hi, guys! it's alex narrating again! yaaaaay first of all, spoiler alert for the captain america movies including civil war second, we'll be mainly focusing on the marvel cinematic universe for this one because that's where the juice is. with captain america: the winter solider and civil war coming out recently, the relationship between bucky barnes and steve rogers, aka captain america,
has become a subject of much interest. and they are. now, i didn't really hear much about this pairing until winter soldier came out, even though they've appeared in movies before. and comics, of course. well, let's just outline the story of their relationship and how this all began, and let's see how gay it really is. the first movie was called captain america: the first avenger. a lot of people remember it as
'that marvel movie that's okay enough to be good but obviously not as bad as the hulk'. i personally it as 'the one with agent smith as a nazi', but okay. so it begins with this little puny guy called steve rogers, who totally doesn't remind me of myself, and he really wants to enlist in the army. but, unfortunately, he's too physically unfit to join. i mean, it seems that he's more focused on joining the army with all those sweaty men rather than trying to get a girl
like his much more developed friend, bucky. so, we're introduced to this much more developed friend. his name being james buchanan barnes, or bucky for short. and i see it as a classic love story: steve was always the smaller friend looking up to bucky, and bucky always looking out for steve. and then one day steve got a glimpse of bucky in the boy's locker room, and then he started to question his sexuality
for weeks until he finally came to the conclusion that he was in love with his best friend but that friend is obviously straight oh i oh god wh (cough) sorry, i'm projecting. so steve ends up kind of idolizing bucky in a way bucky gets to live that machismo life, get all the girls and join the army. even bucky points out steve's problems when steve is being all righteous and says that he should get the chance to be like everyone else, and that this totally isn't about his masculinity
so bucky says sarcastically, "right. 'cause you've got nothing to prove." well, then bucky, the savage, leaves with all the girls, and leaves steve to wallow in his own self-pity. so this guy approaches steve, and he sees qualities beyond his stature. he lets him join the army, and steve gets to meet some neat people, and also his mandatory straight love interest. hey, but, you know what? she's pretty badass.
and at least there's build-up to their relationship, so i'm fine with them getting together. so old guy who recruited him starts talking to him again and casually drops some hardcore themes on the poor guy. "because a strong man, who has known power all his life, may lose respect for that power, but a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows... compassion." so the major theme here is that you don't appreciate a good thing until you don't have it. steve doesn't have strength, and fully appreciates the gift that good genes are. later in the movie, he's about to die and begins to appreciate the life he had.
he's about to lose peggy and realizes what a great person she is. he loses bucky and realizes how heart-wrenching it is to live without him. bucky's death wounds him. given all he's lost, we'll see in the next movie how he reacts when he regains what he's lost. but let's continue with the plot of the first avenger. so, then the movie continues with steve training and stuff and they chose him to be this super-secret guinea pig. so then when they're taking him to become lab-ratted, my homegirl peggy here is like,
"you have no idea how to talk to a woman, do you?" "i think this is the longest conversation i've had with one. women aren't exactly lining up to dance with a guy they might step on." "you must've danced." "well, askin' a woman to dance always seemed so terrifying. in the past few years, it just... didn't seem to matter that much. figured i'd wait." "for what?" "the right partner."
which i guess makes sense for a guy like him, with a small stature and imposed gender roles of the 1940s on him, but i'm sure that's secretly script-writing code word for steve is secretly a repressed bisexual in love with bucky. take it as you will. and steve is known for having a big heart. even when he's turned into a super macho man, he has a heart of gold (trademark). when old guy is dying, he points to his heart,
signalling steve's heart of gold (trademark). do you know what people with hearts of gold do? they care a lot. you know who steve cares about a lot? bucky. and i know that in this movie we're just getting the bro vibes. (trademark) that's why not a lot of people shipped it back then.
but trust me, it gets a lot more homoerotic. so then steve is made into captain america, a symbol for american spirits during world war 2. and he starts to hate it. he feels like a dancing monkey but, alas, the plot gets in the way and it turns out his friend bucky barnes is perhaps dead or captured. steve goes to find out whether his friend is dead and they tell him he is, but steve doesn't take no for an answer, especially when it comes to bucky.
he goes against orders and swoops in to save all the hostaged men from the bad guys, and that includes bucky, of course. he's risking everything for bucky. he's so glad to find that bucky is actually alive, and their reunion is so heartbreakingly not-platonic. "it's me. it's steve." "steve..." "come on." "i thought you were dead."
"i thought you were smaller." but they get into a predicament where they're trying to escape and become usually self-sacrificial because they're both great. "just go, get out of here!" "no, not without you!" and they escape together, and their dynamic sort of changes. bucky no longer has to look out for steve. now that steve got hot and buff, it seems their roles are becoming reversed.
steve is getting all of the ladies and the glory. "i'm invisible. i-i'm turning into you. this is like a horrible dream." "don't take it so hard. maybe she's got a friend." and if they are reversing their roles, does that mean buck looks up to steve in the same way steve looked up to him? so buck becomes his crime-fighting partner and they have gay ol' times. until poor buck dies.
steve is heartbroken! he cries! captain america, the symbol of masculinity and all that's rough n' tough, cries! and it's good to show that side of him, the side that cares and loves... loves bucky. peggy even acknowledges their profound bond. "you did everything you could. did you believe in your friend? did you respect him? then stop blaming yourself. allow barnes the dignity of his choice.
he damn well must have thought you were worth it." so the movie ends with steve kind of dying but not really, and he gets frozen or something and he's in the future now, because... movie... and... i guess they have to make the avengers now, or something? but, you know. the next time bucky and steve homo time happens is in the movie the winter soldier. it's like a tragic love story in the best possible way. so around winter soldier time, the avengers had already happened
and steve is getting adjusted to living in 2014 america. he's put in a place where there's a lot of change: social change! gay marriage in 2014, pretty hot topic! and i'm sure steve saw some of that. and if he really was a bisexual, or a gay, or a not-straight, wouldn't that be a relief? wouldn't that open up a whole new world of opportunity? anew, steve has found second chances.
he's met up with the old version of peggy, he's really happy that he had a second chance just to talk with her. but he still feels lost in time. everything he's lived or loved is in his past. it's history, it's old. that is, until bucky arrives. so throughout the movie, we keep hearing about this 'winter soldier' guy who's like, a killer for the soviet union, or something? or russian people, i guess?
and, plot twist: it turns out that guy is actually bucky. but bucky's not old. he's not a memory anymore. this is the bucky that steve knows and loves, at least appearance-wise, and the only connection to his past. it must be such a relief for him, from the moment he first saw him. and once again, all these themes tie together: first, we have the theme that the old guy was telling steve, where you don't appreciate a good thing until you lose it. he lost bucky, and now he sees that he can have him again.
and not the old version like with peggy. bucky is steve's second chance. but there's a problem. his morals are in question. bucky has been brainwashed by evil russians to kill people, but steve doesn't have the heart to kill bucky. earlier he said, "for as long as i can remember, i just wanted to do what was right. i guess i'm not quite sure what that is anymore. and i thought i could throw myself back in and follow orders, serve...
it's just not the same." and these are the problems he's facing when he's met bucky again. not only is he struggling with the fact that bucky is playing for the other team, he might be playing for the other team! steve comes from the 1940s, where being anything other than a heterosexual was seen as evil. but this is a new world, a world of confusion for him. if steve truly had some feelings for bucky, this would be an indication of why he might not act on it. peggy gives him some sick wisdom on the matter,
which totally shows throughout the movie. "the world has changed. none of us can go back. all we can do is our best, and sometimes the best that we can do is to start over." the movie really shows steve's struggle with doing what's right and what's wrong. "but to build a really better world sometimes means having to tear the old one down. and that makes enemies."
people get in his way, but in the end, all he tries to do is not hurt bucky, and the result of his constant siding with bucky is one of the big conflicts in civil war. the new world he wants to explore with bucky will make enemies, but they're the only ones who understand each other, men out of their time. the movie's not even particularly subtle about this. "nobody special, now?" (scoffs)
"believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience." is that all you're looking for, steve? someone with 'shared life experience'? um, i think i can name a few people like that. "even when i had nothing, i had bucky." and even when steve knows that it's impossible that bucky could ever remember him, he still wants to try. he's still willing to do anything to try!
"i don't think he's the kind you save. he's the kind you stop." "i don't know if i can do that." "well, he might not give you a choice. he doesn't know you." "he will." how will he know you? are you gonna woo him into submission, steve? "please don't make me do this." so i guess they start fighting now
and steve keeps yelling at bucky that they know each other, but bucky won't listen, even though he's slowly realizing that he's in love with the man in front of him. and bucky is confused because steve is trying to help him, so he punches him in the face out of sexual frustration. "bucky... you've known me your whole life." "your name... is james buchanan barnes." "shut up!"
then shit gets real when captain says, "i'm not gonna fight you. you're my friend." and he drops his shield. which is the type of thing that he only does for bucky, it happened in civil war, too. it seems as if every time he's with bucky, he drops his shield willingly. that shield is him. that shield is his protection. he's letting down his walls for bucky.
then bucky climbs on top of steve only to add to the sexual frustration, and keeps saying that steve is just a mission to him. "you're my mission." and steve totally drops a bomb and says, "then finish it. 'cause i'm with you to the end of the line." he trusts bucky so much that he's willing to bet his life that bucky won't do anything to harm him. when everyone's telling him bucky is brainwashed, he still has faith. he needs to have faith.
but steve isn't wrong, because we can see in bucky's eyes that he's freaked out. this random guy is telling him that they're bffs, and suddenly he's realizing that... maybe they are. and more. bucky is about to punch him and finish the job, but he can't put in that last punch. and then steve falls from the big thing that i don't know the name of and bucky is left there,
and instead of calling it a day and letting steve drown in the river, bucky goes after him. for seventy years, bucky has been under control. but all of a sudden steve comes and it changes his world. he doesn't know why he's doing what he does, but their bond is so profound, he goes against orders and saves steve's life. and just that final shot with chaos going in one corner and the serenity of saving a fallen friend in the other... so then bucky disappears after that scene, and then we move on to the most recent movie:
captain america: war of 1812, i mean civil war. and this movie is interesting, because it's basically steve and the two people he's shipped with battling it out to which i say: mã©nage ã trois. so, to stay on topic i won't go into many of the plot deals of civil war and i also fear that maybe marvel will come back and sue me or something but in the movie, everyone thinks that bucky is bad news, except for steve, of course! it starts a conflict within the team. and-- well...
it's one of the sources of conflict within the team. steve wants his bucky, but unfortunately, not everybody ships it. and of course, there's a completely unnecessary forced love interest that literally is mentioned twice, but let's just forget about that. so anyways, bucky is living on the dl after winter soldier and everyone thinks that he's this bad murderer dude that bombed a bunch of people, so steve goes and finds him and tries to romantically confront him with the hard-hitting questions.
"you pulled me from the river. why?" "i don't know." (three seconds!) "yes, you do." buck pretends like he doesn't know steve. and i honestly think that he's telling the truth, just... not all of it. he still feels that connection, but he's unsure why.
then the police interrupt their little moment and they start fighting together like old times. and then buck tries to run away from his feelings, and they encounter this awesome bro and get bucky back. too bad this guy is evil and says a few magic words that turn bucky all insane again. they eventually get him and steve has locked him up in a special room. turns out that bucky remembers everthing now! all those memories. all those sweaty nights together.
"which bucky am i talking to?" "your mom's name is sarah. you used to wear newspapers in your shoes." steve and bucky. they're all good in the 'hood now! even if bucky is a little bit off. and then they're confronted. it's revealed that bucky is the one that killed tony's parents, even though he was under mind control, or something. well, that's great! until it's not.
tony, steve, and bucky then proceed to fight each other, and what i mean by that is, tony is trying to get bucky, but steve won't let him. steve is fighting one of his best friends to save bucky. he's causing all this over bucky. bucky even feels like maybe steve is doing too much. "i don't know if i'm worth all this, steve." and steve and tony are now fighting over bucky. and they get to this really emotional point and i guess it kind of strikes a chord in tony.
"he's my friend." "so was i." steve is trying to choose between the avengers and tony, and his old friend bucky. in the end, who does he choose? what do you think his choice is going to say about his character and his emotions? well, i'll tell you the answer. well, he chooses bucky over everything. and i pretty much mean everything. tony is yelling at him about how steve doesn't deserve to have his shield and stuff.
"that shield doesn't belong to you. you don't deserve it. my father made that shield!" and we all know how important that shield is to the role of captain america. it's iconic! it's almost synonymous with the name. but he leaves it. that shield is almost like a symbol of himself. of captain america. it stands for everything righteous and noble for him, and he leaves it all behind for bucky! and if we really wanna go into full analysis mode, think about this relationship if it were really canon (because it is).
that shield represents america. patriotism, and all that jazz. but if steve were really in love with bucky all this time, he'd have to repress it. he'd hide under that shield and bury all his problems and feelings into the ground. as captain america in the 1940s, he couldn't be in love with a dude. i mean, he could, but just not openly. so after all these years of hiding and seeming like the model man, he gives it all up. he gives it all up for the love he has for bucky. steve's actions are understandable. he doesn't want to lose everything again.
he doesn't want to go through another peggy. he doesn't want to lose his past again. now that he has bucky, at least he has something. so he and bucky run away together basically, and go in a hideout and that's how the movie ends. him and bucky are together again, even though some people are still pretty butthurt. but you know what, i'm pretty butthurt too, because this couple still isn't canon yet, at least officially, and especially when the actors and creators feel pretty comfortable with the pairing. and i say this in every video: if bucky or steve were a woman, they'd be together. and i'm not saying that every pairing of people who have a deep connection are in love.
my problem with the movie industry is the way they shoehorn in the opposite gendered character in every movie for an unnecessary love story. now, there's some build-up to some love stories, of course there is. like peggy and steve's love story, that was pretty built up. but how much build-up was there for steve and sharon carter? do we really have to have that love story in this movie? is it necessary? did we even get to know that much about sharon carter? what are her interests? what kind of character is she? what's her past like? i don't know!
and we have all these things for bucky and steve. we have a past, we have chemistry, we have all the elements for a romantic interest. but nope. marvel just can't handle the not-straights being something other than minor characters in one panel of the newest edition of comic book alternate universe earth 69. they'd rather make steve rogers a god damn nazi than making him bisexual. so steve rogers and bucky barnes! do you think they're in love? do you think that maybe bucky has hues that are for more private uses? either way, the marvel universe has given us fun experiences that also take us to heart-wrenching places. sure, their movies have their flaws, but the characters are interesting,
the plot is gripping, and i recommend that you should all go see it and question the characters' sexualities. but in the end... are they gay, bisexual in love or something else? you decide. (jizz in my pants)
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