The MCU Is Still Failing Bucky (By Making Everyone The Same As Him)
Though The Falcon and the Winter Soldier marks Bucky Barnes' tenth year in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Phase 4 seems to be cheapening the fan-favorite character's story rather than strengthening it. Over the course of the first three Phases of the burgeoning MCU, Barnes was a uniquely compelling character thanks to his complex morality and dark past. However, despite being one of Marvel's most long-serving figures, recent developments are beginning to discredit what made him so intriguing to begin with.
Played by Sebastian Stan, Bucky was originally introduced in Captain America: The First Avenger as Steve Rogers' childhood friend and comrade-in-arms. During World War II, he was captured by the villainous organization Hydra after he fell from a train and lost his left arm, which they replaced with a bionic one. Hydra also gave Bucky a version of the super soldier serum and brainwashed him into becoming an incredibly lethal assassin with the codename The Winter Soldier. After spending some time recovering in Wakanda and then getting blipped away for five years amidst the events of Avengers: Endgame, Bucky is now seeking redemption for his bloody and brutal history. Disney+'s Phase 4 series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier sees him team up with Sam Wilson, the new Captain America, in the wake of Steve Rogers' Endgame departure. Bucky has been pardoned for his crimes under the condition that he goes to court-ordered therapy. His therapist tells him that he needs to make amends for the things he did under Hydra's control - a problematic idea that the show continually reinforces.
The theme of atoning for one's past has already become a cornerstone for many of the MCU's Phase 4 projects. WandaVision, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Loki, for instance, have all dealt with similar story arcs about guilt, grief, and redemption. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier treats Bucky's journey as comparable to the ones of these other heroes, but that is doing a disservice to the singular nature of his trauma and abuse. Unlike Wanda, Hawkeye, or Loki, Bucky never had a choice when he hurt people or did wrong. It's a fundamental misunderstanding of his character and experience to group him in with the other Phase 4 heroes seeking atonement, and yet, Marvel is positioning him as one of many. After everything he's been through, Bucky Barnes deserves to be recognized as an individual, rather than part of an interchangeable mass of similar superheroes.
Though Phase 4 is far from over, Bucky's role in this stage of the MCU most likely concluded with his Disney+ series. Unfortunately, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier finale failed Bucky in many ways, as did the series as a whole. While the main story was largely (and understandably) focused on Sam Wilson becoming the new Captain America, not nearly enough time was carved out for the show's second titular character and his development.
Bucky's storylines, which included his therapy, his personal life, and his relationship with Yori, were all shortchanged at every turn. He leaves his unhelpful, thorny therapist a thank you note and confesses his past to Yori in a scene that takes place almost entirely off-screen. Though Bucky seems to find a sense of community and a degree of acceptance through Sam and his family, his worth remains defined by his relationship to Captain America, as it has since his days fighting alongside Steve in World War II. Over four phases and ten years, Bucky Barnes has never truly gotten a character arc of his own, which ultimately does him a huge disservice.
When it was released in 2014, Captain America: The Winter Soldier positioned Bucky to be a promising returning character within the MCU, giving him a great deal of story potential that has never been fully reached in the years since. It would have been epically emotional and significant to see Bucky recovering from Hydra's brainwashing or reintegrating back into society after the events of that film - or maybe even joining the Avengers. Though Captain America: Civil War decidedly nixed all of these potential futures, his past also contains numerous facets worth pursuing. The Winter Soldier's timeline leaves so many openings for further narrative and psychological exploration, and it's a shame that those opportunities have largely been missed.
The Winter Soldier and Civil War both put Bucky in a novel ethical and existential position that distinguished him thoroughly from any of the other characters in the MCU. His struggles with identity and morality were once unique, as he made the unwilling transition from hero to villain and back again with the whole world turned against him. However, recent projects like Hawkeye and WandaVision have coopted the themes that initially made Bucky so remarkable and intriguing.
In the MCU's Phase 4 so far, every central hero in all of their projects has had to reckon with the sins and tragedies of their past in some form or another. Wanda nearly becomes a villain because of her grief in WandaVision, which she must eventually face and rectify. Loki is made to talk through and in some cases even relive his past mistakes, making him reevaluate his own actions. Black Widow has Natasha revisiting and avenging the traumas of her childhood, Shang-Chi must go back to his estranged roots to keep his father from ending the world, and the Eternals learn that their past is a lie and take drastic action in the face of that knowledge. In Spider-Man: No Way Home, Peter and Doctor Strange make huge errors of judgment that they spend the majority of the film correcting. Hawkeye is especially focused on the theme of atonement, as Clint deals with the consequences of the destruction he wrought in his time as The Ronin.
All these heroes are in a sense retelling The Winter Soldier's story and retreading familiar ground initially broken by Bucky in the Captain America trilogy. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier may be a continuation of that original story, but it's hardly different in theme or execution to any other Phase 4 project, as it shows Bucky suffering from nightmares of his past and struggling to feel like he deserves another chance in the present. But Bucky's journey is not like the others, and it deserves to be treated accordingly. He did not choose to go on a killing spree out of grief and anger like Clint and Loki, or hold a whole town captive through sheer force of will like Wanda. There was no one else who went through exactly what Bucky did, unlike the somewhat communal experiences of the Black Widows or the Eternals, and since Steve's departure, he has no family to fall back on. Every terrible thing Bucky ever did was against his will, due to circumstances far beyond anything the others have ever faced (i.e. 70 years of mental and physical torture), and yet the storytelling framework of the MCU seems to regard it no differently.
With every Phase 4 protagonist searching for absolution, Bucky's story stands out much less now than it once did. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier makes it clear that atonement is Bucky's goal as well, making him one of many. However, the singularity of the character's complicated narrative should not be focused on redemption, but rather recovery. After decades of captivity and abuse, Bucky should be receiving support and understanding, not blame. The narrative, largely through the vehicle of Bucky's therapist and Sam's lingering resentment, only gives him the latter.
At the same time, Clint's years of vengeful murdering are met with sympathy and forgiveness in Hawkeye. Because Bucky was brainwashed while Clint was not, it's arguable that Hawkeye is much worse than Bucky, and yet it is Bucky who is forced to attend court-ordered therapy and is told he must "make amends." This illustrates a clear issue with the MCU's skewed, oversimplified redemption arcs, which are now becoming numerous and devoid of meaning. Consequently, Marvel is still failing one of their best characters, who has been made secondary for far too long. Bucky Barnes needs recovery, not redemption, and the MCU will continue to do him a disservice until that is understood.