The serum amplifies everything that is inside, so good becomes great; bad becomes worse. This is why you were chosen. Because a strong man, who has known power all his life, will lose respect for that power. But a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows compassion.“
“Thanks. I think.“
“Whatever happens tomorrow, you must promise me one thing. That you will stay who you are. Not a perfect soldier, but a good man.”
There’s nothing new about the consideration of male superheroes as icons of masculinity. Superman representing the pinnacle of wholesome, idealised masculine power, or The Hulk as an allegory for the angry, repressed male id. And these types of masculinity are not innate or inevitable. Masculinity, like all gender roles is a socially constructed performance.
But performative masculinity has a tension to it that performative femininity does not, because performing itself is seen as innately unmasculine. You cannot learn to be a real man, you are or you are not. You can’t make one or learn to be one. Because our story about masculinity is that it just is. It is an ur state of being. The most natural way for a human to be.
Steve Rogers came out of a bottle.
And Steve Rogers’s weapon is a shield. Steve does not attack, he defends. Steve Rogers is the only Avenger who does not thrust forward with a phallic weapon. From Loki’s staff to Clint’s arrows, Black Widow (who pairs so well with Steve because she is a phallic woman) has guns, Tony essentially is a giant penis (sorry, friends, that’s all I see), and of course no one would even pretend that Thor’s hammer isn’t Thor’s penis.
But Steve has a shield. And a shield isn’t particularly feminine. It is not a cup or a sheath or a hole. It is just anti-phallic.
And that is Steve. the non-phallic man. Because you can’t make a man in a machine. Only a strange kind of monster.
Commission piece for lillithdv8, who waited so long for me to complete this, I had to draw a whole new arm for Bucky. Thanks again for your endless patience, and for introducing me to the term – cafuné.
Here is the art for my second Big Bang, or AN EXCUSE FOR MAICHAN TO DRAW STUCKY PORNS 😉
Art for Civilians, GDI by relenafanel (FBI Agent!Bucky, Actor!Steve) Special Agent Bucky Barnes doesn’t think of himself as a hero. He’s dedicated to his career, and if that keeps him far away from home, all the better. His parents think that he should get a less dangerous job and meet a nice Brooklyn girl (or boy) to settle down with. In Brooklyn.
That sounds like Bucky’s definition of a living hell. He’s been running from it for years.
Enter Steve Rogers. Brooklyn boy. Not always nice. Hot as hell. And a temptation Bucky can’t resist, even after their initial failure of a meeting.
Thank the Russo brothers for a) shooting outside in a real setting with practical effects not CGI, for going with a shaky cam that actually added to the sense of immediacy and wasn’t annoying as fuck.
Let me tell u what makes this scene so great. It’s the fact that Steve has a match, an equal. He mows down the goons on the Lemurian Star, escapes SHIELD HQ by fighting 15 people in closed quaters, jumps off a buliding and blows up a plane, then within hours he meets up with Natasha and survives a missle strike. He has no match, no equal in this world. That’s what happens when Batroc challenges him – this scene shows us that men think they can go toe to toe with Steve but they simply can’t.
And then this scene is a rare beast. It’s an action scene that is actually a character building scene. We saw the WS blow up Fury’s car and shoot him, but that could have been any common soldier. Sam could have deployed the mine. Natasha could have taken the shot a Fury. None of them could survive in no holding back fight with Steve.
Within seconds, Bucky has Steve off of him (usually if Steve is close enough to hit you, it’s game over for you), then disarms him and uses his weapon against him. Bucky dictates the speed and the path of the fight, and while Steve tries to attack, most of the time he is dodging. This tells us the audience, several things: a. Steve is in actual danger, b. Steve, judging by his face, is scared (remember what beatings he has taken up unitl now) and therefore c. for the first time in 3 movies, Steven Grant Rogers, Captain America, is not safe. The stakes are real. You are feeling the adrenaline Steve is feeling, even if you are not sure why. That’s what makes this scene a masterpiece.
As much as I agree this is the greatest fight of all time, part of me is still disappointed each time I see “goat fight” on my dash and it’s not accompanied by a gif of two goats having a tiff.
Interesting to note: Bucky had all his memories back, but he started a new life without contacting Steve. Fandom seems upset about this, but I think it makes perfect sense; it fits with the ending of CATWS, when Bucky visits the Captain America exhibit.
Because, like he said, Bucky doesn’t want to fight anymore. He doesn’t want to be a soldier or be involved in this superhero mess. And as Civil War showed us, that’s Steve’s entire life. As long as Steve remains Captain America he will always be fighting these battles. It never ends.
We know that Steve’s been struggling with this for his entire plotline, but Bucky doesn’t know that; he only sees the Smithsonian exhibit. He thinks Steve wants to be this legendary superhero, but Bucky is just done with that story. Being a superhero (or serum-enhanced, rather) has only ever lead to trauma and torture for Bucky. He followed Steve in CATFA and worked with Captain America despite his reservations… and it killed him. Then fighting Captain America in CATWS almost killed him again. So Bucky couldn’t align himself with Steve – in fact, he was terrified when he saw Steve dressed like Cap, waiting for him. Like he said, it always ends in a fight, and Bucky didn’t want history to repeat itself. He knew that if he stayed with Steve, he would be caught up in Captain America as long as Steve was – he would fight alongside Cap as long as he was able. But Bucky just wanted to be free, for once, so he chose a life without Captain America, without Steve. It wasn’t really working, but he was trying to get away.
So Bucky didn’t contact Steve, mostly ran from him and these superhero fights… until Steve put down the shield. Then they walked away from it all, side by side. No shield, no metal arm, just Bucky and Steve supporting each other, closing that chapter of their lives together. It’s exactly what they both wanted, but couldn’t do alone.
hannahbelleeeebackup 