Captain America the First Avenger but with Full Stucky Goggles
Okay but Steve and Bucky’s relationship mirrors a romantic relationship from the very first movie.
In the First Avenger movie after Steve gets the serum and is made to tour instead of fight, he gives up on ever being able to fight or make a difference. Then he finds out Bucky has been captured and he goes from this:
and he runs to Phillip’s:
and asks him for just “one name: Sergeant James Barnes of the 107th. B-A-”
When Phillip’s tells him that name does sound familiar and was on the list of the presumed deceased. He then immediately runs to the show tent, grabs his props, and decides to go on a one man rescue mission.
Peggy: Your friend is most likely dead
Steve: You don’t know that
Peggy: Do you plan to walk to Austria?
Steve: If that’s what it takes.
When he arrives and rescues the men, he says he’s looking for a Sergeant James Barnes and asks the Howlies if there’s anywhere else someone might be and they respond by telling him that some of them get taken away but no ones ever come back from there.
He then tells the Howlies how to get out and what to do before leaving to go find Bucky. They even ask him if he’s sure and knows what he’s doing and he responds by joking that he’s punched Hitler over 200 times.
Again, despite other people’s concerns he prioritizes Bucky (despite all signs pointing to Bucky most likely being dead).
He runs into Zola and starts to chase him before being distracted by hearing mumbling and going in to find Bucky strapped to a table.
This is Steve’s face when he starts to free Bucky and leans over him and says “It’s me. It’s Steve.”
and this is Bucky’s face:
which goes from confusion to the biggest smile when he realizes that Steve came for him. This also somewhat mirrors the winter soldier Hellicarrier scene since Bucky has clearly been drugged with the way hes slurring, his eyes are glassy, and all he can say is his name and serial number but the minute he sees Steve its like he starts coming back to life.
After Steve gets him off the table he EVEN SAYS “I thought you were dead” with so much relief in his voice
Phillip’s told Steve Bucky was on the list of dead soldiers, Peggy told him Bucky was most likely dead, the Howling Commandoes told him that no one has ever come back from the labs alive, even STEVE HIMSELF had doubts about whether or not Bucky was alive and HE STILL HAD TO GO LOOKING FOR HIM.
And then Bucky, who had be tortured for days and is exhausted and in pain, asks Steve if getting the serum hurt him. Even half dead his main concern is Steve.
Then obviously they run into the Red Skull and Zola and the building starts to blow up. Bucky manages to get across to safety but the bar breaks, trapping Steve.
This is Bucky’s face when he realizes the bar broke and Steve’s stuck.
Bucky tells him there has to be a rope somewhere to which Steve tells him to get to safety
and Bucky responds by saying that he’s not leaving without Steve
The interesting here is that Steve was fully expecting and preparing to die but realizes that Bucky won’t leave unless Steve leaves too.
It doesn’t show well in pictures, but Steve is clearly reluctant to jump and only does so because he knows that Bucky won’t leave without him (also just the fact that Bucky was fully prepared to die in a burning factory despite being able to leave just because he can’t leave Steve).
Fast forward a little bit, and Bucky and Steve rejoin the other soldiers and make their way back to camp.
Steve talks to Phillips and reunites with Peggy and just as Steve and Peggy start flirting Bucky yells out “Lets hear it for Captain America”.
There’s been a lot of meta about this scene but the gist of it is that when Steve looks to Bucky, Bucky smiles at him but as soon as Steve turns away his smile starts to falter.
The best explanation I’ve seen for Bucky’s feelings in this scene is that he used to be only one who saw all of Steve’s qualities and potential and everything that made him special but now the rest of the world sees it too and Steve isn’t only his anymore (and also he yelled out right then because he was jealous of Steve paying attention to Peggy more than him).
Then we move to the bar scene where Steve recruits the commandos. After the commandos agree to join him, Steve goes to ask Bucky if he’s ready to “follow Captain America into the jaws of death” (interesting to note, Bucky would be eligible to go home since he was drafted and because he was a POW, but Steve doesn’t even ask, there’s a general expectation between the two that wherever Steve goes Bucky follows). Bucky also tells Steve here that he’s not following Captain America but the friend he’s always followed.
He then jokingly asks Steve if he can keep the outfit. This part was interesting because before he complained about the outfit and about having everything he ever wanted but that he now has to wear tights.
This next part was when Peggy comes in. Bucky’s reaction is interesting and something someone else analyzed really well before but the gist of it is that Bucky’s reaction is basically jealousy.
His fists and jaw is clenched and what’s more interesting is that the song playing in this part is called “There is Tavern in the Town”. Here’s the good analysis by stevebucks.
Moving on, we have Steve getting the SHIELD and other Captain America stuff from Howard Stark and he then hands him his “ideas” for the suit. The suit design, that he hated before, is the same as the one Bucky asked if he was keeping.
We then see Steve, Bucky, and the commandos storming Hydra bases before finally coming to the train mission. Fun fact: After Steve says “Now why would I do that?”, the original script had Steve call him a punk and then Bucky respond with Jerk, calling back to the beginning of the movie.
We then have them land on the train and they end up getting separated by doors and a robot man. They’re super in sync through the fight and we have the sad moment where Steve and Bucky again take turns rescuing each other. Steve first protects Bucky with the shield and then Bucky protects Steve with the shied.
Obviously, we know what happens next. After Bucky falls, Steve ends up at the same bar they were at a few months ago when he recruited the Howling Commandos. (As a side note, of all the depressing things that happen to him, Steve looks saddest at Bucky’s death)
Peggy tries to console Steve by telling him that Bucky chose to follow him and that he should respect his choice and to honor his death (side note: this scene was supposed to be Steve and Phillips originally which may be why it seems a bit callous).
Steve also comments here that he “won’t stop until all of Hydra is dead or captured”. This is very far from where he was before Bucky’s death when his thing wasn’t revenge but just to do the right thing. Bucky’s death makes his fight personal, it’s what makes him become and Avenger.
Bucky was the reason Steve wanted to specifically join the 107th, Bucky was the reason Steve went from a chorus girl to Captain America, and Bucky was the reason Steve’s fight became personal and what made him into an Avenger.
Bucky is the catalyst behind Steve’s biggest character developments in the movie and Bucky and Steve’s relationship is the main emotional and humanizing aspect in this and the rest of the Captain America movies. While its not necessarily or explicitly romantic, it can certainly be interpreted that way (and it makes sense why so many people have).
That’s all for this movie, I guess. I’m just going to leave this here, take from it what you will.
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