BUCKY BARNES, A.K.A THE WINTER SOLDIER

 

(SPOILER ALTER. Do not read if you have not watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier)

      Let's be honest,  everyone loves Bucky. You may love Bucky from the first movie, you may love Bucky from the second, you may have always liked him, you may have just started, you may just like him because of his actor, you may just like him because Steve does. But honestly... everyone loves Bucky.

     Then there's the haters. I'm not even gonna categorize them with 'Everyone'. Whoever doesn't like Bucky isn't even a person (i.e. my older brother, my friend's older brother, etc.). There are some that would call him...

     Wait for it....



A VILLAIN

nooooooooooooooooooo!



     But honestly, people! Bucky Barnes is not a villain, he's a victim. Let me make this clearer: Bucky didn't chose to be 'the bad guy'. That's what separates villains from victims. Villains chose to be bad; they chose revenge and/or violence over doing what is right. Victims are helplessly drawn into something they don't want to be a part of. I mean, even in your book your villain has to CHOOSE to be the villain or it doesn't count.

     Are you guys hearing me?

     Bucky was brainwashed. We know this from the scene in The Winter Soldier when Bucky was in that little scary room with Alexander Pierce breathing down his neck trying to convince him that he was the good guy. All Bucky could say was:

 because of his previous encounter with Steve near the bridge. In that moment, he was unstable. His gears were turning for maybe the first time in a long time, or maybe not. Steve set something off in him. Steve set off the 'good guy' part. The REAL 'good guy'.... The Bucky side. And The Winter Soldier part of him didn't know how to react. In fact, The Winter Soldier side looked scared because of the Bucky side showing up. He knew what it meant when he started remembering stuff. He knew it meant there would be pain. You can see it in his face:

So then came the words we were all dreading to hear.

"Wipe him. Let's start over."

And he seems to accept this. He wants the pain of remembering to go away. It's torturing him almost worse than the actual torture he must endure to be brainwashed.

     I think it's understandable (sort of) how some people could think he's a villain, and I think Marvel knew that somebody might get confused and think that. I believe that is why they added this scene, they wanted to make it clear. In my opinion, they did. Very, very clear...





I'm gonna go cry in my room for the rest of my life now.

Bucky says he's sorry.... for everything.