Captain America Screenwriters Explain How The Bucky And Falcon Rivalry Came To Be

Although we’ve still got a ways to go before Avengers 4 can provide some semblance of closure – whatever form that may take – there’s still quite the lengthy list of unanswered queries regarding the MCU. Granted, following the disastrous climax of Infinity War, there isn’t much the Powers That Be can say to console those heartbroken by the Snap of Doom, but the screenwriting dream team of Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have at least eased some of the suffering, even if it’s only temporarily.

During the Fatman on Batman podcast hosted by Kevin Smith, Markus and McFeely – who’ve collaborated on six MCU entries thus far in the form of Captain America: The First Avenger, Thor: The Dark World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Infinity War and Avengers 4 – revealed the origin of the Bucky/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) and Sam/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) rivalry.

“It really came out of just being, like, ‘Steve now has two best friends…it’s literally, just a juvenile impulse on our part. You can put in this ridiculous rivalry in the middle of these very serious moments. The ‘move your seat up’ is possibly my favourite thing in all of the movies, because it’s just so petty. It also reminds you, those little things remind you that they’re people.”

Steven Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans) and James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes are lifelong friends who, upon being woken up in modern day by Howard Stark and Hydra, respectively, find themselves battling each other to the death in The Winter Soldier. After time essentially reprograms Bucky, he, Cap and Samuel Thomas “Sam” Wilson join forces against Howard’s son, Tony, in Civil War, perfectly setting up the uneasy allies for a plethora of one-liners.

According to Markus, however, the yucks are but a side effect of extracting the humanity out of these superhuman characters.

“The Marvel movies are about people; they’re not about superheroes. They happen to have these superhero responsibilities, but they’re people who don’t have enough legroom, you know? And I think that can be where, sometimes, some movies fall apart, is they take the superhero before they take the person. And having little bits like a rivalry between your best friends or whatever else reminds you that they’re just like you.”

Next up for Markus and McFeely, who also commented on the unprecedented success of Avengers: Infinity War on the aforementioned podcast, is, of course, Avengers 4, which, as reported by Joe Russo yesterday while inviting superfan Nem: The Infinity Watcher to set, is headed for “pick-ups” this fall. As always, watch this space for more.