With the MCU proving to be so lacking when it comes to LGBTQ representation, Marvel fans have taken it upon themselves to wonder if certain characters are gay and we just don’t know about it. The “Stucky” ship was hugely popular, for example, as fans thought Steve Rogers and best pal Bucky Barnes might have romantic feelings for each other. That was seemingly disproven when Steve married Peggy Carter, but The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiere actually featured a sly allusion to Bucky potentially being bisexual.
As pointed out by ScreenRant, it’s all to do with tigers. In the opening episode of the Disney Plus series, Bucky is set up on a date with waitress Leah. It goes as awkwardly as you’d expect for the 100-year-old ex-assassin, and he rambles at one point about his limited experience at using dating apps, which Bucky explains he was put off from by all the tiger photos on users’ profiles.
In case you’re not aware, tiger pictures used to be all over Tinder until the app cracked down on them. But the important thing is that the trend was predominantly led by men. So, if Bucky saw a lot of tiger photos when he was using Tinder, then that means that he must have been swiping right on male profiles as well as female ones, which is seemingly a (very) hidden hint at his bisexuality.
There’s definitely the capacity for the MCU to give the character a coming out storyline. He hasn’t actively stated or overtly indicated that he’s bi to date, but this may be something that he’s keeping to himself because of the period when he was brought up, when being gay was less widely accepted. Going by Marvel’s historical disinterest in exploring LGBTQ themes in their productions, though, maybe we shouldn’t hold out hope for this happening in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
