Bucky Barnes, better known as The Winter Soldier, has had a long history in the MCU.
He started as Steve Rogers’ childhood friend then continued that friendship as they both became veterans during World War II. After his supposed death, he was abducted by the evil Hydra and brainwashed to become one of the deadliest assassins in the entire world. After several climactic battles with Captain America and other heroes, he went into hiding only to be drawn out again by Baron Zemo after being framed for bombing the UN building. Eventually, Bucky took refuge in Wakanda where he the brainwashing performed by Hydra scientists was fixed. He battled against Thanos twice, then helped Sam Wilson on his journey to become the one and only Captain America. Now, he’s a congressman.
Like I said, Bucky’s journey in the MCU has been long.
When asked by THR if becoming a congressman is Bucky simply trying out new things, Barnes responded, “Imagine a quarterback of a football team getting replaced or retiring, and then he keeps showing up even though he’s not playing anymore. And they’re just like, “Yeah, man, whatever you want to do. Don’t worry.” He just wants to be helpful in some way, and they give him a little pat on the back and go, “It’s so nice to have you here.” So that’s how I look at it. He’s just consistently trying to find a way to be useful, and maybe someone gave him the idea of trying [politics] out to still be around.”
It sounds like Bucky is just trying to find his place in the world. Whether or not the movie is going to address how the American public gets over Bucky’s time as a world renowned assassin that helped bring about the fall of SHIELD is unknown.
“But it’s so out of left field that,” Stan continued, “annoyingly, he comes out of retirement and goes right back to what he’s only known. He’s also had his own suspicions about Valentina, so I think [Congress] is his way of trying to, in the legal and moral way, keep track of her. And then he realizes, “I can just do this in my way, the way that I’ve always done it [as the Winter Soldier].””
Has Bucky ever actually been retired? It seems like that’s the annoying part for the character. He’s tried to retire, something we may see more of during Thunderbolts*, but he keeps getting pulled back into the action one way or another.
Lastly, Stan went on to describe the creative process behind Marvel movies and Thunderbolts* specifically.
“I’ve been lucky.” He said. “On most of the Marvel films that I’ve worked on, the communication was always, “May the best idea win, whoever has it, be it the director, the actor, Kevin.” It’s always been very inclusive in that way, and [Thunderbolts*] was really, really that way. They were really open to us bringing our input, and if we had a better idea of how we could say something, it was heard or, at times, even included in the movie. Florence had a lot of ideas that she brought: the jump at the beginning, and even the [beginning] costume, rather than appearing all heroic in a certain way. Lewis [Pullman] and David also came with a lot to offer their characters, and the fact that we had a lot of say in it contributed to some of the dynamic that we ultimately ended up with.”
Are you excited to see more of Bucky’s story in Thunderbolts*? Let us know in the comments!