Long-lasting and unbreakable friendships are the kind where you see one of your nearest and dearest buddies for the first time in what feels like forever, but you manage to pick up right from where you left off without missing a beat. It’s the sort of bond that lasts a lifetime, with Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes providing the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most enduring example.
The pair were BFFs for almost a century, and they managed to retain their kinship in spite of Captain America spending 70 years frozen in a block of ice, while the Winter Soldier was recovered by the evil forces of HYDRA, regularly defrosted to commit atrocities as a brainwashed weapon of mass destruction, before repeatedly trying to murder his cohort from the streets of Brooklyn.
That’s pretty much the definition of “through thick and thin”, but MCU supporters on Reddit have been wondering what Steve would really think about Bucky hiding the truth behind the revelations made by Isaiah Bradley in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Besties are supposed to tell each other everything, but Bucky never saw fit to mention his experiences with or knowledge of Isaiah, who was effectively at the opposite end of the spectrum from Steve’s star-spangled superhero when it comes to adulation and respect – never mind the fact he was imprisoned and experimented on, or threw down with the Winter Soldier at one stage, too.
The exchanges between Isaiah and Sam Wilson in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier were about the rawest and most powerful socially-conscious scenes we’ve ever seen from Marvel Studios given the rampant subtext, but the fandom remains undecided as to how Steve would react had those bombshells been dropped before he retired to live the quiet life.
