The Marvel Cinematic Universe will soon have
a new Captain but it won't be Steve Rogers'
best pal Bucky Barnes. And Sebastian Stan,
who has portrayed Bucky in the MCU since 2011's
Captain America: The First Avenger, has revealed
the reason why.
The actor recently spoke with The Hollywood
Reporter about the evolution of his character
and opened up about why Steve Rogers chose
to give his shield to Sam Wilson rather than
to Bucky at the conclusion of Avengers: Endgame.
For context, both Sam and Bucky have donned
the Captain America moniker in the Marvel
comics, and many felt Bucky was more deserving
than Sam to receive the shield within the
MCU.
When Sam was presented with Cap's shield,
he was at first reluctant to take it. But
a solemn and approving nod from Bucky was
all it took to clue the audience in to the
fact that the Winter Soldier knew Steve had
made the right choice.
In his chat with THR, Stan gave his take on
the moment, and also clarified a plot point
that fans have squabbled over since Endgame's
release.
Steve didn't just want a normal life for himself
he wanted one for Bucky, too.
"Cause I'm with you to the end of the line."
Bucky and Sam might have been Cap's two best
buddies, but only Bucky knew what it was like
to be a man out of time displaced from the
era in which he belonged, bent to the will
of others, and forced into the exact opposite
of a normal existence.
Stan explained to THR that Cap understood
Bucky had also lost anything resembling the
life he might have had when he was rescued
from certain death and engineered by HYDRA
to be a perfect, ageless weapon. As Stan tells
it, that was at least partially the reason
Steve gave the shield to Sam instead of his
oldest friend: he didn't want to burden Bucky
with it. He explained:
"Where we arrived with [Bucky] at the end
felt more like he was in a place with a desire
for some sort of release: to start over, start
life again in a way, find out who he is again
on his own and leave all this behind [...] So,
what felt like a desire there was for a restart
for him and for Steve in a way. It didn’t
necessarily feel like the shield was gonna
be that."
Stan went on to explain that in not handing
Bucky the shield, Steve was suggesting that
Bucky, too, could have a do-over. He said:
"Steve is saying to Bucky, 'You're going to
go and [live a normal life], too. I'm not
going to put this thing on you [...] So, that's
where I felt they were at the end of the movie.
I don't think there's a desire or any conflicted
thoughts about taking on that mantle. Sam,
to me, was always the clear man to take on
that mantle for numerous reasons."
Fans have always been a bit confused about
Bucky's apparent lack of surprise when Steve
failed to return after blasting off into the
past with the Infinity Stones. But as far
as Stan is concerned, it was pretty much a
given that Bucky knew exactly what Cap's plan
was. The actor said:
"That scene was saying so much with subtext
[...] It's just the knowledge that these guys
have always known each other's moves, so to
speak. They knew each other so well that they
could say, 'Okay, I know what he's going to
do, what decisions he's going to make and
I support that.' Yeah, it's just what it was."
Stan went on to clarify that he played the
final scene before Cap goes back in time as
a goodbye and suggested that Bucky didn't
say anything for one simple reason:
"I know he's going, and he's not going to
come back. I can't talk about it, because
if I do, then they're going to try and stop
him from doing what he wants to do."
Upon rewatching the scene, this is all pretty
clear because Stan is great at understated
emotion and understands that his character
is a man of few words. He explained:
"Look, I love a good scene with dialogue,
but sometimes, I find it really interesting
when there's not a lot said. And funnily enough,
it's sort of been the trademark of Bucky."
Marvelites can see Bucky and Sam, the new
owner of the Captain America shield, in action
when The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premieres
on Disney+ later in 2020.
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