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This is the photo behind Peggy's photo. Everyone knows that 2 men couldn't be open about their real feelings in the 40's. And inside MCU. Because it's run by retrograde stupid homophobic people. 🤔

steve rogers would own this watch and no one can tell me otherwise

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honestly props to Bucky for being such a whore that everyone falls in love with him even though he has definitely tried to kill all of them at some point

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Illustrating some personal metal arm meta/headcanons I have for a bit of fun.

Textless version

These metas and headcanons came about from multiple discussions with Ranee/ @wundermacher​ and numerous pokings around various Bucky/TWS posts/tumblrs. Please note that these are only personal headcanons/metas and aren’t set in stone, nor have to be believed, and are probably filled with plotholes and inconsistencies. Also I haven’t gotten around to reading the comics yet oops.

Synthetic Muscle I like to play with the idea that he’s got a pile of synthetic muscle attatched to his metal arm somehow possibly with hydramagic**. While the serum he was given most definately boosted his strength, stamina and a whole lot of other things, his body could possibly handle the metal arm, but I think that he might have been given synthetic muscle because the metal arm is that powerful, it’s used a hell of a lot and said synthetic muscle is probably a lot more durable compared to serum enhanced muscle. Not to mention it probably can’t be “pulled” or strained when used in excess.

Although arguably once I looked into all the muscles that control the arm (which is an absolute ton), if that was the case he’d probably end up with more extensive scarring compared to what’s seen in the movie. BUT the doctors were dealing with a giant gaping wound to work with once the remainder of his arm was removed, so I dunno?

Also I only drew the major muscles that control the arm/shoulder because there’s so many tiny ones that surround the shoulder blade and collar bone.

Metal Arm Bones Nothing too special, mainly used as an anchor, support, and to help structure the arm akin to a regular arm and it’s bones. All the intricate mechanical and technological stuff that make the arm work would be attatched to the bones.

Each bone is hollow to help lighten the arm, however each one is also made of the same/similar metal as the outer casing giving it strength.

No synthetic muscle is inside the arm.

Via some fancy mechanical movement/minor transformation his arm can dislocate and be removed for whatever purpose.

Scarring Left from a botched, early, crude method of cauterisation in attempt to seal the wound. Attempted multiple times due to cauterisation being a poor method of sealing wounds (especially way back then), hence the gnarled appearance.

The way the scarring forks and spreads out along his pec also makes me wonder if the metal even reaches under the skin. Hydramagic causes it to bond together.

Misc I also read somewhere about brain implants being used to help aid with the control in prosthetics. TWS/Bucky having an implant in his brain so he can have full control over and connection to his arm. Also Hydra doing this so his arm can be used with 100% effectiveness.

Metal arm is riddled with pressure sensors to create a sense of touch and some degree of sensetivity, however it would not be as highly tuned as skin. (Since he’s able to feel for the small grenades kept behind him on his back. ) Obviously the metal arm can’t feel pain or distinguish hot and cold and so on, or he wouldn’t be doing this:

(Gif source)

It looks like underneath the metal casing/plating is some kind of “sleeve” or second layer. As seen here.

The actual arm seems to be separate from his torso, just judging by the way it moves:

(Gif source)

Also leads me to believe the arm can be deattatched (I know it can do this in the comic-verse but it’s unknown in the MCU). It also looks like the plates/sections near his collar bone can move or are hinged in some way? (Otherwise I don’t think he’d be able to raise his arm upwards or at all.)

Partly related but after scouring so many metal arm gifs it looks like they changed the design of his fingers at some point while filming:

Also thinking about the metal arm realistically ruins it a bit and just doesnt seem plausible, so I’m just “EH it works just cos. also hydramagic”

(**Hydramagic is an inside joke, it’s basically the equivalent of the “a wizard did it” trope)

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manifest it with me now:

🕯️bucky barnes will survive thunderbolts*🕯️

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SEBASTIAN STAN as THE WINTER SOLDIER/BUCKY BARNES CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER (2014)

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Thoughts about this quote from AM about how Sam doesn't trust Bucky and will probably never completely forgive him for being the Winter Soldier?

Here's the link to the tweet I saw (I don't know how to include screenshots sorry 😭😭):

https://twitter.com/DianneR_99/status/1785867853238833641?t=NUhkilfwG2guZQx31-b82g&s=19

It's apparently from the official Marvel Studios' collector special TFATWS book.

Why is it so hard for people at Marvel to acknowledge that Bucky is a victim not some reformed villain?

(Also please feel free to ignore this ask, I know people have been dogpiled in the past for being slightly critical of AM and the last thing I want is for you to get hate because of me.)

It’s okay I think I’ve blocked most of them, or they’ve gotten tired of dogpiling me and blocked me. If I’ve missed anyone feel free to announce yourselves to get a block 😌

Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

I’ve said in other asks about AM’s comments on Bucky, I never blame an actor for not understanding the nuances of another character. That’s not his job. Understanding Bucky is the job of Sebastian Stan and the writers.

However, I know it’s tempting to compare him to CEvans, who had always spoken so affectionately of Bucky. Remember that Bucky’s story in the movies was complementary to Steve’s, meaning that CEvans had to understand Bucky's tragedy in order to understand Steve’s pain and guilt. To CEvans/Steve, it was important that Bucky was a wronged hero, because it rationalises why Steve would go such lengths to help him. For the entire trilogy, Bucky, and particularly Bucky's suffering, was very much impetus for Steve’s personal journey and growth. I've talked about the narrative motifs in other meta and I want to emphasise I don't mean this from a shipping lens - I mean that thematically, events that happen to Bucky have always been a major driver for Steve to make important narrative choices, and it is true even if you see their relationship as platonic.

Which…I guess brings us to the crux of the disk horse that brought about this tweet. No, Bucky is in no way important personally or narratively to Sam. Sam doesn’t grow or change because he cares about Bucky, although fortunately at least Bucky’s TFATWS arc involves him growing because he cares about Sam. We know Bucky is not personally or narratively important to Sam because of what AM has just said — Sam will always see Bucky as the guy who tore off his wings and kicked him off a helicarrier. Not a WW2 war hero, not a prisoner of war tortured into blank amnesia, not a survivor who had to rebuild most of his identity ground up, not a veteran living with PTSD without any social supports. These same views are echoed by his fans, who will scoff at everything I’ve said above and say we’re trying to “woobify a white fave” without knowing what woobify means. Sam does not care about what Bucky has been through, we know because the writing of the story has told AM that it is not important to understand who Bucky is or what Bucky has been through. All AM needs to do is to banter with this guy like he’s still annoyed at him over an incident 10 years ago when he had amnesia.

Again, I don't blame AM for this, because he can only work with what the writers have told him about the intended relationship between Sam and Bucky. And to be fair, he plays it like it is. At no point does it feel like Sam values or trusts Bucky beyond "annoying guy I put up with for work". I know some fans like to point to the Louisiana scene as proof that Sam trusts Bucky and has him as part of the family -- which would be great fanon if 1) AM didn't just contradict that and b) Sam spends most of the deleted scenes calling Bucky "the Winter Soldier" like the guy had any say in the moniker. And no, Bucky confessing his deeds to Yori is not Bucky reclaiming his identity as the Winter Soldier.

This is not an indictment on the ship, by the way, because you can wrangle canon to make it work, and shipping has been built on far less. I've got nearly 50k words on AO3 proving I've tried. But TFATWS canon is full of things happening off camera and the truth is...we never saw mutual trust and affection on camera between the two men. We saw two guys perpetually annoyed at and annoying to each other, and AM just gave the reason why.

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Happy 100th Birthday Bucky Barnes!

[id in alt]

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James Buchanan Barnes (Hebrew Name: Ya'akov) Son of George and Winnifred Barnes Born March 10th, 1917/Adar 16, 5677

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Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) || Thunderbolts* (2025)

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There is not a single moment in MCU, after Bucky broke the brainwashing and his ties to HYDRA, that he has been evil or acted evil. Or even in a gray area of evil.

"But he broke Zemo out of prison!"

Right, how many times a hero does something like that in a TV series or a movie? And that hero is never less of a hero because he had to work with a bad guy to reach his goal of saving the day or saving the universe. And although Sam didn't like, he never walked away and actually played along because there was NO other way to get to the bad guys.

There is this perfection goodness and rightness associated with Steve / Captain America and this tainted badness associated with Bucky that actually doesn't make any sense.

"But he was the Winter Soldier! He cannot evolve to be a Congressman after having killed JFK!"

Bucky was a brainwashed Prisoner of War. To believe in his own words to Steve: "But I did it" then you are accepting the victim self blame for something that was out of his control or consent. Like a rape victim saying "Maybe I did something to deserve this". No you didn't. No he didn't.

Why everyone keeps forgetting 2 scenes where he is tortured with an electric chair? Does that look like he could refuse to kill anyone when he was a prisoner of HYDRA?!

There was never any evidence in MCU that the serum corrupted Bucky either. He followed Steve and joined the Howling Commandos AFTER receiving the serum. Just the fact that he survived the fall from the train is all the evidence needed that the serum he received was enough to call him a super soldier, even if he was injected later with more serum or if Zola did something else to complete the transformation.

Yes. James Buchanan Barnes is a good man and a hero.

Bucky said the serum never corrupted Steve and I wish he could say the same for himself.

Hydra had to TORTURE him in order to make him the Winter Soldier because Bucky would've never been that corrupted person willingly.

James Buchanan Barnes is a good man!

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Bucky Barnes: *exists* Me: (｡♥‿♥｡)

(insp.)

Bonus:

Another bonus:

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And most of the time, I skip the rest of the movie and I only watch the little bits with The Plot. 😁

🗣️ 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑎 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑡

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑜𝑡 :

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had to make a campaign poster for my husband 🥰

will be posting a link on redbubble asap

this took me 12 hours

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Sebastian Stan in the Marvel Cinematic Universe

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🥵😍

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I'm just going to pin point one distinction between making tactical decisions on the field to accomplish a Mission and making moral and personal decisions.

The WS does speak in Russian to order his team to follow Captain America target while he decides to pursue the Black Widow in CATWS. He wouldn't have a high rate of success in his missions if he only acted like a robot. He is able to chose weapons, how to fight someone and to make strategic decisions.

However, self preservation and moral values are totally absent. If the mission is to get to the roof and take the helicopter, than it would be time and energy waste to spend more time than to just move obstacles aside and keep moving forward. No need to go back and take more time to beat more or kill anyone, risking injury himself and delaying his final objective.

Same with the helicarrier falling apart. His mission is there and still moving. He cannot just ignore that to save himself (although I'm pretty sure there must be a rule that he cannot damage permanently the Fist of Hydra or kill himself).

I've seen a lot of differing opinions on how aware Bucky was as the Winter Soldier under brainwashing. Some say he was fully aware but just indoctrinated into wanting to follow orders, while others say he was a programed machine with no control basically.

I just wanted to ask what your opinion on that topic was. I love your other metas btw 💕

Sorry for the late reply! I’ve been somewhat away from Tumblr and I’ll try to work through the bunch of asks that I’ve missed.

The theories that say Bucky was aware and simply indoctrinated tend to be based on his comics origin. I haven’t actually read Brubaker’s run myself, but my understanding is comics Bucky was far more aware of his actions. While I think he still didn’t know his true identity because of his amnesia, he had far more self-awareness and independent thought.

For me, MCU Bucky is not someone who had the capacity to make his own decisions. The fact that the “wipe” manages to deprive him of every frame of reference including even his most recent memories of his missions means he simply doesn’t have the understanding to make judgements. It also seems to me that they erase his sense of identity - comics Bucky may not know his true identity, he at least had an intact sense of self, while MCU Bucky has a robotic, impersonal demeanour when he’s freshly wiped and in mission mode (both the Helicarrier scene and the Civil War activation scenes show Bucky in this very mechanical, depersonalised state). Certainly both of those scenes suggest Bucky doesn’t have much contextual awareness of who and what he’s fighting for. In particular in the Civil War scenes, it suggests that voluntary thought was stripped from him when he’s “activated” by the code words. He doesn’t respond to Howard calling his name, nor does he recognise Sam and Steve later when Zemo activates the Soldier.

I think a lot of the early meta (from 2014) theorised that maybe he was only brainwashed because of that grand speech Pierce gives him (“Your work has been a gift to mankind. You shaped the century. I need you to do it one more time”). He seems to be appealing to the Bucky that we remember from CATFA, who would’ve stepped up at the beckoning of a greater cause. But to me, that scene was…maybe a bit of Pierce’s mockery and also his manipulation. He refuses to tell Bucky who he’s actually fighting against, and speaks in vague terms about what Bucky’s mission was for. We never see any hint that Bucky knew or understood what cause he was fighting for. As soon as Bucky asks who Steve is, Pierce first minimises and then shuts him down swiftly with the wipe. Bucky also doesn’t respond to Pierce’s pontification — we could either interpret that as him being distracted by his memories of Steve, or that the preaching was just performative on Pierce’s part because Bucky had no idea anyway.

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I thought the same!!!!

Sam talking about choices and Bucky had none with taking the serum and being a brainwashed HYDRA puppet for over 70 years...!

Still, that was the BEST moment of the whole movie! 😍

I love this scene, except for this one line because it comes across like Bucky willingly took the serum rather than it being forced on him.