his mission to kill Nick Fury showed more concern and care for him than anyone at this series: and he was literally just paid to keep the weapon healthy.

5: Nope. They haven't done research, they don't care. I even wonder whether they even wanted to include Bucky in the series at all, or if he was thrown entirely for fan service into a series which was meant to be about Sam.

Yet they still had the audacity to pat themselves on the back about giving fair representation to trauma victims. Honestly, I think that this point we only have any sense of Bucky being traumatized because of Sebastian Stan and what the late Stan Lee told him about the character. That and the movies.

Moving forward- I don't hold out much hope. They're apparently going to ignore their own "happy ending" in the upcoming Brave New World movie- and in Thunderbolts Bucky is listed as an "antihero/reformed villain" working with people he has literally no prior acquaintaince with. Unless they're going to decide he knows them from his time in Siberia- literally the most painful and traumatic part of his life which he does not want to remember or relive. They already had him working with Zemo, who literally used Bucky as a weapon for his own ends no differently than HYDRA did- so why not?

[buckydeservesthebest]

God... the more I think about this issue... the more analysis and perspectives I read about the injustice that Marvel has subjected Bucky to non-stop... I feel worse.... I mean, this is literally the worst mistreatment in every way a company has given his character that I have ever seen..... You guys basically said everything that needed to be said...but this makes me so mad I want to give my two cents..

1. The way in TFATWS they wanted to make Bucky look like a willing participant of HYDRA, rather than an enslaved man who had his agency and identity taken away from him, contradicting the canon we know all too well is the height of chutzpah. Bucky was never indoctrinated, his mind was broken and rebuilt until Bucky as a person/consciousness no longer existed. As the Winter Soldier, he had no beliefs, desires, motivations, opinions, or thoughts of his own. He had none of what makes up an identity, which is why the Winter Soldier IS NOT an alter-ego, he was a trance state devoid of consciousness.

And that is why to say that he is "not morally innocent", as some claim, is absurd to say the least! Because nothing he was forced to do was done with "malice," which is the definition of being "morally guilty". Bucky couldn't even reason out that "speech" Pierce gave him about "he was doing the right thing". He didn't even understand the question about whether he wanted milk! Because the Winter Soldier only existed to obey orders and nothing else...

2. I mean... this was a reference to the slave trade too! And such a sensitive subject was treated as a "joke" without any kind of shame! And yet some people dare to say that Bucky "is not a victim" in this situation because he agreed to go along with Zemo's plan? Bucky was dehumanized, treated like an object to be sold... The level of trauma he was subjected to, that was only treated as a subject for laughs... is horribly unimaginable... By definition, Bucky is a victim of this specific situation as well!

Also, can we talk about how he felt somehow responsible for the Flag Smashers issue after believing HYDRA was behind it all? It is for unjustly believing that HYDRA was "his people and his cause" that he feels responsible for all the evils they caused... And this unjustified and aberrant perspective is shared and fueled by all the characters and by the very production of the series.... HYDRA was his captor and slaverr, and in all the evils they caused the most harmed in every way was Bucky....

3. I personally think that, out of all the terribly handled themes in the series, Bucky's attachment to the shield is the least far-fetched... I mean, the shield is Steve's most personal belonging, it's the embodiment of everything he stands for because it was he who gave it meaning in the first place. The shield represents the spirit of sacrifice for the protection of others, the two times Steve gave it up was because he chose Bucky as more important. Sacrifice to protect is basically Steve's main dogma... And well, generating emotional attachment to the belongings of a loved one we lost is totally normal, because it's a way to continue maintaining that connection, to continue feeling close to that person... And when that loved one is the only family you had left... when you have nothing else... the attachment and the need to preserve and protect that belonging becomes very, very strong...

Beyond the fact that maybe Bucky's sister is still alive, which I really doubt very much, they seemed to drift apart after the death of their parents. She moved to Shelbyville by the time Bucky joined the military. The point is that from that moment on, Steve was the only family Bucky felt he had... And after everything that happened, their brotherhood was strengthened even more. Canonically, Steve is the only person who believed in Bucky, he's the only person who saw him as himself, as his friend, as his brother... when for the rest of the world he was just the Winter Soldier... And when Steve was gone (or rather abandoned him), Bucky was left all alone...

It's worth noting that when grieving the identity of the mourner is severely affected, because part of what forms our identity are the interpersonal relationships we form with others. Steve was not only the only person who truly believed in Bucky, or the only family he had left. Steve was the only thing he had left from his past life, the only one who could understand what it's like to have to adapt to a world he doesn't feel a part of... That is why the degree of importance, of pain, of shock and sadness of Bucky's grief is far beyond what anyone else could ever experience... This explains the reason for the strong attachment to the shield and Bucky's feeling of wanting to protect it as well as the legacy of his best friend...

And regarding Bucky's other relationships... let's be honest, outside of Steve, he didn't have any other true friendships. The only time the Wakandans seemed to treat him with respect was in the post-credits scene in BP. Keeping him with only one arm in IW, and on top of that tasking him to do farm chores, offering him the prosthetic left arm only until the battle got closer to Wakanda and *not before*, thus reinforcing the idea that his arm and Bucky himself can't be more than a weapon.. is already insensitive and dehumanizing enough on their part. And don't get me started on Sam, who even before TFATWS always had a hostile and rude attitude towards Bucky, criticizing every single innocent comment he made and barely tolerating his presence just because of Steve...

4. Gosh... what more can I add.... Sam, Dr. Raynor, who bragged about being "one of the people who want to help Bucky", literally nothing, absolutely nothing in her attitude made the remotest reference to the intention of wanting to help him. And as you guys rightly said, NO ONE, EVER, AT ANY TIME AT ALL, EVER TREATED BUCKY WITH EVEN THE MOST MINIMAL RESPECT THAT SOMEONE AS A VICTIM AND SURVIVOR OF ABUSE, DESERVES. What can we expect from other characters like the Wakandans, Sharon, Isaiah, much less Zemo? Each and every one of them represented a different angle of victim-blaming, ableism, dehumanization and discrimination towards Bucky, whose sole purpose was to feed the false and outrageous idea that Marvel has insisted on selling, the idea Bucky cannot be a victim.

5. Just the sheer idea that Bucky's nightmares are caused by "guilt for his sins," i.e., they are self-inflicted, and not the product of decades of torture, brain damage, and the worst case of PTSD in history...There are countless other examples, but I think just this one idea alone says it all... This exhibits the null knowledge, the null interest in investigating what trauma is and how it is adequately treated in the victim and survivors of abuse, in war veterans, in people suffering irreparable brain damage, in disabled people... All this is displayed in the most cynical and shameless way in the world.

And everything Bucky suffers from, all the mental illness, all the irreparable brain damage and its side effects ARE NOT MAGICALLY GOING TO DISAPPEAR BECAUSE HE "DID THE WORK" AND PUT HIMSELF INTO THE SERVICE TO MAKE OTHERS FEEL BETTER, following Sam's "mOtiVaTioNal sPeEch." NO! THAT'S NOT HOW YOU DEAL WITH THE TRAUMA OF AN INNOCENT VICTIM AND SURVIVOR OF DECADES OF ABUSE AND ENSLAVEMENT!!!!!!

Damn it! No matter how many times I express this... I'm never going to feel like it's enough nor is it going to stop making my blood boil...

But speaking specifically of the "therapy", from what I've been able to read, sadly the IRL therapy offered to war veterans is not much different... because its purpose is not to help them feel better but to *get them in condition to return to work*. This makes me wonder... if all that was planned from the beginning to make Bucky "a functional operative" that the government could recruit whenever it wanted? That's what he was to Walker, just a "valuable asset" that he wanted to have at his disposal... and not a man who has been through the worst horrors anyone could imagine.

Will this be the direction we will see in Thunderbolts? The government using any method of blackmail and manipulation to force Bucky to work for them is something I can totally see coming... sadly...

It pains me to say it... but the idea that Marvel will never let Bucky live in peace, that they'll never let him shed the Winter Soldier's shadow, that they'll never let him be more than "a reformed villain", let alone that they might someday recognize him as a victim, the victim who has suffered the longest... are very very unlikely hopes....

This infuriates and frustrates me beyond what any word will allow me to express...

[ripfic]

It's so hilarious that MCU!Loki has committed one horrible crime, and yet MCU blames him for everything EXCEPT that one crime.

"He betrayed Odin" - no

"He betrayed Grandmaster/Thanos/Mobius" - no and f u

"He wanted to take over NYC" - no

"He killed his mother" - no and f u #2

"He was a bad king" - no evidence of that either

Etc

But never, NEVER "Loki tried to eradicate his own race".

Which! He DID DO. HE TRIED TO OFF HIS PEOPLE AND HIMSELF OUT OF SPACE-RACISM.

But you can't adress that without recognizing that Odin is an evil mf, and Asgard is a deeply flawed society, so I guess you won't, dear MCU.

[worstloki]

Loki tried to commit genocide onscreen but somehow that's not the crime people like to bring up

[ripfic]

Not only that but he wasn't even sentenced for that! He was sentenced for the attack on NYC which wasn't even really his fault to begin with. Loki's real crime aligns perfectly with the asgardian ideological views (that's largely why he committed it in the first place, despite being opposed to the idea initially), and therefore nobody was ever mad at him for it. And yet they're willing to hate him for all of the things he never did.

His "redemption" in the series also includes torturing someone because he was asked to.

It's never about what he's doing, it's only about whether or not his actions benefit people in the position of power over him. And I'm PISSED.

[nerdyedits]

THOR (2011) dir. Kenneth Branagh

[glorious-collections]

Every year this same photographer releases previously unreleased Loki photoshoots from 2011-2012, and every year I thank him for his service. These are the pictures he released for this year!

₍₍⚞(˶♡ꇴ♡˶)⚟⁾⁾ ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡ ₍₍⚞(˶˃ ꒳ ˂˶)⚟⁾⁾

I still haven't recovered from last year's! 😭😭😭😭

[unavoidabledirewolf]

THOSE FUCKING BRAIDS AAAAAAAA

It's almost 2 AM and I'm screaming because the BRAIDSSSS MY HEART

[ripfic]

I just realized that not only Loki had a really tragic life throughout the mcu, but in universe, there is nobody who knows his story.

Nobody will ever know he was betrayed and lied to, nobody will ever know he was tortured and controlled, nobody will ever know he faced his former handler and was killed by him.

Nobody will ever know how deeply he cared about people, how much he disliked fighting, how horrible were things Thanos put him through, how much he struggled with internalized racism and self-hatred.

Nobody will know that he loved astronomy and was good at technology. That he was brave and caring. That he never enjoyed hurting people.

That he was fighting Thanos from the start. That he saved his brother, and his friends, and his girlfriend. That he was trying his best, even if not always successfully.

People will always remember him as a power-hungry maniac who attacked NYC, "faked" his death and then had a sudden heart change and saved Asgard. But that's it. A crazy jealous little brother. A selfish brat. Never a real person who played an important role in delaying Infinity War and saving the world.

Loki never received a funeral. There wasn't a single person who truly knew who he was and what he actually did. And now he's dead, and the world couldn't care less. Most of them don't even know how he died and his body will never be found. And he, most likely, will be completely forgotten sooner or later.

But, maybe, it was for the better: he was stolen, abused, tortured, used when he was alive but he's free now. He loved astronomy and now he is somewhere in space among the stars, where nobody will ever find him, and there is no Odin, no Thanos, no Grandmaster. And when the world will forget about him completely, he will be free from the society that pushed him into falling.

The world never truly knew Loki or gave him any justice, but it doesn't matter anymore.

And all I can think about is....

...Goodbye, Lucy Gray, we hardly knew you.

[dailyhiddles]

Did Odin really favor Thor, or was that all in Loki’s head?

It absolutely wasn’t all in Loki’s head! I think it’s pretty clear that Odin would’ve never been eligible for a “parent of the year” award. From childhood, Loki and Thor were raised in opposition:

I’m going to quote Alan Taylor and say “their father so completely screwed up their childhood. You don’t tell two boys that their both meant to be king but only one will do it.” And I’ll add: you definitely don’t tell two boys they’re meant to be king knowing full well that their fates were predetermined. Loki never stood a chance because a) he was second-born  b) he was not Asgardian. 

But we all know honesty was not Odin’s strong-suit. 

I wonder how long it took for this little boy to learn that he was always going to play second fiddle to his brother…

But moving on to the end of Thor, where Loki thinks that destroying the Jotunheim (and finishing the war that Odin started) will prove to his father that he is just as strong and formidable as Thor. 

“I only ever wanted to be your equal” well doesn’t that line just sum up Loki’s character perfectly? He only wanted to be given the same treatment as his brother; to make his dad proud. His entire arc in the first Thor film is centered around trying to gain Odin’s affection, and Odin refuses to give it to him.

This is a piece of the script, which also helps elaborate: 

And there’s an awesome post here about this gif, below, which describes the semiotics of the shot much better than I ever could.

Let’s talk Avengers. There’s a throw away line in there where Thor tries to remind Loki that they were raised as brothers (they played together, fought together, etc.) and Loki responds:

And this isn’t the only time this “shadow” is referenced. Frigga mentions it in a scene that they savagely deleted from Thor: The Dark World.

I love this interview of Tom from D23, where he talks about Loki and Frigga’s relationship in comparison to Loki and Odin’s relationship.  

One has to wonder if Loki’s mischievous ways started as an effort to gain his father’s attention? Of course it was. 

This scene is so hard to watch because Odin is so unnecessarily cruel when he yells “your birthright was to die!” Ugh I hate it. 

“I really don’t see what all of the fuss is about” and why would he when he follows his father’s example. “I went down to Midgard to rule the people of earth as a benevolent god, just like you.” And here he points out the hypocrisy— a king can conquer and destroy and he’s lauded as a hero. 

Exhibit A & B:

“All this because Loki desires a throne” This is the best display of Odin’s ignorance, because as we all know, Loki never wanted a throne. Odin never understood what Loki truly desired… actually, he never understood Loki period.Loki and Thor are two sides of the same coin. It’s the reason why he couldn’t be the parent Loki needed and why he bonded with Thor better. I would assume that training Thor to be the next king took precedence over any relationship he could’ve had with his second-son. 

But on the bright side there’s always Loki and Frigga’s beautiful relationship! Because he may have had a shit father, but Frigga was always there for him. She always strived to understand him and make him feel worthy and loved :,) 

(…Okay I’m done because I’m gonna cry)

[nikkoliferous]

This is a really good post, and I can’t imagine how anyone could have watched the Thor movies and come away thinking Loki’s issues of neglect were all in his head. So thank you for your well-articulated defense of him.

My only nitpick (which isn’t really a nitpick with this post specifically but more with the Loki fandom as a whole) is the bit about Frigga always being there for Loki. Because I see this all the time. This fandom has a tendency to treat Frigga like a damn saint just because she was the only person who paid any attention to Loki. But that’s a really low bar.

Yes, Loki was close to Frigga. Yes, she gave him the attention he didn’t get from his so-called father. Yes, I think she genuinely loved him. But I can’t stand seeing her held up on a pedestal. The way she treated Loki when he was in prison in TDW—the emotional manipulation, the gaslighting—was downright abusive. And I hate how rarely I see anyone talk about that.

When she catches him casting illusions to make himself feel better, she criticizes his attempts to avoid reality rather than reassuring him that he doesn’t need to be Thor, that he’s already worthy just as he is. She tells him, “a true king admits his faults” while she’s married to (and defending) Odin, who is massively hypocritical and more than happy to scapegoat and manipulate anyone in his way. She acts as though Loki’s complaints are irrational and unjustified. She lets him know in no uncertain terms that he doesn’t have the right feel betrayed, even though he was betrayed.

Frigga failed Loki too, and I just wish more people in this fandom would acknowledge that.

[kaipassedgo]

every day i wake up and am mad at the end of steves storyline and the full and complete lack of people who GET IT

[magneticallyyours]

elektra with curls is the best kinda elektra imo

[freesiadotcom]

loki is LITERALLY the knife cat meme i’ve been saying this for ages and this panel confirms