Not much was made about Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes sporting a gray, bespoke suit in May set photos from Marvel Studios' Thunderbolts*.
However, we have to look at them in a brand new light as it's been revealed at SDCC that Bucky is now a Congressman.
If you recall, in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Barnes was unsure of what he should be doing with his life. With The Avengers disbanded and Steve Rodgers aged-up and out of the picture, Bucky was kind of left to drift in the wind.
However, per a SDCC interview with Wyatt Russell (US Agent) and Stan it's been revealed that The Winter Solider is wearing finer threads these days because he's a lawmaker that works on Capitol Hill.
When making jokes about Bucky washing his vibranium arm in his dishwasher (that actually happens according to the footage shown at SDCC), Russell and Stan joked that it's because Bucky doesn't have a lot of free time.
"One has to at some point make sure that things do get clean, and so that's a very efficient way of doing it fast," Stan joked to Comicbook. "He uses a lot less water too, a lot less water in the dishwasher."
That's when Russell let it slip that Bucky is a member of Congress, a detail that probably wasn't meant to be revealed just yet.
Based on this revelation, it will be interesting to see if the Thunderbolts* are a government-sanctioned team that works for Bucky.
Given that the theme of the film appears to be giving its members a second chance at redemption, perhaps its roster is shaped by Bucky wanting to give others the same chance that Steve gave him?
Thunderbolts* is an upcoming Phase 5 MCU film that is set for release on May 5, 2025. The film is currently slated to close out Phase 5 of the MCU.
Jake Schreier directs from a script written by Eric Pearson, Lee Sung Jin, and Joanna Calo.
The film stars Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov / Red Guardian, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr / Ghost, Wyatt Russell as John Walker / U.S. Agent, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov / Taskmaster, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Lewis Pullman has also been cast as The Sentry.
Principal photography began on February 26, 2024, and recently wrapped in June.
The film is inspired by the Marvel Comics title of the same name, where the Masters of Evil disguised themselves as The Avengers after the apparent death of the team after the Onslaught saga. Led by Baron Zemo, the group surmised that by filling the vacuum of superpowered champions, they could gain access to all the secrets of The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D.
Later incarnations of the team would typically consist of U.S.-controlled supervillains who attempt to earn redemption and/or pardons by executing covert missions.