Steve name me one time between Basic and going into the ice that you actually followed orders. ONE. TIME.
I have feelings about this. I’m supposed to be doing work, but its hard, so I’m gonna explain them instead. Right from the start of CA:TFA we see that Steve really specifically wants to be a soldier. He knows there’s all sorts of various ways to support the war effort, but not, specifically he wants to fight on the front lines.
But Steve is never a particularly good soldier, in fact, he very specifically isn’t a good soldier. Steve is a good man not a perfect soldier. Steve NEVER has any success when he tries his hand at being a regular soldier, or even a supersoldier. In CA:TFA he ends up working with the Howling Commandos, almost entirely outside of the regular military structure and that’s when he manages all the serious heroics and really lives up to his potential. In Avengers at the beginning he tries to be a good soldier for a while and tries to follow Fury’s orders, but for the first half of the movie Steve is lost and miserable and visibly hiding behind his USO Tour “Captain America” persona. But its only when he goes off on his own, breaks into store rooms and steals Fury’s proto-type tesseract weapons, that he really gets anything done (before that he gets batted about by Loki and sort of wanders about at loose ends), and he doesn’t really get back into a leadership role and really become actual Captain America again, until he steals a quinn jet with Natasha and Clint.
And despite that, in CA:WS he’s back at Shield, trying to be ‘the greatest soldier in history’ and ‘follow orders’, and… not doing that at all…
So where does Steve’s abortive fascination with being a good soldier come from?
Partly I think its an expression of his very obvious depression. I’ve seen about umpteen criticisms of Steve’s ‘we have our orders’ line to Tony in Avengers but I think that the fact its out of character is the point. Steve is miserable, and lost, he doesn’t know what makes him happy, he doesn’t know what he wants to do with himself so he follows Nick Fury’s orders, because he has given up.
But also I think that even though Steve doesn’t really want to be the sort of person who follows orders, he to a certain extent wants to want it, sort of as the equivalent of a very bright girl who plays dumb in class because she’s been told no one likes smart girls. The good soldier is very much the model of ideal masculine success that Steve would have grown up with but wouldn’t have ever been able to achieve
Which is ironic given that the ideal male icon most of the cast of the Avengers probably grew up with… is Captain America.
Captain America memorial from The Art of Captain America: The Winter Soldier:
“The murals were a unique challenge and took a really long time to paint,” Marvel’s Head of Visual Development Ryan Meinerding says. “They’re printed enormous, and I’ve never painted anything that was meant to be printed so large. The one with all the Howling Commandos was printed about 25 feet tall and 60 feet wide, and had all the mannequins in costumes in front of it. The exhibit was real — they built it in a museum in Cleveland."
Meinerding says the murals also have a strong emotional presence: “The scene is also an introduction to Bucky. In painting the murals, I was trying to get as many moments between Cap and Bucky as possible. So you’ll see Cap running with Bucky next to him or laughing with Bucky to reinforce the relationship they had.”
Steve’s first shield was neither the shield he had before he saved the 107th, nor was it the vibranium shield we’ve all become accustomed to.
Steve’s first shield was Bucky.
SHU T U P SHUT UP SHUT UP
And he was technically his last too.
It’s interesting to consider the parallels between FA and WS and how it seems to speak of some punishment from trying to upset the natural order of things. Bucky is Steve’s protector and savior. That’s the way the universe has seen fit to arrange things. Steve’s post-serum hero man persona started to flip this, but ultimately he couldn’t save Bucky because that is just not the way it works…that’s not his role and the punishment for trying to fit into it was failure.
And at the end of WS, you think the whole movie has been about Steve once again trying to save Bucky, but it’s not. Steve is the one lost and lonely and has nothing to make him happy. And then Bucky comes back. And, yes, Bucky is going to need some help (a lot of help), but essentially Bucky’s reemergence signals the start to Steve being saved. And at the end when Steve’s horribly injured and falling from the hellicarrier, that’s the moment the dynamic is starting to shift back to what it’s supposed to be and is, significantly, the thing that begins the Winter Soldier’s deprogramming.
And, even worse, Bucky is actually able to accomplish what Steve failed to do – save his friend from falling. Because that is the role he is supposed to play. That’s his “mission”, I suppose, in life. And while Steve can look out for Bucky and help Bucky, ultimately saving Bucky is not Steve’s mission.
But by letting himself be saved by Bucky, he is saving Bucky because he’s allowing them to play the roles they were meant to play, unlike what he did in FA. And that’s the only way either one of them can actually survive (and be happy).
Seriously though, this is brilliant.
Also *puts on reading glasses to continue my 3,000 word dissertation* I think Bucky’s natural role as savior and protector didn’t just extend to Steve (though Steve fit perfectly in place as his best friend because they complemented each other so well), I think Bucky, at heart, is this way with everyone. He naturally takes care of people and sticks up for people. It’s an intrinsic and inherent part of his personality.
Then you have poor Steve inadvertently messing with that in FA and it leading to tragedy.
Then, in WS, you have Hydra coming along and trying to do the same thing – twist Bucky away from his natural state of a giver/shield into someone who shoots through crowds of innocent people, if I’m recalling correctly, may have even murdered children (people more familiar with the comics can let me know if that’s hinted at like I’m remembering?) and, maybe most unnatural of all, is ordered to kill Steve. And they’re doomed to fail too because they’re upsetting the natural order of things.
Which is why I think – because so much of Bucky’s identity is tied up in saving/protecting, specifically Steve – that if Bucky has a brief appearance in AOU, it will be in some form of unexpectedly swooping in and saving Steve. Because I think he can hunt down Hydra and regain his memories, but he will never full be himself until he falls back into that role. Through shielding Steve, he will finally become who he really is at the core.
You are killing me with this. I hope the Russo brothers and Sebastian Stan are reading it.
“[The Winter Soldier] is a wonderfully, beautifully tragic figure in the sense of is he the world’s most feared assassin or is he the world’s longest serving POW. Is he innocent by reason of insanity or the equivalent of it because he’s been mind controlled or is he irredeemable?”
Lawyer GF says that she’s pretty sure he would found Not Guilty on account of autonomy, at least under UK law. Which isn’t relevant for fic or anything, but it’s sort of comforting to know for those of us who want Bucky to have only nice things and warm blankets.
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Category: Gen Fandoms: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man (Movies) Relationships: James “Bucky” Barnes & Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Sam Wilson, Sharon Carter & Steve Rogers, Steve Rogers & Original Female Character(s), Steve Rogers & Original Child Character(s), Pepper Potts & Steve Rogers Characters: Steve Rogers, James “Bucky” Barnes, Original Child Character(s), Sam Wilson (Marvel), Sharon Carter (Marvel), Pepper Potts, Happy Hogan, Original Male Character, Original Female Character Additional Tags: I Blame Tumblr, Inspired By Tumblr, Tumblr Prompt, Based on a Tumblr Post, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Gen Work, Gen or Pre-Slash, Kid Fic, Clones, Hydra (Marvel), references to murder, References to child murder, Arson, references to Non-Consensual Genetic Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Happy Ending, Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Harm to Children, Rescue, Rescue Missions, Not As Dark As The Tags Make It Sound, Donuts, Dessert & Sweets, Chinese Food, Breakfast, Pre-Serum, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, (but not really), Popcorn, Awesome Pepper Potts, Past Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Awesome Sharon Carter, Awesome Sam Wilson, Awesome Bucky Barnes, Awesome Steve Rogers, Awesome Kids, everyone is awesome, Steve Rogers-centric, Steve Rogers Feels, Protective Steve, Protective Steve Rogers, Eugenics, Ableism, Chronic Illness Summary: “Who is this?” he asks, torn between frustration and something like fear.
“There’s a warehouse on the bank of the Anacostia river,” a voice whispers. “In exactly thirty minutes, it’ll go up in flames. Coordinates to follow. Bring a large car or a van, something that can seat multiple civilians. Come alone.”
The line goes dead, and his phone buzzes a second later with a text. It’s an address. Notes: Inspired by Bucky finds the tiny Steves by cassandrexx.
Based on this Tumblr post (specifically on the drabble by cassandrexx and the head canon by misspryss). Basically, there’s the twelve tiny Steves trope that has had some gorgeous fic and fanart done for it (most recently Raibean’s 12 Days of Steve), and this Tumblr post thew out the idea that rather than being mini-Supersoldiers, clones of Steve would turn out more like his pre-Rebirth self, ie. tiny, sick and feisty.
Ten thousand words later, and here we are. This isn’t to the letter absolutely compliant with the post. I went off at right angles, and explored more the feels than the lulz, and not all of the kids (or even the majority) are based on Steve. But hopefully it’s a worthy tribute.
there will be two winners, first place will get the bucky tote and the three pins shown above
second place will get this signed hand drawn doodle of bucky (sealed in a plastic print cover)
no giveaway blogs (i will check)
you may reblog only once
only reblogs count, no likes
i ship worldwide, you do not need to pay shipping
you must be 18 or over or have your parents permission to give me your name and address
when you reblog it, put it in your archive (xkit has a thing for this i think) so you know you have already reblogged it, because if you reblog it more than once you will be disqualified
the winners will be chosen at random with a random number generator
this post may be edited and rules may be added as time goes on because i’ve probably forgotten stuff
request by anon ▬ Could you possibly do a gifset where Natasha and Steve don’t exactly understand what Bucky is going through post Cap 2, but Clint does, and helps him through it?
knitting in the dark 