Captain America and Bucky Barnes have been through a lot together in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, from World Wars to Infinity Wars. Their journey as brothers in arms began back in the 1940s and spanned multiple movies before coming to an emotional conclusion in last year’s Avengers: Endgame.
As the fans will know, the pair were seen embracing before Steve Rogers makes his journey back to the past to be with Peggy Carter, but their farewell scene raised questions and gripes among cinemagoers. Some are unsure whether Bucky knew that Cap was planning to retire to another time period, while others have expressed disappointment that the movie didn’t make a bigger deal of their goodbyes.
Sebastian Stan, who, of course, plays Bucky in the MCU, shed light on the scene in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter and confirmed that his character did indeed know what Cap was planning.
“Oh, a thousand percent, yeah. I played it as goodbye. What I was playing was, ‘Okay, 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. So, I’ve gotta support that.’”
Stan went on to explain that Bucky was unaware an aged Rogers would briefly return to the present day, but was fully expecting that Anthony Mackie’s Falcon would be the one to inherit Captain America’s iconic shield.
“Suddenly, when he shows back up again, I’m playing it like, ‘Oh! Well, he didn’t tell me he was gonna do that. I knew he was gonna leave, and even though I knew what he was going to do with the shield, I didn’t know he was gonna pop up over there now and be older.’”
Both Stan and Mackie will reprise their superhero roles when The Falcon and the Winter Soldier arrives on Disney+ this August. The TV miniseries will deal with the fallout from the shield-passing scene and depict the duo in a post-Rogers world. And we can’t wait to see what Marvel has in store for us with it.
