Steve Rogers’ friend Bucky Barnes isn’t exactly known for his moments of comic relief. In a pretty tragic saga that’s seen him transition from World War II sergeant in Captain America: The First Avenger to brainwashed Hydra assassin in Captain America: The Winter Soldier to wandering man out of his time in Captain America: Civil War, the hundred-year-old Avengers ally has developed an understated persona as one of the broodier, more serious-minded characters in the Marvel universe.
Of course, that doesn’t stop actor Sebastian Stan from goofing around behind the scenes. Speaking on Earth’s Mightiest Show, the MCU regular looked back on the time he was given a brand new metal arm for Winter Solider, and how he used this replacement limb as an excuse to act a little silly.
“I did not do the robot,” Stan said. “I was just more like going around like grabbing things left and right, making sound effects and I think they were always like telling me ‘you know you don’t have to do those sound effects when you do the punches’ but [I] couldn’t help it.”
Though Stan was able to have some fun with his new appendage, the first version of the accessory was also reportedly a little difficult to use, with later versions proving more accommodating. It’s a progression that the actor characterizes as a fitting reflection of his own character’s arc, too, saying:
“The first arm that was in the Winter Soldier movie, the material was really hard and it was very hard to actually move in it… but it actually informed the way I was moving at the time because it was just like carrying this thing so it totally affected me in a great way,” Stan said. “It made me discover the character in a way. And so I guess to some extent, so does he. He’s just becoming more comfortable in his own shoes and arm as he’s progressively getting older.”
But while Stan may have become more accustomed to wielding a prosthetic limb since the days of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Bucky probably isn’t exactly in the best place right now, with both the character and his arm disintegrating into dust at the end of Infinity War. Could it be that the actor’s days of making goofy arm noises are well and truly finished? We’ll just have to wait until Avengers 4 comes out on May 3rd to find out.