One of the biggest take-aways from this week’s sensational first trailer for next year’s Captain America: Civil War was that Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier is not only back in from the cold after going on the lam at the end of The Winter Soldier – he’s also key to sparking the central conflict between Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and the Cap (Chris Evans).
Now, Stan, while doing press abroad for The Martian, has gone on the record to talk about how his linchpin character will be further explored in the hotly anticipated threequel.
“Where we find him after Winter Soldier, he’s in a place where he is learning about himself. And he’s discovering — as you saw in the last scene of The Winter Soldier, at the museum — he’s starting to put the pieces together, starting to learn about the past. Where he’s been. What he’s done. And as you’ll see in the next movie, it doesn’t come without a huge price: emotionally, mentally and uh… Yeah, it’s not easy for him learn about what he’s done.”
Given where The Winter Soldier left Bucky – newly freed from HYDRA’s mind control and desperate to learn about the horrific operations he completed at their behest – it’s not that surprising to hear that the character plays a major role in Civil War, but the actor’s comments indicate that the Winter Soldier still has a long way to go before returning to the Cap’s side. Discussing Bucky’s relationship with HYDRA, Stan added:
“You gotta remember it is the same Hydra in a sense that is responsible for him still being alive. And what happened before the movie Winter Soldier — and there will be a lot of things sort of made more clear in Civil War about what happened with him — kind of setup this relationship that that he may always have with Hydra, one way or another. Because in a way they are like his second family. If that makes sense.”
Unfortunately for that character – and for Captain America, who clearly still wants to reconcile with his long-thought-lost friend – having ties to HYDRA in a post-Winter Soldier world isn’t exactly smart. Stan added that Bucky will pose a “problem for a lot of people” in Civil War, and given how much brawling the character gets up in the trailer, that seems like a bit of an understatement.
Captain America: Civil War opens May 6, 2016.
