This text incorporates spoilers for “Captain America: Courageous New World.”
Earlier than the endgame of “Captain America: Courageous New World” kicks in, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) is watching over the injured Joaquin “Falcon” Torres (Danny Ramirez) in a personal hospital room after the worldwide incident between Japan and the U.S. close to Celestial Island. All of the sudden, a door opens. With Joaquin harm and Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly) unfairly imprisoned, Sam is decidedly not within the temper for chitchat, however his temper shifts when he realizes who has walked in. As a substitute of the most certainly culprits like Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus Ross or Shira Haas’ Ruth Bat-Seraph, we see none aside from James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes (Sebastian Stan, who initially thought he’d solely play the position for one film), aka the Winter Soldier.
The initially ornery duo grew to become fire-forged mates throughout the occasions of “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” so it is smart that they have been conserving tabs on one another. Nonetheless, one thing about Bucky appears unusual this time round. He wears an costly swimsuit in lieu of his standard road garments, with a really politician-coded American flag pin on the lapel. After the pair share some pleasantries and a fast heart-to-heart, we discover out that Mr. James Barnes is certainly now a politician, and aspires to develop into a congressman within the upcoming election.
The thought of one of many Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most constantly tormented superheroes voluntarily including much more difficulties on his plate by entering into politics is a enjoyable one. Nonetheless, the character’s newfound ardour in politics additionally raises a number of questions on his present authorized standing within the universe, in addition to the elements of his MCU future we already find out about.
Bucky’s political future faces infinite questions
Bucky Barnes has proved to be a great man many occasions over, however his previous is ceaselessly marred by the truth that he spent a long time as a brainwashed Soviet murderer with a fearsome fame and a hefty kill depend. If the varied challenges his historical past poses (or the truth that he is technically 110 years previous) will not render him ineligible for election, they need to at the very least give his political opponents loads of ammunition towards him. Even discounting every part else and taking into consideration his heroics after he got here to his senses, simply the truth that he killed the mother and father of Earth’s most esteemed savior, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), carries the makings of a career-ending scandal.
There’s additionally the not insignificant matter that the subsequent Marvel film, “Thunderbolts,” options Bucky operating round with what quantities to a black ops workforce, which is an exercise U.S. congressmen traditionally are inclined to keep away from. Mix Bucky’s historical past and his looming “Thunderbolts” future with the truth that Thaddeus Ross’ (Harrison Ford) Crimson Hulk antics seemingly do not precisely do any favors for superpowered of us seeking to develop into elected, and it actually begins to look that the character’s budding political profession is little greater than a one-scene surprise.
The factor is, there’s additionally some indication that he’ll really get elected. On the 2024 San Diego Comedian-Con, Sebastian Stan and his “Thunderbolts” co-star Wyatt Russell casually revealed in an interview with ComicBook.com that Bucky will certainly be a congressman within the film. For the aforementioned causes, this raises much more questions than the failure of his political aspirations would — however, for now at the very least, evidently this extraordinarily unlikely character is becoming a member of James “Conflict Machine” Rhodes (Don Cheadle) in Washington D.C.’s halls of energy.
