Hi Anon! Yeah, I get what you mean: Marvel’s been vague about Bucky’s conditioning under HYDRA, which can make his actions difficult to understand: was he brainwashed, or mind-controlled? FWIW, here’s my interpretation of Bucky’s conditioning in Civil War:
First HYDRA brainwashed Bucky, likely through torture and psychological means, to make Bucky believe that what he was doing was right. We know this because of Pierce’s words: ‘Your work has been a gift to mankind’, ‘[we’re] giving the world the freedom it deserves’, etc. Since HYDRA was Bucky’s entire life, doing their work was the ‘right thing’ because Bucky didn’t see the aftermath of his actions; he only saw how HYDRA reacted to them. He complied, they were happy, so the event was Good.Brainwashing is a scary thing.
Next, fear was a huge part of Bucky’s brainwashing, to take any choice away: if Bucky didn’t do what HYDRA asked, they would likely kill him (or worse). It’s directly shown in the scene where Bucky’s handler puts a gun to his head and tells Bucky to get him out of the cage of SuperSoldiers, no matter what. It leaves him no option but to follow their demands.
I’m assuming that both of these elements will be explored if Marvel ever decides to venture into Natasha’s storyline, because they were likely brainwashed with the same method. It’s not foolproof, but it’s very, very effective, and more importantly, the individual is still their self: it just forcibly alters their perceptions. Bucky knows something about the situation is wrong, but he doesn’t quite know why, because he’s doing what is asked of him.
The more I think about the opening scene in Civil War, the more I’m convinced that HYDRA only fed Bucky intravenously. He never had actual food.
Because the Soviets defrosted Bucky, dragged him to the chair and shocked him, and then prepped him for a mission; HYDRA did the same thing in CATWS. In both scenes you can see an IV connected to his arm, as well as all the tubes connected to Bucky while in cryo. He also ignored Pierce’s offer for milk (which was sarcastic, but still), and he’s never seen eating and/or drinking as the Soldier – there’s not even a cup of water sitting nearby in the prep stations.
It’s no wonder that Bucky took such pleasure in buying a few plums – after decades, he can finally have real food.
Once Steve gets over the shock of seeing Bucky again, once he’s thinking about what Zola did, all he can hear echoing through his mind is
I should have known.
He should have known because when he pulled Bucky out of Zola’s lab, he could barely walk, but he marched back to base at Steve’s side, under his own power.
He should have known because none of the injuries Bucky suffered in the field took the way they ought to have.
He should have known because while the Howling Commandos fought their way through Europe, Bucky was always at his side, always keeping pace with him.
He should have known because Bucky shouldn’t have been able to keep up with him, and he always, always did.
He should have known, but he didn’t – because his whole life, he’d been trying to keep up with Bucky.
And it never once occurred to him that Bucky shouldn’t be able to keep up with a super soldier. Because Steve was the super soldier, and of course Bucky could keep up with Steve. Because Bucky had always been ahead of Steve, and Steve’s new body just meant he could catch up.
It just meant Steve and Bucky were finally side by side, just like they were always supposed to have been.
This hurt me.
And yet I accept it completely.
Not only that, you’ve got to think Steve is going to wonder why Bucky DIDN’T say anything to him. Bucky had to be aware SOMETHING was going on, even if he didn’t know what. And he chose not to tell Steve, more than likely from a combination of issues over Steve suddenly not exactly being STEVE, and also because Steve was pretty preoccupied. But that’s going to hurt Steve when he thinks about it, not only because he didn’t notice, but because Bucky didn’t confide in him. For whatever reason, Bucky shut him out there and that’s going to hurt. Steve’s going to wonder if maybe Bucky was hoping he’d notice and he didn’t. So many little signs Steve just didn’t notice because he always thought about Bucky a certain way and didn’t take into account he SHOULDN’T be able to do what he was doing.
And Steve is so smart. He’s able to pick up things so quickly. He knew something was happening with Bucky, but he didn’t push the issue. He didn’t really sit down with Bucky and try to get him to confide in him. He was fighting a war and time was vital, so when Bucky didn’t volunteer his issues, Steve didn’t press.
Not having a serious discussion with Bucky is going to hurt Steve.
I keep thinking about the huge difference between Bucky asking T’Challa, “Where’s the fight?” and Bucky telling Steve he’s “not bad, for the end of the world.”
Talking to T’Challa he’s upset but resigned, he won’t even meet T’Challa’s eyes as he asks a question he doesn’t want an answer to and braces himself for something he wants nothing to do with.
But when he sees Steve his attitude has completely turned around: he’s grinning ear to ear, his tone is light, he even huffs a little laugh.
I think there are two things going on here. First, Bucky’s never happier than when he’s with Steve. He’s genuinely happy when he sees Steve because he’s always happy to see Steve. He loves Steve.
And that’s the second thing going on here.
Because this is Bucky in full-on you look sad when you think he can’t see you mode. What’s going on here is the same thing that’s going on in The First Avenger when Bucky shouts, “Let’s hear it for Captain America!” and grins at Steve and then the second Steve looks away lets his face fall.
T’Challa is right: Bucky is tired of war. Bucky never wanted to go to war the same way Steve did in the first place, and he certainly doesn’t want any part of it now.
But Bucky loves Steve, and Steve is going to be part of this fight. And if Steve is going to be part of it, Bucky’s going to be part of it too — that’s the promise he made on a front porch and the promise he screamed in a burning warehouse seventy-five years and a lifetime ago.
And he can’t have Steve feeling guilty about that.
So he smiles, he laughs, he jokes. He makes sure Steve knows he’s fine, he’s ready, he has no reservations about being part of this fight. He does everything he can to relieve Steve of any burden of guilt.
Because Steve might not need him to protect his body anymore, but Bucky will never stop trying to protect his heart.
Every so often I get hit really hard by how unhealthy Bucky looks. Pale clammy skin, lifeless hair, those bags under his eyes…this is a man who is not getting a single one of his basic needs met. He’s supposed to be in peak physical condition but he looks like a walking wreck.
The strength of his body is all he is to Hydra, but even that they don’t take care of properly.
IT GOT WORSE
Oh, yes, and may I remind you all of my headcanon that those goggles and that war paint are there to protect his eyes from the glare of the sun and improve his vision. Because he’s let out on missions for a few hours/days every so many months or years, and apart from that HE NEVER SEES DAYLIGHT. LOOK AT HIS EYES AND HIS SKIN. HE LIVES IN THE DARK.
Psst in other words Thor thinks that Steve isn’t mortal.
okay but can we talk about this for a sec? like looking at the serum, and what it does. it keeps steve’s cells in peak condition, and you know what happens when cells age? their function declines, they stop working as they should. so the serum would see that as a problem, and fix it.
so, theoretically, the serum stops steve’s cells from ageing. potentially stopping their replication completely unless it was needed to heal him (if the cells aren’t dying naturally, there’s no reason for them to replicate)
so wouldn’t that mean, therefore, that steve himself doesn’t physically age? his cells don’t decline, he doesn’t decline (in addition to the convo about whether or not steve’s hair grows, for a similar reason)
and then, take thor. thor the god, who knows so much that he doesn’t tell anyone. if anyone knew about this, thor would.
and the way he says it so offhandedly, he assumes steve knows it. but the way steve looks at him, either steve doesn’t know (or hasn’t realised) or does know and doesn’t want to be reminded about it
because an immortal surrounding themselves with mortals isn’t really a good idea if you want to keep yourself sane
My heart just died a little.
Now I’m imagining Thor casually doing his best to spend more time with Steve because he knows that when the time comes Steve is going to need someone
[KICKS IN YOUR DOOR] YO I HEARD YOU WAS TALKING SHIT ABOUT SEBASTIAN STAN.
I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU:
First and foremost, yeah they felt pretty fucking good about Captain America. Yeah, they expected for it to be successful and have potential sequels because it was all part of the very intelligent business plan called the MCU, which –for the OP ignorance– is a very carefully planned, intertwined and spiraling parallel verse to the comics. So, yeah, they already had plans for each of these characters to evolve in a specific fashion. And cast accordingly.
Which brings me to the casting of Bucky Barnes – I am expecting the OP is completely and woefully ignorant of who Bucky actually is in the comics, and what is his role moving forward with the Winter Soldier arc. Since they said ‘a future major character’ as if we haven’t had Bucky Barnes in CA: TFA as a major character?? SIT THE HELL DOWN SON. Sergeant James Buchanian Barnes was always a major character. He’s Captain America’s best friend, his ~sideckick (what am I, Rin Tin Tin?) in the comics and an integral part of who Steve Rogers is.
But then again I’m fairly certain the OP hasn’t actually watched The First Avenger.
Because had they watched it, had they seen what Sebastian Stan gave to the character in the handful of scenes/lines he actually had? If they’d seen his performance going from the cocky swaggery kid from Brooklyn to the tortured, tormented soldier and the cold-blooded sniper who gets his hands wet with blood so that Captain America doesn’t have to in maybe a grand total of 20 minutes of screen time?
Then I have news for you: if you have seen his performance, and you haven’t been moved by the tragedy of his torture, his commitment, his friendship and his loyalty for his Captain, if you have completely missed the beautiful metaphor for the war which uses our young and throws them back like they mean nothing in a meat grinder, then– I’m sorry– your opinion is irrelevant.
But I’m sure you’ve come up with this clever and oh-so-inspired confession after you’ve spent five minutes on imbd.com and taken a look at Sebastian filmography and went, (completely misinformed and without sparing a second to actually check out and watch any of the things he’s been in), this is all garbage.
And hey you know what. You’re not all wrong. Some of the movies he’s been in aren’t great. Some others downright suck. He’s the first to fucking admit it. But the roles he picks are fucking devastating. And he always gives them his all. From being ridiculous and funny and the butt of the joke in Hot Tub Time Machine, and then turn around and play a suave playboy teen in Gossip Girl and then transform yourself into Jefferson/The Mad Hatter on Once Upon A Time, with no fear whatsoever on how those roles will make you look, whether you’re going to look handsome or ugly or whether playing a gay heir to an empire in Kings is going to limit his choice of roles in the future or whether he’s going to be ridiculed for playing commie Blaine in HTTM for the rest of his career– Sebastian Stan is fucking fearless. He loves his craft and it shines through, no matter how shity his lines are. And that, my friend. That takes fucking guts and no small amount of talent. And the thing is, yes, the material might not be fantastic, but his performance is always on fucking point.
WHICH YOU WOULD KNOW, if you’d bothered to even watch the ‘Captain America Movie’ you mention. But you haven’t.
But you know what I’m not done. Sebastian Stan has an incredible presence on screen. I’m pretty certain this ~confession came out before TWS was actually out in theaters, because if, two months in and a tumblr-revolution-storm later, you can still genuinely say that ’the wiinter soldier may still have a hope of being ok’ … I have nothing. I don’t know what to tell you. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Nilch. Nada.
He acts with everything he has, because he has so few lines. His eyes, his body language, his silence. And he reacts to what is going on around him. Do you want to fucking know how hard it is to act without actually having to say anything? Reacting is the biggest challenge. Take Silence of The Lambs. When Hannibal Lecter reads Clarice upon first meeting her, she doesn’t say a word. She just has to sit there ant take it and try to control her facial expressions because she is sitting in front of a serial killer.
Sebastian does all of that magnificently, not only in The Winter Soldier but in basically every single thing he’s been in. That is why he is compelling and enthralling to watch. Because his acting is 360 fucking degrees. His actual delivery? Let’s not even go there–he does so much with saying so little, and that is true of many of his characters – just think of all the things he’s never said in Political Animals.
And you know what, this is not just my perspective as someone who has cheered on Sebastian Stan since the very beginning of his career– or when I caught on, in 2007. Ed Brubaker, the fucking writer for the original winter soldier run, said how impressed he was by how invested Sebastian was in the role, how he read the entire run and actually discussed the character with him. Not to mention he’s read the books before they shot the first movie because he wanted to know where his character was going to go, how he was going to end up, and infuse it with telltale signs that you could pick up on later and go, ‘see, that’s where you see it.’
I’m talking especially about the scene in CA:TFA on the train, and how he’s absolutely walking with the same purposeful strides as the Winter Soldier. I could go on. I could reference a million interviews he gave in which he explained how well he understood the character and how much he prepared to understand a realistic POV for him. How he watched documentaries about soldiers, NAVY SEALs training, PTSD and how he tried to honor that. How his step-dad has Alzheimer and he knows intimately how it feels like when someone you love looks at you and doesn’t remember you.
I could go on about how fucking wonderful he is with his fans and how humble and hard working he is; how everyone absolutely loves working with him and nobody has a bad word to say about him on set; or how difficult it was for him to adjust to living in another country after he and his mother came from Romania and how that kind of hardship must’ve shaped him and why he acts with his entire soul; how he also does theater (I’m pretty sure that bit escaped you) and he had a successful run on Broadway just last year.
I could go on. But I’m going to just leave the grossing for The Winter Solider down here, because, you know, you said it had a hope o doing okay, and I just wanted to reassure you – it did fine.
Look at that man. Look at how he moves. I will admit that the gifs aren’t the best, but until I get my hand on a bootleg copy of WS and a gif-making programme, please bear with me? I can still illustrate my point.
One of the chilling and brilliant differences between Bucky and the Winter Soldier – which is thanks to Sebastian Stan’s acting, so, thank you for that, gorgeous! – is how different their body language is. The Winter Soldier is a machine, a weapon; every movement, every gesture, is precise and for a specific purpose. He walks straight and doesn’t shift his body weight more than necessary. Another gif I considered using was this one
because it also shows that conservation of energy. There is no flailing, no hesitation, not even a moment of “oh shit, this is gonna hurt”. Just a smooth roll and down with the metal hand. This isn’t just training, we’ve seen our heroes do almost the exact same stunt. And they always have a perfect look of “oh shit, I didn’t plan this at all”. Not the Winter Soldier. He just assesses the best way to return to his original plan. Efficient, sparse, cold. A perfect weapon.
And then we have Bucky. Look at that swagger. Look at those shoulders and hips move, his straight back, his cocky everything. He’s a peacock. When Bucky sashays down the street, he wants your attention.
Now, part of this I think is entirely 100% Bucky, but I also think he played it up back home, as a protection mechanism. Because if everyone payed attention to the rakish Bucky Barnes, then no-one would bother little Steve Rogers, right? I’d say I have support in this theory, because even when Bucky is out on the front lines and snipes with the Howlers
he is still miles away from Winter Soldier. Look at that arm twist; it’s full of unnecessary force and movement. That is an expression of anger, because some HYDRA goon dared to try and attack Steve. There is nothing cold about Bucky during the war – in fact, I’d argue that he’s so hot with rage that he burns a still, blue flame.
There is a hell of a difference to feel so much that you achieve a sort of pseudo-calm, and being dead inside. Bucky is the former, the Winter Soldier the latter, and Sebastian Stan gets that across without being in-your-face about it.
“The serum amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great; bad becomes worse.”
I’ve been thinking about this fantastic post that discusses the scientific effects of the super-soldier serum on Steve Rogers’s brain. It’s based on info from the Avengers exhibit in Times Square, and what it concludes is that after the serum, “Steve just feels more.” Because of the changes to his amygdala, everything Steve felt would have been amplified – joy, pain, loyalty, all of it. What this made me realize is:
The serum would have increased everything Steve felt for Bucky.
Whether you ship the idea of a romantic connection between those two or not, Steve loved Bucky. Bucky was his person, 100%, ‘til the end of the line. They’d spent most of a lifetime developing love and loyalty and friendship. Steve might have had some hero worship going on, because Bucky was everything he wanted to be: strong, able to fight for the little guys, charming, loyal. But once he got hit with Erskine’s serum, everything – every one of those feelings – would have been amped up, magnified. If Bucky was his person before the serum, afterwards, Bucky would have been everything. This is why Steve was willing to risk his life, to disobey orders, to hop in a Jeep and go chasing across Europe by himself to rescue the man. There was never a possibility he could do otherwise, because every bit of love he’d built up over a lifetime was driving him forward.
The serum amplified all of Steve’s feelings, and his love and loyalty for Bucky would have become absolute devotion.
But Bucky got Zola’s version.
Whatever Zola did to Bucky before Steve rescued him, it was already acting upon him in fundamental ways – otherwise, there’s no way Bucky could have survived the fall from the train. But what if Zola’s version tended to increase the negative feelings more? I feel like we see some of this in the bar scene, when Bucky complains, “I’m invisible.” Sure, he’s joking, but he’s being pretty hurtful and taunting about how Steve had been treated in the past.
Maybe Bucky had always been a little envious of Steve, envious of the goodness he saw in Steve that he believed he, himself, didn’t possess. And now Steve has all of that inner perfection but has the outer shell to match; he’s caught up to Bucky in the one area where Bucky ever believed he had even the slightest advantage over Steve. And Bucky’s slight twinge of envy becomes a hot streak of jealousy.
Maybe Bucky isn’t feeling jealous, but possessive. Steve has always been his, exclusively – Bucky’s the only one who ever recognized his value. To Bucky, Steve was like that secret spot you find where you can sit and watch the sunrise in perfect isolation; only suddenly the rest of the world has discovered his secret place. With his feelings amplified, Peggy’s interest in Steve might have hit Bucky like a physical blow, because he’s being forced to share his Steve with everyone, just when he desperately needs him the most. And all Bucky can do is lash out – at Steve, who brought this on by taking the serum.
Or maybe, Bucky is truly angry. Because he’s just been through hell and he’s nowhere near recovered – look at the disheveled uniform, and the fact that he’s sitting alone tossing back drinks while the rest of the Commandos party and sing in the other room. He’s survived torture, and then Captain America sits down and asks him to rejoin the fight. And because of the serum…he can’t say no. His love and loyalty for Steve have always been stronger than fear; he’d take on any challenge to protect Steve. Now, even though the fear has been increased, so have the other feelings. Maybe, with the serum running through his veins, he literally can’t say no. Maybe he tries – his first response is “Hell no,” but he can’t stick with that, because he has to protect Steve. So maybe Bucky is angry – that he can’t make himself walk away – and hurt, that Steve even asked this of him. And all he can do in that moment is try to hurt Steve, too.
But what if it’s not a negative feeling being amped up? Maybe (hello, Stucky shippers!) what we’re seeing is Bucky’s reaction to all the love he feels for Steve being amplified out of control. Because Bucky has always tucked those feelings away; buried anything but brotherly affection, not about to taint Steve with feelings that Bucky has decided are dark and wicked. With the serum, he can’t deny it anymore, can’t hide from what he feels, what he wants. He tries drinking, and it’s not enough. Maybe he’s afraid he’s given himself away, by telling Steve he’ll follow him anywhere. So he tries flirting with Peggy, but it fails, because even she can see how magnificent Steve is, and Bucky’s heart wasn’t really in it anyways. Then Bucky does the only thing that makes sense to him – he tries to be mean, to push Steve away before Steve figures out that Bucky wants so much more from him than he ought to.
It’s heartbreaking to think of Steve and Bucky’s feelings for each other being amplified by the serums they’ve been given.
Because it just makes it that much more painful that Steve has to watch Bucky fall. That Bucky falls knowing he won’t be able to protect Steve any longer. That all of their feelings for each other – love and loyalty and respect and devotion – have been increased, and their ability to feel anguish and loss has increased right along with it. The serums made Steve and Bucky more fully themselves, amplified everything that made them who they were – and at the core, what made these two was each other.
While that theory is interesting, it takes away some of Bucky’s free will again. Bucky is…Bucky. Everything that’s happened to him is enough fuel to make him act like he does WITHOUT the serum. And the serum DOES amplify the good in him, HE just doesn’t know that. Even the Winter Soldier wasn’t a twisted wreck like Red Skull was. He was a functioning, efficient human. The same thing would have happened to Steve had he been captured and brain washed.
As for his “jealous” behavior…first off, he’s barely holding himself together because of the torture. Add to that his idiot best friend has done the EXACT thing he tried to get him not to do, only now he’s not just the idiot friend any more, he’s a rival in a different way than he ever was before. Little Steve was a handful, but Bucky could wrangle him. Bucky was always the lead. Bucky was the good looking, smart, friendly stud. Now Steve is that too. Bucky isn’t the “pretty” friend any more. He probably hasn’t even really thought deeply about it, but that’s unsettling. And it’s not so much jealousy (sure there’s a bit of resentment that he’s been tortured and lived in mud while Steve just waltzes in and plays the hero), as it is there’s a power shift.
So you’ve got PTSD from torture along with a massive power shift in a friendship, added to the fact that the idiot friend is STILL doing reckless stuff, only now Bucky has no way to stop him.
Bucky doesn’t need the serum to affect him. The serum working on STEVE affects him enough.
hannahbelleeeebackup 