So Captain America gives up his shield at
the end of Avengers: Endgame.
But why didn't he give it to Bucky Barnes?
After all, The Winter Soldier is the perfect
candidate for taking up the mantle of Captain
America.
There are plenty of reasons why Steve Rogers
chose someone else instead.
Major spoilers ahead, so consider yourself
warned!
At the end of Avengers: Endgame, Captain America
returns the Infinity Stones to their timelines
to give himself the life he was denied when
he sacrificed himself for the good of the
world in Captain America: The First Avenger.
He finds his way back to Peggy Carter and
then the Hulk sends him back in time.Then
we see Steve Rogers as an older man with a
wedding ring.
At his side is his iconic red-white-and-blue
shield, which he passes on to his partner
Sam Wilson, who humbly accepts it.
Of course, this raises an important question:
Why did Captain America pass the shield to
Sam Wilson and not Bucky?
Sure, Sam Wilson was Captain America for a
time in the comic books, but not until years
after the resurrected Bucky had his own time
with the shield.
When Bucky returns as a brainwashed killer
in 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier,
we rarely hear the character speak.
But the recovering veteran had plenty to say
two years later in Captain America: Civil
War.
"I can't trust my own mind."
If we can say nothing else definitive about
Bucky, we know he's got no illusions about
who he is or what he's done.
If anything, he's harder on himself than his
old friend is.
While he fights for his freedom against any
and all challengers, he doesn't shy away from
his responsibilities, and he doesn't hide
behind Hydra's brainwashing.
Considering all this, it feels highly unlikely
that Bucky would accept the responsibility
of being Captain America or even take his
old friend's shield.
As he and Cap flew off to Russia, he confided:
"I don't know if I'm worth all this, Steve."
Cap reminds Bucky that he wasn't in control
when he committed his crimes, and Bucky responds:
"I know … but I did it."
Bucky wants a chance at redemption, but so
far we haven't seen him forgive himself.
Bucky probably feels like wielding Captain
America's shield would be a bit too much - even
with his turn to good
While we've seen Bucky a couple of times since
Captain America: Civil War, we never learn
a lot of information about him.
In the Civil War mid-credits scene, he tells
Steve he wants to be frozen until he can be
freed from Hydra's mental conditioning.
Otherwise, another ambitious criminal might
transform him into an unstoppable assassin.
Bucky?"
"Who the hell is Bucky?"
In Black Panther's post-credits scene, we
see him in Wakanda, unfrozen and being regarded
by a bunch of children, who call him the White
Wolf.
And in Avengers: Infinity War, King T'Challa
and Okoye present a new arm to the former
assassin.
We know he's no longer frozen and we know
he has a new arm — but that's all we know.
We have no definitive word about whether or
not anyone has succeeded in removing his Hydra
conditioning.
Unless it can be proven that Bucky's Hydra
conditioning is gone, giving him Cap's shield
is a dangerous prospect.
Giving somebody the symbolic power of Captain
America when that person could turn into a
murderer at any given moment?
Bad idea.
Besides his relationship with Steve Rogers,
we haven't seen a lot of interaction between
Bucky and the other Avengers, but what we
have seen hasn't been too promising.
We've seen him come to blows with Cap, Black
Panther, Black Widow, and Falcon, to name
just a few!
The Avengers have since had the opportunity
to fight beside him in both Infinity War and
Endgame, but not for any extensive period
of time.
If there's still an Avengers team after Endgame,
any team member already knows two disturbing
things about Bucky: One, he's beaten up a
lot of their teammates and two, he brutally
murdered Iron Man's parents.
Knowing he was a victim of Hydra and that
Steve Rogers vouches for him might win him
some trust with the team, especially since
he fought on the right side in Infinity War
and Endgame.
But to be on the team as the next Captain
America?
That doesn't seem like something The Avengers
would be down with, does it?
If we assume that someone could still activate
Bucky's Hydra conditioning, then just allowing
him his freedom is a big risk.
It's arguably a justifiable risk considering
his actions since Winter Soldier, but it's
still a risk.
Without Captain America's shield, Bucky is
a deadly opponent.
His left arm gives him super strength… and
his new one is presumably made of vibranium.
And even without that strength, he's proven
himself to be an expert hand-to-hand combatant.
He's a marksman.
He can operate any weapon you put in front
of him.
He can fly just about anything.
And nine times out of ten, Brainwashed Bucky
can lay low any Avenger standing in his way.
Add an aerodynamic shield made from the strongest
metal on Earth, and Bucky is virtually unstoppable.
Trusting Bucky with his freedom is reasonable.
But trusting him with that much power so soon?
We think it's just too much to ask.
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