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fandomtrashhh · 2 years

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How Stucky was Queer Coded

A deep, detailed look at how Steve x Bucky had queer subtext and coding in the MCU movies.

Word Count: 9k+

Trigger Warning: Cussing, I mention the normal stuff that comes with action movies like mentioning torture, brainwash, mind control, violence, character deaths

I want to say that I AM NOT smart enough to come up with all of this by myself. Most of this article is based off of the Tik Toks made by "daniellesilverstone." That's where I get most of my examples and sources from. If you have Tik Tok, give them a follow! You can also follow her on Instagram with the same name and YouTube under the same name.

I used some information from the account Char on Twitter: https://twitter.com/charcubed/status/1085731788897570817

This is an article of someone explaining why Cap should have had a boyfriend:

Why Marvel Should Give Captain America a Boyfriend - HubPages

Other than that, the rest of the stuff I added was from common knowledge facts online like memes that you can find anywhere, there's no source for those.

Warning! Spoilers for Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, Falcon and The Winter Soldier, and What If...?. I cover a lot of content, so if you haven't seen these and plan to, read this after you've seen them.

Before I begin, let me just say that there's a difference between queer coding and queer baiting. Queer coding is when a character is coded but isn't able to be queer because of homophobia. A lot of queer coding is through villains and relationships. In a relationship sense, that's when the characters are written as romantic parallels to each other and are coded. It could be on purpose or accidental. It's not always harmful, but it can be. In the MCU, Steve and Bucky are queer coded, and so are Carol and Maria. So queer coding is subtext, but isn't allowed to be confirmed. Queer baiting is used as a marketing ploy and is on purpose. An example is when there was a scene in Falcon and The Winter Soldier when it was hinted that Bucky was queer (I'll discuss that later) and the people working on the show said "Just wait and see" and literally nothing happened. Stucky wasn't used as a way to bait people, so it's coding. Now that I got that out of the way, let's start! I hope you enjoy this 29 page essay!

Introduction

The ship "Stucky" is the romantic pairing between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The duo are very close and share a very strong bond, and while many people believe it to be only platonic, there is strong evidence that supports it could've been way more than that.

Who the Hell is Bucky?

Did you understand that reference? Anyways, Bucky has been Steve Rogers's (aka Captain America's) best friend since childhood. He protected Steve against bullies and took care of him. In the comics, his character was actually very different. The comics takes inspiration from Bucky Barnes and a character called Arnie Roth. Bucky in the comics is Captain America's sidekick, an orphaned teenager who admires Captain America. It's a similar dynamic to Batman and Robin. While Bucky's name and storyline is the same as in the comics (as in he is presumed dead but is brainwashed by Hydra for decades and becomes the Winter Soldier) his character role and personality is mainly based off of Arnie Roth. Arnie Roth was Steve's childhood best friend who looked out for and protected Steve and fought off bullies for him. When he was a teenager, he flirted with and dated a lot of girls. All of this seems quite like Bucky in the MCU, right? So what's my point? Well, Arnie was gay (and Jewish! No Jewish erasure here). He was trying to overcompensate. If so much of Bucky's personality and role in Steve's life was based off of Arnie, is it really a stretch to say that Bucky is possibly also gay or bisexual? (Not to mention in some recent comics, both Natasha (Black Widow) and Bucky admitted to having a crush on Steve. If you don't believe me, look it up.)

There are also moments in the newer comics (where Steve and Bucky are the same age) that seem pretty gay, like in Planet Hulk, or when actual comic characters were shipping them. I don't usually take the comics into consideration though, because Bucky was a teenager in the earlier comics so I obviously don't ship them then.

Here's an article about Arnie:

Captain America May Never Have A Boyfriend, But He's Long Had A Gay Best Friend

Anyways, onto the MCU!

Their Home

It's never explicitly stated in the movies, but it's hinted that Steve and Bucky lived together during the 30's and 40's (the flashback scene in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.) I mean, to be fair, that's pretty normal, right? Friends live together all the time. It makes even more sense because Steve was an orphan by the time he was 18, and due to his health issues he was probably unable to work. It was also during the Great Depression, so things were really difficult. Just wait. There's a piece of concept art that was made for what Steve's apartment looked like, and it was made by people who worked for the MCU. In the picture, a tall dark haired man is standing at the sink, which is presumably Bucky. That's still fine, right? That is until you realize there's one bed. Yup. They lived in a very small apartment, the only room that isn't visible is the room that has a toilet in it. They had one bed in their apartment. There was no couch. Listen, I get that they were really close friends, but even really close friends, especially adult men, don't sleep in the same bed every night unless they were in a relationship.

That's not all. Steve and Bucky lived in Brooklyn, New York, which was known to be a very queer area back when Steve and Bucky lived there that can be traced back to the 1850's. It was one of two underground queer cities. And actually, Coney Island, which Steve and Bucky talked about going to, had gay bath houses. Not only did they live in a queer city, they lived in a queer neighborhood. The exact place they lived according to Marvel Studios themselves was in a neighborhood that was in the middle of bar/gay hangouts. Someone mapped out the entire area they lived in in detail and everything surrounding during the 1930's/40's, and it was very queer. (Sadly, the post was taken down, but you get the idea.)

I've only talked about Bucky's character and where they lived so far, and I already have a lot of proof. Just wait, I have a LOT more.

Punk

In the beginning of the movie, Steve and Bucky go on a date with 2 women. I'm not even going to go into detail about the fact that Bucky always insisted on going on a "double date" with Steve, or that he never understood why no one wanted to date Steve, or that Bucky spent more time focusing on Steve during the date than his actual date. Anyways, Steve sneaks off to try and enlist in the army again and Bucky finds him. They have a whole conversation where Bucky is very protective of Steve and very insistent that he doesn't join the army. Fast forward, and Steve and Bucky are saying bye to each other. Bucky says "Don't do anything stupid 'til I get back." Steve replies, "How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you." They hug each other, and Bucky calls Steve a punk.

You would think it's normal to call someone a punk, because the way we use it now is WAY different to how it was used in the 1940's.

The word "punk" can be traced back to Shakespeare, and during that time it meant a female prostitute. So it's really no surprise what the word was used for after that.

"Punk" meant "twink." Bucky called Steve a twink. I mean, Steve was the younger and smaller one of the both of them, so I guess it adds up.

The Bar Scene

This scene. This whole scene right here. This would be enough proof to prove my point. This scene in Captain America: The First Avenger that starts at 1:14:00 is the most queer coded scene in any of the MCU movies for multiple reasons. Let me dive deeper.

First, let's talk about the dialogue. Steve asks Bucky if he's "Willing to follow Captain America into the jaws of death." Bucky says, "Hell no. But that little guy from Brooklyn who was too dumb not to run away from a fight, I'm following him." I don't know about you, but that sounds romantic. If you watch the look on Bucky's face as he's saying it, I can't even describe it. Then Steve looks at him intensely.

Next gay line. They're talking about Steve's tight skinned Captain America costume. Bucky says, "But you're keeping the outfit, right?" He made the first America's ass joke. Why would Bucky say that? Gay jokes were not a thing back in the 40's. You could be killed for saying that if the wrong person overheard you. So it wasn't just a joke. In the original script for the movie, Steve replies with "Don't get your hopes up." Um??? Why would Bucky get his hopes up??? Again, gay jokes were NOT a thing then. And he wasn't drunk, because at this point Bucky had gotten the serum, and people with the super serum can't get drunk.

Just wait, this scene gets GAYER.

So, music is really important in movies. It sets the tone for certain scenes, and lyrics most times have purpose to what is going on in the story. Marvel is no exception. So, with that being said, the song playing in the background of this scene is called "Tavern in the Town." It was written in the 1880's. You want to know what it's about?

It was written about a man who was flirting with another woman. Yes, the song was originally sang by a woman who was talking about her boyfriend (as in the boyfriend was the one flirting with another woman), but in many of the versions afterwards, including the one played in the movie, it's sang by a man. The singers and the MCU writers could've changed gender pronouns, but they didn't. Making the song in this context gay.

Why would Marvel use that specific song if they weren't trying to tell us something? They could've used any song in the world for this scene, so why did they choose that one? One that describes the situation perfectly? Peggy Carter, Steve's canon love interest, is a dark haired woman. And wait. It STILL gets gayer.

The song lyrics match up with what is going on in the scene. The song starts with "There is a tavern in the town, in the town. There my true love sits him down, sits him down." The song is basically saying that the 2 lovers are sitting down in a tavern, and Bucky and Steve sit down in a bar, which is similar to a tavern. The next lyrics say "And drinks his wine 'mid laughter free. And never, never thinks of me, thinks of me." In this scene, Steve is drinking and he is thinking about his new life, which Bucky is barely a part of. The next lyrics basically talk about how even the best of friends must part but don't grieve me, which symbolizes that they'll be separated soon because Steve thinks Bucky dies. The next part goes "adieu, adieu" (I'll skip a couple lines) and then "I can no longer stay with you, stay with you," as Peggy walks in. I don't think I need to explain what that means. When Bucky and Steve stand up as Peggy approaches them, Bucky's jaw is clenched and his fists are balled. What other reason besides jealousy or hate would make someone react like that?

As Steve and Peggy are talking, the song talks about the lover actually leaving for a woman. It even says that they go out on a Friday, which is when Steve and Peggy said they would go dancing right before Steve crashed the plane into the ocean. Look at Bucky's face as they're talking. He's looking at Steve and he looks uncomfortable, unhappy when he realizes how Steve feels about Peggy.

Now, the GAYEST part of the scene. As the music gets louder for this one line and goes, "He left me for a damsel dark, damsel dark," the camera focuses on Bucky's face and he looks at Steve and then looks down. He looks upset. Then he tries to flirt with her, but if you watch his facial expressions and his body language and his voice, he isn't very convincing. It's more likely he's trying to direct the conversation towards himself so she isn't focusing on Steve, like when Peggy says she likes to dance he cuts in and says "So what are we waiting for?" But again, the way he's doesn't sound like he actually is trying to flirt with her because he wants to date her, it's because he doesn't want Peggy and Steve to date so he's desperately trying to end the conversation.

Some people might say that this scene is saying that Bucky is jealous that Steve is getting the girl for once, but that doesn't fit with his personality. It showed in the beginning that he was trying to get girls for Steve. He wanted Steve to be happy. He wouldn't be upset if Steve finally found someone. He just didn't realize it would happen so soon. So the only explanation? Now that Steve actually has a chance with someone, Bucky is jealous because he wants Steve.

After Peggy walks away, after he's frowning after her, Bucky says "I'm invisible." He's trying to play it off like he's invisible to Peggy, but by the way he's looking at Steve with a hurt expression, then looking away, it's really the opposite. He can't even look Steve in the fucking eyes. Then the lyrics repeat "Fare thee well for I must leave thee. Do not let the parting grieve thee. And remember that the best of friends must part, must part." Bucky realizes he's nothing compared to Peggy. Then the song ends. Interesting that they decided to end the song there. The rest of the song basically just talks about being in love with someone who is in love with someone else.

I want to point out real quick that the way he addresses Peggy in this scene is very different to how he addresses other women in the MCU, especially in this movie. Yes he's a flirt (like I said, a cover) but he's also polite and kind towards women. That's not the case with Peggy. It doesn't seem like he likes her, and there is no other reason why he wouldn't like someone as amazing as Peggy unless it was because he was jealous.

So. That's what I call The Bar Scene. This scene is clearly angst. This movie came out in 2011, over 10 years ago now, and there STILL isn't a heterosexual explanation for it. I sometimes have to remind myself that this scene is actually real.

Link to The Bar Scene, watch the words closely and watch Bucky's expressions and the way they look at each other! Captain America: The First Avenger Bar Scene Stucky Easter Egg -- There is a Tavern in the Town

Here's some more detail about that scene if you want it:

Homoerotic Subtext from the Bar Scene in CATFA - vulcansmirk - Captain America (Movies) [Archive of Our Own]

Facial Expressions

Before I get onto the next specific piece of evidence, let me point out the way they look at each other. ESPECIALLY the way Bucky looks at Steve. He looks at him like Steve is his whole world. I'm sorry, I don't look at my friends like that. If you look at the way Sebastian Stan (the actor for Bucky) and Chris Evans (the actor for Steve) look at their love interests in both the MCU and other things they have acted in, it's practically the same look.

Look at the way Bucky looks at Steve when they are sitting at the bar. Or when Steve and Peggy are talking right after Steve gets back from saving all those people from Hydra. In that scene specifically, when Steve is looking at Bucky, Bucky smiles. As soon as Steve looks away, his face falls as he's looking at Steve and Peggy talking. That's TWO scenes where Bucky looks jealous that Steve is talking to Peggy.

Almost every time, if not every time that Bucky smiles in any of the movies (not including the show) he smiles for and at Steve.

There are many more examples of the way they look at each other, and I could go on about it all day. Instead, let me get to my next topic.

The Apartment Scene

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we have another scene that is queer coded through the music. The scene where Steve is in his apartment and Nick Fury gets shot by the Winter Soldier (aka mind controlled Bucky.) The song playing in the background as Steve walks into the apartment is "It's Been a Long, Long Time." Yes, I know we all have feelings about this song. This was the song used for Steve and Peggy (Steggy) at the end of Avengers: Endgame. But it was used for Stucky first, way before it was used for Steggy.

The song "It's Been a Long, Long Time," is a woman singing about seeing her husband after he comes back from war. In the movie, this is the scene where Bucky and Steve interact for the first time since 1945, when they were in the war together, so it really matches up. They could've used any reunion-like song, why did it have to be such an overly romantic one, which literally says "kiss me once then kiss me twice then kiss me once again?" If you continue the song past the point where it cuts off, it goes really well with the scene, and at the end Steve is looking out over the city while he stands on the roof as the music rises. Yeah, that's romantic. So when they made that song a Steggy song, they were telling us that song was always supposed to be used romantically. That's now 2 romantic songs that are used for Steve and Bucky.

'Til the End of the Line

Any MCU fan knows this famous line. In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, there's a flashback to the year 1936, right after Steve and Bucky went to Steve's mom's funeral. Bucky was telling Steve that he could live with him, but Steve was saying he could get by on his own. Then Bucky says, "The thing is, you don't have to. I'm with you to the end of the line, pal."

I don't know about you, but to me that sounds like "til death do us part." Aka, a wedding vow.

In Spanish, if you translate it, it says, "Because I'm with you until the end." That's even gayer!

Later in the movie, Steve says it as a mind controlled Bucky is beating him up, almost killing him, and it was enough to break through Bucky's brainwashing. That's how important that phrase meant to each other.

Which brings me to my next piece of evidence.

Bucky's Brainwash

Bucky constantly got his memory wiped and was mind controlled and conditioned during his 70 years of being used as a weapon for Hydra. No semblance of his past life ever broke through that. His orders to kill people went smoothly and he was a very deadly weapon. That is, until he was ordered to kill Steve. All Bucky had to do was see Steve's face and hear Steve say his name for the brainwash and mind control to start to break.

Even when he was sent to kill Howard and Maria Stark, he didn't show any sign of recognition. Bucky and Howard were friends, and Howard said "Sergeant Barnes?" right before Bucky killed him. There was just nothing there. Bucky just didn't recognize him.

So when Bucky lifted up his gun to fire at Steve after he started to recognize him, there was a look of fear and confusion on his face and in his eyes. Already all of that mind control is breaking.

When Bucky gets back to the Hydra base, he's very upset and he asks who the man on the bridge was. His captors try to lie to him about it, but Bucky just keeps saying "I knew him." So they wiped his memory again and tortured him. It was a heartbreaking scene that always makes me cry.

Not long later, Hydra sent Bucky to go kill Steve again. Steve was trying to convince Bucky that he knew him, and that his name was James Buchanan Barnes and that Steve knew him his whole life. Bucky tried denying it and punched him and shouted "You're my mission!"

That's when Steve said, "Then finish it. 'Cause I'm with you to the end of the line." After that, Bucky's brainwash breaks AGAIN, and that's when Steve falls off the Helicarrier that they're on in the air, and Steve falls into the water. Bucky didn't even have his memories at this point, he just felt that he needed to save Steve, so that's what he did. Bucky pulled Steve out of the water and made sure he was breathing before he left. Honestly, that whole scene felt romantic for me, with the dramatic music and the slow motion and the trust that Steve had for Bucky. It was very beautifully written and every time I watch it I always feel blown away.

Character Roles & Movie Details

All three Captain America movies were about Steve and Bucky's devotion to each other. The movies constantly showed us that Steve would do anything for Bucky and Bucky would do anything for Steve. All 3 of Steve's movies were about him trying to save Bucky.

It feels like fate that these two ended up in the 21st century. Like they got a second chance.

Let me start with Captain America: The First Avenger. In this movie, Steve starts out in the "damsel in distress" role, because Bucky is always protecting and saving him. After Steve gets the serum, the roles switch, and Bucky becomes Steve's damsel in distress.

The first thing that Steve did as Captain America was to save Bucky from Hydra (the FIRST time Bucky was captured by Hydra.) He literally picked up the shield to save Bucky. As soon as he found out where Bucky was, he stormed the base all by himself just because there was a chance that Bucky MIGHT be alive. He had no idea if he was. That reminds me of in movies when the main character saves the love interest, even if it gets them killed, they still do it.

Not just that, but earlier in the movie, before Bucky was captured, Steve said, "I don't want to kill anyone." After Bucky was captured, he said, "I'm not gonna stop until all of Hydra are dead or captured." This is when he talks about saving Bucky. That's called character inconsistency. That usually only happens in a story when a love interest is in danger.

Later, Bucky and Steve refused to leave a burning building without each other. When Steve told Bucky to leave without him, to save himself, Bucky yelled, "No, not without you!" That was hands down the most passionate and crazed Bucky had ever been about something. He had never been more serious about something in his over 10 year span of him being in the MCU. He would rather die than leave without Steve. Every time I watch that scene I can feel how frantic, how sure he is about that statement. It's one of my favorite Bucky lines. Damn, Sebastian Stan is an amazing actor.

Later in the movie, when Bucky seemingly died, that was Steve's motivator to stop Hydra once and for all. Bucky's "death" was what led Steve to being able to take down Hydra.

Let's not forget that Steve could've probably jumped off the plane. In a deleted scene for Avengers: Endgame, Rhodey asked why Steve had to crash the plane. Steve tells him there were bombs on board. Rhodey then asked him why he didn't jump off, and Steve didn't reply. Steve could have jumped off, but Bucky had "died" 3 days before, and Steve didn't want to live a life without him.

So basically, in The First Avenger, Steve "became" Captain America and picked up the shield for Bucky, and Bucky's death was what motivated him to take down Hydra. That usually is the role of the love interest.

Now, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. That one was basically an act of true love's kiss.

First off, foreshadowing is added a lot in stories. Marvel is no exception, there's many instances of foreshadowing in the MCU. Including a scene between Natasha and Steve not long before Steve meets up with Bucky. The two of them are talking about dating and the like, and Natasha says, "Nobody special then?" And Steve responds with "Believe it or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience." Umm? I wonder? It's not like there's anybody who was born in the early 20th century who fought in World War II and who didn't age for decades only to wake up in the 21st century. Besides James Buchanan Barnes, of course. The fact that they used the foreshadowing in a romantic context was so unnecessary, they could have foreshadowed Bucky's appearance in so many other ways. There's no other explanation for this line besides it foreshadowing Bucky.

When Steve realized that The Winter Soldier was Bucky, he dropped his shield and refused to fight him. A well trained assassin who could kill him in a heartbeat. Then there was the whole Bucky remembering him, but I already discussed it.

Steve was in so much shock that he let himself get arrested. He then blamed himself for what happened to Bucky even though there was nothing he could've done. He said, "Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky."

Then back to the fight on the helicarrier. Steve risks his life for Bucky just like he did in The First Avenger. Steve drops his shield in this scene because he doesn't want to hurt him, which contrasts picking up the shield for Bucky in The First Avenger. He tells Bucky TO KILL HIM. Then Bucky says "You're my mission." Then Steve says "Then finish it. Cause I'm with you to the end of the line." He gave Bucky permission to kill him, he knew there was a chance that he couldn't break through Bucky's brainwashing, but he still took that chance. He loved him so much that he gave him permission to kill him. He'd rather die by his hand than live without him.

Then Steve breaks Bucky's brainwashing, which is like the act of true love. It's actually been confirmed that the only reason the brainwashing broke was because of his memories of Steve.

The closing scene of the movie is Steve looking at Bucky's file, which mirrors Peggy looking at Steve's file at the end of The First Avenger. Which, again. Peggy is Steve's canon love interest. They parallel a canon love interest with a "friendship."

Then, there's 2 years between Winter Soldier and Civil War. In those 2 years, Steve had been actively trying to find Bucky. 2 YEARS. During that time, Bucky was trying to lay low in places like Romania (which is a nod to Sebastian Stan who lived in Romania until he was 8) and trying to remember things.

Next, I'll talk about Captain America: Civil War. Oh, boy. That whole movie was incredibly gay. Even Sebastian Stan, who plays Bucky, admits as much. He said, "Look, maybe it was a little bit Brokeback Mountain at times, I mean I'll admit, it was a little I won't quit you."

Like. You know something is gay if one of the main cast members even admits as much.

There's quite a bit to this movie, but I'm only going to talk about the things pertaining to Steve and Bucky.

In the movie, Bucky is accused of bombing a building that was resposnible for killing and injuring many people. The whole world is looking for Bucky and trying to kill him. The only person that believes he didn't do it and tries to help him is Steve, and Steve gets some of his friends to help.

At one point, a character who previously appeared in Captain America: The Winter Soldier showed up in Civil War. His name was Rumlow. When he went up against Steve, he started talking about Bucky. (Rumlow was a part of Hydra therefore he worked with The Winter Soldier.) He said "You know, he knew you. Your pal, your buddy, your Bucky." He says "your Bucky" which is used possessively, like Bucky is Steve's. Yeah, that sounds romantic. You don't use that for platonic relationships. The mention of Bucky distracted Steve from his mission so much that it allowed Rumlow to detonate a bomb which killed people. Later, Steve was talking to Wanda and said, "Rumlow said 'Bucky,' and all of a sudden I was a 16 year old kid again in Brooklyn."

The "your pal, your buddy" was probably added in there so it wouldn't just be "your Bucky" which sounds ever gayer.

One of Bucky's trigger words to become the Winter Soldier is seventeen, and all the words are strongly theorized to have meaning in Bucky's life. Bucky is a year older than Steve, so what the hell happened when they were 16 and 17? (This one is mostly a joke and probably just a coincidence, though.)

Another thing. When Steve goes to Bucky's apartment in Romania to rescue him from people who are trying to kill him, we see that he has a notebook. In that notebook there's a big picture of Steve. Bucky had been using that journal to remember Steve again. He's relying on his memory and trying to get his memories back by focusing on Steve. And like....c'mon. You have a huge picture (that's not just a picture but a drawing) of "your best friend" on the first page of your journal? That's kinda gay, my dude.

Steve goes against 117 countries for Bucky. He fought the entire government for Bucky. He becomes an international fugitive for him. He gets arrested for him. He risks his life for Bucky AGAIN in this movie and some of his friends' lives. His friends actually end up in a high security prison because of it. He risks a friend's career for him. When Bucky gets mind controlled again, Steve risks his life AGAIN. He stops a helicopter for him. In this movie, Steve literally gives up absolutely everything for Bucky. He gives up the shield AGAIN for him, proving that Bucky is worth more than being Captain America. This whole movie was about Steve trying to protect Bucky and showing the lengths that he would go for him.

So yeah. The lesson is everything goes to shit when Bucky is taken from Steve in any of the movies.

Not to mention the scene where Bucky loses his metal arm and is bleeding and broken on the ground and can't do anything but still tries the best he can to get Tony away from hurting Steve, anything to help Steve even though Bucky can barely move.

In the scenes they fight together, they're immediately in sync, even though they hadn't fought side by side since 1945, that's how comfortable they are with each other. Like the scene where Steve instantly covers Bucky with his shield, no hesitation. Only Steve's head is covered, and Bucky has his arm on Steve's back. That's just one example!

Let's talk Sharon Carter: she was Steve's love interest in Civil War. I use the term love interest loosely. They got less than 10 minutes of screen time together in this movie and less than 10 minutes of screen time in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. They kissed once. Their "relationship" was very underdeveloped, and was probably just thrown in there so that it wouldn't seem like Bucky was the love interest. Steve x Sharon is probably one of the worst romantic relationships in the entire MCU, whether you ship Stucky or not. Both scenes they are in together gets interrupted by Bucky. (There are even scenes where he interrupts Steve and Peggy moments, and even scenes where Peggy interrupts Steve and Bucky moments! That all seems romantic to me.) Also, the less Peggy that's in each Captain America movie the more Bucky there is. Just something worth pointing out.

Another thing is that there is a scene with Sharon and Steve talking in front of an elevator (one of the ones that was interrupted by Bucky) and it was honestly kind of weird and there was no passion. This contrasts a scene later in the film where Steve and Bucky are actually in an elevator, and they're looking at each other and that scene seems pretty passionate. No words and no interruptions. Not really that groundbreaking of a piece of evidence, but I thought it was interesting.

So yeah, she exists to throw off everything that's going on with Steve and Bucky. Just by the scenes she and Steve share, things feel awkward and whatever was going on between them wasn't written to be a long term relationship for him, not like with Peggy. And simply, their little fling doesn't work because of Bucky.

Another little music fact: one of the songs they credited in Civil War was a song called "Bonnie & Clyde." Bonnie and Clyde were 2 lovers who were on the run from the law...hmmm....what were Steve and Bucky doing that whole movie? I mean, there were no other 2 characters who were romantically involved that were on the run together.

Here's the scene I mentioned above where Steve and Bucky are in an elevator together and they're facing each other and staring at each other. I could really feel the tension between them in that scene. If they were "like brothers" wouldn't they stand more like how Loki and Thor stand next to each other in an elevator? I don't know, I just wanted to add that.

If you think about Peggy's character and the role she has in Steve's life, it's way less than Bucky. When Bucky "died," Steve tried to get drunk and he was crying for hours and he was ready to kill anyone, then he went into the ice 3 days later so he didn't even have a proper amount of time to accept he was gone and start the mourning process, so who knows how it would've been. When Peggy died, he went to her funeral and cried a little and stuff and was sad, but he kissed her niece less than a week later. If she was his true love then she would be more important to his story. I'm sorry, did Steve infiltrate a Hydra base with nothing but props for Peggy? Did Steve give Peggy permission to kill him? No, he did not. That was Bucky.

Bucky truly is Steve's only weakness. Not even Peggy is his weakness, it's always been Bucky. He would go to the ends of the Earth to save him from harm. Bucky was the most important person in Steve's life. His priorities always changed to him, even giving up his new family with the Avengers to keep him safe. He put Bucky ahead of everything else even when it wasn't the right thing to do. He was always blindsighted by Bucky. This is another character inconsistency because Captain America always stood for what is right, except when it came to Bucky. Being Captain America was really important to Steve, but he went against everything Captain America stood for - multiple times - for Bucky.

Bucky always insisted on being called "Bucky" because Steve called him Bucky. I thought that was cute.

If you try to argue that "they were like brothers," I'm sorry, you're wrong. Loki and Thor are brothers. Peter and Ned are like brothers. Even Sam and Bucky are like brothers. I don't know any brothers or best friends with such a deep emotional bond that one sentence would be able to break through 70 years of torture and brainwash and mind control.

All in all, they were written as romantic parallels to each other. All 3 movies were about their devotion to each other. Their stories can't even exist without each other. Their motivations depend on each other and they are each other's purposes.

Behind the Scenes

A lot of people who worked on these movies literally called Steve and Bucky a love story.

Joe Russo, one of the directors, called it a love story. Then he later clarified that it was between brothers, but why would you call a story about brothers a love story? You would call that a family story. Joe also said that "Steve and Bucky's arc follows the same arc that a love story would follow."

Markus and McFeely said they were soulmates. Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely wrote all 3 Captain America scripts.

Chris Evans said, "It's a love story. You can take it however you wanna take it, but the fact is, it's a love story." This was after he walked himself in circles trying to tell people it wasn't romantic.

Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Nick Fury, said, "He's the first LBGT Captain America," after an interviewer asked Chris Evans, "Why do you feel like Captain America is the perfect hero for our times?"

Kevin Feige, who is in charge of the MCU, wore an ACTUAL Stucky sweatshirt.

Then we have Mark Millar. He's an important person. He wrote the Civil War comics that Civil War the movie was based on. He's literally a Stucky shipper. A Stucky shipper who wrote comics that the MCU used in their movies.

One thing he tweeted was "In a movie with Spider-Man & Ant-Man, Cap's few seconds kissing a girl was STILL the least-convincing moment in Civil War :) #TeamStucky."

In another tweet, he said, "#NationalBoyfriendDay" with a picture of Steve and Bucky.

A fan got to meet Sebastian Stan a few years ago and she had him sign a picture with Cap and Bucky on it. He signed "#PowerCouple" and he told her, "At least I'm on top." (In the picture Bucky is above Steve.) Even Bucky's actor supports the ship! (Plus there's the whole BrokeBack Mountain thing he said.)

In an interview a few years ago, the interviewer asked "Do you think Falcon is a contender as Cap's greatest love?"

Anthony Mackie, who plays Sam Wilson aka The Falcon who is one of Steve's good friends, said, "No, I'll be a contender for getting rid of Bucky."

A different interviewer said, "But you already have a romantic B story with Cap and Bucky, right?" (Cue in the screams and cheers.)

"We sure do." Said one of the Russo brothers. And the other said "We still do, we still do."

The interviewer went on to ask, "Did you ever have to dial down the sexual tension on set?"

One Russo said "Why should we?"

LIKE WHAT THE FUCK, MAN.

Chris Evans said at a Comic Con one year that Bucky is Steve's home, then realized what he said and backtracked.

A whole crowd chanted "Bucky" when Chris Evans was talking about his love interest Peggy, including 3 other MCU actors. (Chris Hemsworth who plays Thor, Jeremy Renner who plays Hawkeye, and Paul Rudd who plays Ant-Man.) Are Thor, Clint, and Scott Stucky shippers confirmed? 🤨

If you go online, TONS of articles talk about the relationship between Steve and Bucky. There are articles talking about why Bucky would've been better as Steve's love interest, articles about how close they are. Then there's stuff like this. "While Peggy was his actual love interest, Steve's love for Bucky was such that they can be considered each other's true loves." Famous sites like "TIME" and "BBC Three" even talked about Stucky!

In 2016, Marvel UK & Ireland said "The Winter Soldier....#baein3words" with a picture of Steve and Bucky.

In 2016, the hashtag "givecaptainamericaaboyfriend" was trending WORLDWIDE. The most popular choice for Steve was Bucky. Stucky is the most popular MCU ship in the fandom. They were in the top 5 ao3 ships for multiple years with over 50,000 fanfictions and are on the top 5 popular ao3 fanfictions of all time starting in 2017 and still holding in 2021! That's a lot of shippers!

Even though some of these interviews were jokes, they were jokes made from realizing that there is a deep bond between Steve and Bucky. Even if they are joking about romance it's still showing that they might see a little bit of what I see, or else they wouldn't be joking about it. And if there are actual articles by popular sites like ScreenRant about them, that means there's definitely something going on there.

The other ones who were serious, why did they keep backtracking? They were basically the people who were like "Oh yeah, they're soulmates, but no homo lmao." Or like historians who found out that they lived together in a one bedroom house and said they were "the best of friends."

I think the reason they had to be careful when they were talking about Steve and Bucky is because they didn't want to get in trouble with the higher ups.

What If....?

In the Marvel show "What If....?" Episode 1, "Agent Carter," there is surprisingly a lot of Stucky content. But not in the way that you think. It actually has to do with the parallels between Steve and Peggy moments in the show and Steve and Bucky moments in the MCU. Let me break it down.

So if you haven't watched What If, it's basically what the title says, what if something different happened in the MCU. Episode 1 is if Peggy got the super serum instead of Steve.

First parallel, Steve says "Let's hear it for Captain Carter!" When he's cheering on Peggy for saving a whole bunch of people. Just like when Bucky says "Let's hear it for Captain America!" In The First Avenger when he was cheering on Steve when HE saved a bunch of people.

Or when Steve literally fell off a train, JUST like Bucky did. The same train.

Then, Peggy's motivation to end Hydra was because she thought Steve was dead, just like when Steve thought Bucky died, he was motivated to stop Hydra. It was in the same room and everything.

And the fact that there was even a bar scene for Steve and Peggy in What If.

Let's not forget the fact that there was a scene when Peggy and Steve were talking, and Steve said to Peggy "In a way, the outside finally matches the inside." That's literally a direct quote from a popular Stucky fanfiction.

Basically, what these scenes were telling us was that they were romantic, because Steve and Peggy were romantically involved in the movies and in the show. So by telling us the scenes were romantic in the show, they were telling us they were always supposed to be romantic.

Like, why would you parallel 2 characters who were actually romantically involved with 2 people who are "just friends?" It doesn't make sense.

Miscellaneous

Before I go, let me point out a couple things that couldn't quite fit in any of the other categories. For one, in Avengers: Infinity War, the first scene we see with Bucky, his hair is all greasy and he looks dirty from being out on the farm. Shuri tells him that Steve will be coming soon, and the next time we see Bucky, he's all clean and his hair is very clean and fluffy and pretty and he looks so happy to see Steve even though it was confirmed that Steve visited him multiple times when Bucky was in Wakanda.

In Avengers: Endgame, Steve has to fight a past version of himself. They're having a pretty intense fight and matching each other in strength (which makes sense, they're the same person) and at one point 2012 Steve had current Steve (2023) in a chokehold. Do you know how he gets away? Current Steve says "Bucky is alive." And 2012 Steve loosened his grip on 2023 Steve long enough for him to get away. Out of everything he could have told him, he said that, because he thought that would be the most likely way to get him to stop. Again, Bucky is his main weakness, if not his only weakness.

When Bucky turned to dust, his last words were "Steve...?" Even when he was dying, his first instinct was to address him, in his final moments, Bucky looked at Steve for comfort and because he was all that mattered. I imagine his final thoughts were confusion about what was happening and to show Steve, but ultimately, as he was fading away, he probably thought "It's okay. Steve is okay and that's all that matters." Jeez, that's making me emotional just writing that! Then Steve goes over and touches his ashes as he looks at what Bucky had been reduced to in shock and horror, defeat and confusion.

So this one doesn't have anything to do with Stucky, but this is some proof that Bucky is queer. In the show he recently was in, "The Falcon and The Winter Soldier," there was a scene where Bucky went on an unsuccessful date with a woman who worked at the place he went to eat sometimes. When they're on the date, they're talking about online dating. Before I tell you what Bucky said, let me explain something. On dating apps, it's quite popular to have a man pose with a tiger for his profile picture. It's a guy thing specifically, though. Bucky says he's seen some weird pictures on dating apps, saying, "I mean, tiger photos? Half the time, I don't even know what I'm looking at. It's a lot." This is weird because dating apps show gender preferences.

The director of the show tried to give some half- assed excuse for it by saying that Bucky just thought it was weird and reminding us that he's 106 and finds modern technology confusing. But that still doesn't explain why he was seeing tiger photos in the first place? It just doesn't add up. There's no explanation.

Just like how Wanda was the only one able to destroy the mind stone out of Vision's head (she had to kill the love of her life for the good of the universe, it was sad), Steve and Bucky are equals and only Steve can get through to Bucky.

I'm just going to put this one out there. If one of them was a girl (especially Bucky) it would've been canon by now. Quick tip: if you ever need to figure out whether something is queer coded or queer baited, just imagine it as a straight relationship. Now think of Bucky and Steve being in a straight relationship. It would probably be considered the greatest love story of the MCU. Even if it wasn't made canon, there would be so many more people shipping it. They would take one look at the way they look at each other and say "Omgs they're so cute together!" I'm just giving you the facts here. So here's all the evidence laid out for everyone to see. We're not making this up.

If you're thinking "Steve loved Peggy, he went to the past and had a happy ending with her!" then let me just tell you that Steve's ending in Endgame was wrong and extremely out of character, it doesn't matter if you're a Stucky shipper or not. Steve's entire arc in the MCU was saving Bucky no matter the cost, he showed time and time again that Bucky was the most important person in his life, and he just recently got Bucky back for good, he would never leave him. At that point, Bucky was very broken and he needed help healing. Steve was the only person in Bucky's life, he wouldn't just abandon him for a woman he kissed once. It doesn't make sense for his character. Steve would do anything for Bucky, he never abandoned him throughout everything that happened, he never left Bucky's side.

A constant theme throughout the MCU movies for Steve was moving on. His character development was to move on from the past. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Steve said that he was home. (This was after he found out Bucky was alive, by the way. Just pointing that out.) In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, old Peggy told him that "The world has changed and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best and sometimes the best we can do is to start over." That was the main point his movies were making after he woke up from the ice. That was his development. Endgame ruined that.

Not only did it affect poor Bucky's life, but Peggy's, too. She got married. She had children and grandchildren and she said that she had a happy full life. She moved on from Steve. By going to the past, he erased all of that for her. Erased how her life was supposed to be. He also made Peggy's entire show "Agent Carter" not on the official timeline anymore.

I understand that they needed an ending for Steve because Chris Evans' contract was up, but they could've done that in a way where it wasn't completely out of character and ruined people's character arcs. They could have killed him off in battle (that would've made me very upset, but it still makes more sense.) He could have retired from fighting so he could help Bucky heal (they could regularly mention Steve but not show him while having Bucky still be in the MCU.) So if you use that as an argument against Stucky, I find it irrelevant because it was extremely out of character and was a lazy way to take a character out. They also severely changed his character in Infinity War and Endgame, he was totally out of character in certain parts and they completely sidelined Steve and Bucky's relationship because at that point Marvel knew about Stucky.

And before you go and say Steve and Peggy were soulmates, remember that they were only crushing on each other for two years and kissed one time before Steve went into the ice. They never got to date. I've had a crush on the same person for 3 years without dating them and no one would say I'm in love with them. I love Peggy's character a lot, I think she was really badass and amazing, but she wasn't Steve's soulmate. For all we knew, Steve could have gone to the past to be with her and it could've not worked out between them. I do believe that they could've been in love with each other, and I think they're really cute together, but they needed more time to fall in love.

In a universe where magic and superpowers exist, why is Captain America having a boyfriend the least believable? Why can Wanda be in love with a robot yet Steve can't be in love with someone who he has built up a relationship of many movies with?

So do you want to know what I think is the most plausible explanation for why they have all of this chemistry and coding? I think someone who worked on Cap's movies was a Stucky shipper but had to be subtle about it. It could've been one person, it could've been multiple. But I know for sure some of those things were NOT accidents. You don't accidentally create the greatest superhero love story of all time.

Why Avengers: Endgame's Sidelining of the Steve & Bucky Relationship Matters | Den of Geek

Afterword

Well, that's all I have for you! I got the inspiration to write this after reading "The Case for R/S" which was explaining how Wolfstar was queer coded. I thought to myself "I don't think anyone has made one for Stucky!" So I wrote this! I've been shipping Stucky since I was 11 when I first joined the MCU fandom. Back then I thought it was cute. When I was 13 I saved some pieces of fanart of them and still thought "they're pretty cute!" Now, at 15, after I found legitimate proof that they were coded, I went from thinking they were cute to obsessing over it!

Wolfstar Article: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2018/12/10/harry-potter-and-the-secret-gay-love-story/

The Case for R/S: https://web.archive.org/web/20050305162545/http:/www.livejournal.com/users/elwing_alcyone/11152.html

Also, if you ship another ship, I'm not trying to put down your ship. I respect all ships as long as they are legal and appropriate. It's okay if you ship something else. This was made to give more proof to my fellow queers that the iconic Captain America is probably queer like us, and for the people who hate on this ship and try to say it wasn't real and that we're reading too much into it. I'm someone who doesn't read too much into things, and I don't headcanon many fictional characters queer if they aren't confirmed queer. (If you want to know my queer character headcanons, just ask me!) Anyways, like I said, this is made for proof and validation.

If, after reading all of this, you still don't think they were coded, that's okay! While the purpose for this was to convince and inform, it's totally fine if you don't agree with me. Steve is dead now, so we'll never truly know for sure. This is probably all we're going to get. (Unless Bucky admits to being in love with Steve or something, but I doubt that will happen. We can only hope.) I hope you enjoyed the read, anyway!

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