Why do like the idea that Cap is a virgin? :)
oh oh OH you are my new best friend
To be totally fair, this started one hundred percent as a joke and the first time I thought it, I never meant for it to suddenly rule my life. But it, in all seriousness, now rules the entirety of my life.
(spoilers for CATWS below)
*edit: i favour a steve x bucky reading and as such this leans a bit in that direction*
I have a hard time discerning how canon things are especially in terms of Marvel simply because I have read ZERO of the comic books. I know nothing. I just watch the movies and remember some stuff from the cartoons that I was really allowed to watch, and I assume that most of my readings and opinions are self inserted. You can ask my friend Collin how annoying I’ve been about Captain America and maybe this will make more sense.
I think it sounds unintelligent of my to say, as I know LITERALLY zero things about living in a pre-World War II America, but I’m thinking that with pre-serum Steve’s stature, health, and basic life story that he wasn’t getting much leg over (I mean, weird visual effects aside, fake scrawny Chris Evans could get it from me but~). And we know that Peggy and him would’ve been happily married with some babyboomer kids who would never have voted for Reagan, but Captain America is sad, and as such that isn’t the way it happened.
Most of my readings of this inclination come from CATWS, and specifically the scene with Steve and Natasha in the stolen truck on their way to find Computer Zola.
Three specific things that Steve says in that scene resonated with me quite a bit which are as follows:
"that bad huh?" [re:kissing Nat on the escalator]
"shared life experience"
"what do you want me to be?" "how about a friend?"
As far as the first one goes, he obviously tries to recover (“I’m 97, not dead”), but after the embarrassment about it (aforementioned dialogue) it seems like a cheap deflection tactic. I don’t know how much I really need to flush this out—the entirety of this scenes dialogue set me a bit on edge, to be honest. (What’s the point of trying to get Cap a romantic B-line story if the only two people who have been into him for real are presumed dead or dying? It feel awkward, and with a fair share of lit and film courses under my belt, it seems like a fair way for them to actually shut off the narrative, except for that Natasha keeps mentioning girls in offices etc. The whole thing just throws me off my game a lot idk)
"Shared life experience" GOD god oh my fucking GOD why would they say this line at all. Why would they write this?! This kills me. He’s so sad and he needs someone to understand him and i’m sad!!! bucky!!! god damnit
As far as the last one is concerned, I’m a bit curious as to what the franchise has in store for Black Widow/Nat’s storyline. (We all know that Scarlett wanted to be wearing that arrow necklace throughout, and that she thought it was important to her character arc, but I’m curious because she does throw quite a bit of sexy undertones at Steve throughout the film, and while I personally believe it’s entirely teasing and friendly, I see why others read it as otherwise, and so I’m generally curious.) But this line is a pretty good way for Cap to kind of put his foot down about it. Friends. Friendly.
The last bit of dialogue that really caught me when I watched it was when Natasha is trying to get him to concede to going out with some girl they know (at the office>?? i can’t remember) and she says “She’d say yes if you asked her.” To which Steve says, “Which is why I don’t ask.”
He is so not interested in doing the do with anyone, it just warms my heart a lot. (I personally believe this is bc he only wants to do the do with one metal armed maniac gay sad killer baby, but that’s beyond the point).
I personally saw the entirety of CATWS as a very difficult PTSD story, about a very lonely and isolated feeling Steve who (as Cap, just looks like he doesn’t know how to have a good time BUT) as a human, just maybe really wants to die. Seems like he can’t decide between suicide mission or freedom. I just personally really think he believes in all the Things He Stands For, but that maybe he can’t apply them to himself, or thinks he can’t have what everyone else does, or that maybe he doesn’t want it anymore, now that (until the reveal) Bucky isn’t around. What’s the point of any of it, of any happy, normal, American Dream life is Bucky can’t partake?
I guess in whole, to ramble through it, is that it’s more an emotional reading. That possibly I simply like that Steve Rogers is a bit of a sap, a bit sensitive and a lot sad, a lot lonely, a bit gay, a lot inexperienced. Canonically I don’t know when he’d have had the time to sleep with anyone before or during the war, and because I think his grief is still very raw, and his PTSD seems in full swing, and between fighting aliens and hydra, I’m not sure when/if he’d want to be having sex with anyone
this got so out of hand i’m so sorry