buckydeservesthebest

[buckydeservesthebest]

And to think that unlike Bob, Bucky did NOT have someone to hold him in one of those emotional breakdowns. Bucky had to endure even worse self-loathing coupled with brain damage, amnesia, and the very real threat of being captured by the government and Hydra for years, ALL ALONE. Having as his only support the vague memory of Steve whose name and memory together he didn't even remember at all!

Bucky had to cope with the loss of Steve and all the trauma the identity crisis stemming from that ALONE too... and yet he is still able to overcome any and all adversity he's been forced to live through for over 80 years without someone to tell him "you're not alone"...

Bucky is too strong... stronger than we can think... 💔💔

This isn't right Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes // Thunderbolts* (The New Avengers) (2025)

[buckydeservesthebest]

The way Bucky is literally the first to notice Bob lashing out at his evil counterpart isn't right, because that's a symbolic representation of self-loathing, and that only hurts you and hurts others...

Bucky has been there too, he knows that darkness, he knows what it's like to cope when you have no one, and he knows that what you really need at that moment is someone to hold you up...

All of this cements the idea of Bucky not only as a leader but also as a mentor who offers his experience to help others overcome the same adversity... 🥺🥺

This isn't right Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes // Thunderbolts* (The New Avengers) (2025)

[buckydeservesthebest]

"Bucky WaS juSt bEing cHildiSh aNd sElf-cenTereD beCauSe He wAs oNly tHInKing aBout hiM." WRONG. Bucky was grieving! Bucky was living through the loss of literally not only the only family he had left but the only person he truly believed in. The one person who saw in him Bucky Barnes as a person and not the Winter Soldier. The one person whose importance in his life literally kept him from trying to make an attempt on his life.

Bucky was going through a new identity crisis so great that he could not differentiate himself from the Winter Soldier (depersonalization)! Bucky was going through the lowest point of self-loathing and depression of all and so some people criticize him for "being childish"? Bucky is asked to open up a bit and express his feelings and every time he did he had those feelings treated like crap!

Such disrespect for his grief and mental health will never not make my blood boil...

It's time for the soul-gazing exercise. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021)

[buckydeservesthebest]

I can't help but think that if the Shame Room is about people's deepest regrets and remorse, the fact that Bucky has most likely seen the Hydra Siberian facility, where he was taken since Hydra captured him in '44 and where he stayed until at least the 1990s, may mean that he feels guilty about being captured and not being able to escape because he believes he should have fought harder or perhaps tried to take his own life so that he wouldn't be used to hurt others...

If you'll excuse me, I'll be crying in a corner for the rest of the day... 💔💔

Oh, I'm fine. I have a great past, so I'm totally fine. Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes // Thunderbolts* (The New Avengers) (2025)

[buckydeservesthebest]

One of the things I'd have loved for Marvel to delve more into, is how well versed Bucky is in technology, unlike Steve. I mean, hacking into a phone like Mel's, which must have an advanced security system considering she works for the head of an advanced, clandestine organization like OXE, should be no easy task. Bucky not only found out about Yelena, John and Ava but also managed to decipher where they were in real time!

Bucky even managed to learn that the Chitauri handcuffs would work to counter Ghost's powers! When the technology OXE used for that very thing wasn't even based on a similar mechanism. Which means he must have had a pretty good understanding of not only how Ava's powers work but what might work to counteract them! That is really impressive and deserves a lot of recognition...

Bucky was also able to hack into Senator Atwood's car with what appears to be a very advanced smart tablet, as well as having a special access key that was helpful to Zemo in breaking the electric lock on a maximum security prison.

It's interesting to theorize where Bucky got all those gadgets from, or if he's had them with him all along. And whether or not all that knowledge was part of the Winter Soldier's programming, ultimately it's all being used to fight for good now. That's the ultimate slap in the face to Hydra, who thought they could transform Bucky into something other than a good man... 🥹🥹

“... yes, I can track your phone but I don't do that anymore.”

[buckydeservesthebest]

I mean... the government is literally to blame for every negative event in Bucky's life from CA:TFA to TFATWS.

The government was literally a participant and funder of the 70 years of torture Bucky was forced to endure by Hydra.

The entire government literally knew of the existence of the Winter Soldier (and most likely Bucky's identity) since 1951 and NO ONE did anything about it. If they were already colluding with Hydra since the 1940s, I wonder why it would be *sarcasm*.

The government literally labeled Bucky as a monster who had to be under the radar all the time to make sure the Winter Soldier “wasn't going to break free and kill people left and right”.

If there is one character who has been truly ABUSED, HARMED and NEGLECTED by the government for virtually his entire life, literally that is Bucky.

Sam didn't get angry because of the name.

He didn't get angry because of the people forming the New Avengers. Despite his still evident distaste for John Walker, he actually likes them and he understands their stories and motives and would like to help them to get better, mentally speaking, as he did with Bucky.

No, he got angry because a bunch of white criminals can get recognized as the New Avengers in less than two days by the Government and general public while he – black Captain America – can't even get some funds and the table in front of him is covered in rejected proposals.

He got angry because he always has to fight teeth and nails to obtain anything and then things get handed to the others without hesitation.

He got angry because Bucky got to see it with his eyes, how the system always tries to let him down and how his doubts flare up whenever people distrust him, and yet he didn't do anything – in his perspective – to stop Valentina and help him save everything he worked so hard for.

He got angry because if it's so easy for people to cheer on the New Avengers, who knows how much longer he can go before someone starts saying once again that he should let someone who "fits the role better" take the title of Captain America.

And in the end, what seems like anger isn't really anger. It's just exhaustion and disappointment and the sinking feeling that the one person he could rely on isn't on his side anymore.

He just wants, once in his life, for things to be easy.

[buckydeservesthebest]

Them cute

[buckydeservesthebest]

I can’t believe this has to be said but… you know Sam is upset at the thunderbolts* because he doesn’t want the avengers to be controlled by the government, right? That’s why he was on team cap in civil war. Do you know that? It’s important to me that you know that.

[buckydeservesthebest]

I was always intrigued by the Winter Soldier's particular form of combat, I love that there is a thread on the subject.

And well, as someone who practiced martial arts since the age of 8 (i'm black belt in Karate), I think I can say that the use of intimidation (looking or appearing to be more imposing or bigger than you really are) is not a tactic that necessarily means that the fighter is not really confident in his abilities so he has to resort to intimidation to gain any advantage. Rather it is a psychological tactic to destabilize your opponent.

I remember my teacher used to constantly tell us that whether in a professional fight or in a street fight you should never let your opponent "get into your head", because once they did and once they planted the seed of doubt in your mind, you already lost.

This is what he explained to us. Although combat is physical, mental warfare is a fundamental part of the confrontation. Intimidation can sow doubt, fear or insecurity in the opponent before the fight begins. A fighter who enters with a defiant attitude, stare, dominant body language or imposing appearance can cause the opponent to: tense up and lose fluidity, make mistakes out of nervousness, lose confidence in their own preparation or strategy.

Intimidation can sow doubt, fear or insecurity in the opponent before the fight begins. An intimidating appearance conveys an idea of strength, control and experience, which may make the opponent think that he is facing someone "stronger" than he really is. This is called a perception game. And if the opponent feels intimidated, they will almost certainly avoid aggressive exchanges, may end up changing his fight plan, and may become more defensive or passive, which can make it easier to dominate the fight.

It always seemed to me that the Winter Soldier had a more pragmatic approach and focused primarily on delivering a single, hard-hitting blow that can stop his opponent as quickly and efficiently as possible.

I have seen this many times with my male partners who preferred to wait for the right moment to knock their opponent out with a single blow, rather than using lighter moves that would prolong the fight unnecessarily.

I also find it very interesting that the Winter Soldier never tends to land the first blow, but rather waits to be attacked by his enemy and it is then that he counter attacks. I think this may come from both Bucky's characteristic protective nature as you Luna explained in one of your awesome posts. As well as from the fact that blocking and only then attacking is one of the tips usually given in martial arts, because once your opponent attacked you, they will always leave a target uncovered that you can use to your advantage. When you are the first to attack you are the first to expose yourself. That is why defending yourself and not attacking is one of the classic characteristics that you are always told when you study martial arts.

I also agree with @ashacrone point about part of the Winter Soldier's purpose being to terrify any survivors (which was not one of his targets) who witnessed his deployment.

Clearly Hydra had no problem with showing the WS in public when he was sent to eliminate Steve and Natasha, as he was not even tasked with leaving no witnesses, just as he was not given this indication with the murder of Fury and the scientist Nat had the job of protecting in the past, otherwise she and possibly Steve would have been dead by now.

A Ghost who is also an unstoppable force of destruction that is able to disappear as quickly as he arrived, certainly strikes fear into even the most seasoned of warriors.

Canonically, if the films can’t show everything, then wouldn’t it have made more sense to make the inference that the Howling Commandos, including Bucky, “taught” Steve additional ways to fight? In the films, he’s shown fist fighting even before the serum, he goes to basic training (even for a short time) where he displays mental and physical dexterity (even if he’s not the strongest), then he goes on the USO tour where it’s clearly implied there’s no fighting or learning to fight really happening including with Peggy, then the dude goes and spends a couple of years leading a spec ops team of fighters - and it’s THAT group with Steve that is depicted fighting together the most consistently.

In fact, the STRIKE teams in later movies are a callback to the Howling Commandos and meant to echo what Steve has lost. In Avengers, he’s using battlefield strategy that to Steve, he was just using a couple of weeks back; he’s using the shield to fight soldiers (the aliens are even referred to as a battalion or something similar). In TWS, he’s shown using knife skills to directly mirror the Winter Soldier.

When he’s in the elevator fighting the STRIKE team, they fight like Steve. That’s why they thought they ever had a chance of winning. Brock in particular uses a fighting style very close to Steve’s, aka very similar to what is taught to spec ops soldiers (again, mirrored by WS, the ultimate spec ops soldier). Look at the fight between WS and Steve and how evenly it’s matched, and they use similar moves (another example, Steve kicks the guy off the boat, the way Natasha kicks Sitwell off the building, the way WS kicks people off the helicarriers, etc.). By CATWS, Steve displays fighting styles that weren’t even introduced, let alone popular, in the US until after he was frozen, so he wouldn’t have even have had a chance to learn them until he was taught after he was defrosted.

All that to say - Steve fights like a (modern) trained special forces soldier, aka the people he spent most of his time fighting with in WW2, then SHIELD in modern age. Also, Why wouldn’t he have wanted Bucky to teach him how to shoot, when Bucky was considered a highly elite sniper and adept at hand-to-hand combat and boxing, if he needed to learn? “No, thanks, Bucky, I know you and the Howling Commandos are a group of expertly trained, highly-skilled operatives, but someone I know who has never been in actual combat taught me how to throw a punch (even tho I already knew how to do that, since I was shown doing it about an hour before in this film) and she shot straight at me once and I learned how to shoot, so I’m all set!”

Unless the argument is Peggy taught all of the Howling Commandos lol. Also in no way would anyone consider Steve’s fighting style to be *defensive* or like that of an opponent who doesn’t know his own strength or considers himself weaker?? The ONLY time he does that is when he’s fighting the Winter Soldier when he knows it’s Bucky. (Compare: when he doesn’t know it’s Bucky, he goes running full tilt at him.)

Anyway I know that’s an older post, but I just saw it again for the first time in a while and it just doesn’t make sense that Peggy fans argued that she taught Steve.

Thanks for the rant XD Yeah when I saw the Peggy + Steve fighting style post I was like what?? Bucky's fighting style clearly mirrors Steve a lot more, even though they are also very different.

I wish we got more of the stunts actors talking about Steve and Bucky's choreography. I remember watching some videos a long time ago. Steve's fighting style is very different in CATWS compared to the previous movies (A1 and CATFA), which to be fair didn't really showcase his fighting prowess beyond shield throwing. I think one of the stunt actors said they incorporated various Asian martial arts styles for Steve in CATWS, and made him a lot more acrobatic in his movements. Personally I think the brute force of the strike team is more similar to Bucky than Steve, who's far more agile -- but also from a practical perspective, the guys in the elevator are the stunts people/choreographers so of course their movements are similar to Steve and Bucky's styles. (The Asian dude in the corner is the stunts guy for Black Panther in Civil War, very cool!)

Steve's new fighting style is extremely efficient. I don't think it comes from a "used to be weak" background (like the Steggy meta said), because it's so different from his "in the back alley" fighting, which was just punching and shielding until he got knocked down. In CATWS he's trained his body to take advantage of his new physique -- sure it's bigger, but it's also faster, more agile, stronger, better endurance, and better coordinated. There are scenes he gets by with brute force (e.g. running through the walls) but where he can, he uses jumps, rolls and spins to increase the impact on his opponent while taking less blunt force on himself. I'm not sure if the stunts actors were riffing off Chris's own dance background, and Chris is a big guy, but Steve looks very light-footed and nimble in this movie. It might also be because his centre of gravity changes a lot in this new fighting style -- he'll make high leaps and spins, but he'll often also hug the ground with his shield, so it gives a sense of incredible agility.

Bucky on the other hand - we never see him in hand to hand combat in CATFA except maybe when he (literally) kicked the guy's ass in the alley, so the Winter Soldier's fighting style is also completely new. It's a very distinct way of movement, and I remember a TFATWS interview where someone said Sebastian was being very particular with the stunts team about how Bucky moves (Sebastian doing the heavy lifting when it comes to Bucky's characterisation again...)

The Winter Soldier - and even Bucky, in later movies/series, makes big flourishing movements with his arms and get into wide-based stances (and very big kicks) that make him look bigger than he actually is. Which is interesting because why would a sniper/stealth assassin need to have a threat display? Predators who are on the hunt don't do this because it would startle their prey. Threat displays are defensive (or territorial, which is kinda still defensive).

The Soldier is perfectly capable of sneaking up on his prey when he tries, e.g. him stalking after Nat on the Causeway. But when he's in melee mode, his movements are (coming from an untrained eye) a lot less economical than Steve's because of these extra flourishes, and it makes the Winter Soldier look like a creature of brute force rather than stealth.

Which is...interesting. From a Doylist perspective, maybe they wanted the Terminator vibes to make him look like an unstoppable "cyborg" as they called him.

From a Watsonian perspective, two thoughts: 1) Hydra turned an instrument of finesse (sniper) into a blunt force weapon, and 2) despite his proficiency, Bucky/the Winter Soldier does not feel at ease with hand to hand combat, hence the extra threat displays that's meant to scare his opponents into submission...which when your opponent is in any way trained, is just going to trigger their fight response.

Even when you look at this fight, yeah Steve was pushed onto the defensive quite a few times by the Winter Soldier, but he didn't come in on the defensive, he was very much on the offensive. And as you say, Steve's entire fighting style is that of someone who is very self-aware of his superhuman strengths and uses it for maximum attack damage despite using a defensive weapon (shield). Similarly Bucky's moves are also that of someone who's been force-trained to push that body to the limit of his strength and speed.

If we're really talking about someone whose style is based on defensive strategies, that's Nat. Her moves are far more characteristic of someone of a smaller stature taking on bigger stronger opponents, hence her abundance of stun weapons and her reliance on stealth and surprise.

[buckydeservesthebest]

This is literally canon.

And it makes all the sense in the world. Of course Bucky and Steve wouldn't be the ones to ask T'Challa for help because a) the only thing they've known from the beginning about him is that he believes Bucky is responsible for his father's death and only seeks to kill him in revenge and b) neither of them could possibly know that Wakanda is the only nation technologically advanced enough to be able to help remove the Winter Soldier's programming.

T'Challa is a good man, so after learning the truth from Zemo's mouth he must have felt bad for spending days trying to kill an innocent man without any hard evidence to frame him. Offering assistance in the form of an apology is something that being honest, he owed Bucky.

Just the needed reminder that its canon to the MCU that the only reason why the Wakandans helped Bucky Barnes was because T'Challa felt bad about having tried repeatedly to kill him for a crime he didn't commit..

@crookedchopshopkingdom-blog

[buckydeservesthebest]

I'd say that Bucky was actually quite sympathetic to John. Because he was demanding him to take the word of a group of criminals who could easily be making up anything to divert attention away from them. Bucky told him that he understands that his life has been hard since his family abandoned him, but still the everything he lived from that point forward is entirely his responsibility, ergo, he's a criminal now and his word should be taken with a grain of salt...

“... yeah, I know you, John and you made your choices. I know it's been hard since Olivia left you and took your kid but still, this is on you.”

[buckydeservesthebest]

And the thing is, we did NOT see Bucky feel better for following Sam's "advice" (which is not unlike Dr. Raynor's) by telling Yori the truth and getting it off his chest, nor did we see him find any closure. The only slight smile we saw him have was when he saw his former friend at the bar as a sign that he moved on with his life. The show precisely and deliberately cuts Yori's reaction because it would have made Sam's advice look ridiculous.

Bucky can't even say "I'm sorry," because he "still did it," a line that at best could be interpreted as him acting under duress. Bucky is NOT going to try to explain that he was not in control of his actions and thus he is as big a victim as any of the loved ones that people lost. Bucky is NOT even looking to be apologized for, ergo he is NOT looking to feel better about himself.

We didn't even see him feel like a weight was lifted off his shoulders little by little with each Hydra pawn he managed to take to prison when this was something that did make a change in the world, taking criminals hiding behind power off the streets. As opposed to telling Yori a truth that doesn't add anything to what he already knew, that his son was in the wrong place at the wrong time. What he now knows that his son was in the wrong place at the wrong time and that the person who pulled the trigger was just another victim of the real culprit. Yori lost Bucky's friendship that was good and beneficial to him in exchange for information that did not allow him to find any closure or feel better.

It's ironic but Sam should know better than anyone that you can't go around apologizing for problems you weren't responsible for because it's literally dangerous for you. He did that with what happened with Rhodes, and of course he didn't get any understanding back.

Sam's behavior to Bucky is not in line with that of a counselor offering therapy to war veterans. For what he essentially told Bucky is that it is NOT valid for him to seek to feel better about himself, because all he should be seeking is to make others feel better, because that is something "he owes them". This is nothing more but the old shitty Marvel story where their production is so damn shameless to say "Bucky doesn't deserve to be happy", but now said in different words...

Hi! I don't know if you have already read this Bucky's "analysis": https://www.tumblr.com/dreadnought-dear-captain/651270983166132224/cw-this-essay-is-about-about-trauma-including?source=share

I find it absurd that a person who claims to be knowledgeable in the psychological area and also to have lived through traumatic experiences themselves, can say that the depiction of therapy in TFATWS is OK and that it is "right" or "healthy" for Bucky to "take responsibility" for something he had no agency in. This is one of the many aspects that seem to me to be terribly wrong.

I'd be very grateful if you could share your opinion.

Sorry for the late reply, life’s been really hectic lately!

I vaguely remember reading this back in 2021. I don’t know if I ever got through the whole thing. I’m not trained in psychology so I can’t pretend to be any sort of expert.

There are some points I agree with, particularly to the headcanon that Bucky is actually very resilient rather than “fragile” — he has to be, to have lasted that long under Hydra, retained most of his innate willingness for good, and for Hydra to have been forced to use the methods they did to break him. While we’re on this topic, it’s not uncommon that people who leave abusive situations go through a period of “fragility” or being more open with expressing their vulnerability, because they’ve finally exited survival mode. I’m always soft for recovery fics where Bucky clearly has that stubborn resilient streak but also lets himself be vulnerable in front of someone he trusts.

It’s not the first time that a self-proclaimed psychologist has tried to justify Bucky’s arc in TFATWS with reclamation of agency (I feel like I’ve read a similar essay from someone else). My problem with these analyses has always been - Bucky is not a real patient, he’s a fictional creation, therefore any talk about his psychology and in particular internal consistency can only be as good as the narrative. When you have a narrative that is as clunky as TFATWS, where it clearly made no attempt to consider Bucky’s past, character, and motivations in many of the choices he made, it’s ridiculous to examine this Bucky as though the writer had intended him to be a study of trauma recovery. It’s like trying to debate the safest speed the Titan submersible should have descended at, when the real problem is that it’s a creaking tin can from the get-go.

The problem with the reclamation of agency argument is the same problem with his healing arc. Just as Bucky already reclaimed his humanity and social connections by the support he got from the Wakandans, Bucky also already reclaimed his agency in the preceding movies. Are we forgetting his first act of disobedience to his handlers in pulling Steve out from the river instead of finishing his mission? Past that, he spent two years living a crime free and reasonably cosy life. He had a roof over his head, he was dressed clean and groomed, he was going out and conversing politely with shopkeepers, his apartment was sparsely furnished but lived in. All of these took a series of careful choices from someone who not only was forced to live with no agency for 70 years, but also had no identity, no documents, no money, and likely very little familiarity with this new world he’s woken up to. He also made major choices that directly impacted the world around him, whether it was to divulge the location of the other Winter Soldiers, or joining Steve against the other Avengers, or choosing to go back to cryo, or accepting T'Challa’s recruitment to go back onto the battlefield. He was not forced in any of these choices, and he had a lot to lose in each of them, but he still made the choice – and the people around him, Steve and T'Challa, allowed him to make that call.

So yes, theoretically, if Bucky was a real patient, of course agency is a major theme in his recovery and a way to redirect away from overwhelming helplessness (although…Bucky’s never acted as though he falls comfortably onto learned helplessness; again, the first thing we see him do as soon as he recalls any inkling of his past is to take agency into his own hands). But narratively? This is just regressing Bucky back to…oh, I don’t know, early post-CATWS and retreading the recovery path he had already demonstrated.

And sure, trauma recovery is something that happens over a long period of time and people can vacillate between well-adjusted and emotional wreck, and we can argue given the events of Endgame, there’s good reason for Bucky to have rollercoasted to an emotional slump by TFATWS. But - once again - this is a fictional construct, and if you took a step back and looked at the narrative as a whole instead of “Bucky should be allowed to make bad choices because he’s mentally ill”, there is no character justification for why Bucky would break Zemo out of jail or fight with Wakanda, very borderline justification for why Bucky would confuse the shield for his friendship with Steve, and minimal justification for why Bucky would crash Sam’s mission in the first place. Not to mention the 20 things that doesn’t make sense about the Flagsmashers and post-Blip world, and what authority Sam and Bucky were even working under. If the overarching narrative doesn’t make sense, what even is the use of trying to rationalise his actions in a psychological sense?

As to your specific point about “the depiction of therapy in TFATWS is OK and that it is “right” or “healthy” for Bucky to “take responsibility” for something he had no agency in“ - I’m not sure how it’s argued in the original essay because I don’t want to read the whole thing, but this feels like a really weird therapeutic strategy. If we equate Bucky’s situation to rape - which we probably can after they inserted the stomach turning scene of Zemo selling Bucky to Selby - I’d like to know which therapist would sit with their rape victim and say it’s “right and healthy” for them to take responsibility for the rape, ie the situation during which Bucky had no control over his identity or wishes. From what I’ve seen and read of victims in recovery, whether that’s as survivors of abuse or rape or homocide, they find solace in taking control of the emotions they are left with in recovery – i.e. the grief or rage or indignation, and repurposing that into a sense of mission, such as starting victim help groups or campaigning for policy change or fighting to get the criminals arrested. But again, that’s not reclaiming the situation as something they had “responsibility” for, but rather to make the best with their experience and being a safety net for others. But that hadn’t been what Bucky’s therapy was about, Raynor was basically implying Bucky was dangerous and out of control and needs to make amends to prove himself stable. It wasn’t about unravelling what Bucky feels about the long helpless 70 years of imprisonment and redirecting it to a sense of purpose, it was to make Bucky “pay back” the other victims…as a parole condition to make him suitable for society.

So no, it was not an appropriate therapeutic intervention, because at no point did it have Bucky’s best interest at heart, nor - based on Sebastian’s portrayal - did it have Bucky’s buy-in. And as I’ve always said, it was also incredibly unfair to the other victims on the receiving end of Bucky’s unexpected appearance and “amends” without any sort of neutral mediator.

[buckydeservesthebest]

Bucky is a pragmatic man, he is not scared or impressed by anything, but to believe in something he first has to see it. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence" type... 🥲

"Bob..." Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes // Thunderbolts* 2025

[buckydeservesthebest]

Dude, I'm sorry but you're still basically repeating the same old nonsense.

Speaking of messed up, to downplay Bucky breaking Zemo out of prison as nothing because it served no purpose in incredible. As per your words, the Wakandans expressed hurt by the breakout,

That Wakanda had their pride damaged by Zemo's very brief freedom is NOT synonymous with real harm to their nation, because there was literally NO single way Zemo could harm them So try again..

Bucky risked his pardon by doing it and it served no actual positive outcome so all of that was for no reason and a pisspoor decision. Almost every character did not appreciate seeing Zemo out and expressed that opinion.

Oh, it was useless? Are you forgetting that neither John nor Sam nor anyone else had the slightest information about Karli's whereabouts, let alone how the serum was recreated? It was literally because of Zemo that they were able to get to Selby ans this thus Nagel could be reached. Literally the plot that retconned Zemo and made him the “foremost expert on Hydra and the super soldier program” gave Bucky the reason to call on his help. And guess what? Ayo understood this perfectly and that's why he gave an 8 hour ultimatum to come back for him, and literally at no point did Bucky object to this. The reason Ayo disconnected his arm in a shitty and unjustifiable move was because she was upset that Bucky had dared to stop her from spearing Walker, whose death is totally unnecessary.

That advice from Sam was not victim blaming. The entire context was Bucky is not the winter soldier and should not apologize however if Bucky feels some kind of obligation or responsibility and needs to talk to these people then just get to know the good parts.

Dude, it is precisely because of the clear ignorance on mental health issues by people ignorant of the subject like you, believe that Sam's “advice” is not harmful. NOT. BUCKY UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES HAS TO APOLOGIZE FOR A SITUATION THAT HE IS NO LONGER ANOTHER VICTIM OF. TELLING A VICTIM OF ABUSE THAT HE “OWES A SERVICE” TO THE OTHER VICTIMS OF THE SAME ABUSER IS HORRIBLY UNHEALTHY AND RETRAUMATIZING TO BOTH PARTIES. And this is not just me saying this, it has been said by real life therapists who have worked with victims of abuse.

Sam is NOT a victim of abuse nor mind control and he is NOT trained to work with victims of this circumstance, so he can't go around pretending to give advice about it, that is unethical on his part.

Sam initially stated having a list of the victims names and family is triggering but you guys don’t hear anything other than negativit

It's because of stupid things like this that you can't be taken seriously. Sam at literally no time said that having a list with the name of the other victims was a deterrent to Bucky. He only said and I quote: "You were stopping all the wrongdoers you enabled as the Winter Soldier, because you thought it would bring you closure. You go to these people and say "sorry," because you think it'll make you feel better, right? But you gotta make them feel better. You gotta go to them and be of service."

There Sam is holding Bucky accountable for his actions as the Winter Soldier and also telling him that he owes others a service because he has to make them feel good. That, my friend, is by definition victim-blaming: holding the victim responsible for what he was forced to live through and telling him he has a responsibility to fix it.

“But he called him the winter soldier” Sam also called Bucky “Buck” and the first time, Bucky was quick to tell him not to call him that. Sam called Bucky “Buck” in the cameo and no pushback. Calling him Buck was on purpose to show how their relationship grew.

You can't be serious to compare the situation of calling Bucky “Winter Soldier” to having called him Buck. “Buck” was the name only Steve gave him, ergo it was a nickname Bucky held dear. Literally the complete opposite of the Winter Soldier, which Bucky spent literally the entire series trying to leave behind because that name is what his ABUSERS gave him and is literally the name of the worst and most traumatic stage of his life. Who in their right mind could believe that calling him that isn't abhorrent and retraumatizing to him!!?

Just because Bucky didn't call Sam out on his disgusting tasteless jokes does NOT automatically mean he's okay with it! The same way Bucky didn't say anything to Sharon when she called him “Zemo's psycho pet”. You don't need to have half a brain to come to the conclusion that it's absolutely offensive in every way imaginable.

Damn, that “I love you buddy” must mean something else for you guys. Even Bucky stopping his campaign tour to go see Sam because he heard what happened to Joaquin and knew that was triggering.

Here's the point, Bucky being a very good and supportive friend to Sam who actually gave him real support in difficult times, and Bucky NOT GETTING THE SAME TREATMENT BACK. What would have been truly sensible and admirable on Sam's part would have been that instead of that victim-blaming “advice”, to have told Bucky that he does NOT need to make amends because he is just a victim just like the rest of the people on his list. Which is nothing but the absolute truth.

Sam inviting Bucky to his party doesn't mean shit. Because Sam can't be “a good friend” for doing something as trivial as inviting Bucky to a celebration, but at the same time continuing his disgusting ableist and tasteless jokes about the worst and most traumatic stage of Bucky's life. No good friend, and no good person for that matter, would do something as low as making fun of another's era of slavery and abuse. How bad do people have to be to have to explain something as simple as this to them?

Bucky did not work with John at the end of the episode, John was helping save the truck.

Bucky literally jumped to John's rescue when John when the FS were beating him up. Bucky literally shook them off, and the two of them cooperated to catch the remaining FS. Do you see things with your eyes closed?

Everything else has already been explained perfectly by my friend @legalandnotease, so I'm not going to waste any more time responding to your rant, which is only the version of things you want to see. I'm sorry, but you are very wrong and on more than one point.

Sam Stans just can't stop with the self owns. This one @crookedchopshopkingdom-blog tried telling me the Bucky's Thunderbolts relationship with the Thunderbolts is based on "trauma bonding".

They tried to tell an actual real living abuse survivor what trauma bonding is- and got it spectacularly wrong. They tried to say Bucky identifying with other abused and traumatised people and wanting to help them is "trauma bonding"

Trauma bonding actually refers to the relationship between a victim and abuser based on a cyclical pattern of abuse and positive reinforcement.

Bucky isn't abusing the Thunderbolts. Nor they him. It's not a trauma bond. Nor is it codependent.

Sam Stans are literally just so desperate to justify thier toxic ship and deflect attention away from the mass temper tantrum over Bucky getting his own team that they're looking for any excuse to present the team's relationship as negative.

This is literally the kind of thing my abuser did. Saying my friendships were bad for me so she could keep me socially isolated and dependent on her. It's literally what they're saying to justify thier abusive, narcissitic and possessive conception of Sam. In which Bucky isn't allowed to "stray" or have any other friendships.

It's sad. It's projection. It's insane.

Also go see Thunderbolts if you haven't already. If you have go see it again with a friend. Sam Stans are crowing about it being a flop and their favorite toxic ship winning.

[buckydeservesthebest]

Bucky is literally the jaded veteran who was forced to come out of retirement because he unwittingly ended up adopting a group of losers who needed his guidance and help... 🥺🥺

Bucky Barnes in Thunderbolts* New Avengers’ end credit scene (2025)

[buckydeservesthebest]

The vast majority of @crookedchopshopkingdom-blog arguments are vile bullshit. I don't even know where to begin.. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Returning Zemo to the Wakandans does not negate or reverse the initial betrayal. Having the idea to break him out was the problem.

Sam Stans are so closed minded, to use no other word, that they literally ignore the fact that ZEMO'S TEMPORARY RELEASE FROM ZEMO DID NOT REPRESENT EVEN THE MOST REMOTELY DANGEROUS DANGER TO WAKANDAN IN LITERALLY ANY ASPECT?

People can get so stupid as to whine as if resorting to Zemo's help (which was literally necessary according to the plot that gives Bucky his due) was something Bucky did for his own convenience, when he was literally getting NO FUCKING BENEFIT from it!!!? Bucky was literally risking his conditional pardon and risking going back to prison! Bucky didn't even have an obligation to intervene in the search for FS and Karli! That's Sam, John and the rest of the government's job!

People also love to forget that Zemo is NOT only responsible for T'Chaka's death. Killing the king of Wakanda was not even Zemo's direct intention! He was only one of a dozen victims unlucky enough to perish in the exposition. Zemo is literally one of Bucky's abusers and one of the people who wronged him the most in life. Now it turns out that the Wakandans know more about their abuser than Bucky himself!!!? That's utter BS.

T’Challa has said that the king/ Black Panther has the ear of the people and specifically states he always listens to Shuri and the Dora Miljae, therefore Shuri and Ayo won’t obey orders without consideration. They have free movement.

What the hell is this?? We have literally NEVER, EVER seen either Shuri or Ayo defy T'Challa's orders. He is the King of his nation and who at the end of it all has the final say, the same way any monarchy works. Or what did the people want? For T'Challa to personally work out a way to undo the Winter Soldier's programming of Bucky's brain? Or that T'Challa was the one who was directly present in his rehabilitation process? Isn't that what everyone in his service is for?

Bucky does NOT, in any way, owe lifelong loyalty to Wakanda for an assistance that was given to him as a form of apology. E. Ross truly had his life saved by T'Challa's orders and never made it seem in any way that he now owed absolute loyalty to Wakanda. So why the shitty double standard?

The issue was John Walker since the person who was the most hostile to John was Bucky.

Like literally people forget that Bucky had already briefly teamed up with John at the end of TFATWS to catch the FS?? Bucky does NOT hate John, literally the only problem he had with him was because of the shield possession, once that was fixed, Bucky had no problem. If he literally came to John's rescue when the FS were beating the crap out of him in ep 6.. 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

While I think that perhaps in Thunderbolts there wasn't enough time to develop a deeper bond between Bucky and the rest of the TB*, it's clear that their similar experiences and the mental health issues they share to some degree is already reason enough for Bucky to decide to stay on a team where he feels he can contribute something. That's literally what Seb has said!

Nor is Bucky being invited by Sam to a meal out automatically synonymous with Sam and his family being his “found family”. Because a “found family” is a synonym for a support network, which by definition are those who contribute to your emotional and practical well-being. We never really saw any moral or emotional support from Sam. His advice that is nothing more than victim-blaming for holding Bucky responsible for a situation that Sam knows full well he had no control over, is abhorrent and insane advice for any victim of abuse. It's literally the same crap said by Dr. Raynor, who has already been severely criticized by real-life therapists for giving a message that is unhealthy and unbecoming of what healthy therapy should be.

To continue to call Bucky “Winter Soldier” when literally the crux of his story in TFATWS is to prove to everyone and himself that he is NOT the Winter Soldier, because that name is literally what his ABUSERS gave him, IS NOT RIGHT AND IMPROPER of any true friend, let alone justifiable from a counselor who offers therapy to war veterans.

Sam Stans just can't stop with the self owns. This one @crookedchopshopkingdom-blog tried telling me the Bucky's Thunderbolts relationship with the Thunderbolts is based on "trauma bonding".

They tried to tell an actual real living abuse survivor what trauma bonding is- and got it spectacularly wrong. They tried to say Bucky identifying with other abused and traumatised people and wanting to help them is "trauma bonding"

Trauma bonding actually refers to the relationship between a victim and abuser based on a cyclical pattern of abuse and positive reinforcement.

Bucky isn't abusing the Thunderbolts. Nor they him. It's not a trauma bond. Nor is it codependent.

Sam Stans are literally just so desperate to justify thier toxic ship and deflect attention away from the mass temper tantrum over Bucky getting his own team that they're looking for any excuse to present the team's relationship as negative.

This is literally the kind of thing my abuser did. Saying my friendships were bad for me so she could keep me socially isolated and dependent on her. It's literally what they're saying to justify thier abusive, narcissitic and possessive conception of Sam. In which Bucky isn't allowed to "stray" or have any other friendships.

It's sad. It's projection. It's insane.

Also go see Thunderbolts if you haven't already. If you have go see it again with a friend. Sam Stans are crowing about it being a flop and their favorite toxic ship winning.

[buckydeservesthebest]

Sam Stans when Bucky has no role or purpose except in cameos giving Sam emotional support.

Sam Stans when Bucky is an actual character in his own right and does something independently