The Four Color Media Monitor

A writer at Bustle wonders if it's possible that, with Chris Evans leaving the role of Captain America in the movies, Golden Age sidekick Bucky Barnes will take his place. But what the fool's written is pretty awkward:

Bucky Barnes was first introduced as Steve Rogers' BFF in Captain America Comics #1 in 1941. The friends would take on bullies together in childhood. And they tried to enlist in the Army, but only Bucky was accepted into the 107th Infantry Regiment, where he was captured and brainwashed by HYDRA, becoming the Winter Soldier. It was during this time, though, that Rogers took on the role of Captain America and rescued Bucky from captivity.

Wow, this isn't very accurate. In the Golden Age beginnings, Bucky discovered his buddy Steve's new secret ID by accident after strolling into Steve's quarters as he was putting on the famous Cap costume, and demanded to become a partner, also with a secret ID. What they speak of involving Hydra and childhood was only more recent, what with all that Winter Soldier mumbo-jumbo in the past decade. It's another demonstration of how modern "journalists" either have no deep knowledge of history, or, they intentionally distort it.

The comics and movies have dealt with this differently, though: As reported by Screen Rant, Bucky's "demise and reanimation by Hydra in the movies and by the Soviets in the comics was a surprising move that flew in the face of Marvel tradition — it had been said that Bucky was one of the only characters in the Marvel universe that would never come back." Bucky was seemingly killed in Avengers #4, according to Screen Rant, but returned in 2005 when Ed Brubaker brought him back as the Winter Soldier (Captain America series Volume 5). This challenged the "Bucky Clause" that was previously joked about by fans and the Wall Street-Journal — the clause stating that no one could stay dead in Marvel Comics except for "Bucky, Jason Todd and Uncle Ben." So when Bucky seemed to disintegrate in Avengers: Infinity War, no one was really convinced we'd seen the last of him in the MCU.

Well it's worth noting that the reason he was resurrected - or his death retconned away - was because Joe Quesada's bunch took it upon themselves to disregard anything that was done respectably in years past. I do firmly believe that it's wrong to hold science fiction to select standards when it comes to resurrections, and it's probably not a good idea to say Ben Parker or even Thomas and Martha Wayne should be either, but I do think the way Marvel and DC have gone about it of recent with deaths and resurrections alike in the mid-2000s was in most extraordinarily poor taste, to say nothing of pointless, cheap sensationalism.

Now the query they're asking is whether Sebastian Stan, the actor playing Bucky in the films, could ascend the Cap role:

In 2019, though, it appears this could finally be coming to fruition. Stan, has a contract for several more films (four, according to Nerdist). Interestingly, though, Disney+ just announced a new live action television show called Falcon and Winter Soldier, with Stan set to reprise his role and Anthony Mackie returning as Falcon, a character who also eventually became Captain America in the comic books as part of 2014's Marvel NOW! relaunch. Stan posted about the show on his own Instagram with the elusive caption "Ok." So with this project coming up, it certainly seems like he'll be remaining in Bucky's current role for a while.

But what if he does ascend to the Cap role with a shield in tow? It'll just serve another example of how these movies aren't really being written to stand on their own, but rather, are based on very recent storylines, some of which are very awful, like the Capt. Marvel material of the past several years. I may have said before, and will again, that it's ludicrous how scriptwriters in recent comicdom are being hired to serve this type of approach, which may have had some early precursors in the 90s, if we take Gambit's speedy introduction to the X-Men cartoon almost 2 years after his comics intro as an example.

Still, after what happened recently with Capt. Marvel and having seen people comment here and there they're losing interest in the Marvel film franchise, with some wanting to let go after Avengers: Endgame, this is decidedly not something to get particularly concerned about. "Superhero fatigue" was bound to set in sooner or later, and we'll see following Endgame if there's a chance it's starting to affect the Marvel movies.

Labels: Avengers, Captain America, golden calf of death, marvel comics, msm propaganda, politics