taika destroying mjolnir in the first few scenes of ragnarok was one of the best decisions in the movie simply bc mjolnir measured worthiness and for many people that meant that mjolnir was what made thor special, that if it weren’t for mjolnir hed be a nobody
and i loved that he destroyed it bc it proved that isnt true. thor will always be a hero, with or without mjolnir and even though the hammer proved thor has a heart of gold, he doesn’t need it and is even more powerful without it
The design of Bucky’s muzzle in the film is so aesthetically/symbolically pleasing because of how much it tells you. I mean, there’s posts and posts going around about how expressive The Winter Soldier managed to be while having like 6-7 lines totaly, but it’s also what he doesn’t say and what he can’t say that’s telling.
What seemed so startling to me was that the mask wasn’t cloth or leather or something that is easily taken off, but hard and confining and tight on his face. Bucky isn’t supposed talk. He’s supposed to carry out his orders like good little attack dog that he is.
The mask- or muzzle- keeps him tight on a leash and anonymous. He’s not supposed to say much, because he’s not supposed to be there. He’s the ghost story, he doesn’t have a voice he has a legacy and a trigger finger.
The rest of his face is uncovered (Unless you count the war paint, but you can still see everything there), because none of that’s a threat to the people who own Bucky. They don’t care about his looks and they don’t care about how safehe is, they just don’t want him to have a voice (consent) or to spill their heinous secrets. They want to keep him tight to them and dependent.
I mean, there’s a reason he was okay with taking the goggles off on the bridge, but didn’t even think to touch the mask. Didn’t take it off. It was Steve who took it off.
Which. It was Steve who gave him a voice again. Steve removes Bucky’s mask and we have a face to point to the figure, we have more than just a shadow and a ghost, but a person, something that can show the audience and the world his autonomy. We see his emotions more clearly when his mouth is open in slack-jawed confusion, when his jaw is set and furious in the bank.
The first thing he learns after his mask is removed is his name. Bucky has a name, and the next thing he says is asking about Steve.
Steve removes Bucky’s muzzle- removes some of his shackles and restraints- and we already see a man- albeit a shell of one- rather than the vicious brutal attack dog that Hydra molded and forged from Russian winters and blood.
So I noticed something while watching the First Avenger last night…
In the theater at the beginning of the movie when Steve was yelling at the dude to shut up, there was an empty seat next to him. Another camera angle showed a view of the rest of the theater and it seemed pretty packed.
I’m pretty sure ya’ll know where this is going BUT I’m saying it anyways. That seat was for Bucky. And all of those comments about Bucky looking down every back alley making sure Steve isn’t getting beat by some dude aren’t exactly true. Bucky was probably on his way to the theater and either noticed that there was a fight going on or once he got into the theater, realized that Steve wasn’t there even though he probably was the type to be there on time. Thanks for coming to my TedTalk
do you remember that scene in captain america tfa where they throw a false granade and everybody runs from it but steve jumps right in to it to save everyone’s life? Well what i never noticed was that Peggy fucking Carter also RUNS TOWARDS THE GRANADE and if Steve hadn’t got it there first she would been the one who was ready to sacrifice herself for everyone. PEGGY CARTER NOT JUST A GREAT SOLDIER BUT A GREAT FUCKING HUMAN BEING WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.
Thank the Russo brothers for a) shooting outside in a real setting with practical effects not CGI, for going with a shaky cam that actually added to the sense of immediacy and wasn’t annoying as fuck.
Let me tell u what makes this scene so great. It’s the fact that Steve has a match, an equal. He mows down the goons on the Lemurian Star, escapes SHIELD HQ by fighting 15 people in closed quaters, jumps off a buliding and blows up a plane, then within hours he meets up with Natasha and survives a missle strike. He has no match, no equal in this world. That’s what happens when Batroc challenges him – this scene shows us that men think they can go toe to toe with Steve but they simply can’t.
And then this scene is a rare beast. It’s an action scene that is actually a character building scene. We saw the WS blow up Fury’s car and shoot him, but that could have been any common soldier. Sam could have deployed the mine. Natasha could have taken the shot a Fury. None of them could survive in no holding back fight with Steve.
Within seconds, Bucky has Steve off of him (usually if Steve is close enough to hit you, it’s game over for you), then disarms him and uses his weapon against him. Bucky dictates the speed and the path of the fight, and while Steve tries to attack, most of the time he is dodging. This tells us the audience, several things: a. Steve is in actual danger, b. Steve, judging by his face, is scared (remember what beatings he has taken up unitl now) and therefore c. for the first time in 3 movies, Steven Grant Rogers, Captain America, is not safe. The stakes are real. You are feeling the adrenaline Steve is feeling, even if you are not sure why. That’s what makes this scene a masterpiece.
As much as I agree this is the greatest fight of all time, part of me is still disappointed each time I see “goat fight” on my dash and it’s not accompanied by a gif of two goats having a tiff.
#UGH GOD UR NOT GOOD AT THIS ACTING THING STOP #OKAY BECAUSE STOP ACTING WITH YOUR EYES #YOUR ENTIRE BODY LANGUAGE SHOWS ASSASSIN BUT YOUR EYES SHOW SCARED CHILD HE’S STILL BUCKY IN HIS EYES #SHOVE A KNIFE UP MY ASS #IT’LL HURT LESS (norocket)
It kills me that there are moments when the Winter Soldier is doing stuff that he has the eyes of someone who DESPERATELY wants off the ride. I’m not sure how aware of anything he is internally, but there are moments his eyes look horrified, like something in there is aware and has no clue how to stop what’s happening. They’re too wide. Too startled. Like someone being forced to do something at gun point. He does it several times in this scene, and he does it when he catches the shield after shooting Fury.
This really makes me think of the thing that SebStan said about WS: that he isn’t empty, his mind is all over the place.
It’s one thing I noticed on my rewatch, which was exactly how much he remembered in the chair scene, when he’s like “But I knew him.” He flashed back to the train, being pulled through the snow, the experimentation, the arm. He wasn’t robbed of his memories, he was robbed of their significance. And so, he has nothing to focus on except the mission.
We tend to forget how heartbreaking Captain America’s story is, just by virtue of it being set in World War II–quite apart from his sacrifice. Picture all the young men and women of that time, seeing more of the world than they ever dreamed possible, and more death and misery than they can easily talk about; their lives suspended until the war is won or lost–and until about late 1944 it was not at all certain which way it would go; the fear; the instant, lifelong bond between soldiers; the boredom of waiting. This is why the Howling Commandoes fascinate me independently of Rogers.
“We don’t trade lives”– Captain Steven Grant Rogers
That’s the thing about him. After Civil War, a lot of people argued that Steve’s actions were selfish because he acted simply out of love for his best friend rather than doing what’s right and honestly now? When someone says something like this I wonder if they know Steven Grant Rogers at all because let me tell you, he would do the same for a complete stranger who was in a tough spot and needed his help. I mean, Vision even fought against him in Civil War, and look at him.
I would actually propose that Steve’s decisions are always based on what he believes is right—even if it means standing up against the very people he loves.
I keep seeing people argue that he’s blindingly selfish when it comes to Bucky; people also seem to conveniently forget that henearly died fighting against Bucky during Winter Soldier, because even his love for Bucky couldn’t stand in the way of saving millions of lives and keeping HYDRA from taking over the world.
What’s amazing and admirable about Steve is that he somehow manages to balance his beliefs about what is right with his unconditional loyalty to all of his friends. It’s especially apparent in Civil War:
He didn’t shy away from sharing or even completely owning up to the blame for what happened in Lagos, refusing to let Wanda carry that burden on herself.
After hearing about the UN bombing, his first instinct was to call Natashato ask if she’s okay, because he didn’t take it against her that she took Tony’s side. He respected her decision and just wanted to see if she was okay.
He took Bucky’s side this time instead of fighting him not because he was his best friend—although of course that’s part of the consideration—but because Bucky just revealed that there were five more Winter Soldiers just like him, and Steve’s initial understanding of what Zemo meant by toppling an empire was taking control of these Winter Soldiers to take down a country, and that is what he couldn’t allow to happen. He didn’t even stop to consider what country it was, because his loyalty wasn’t confined to just America; he just knew that he couldn’t let any country fall if he could help it.
He owned up responsibility to what happened to his friends when Secretary Ross incarcerated them, and took the risk of breaking them out, because he could never leave behind his friends, especially not Sam, who had been completely supportive of him despite voicing his own apprehensions; but also Scott, whom he was open to about the risks from the very beginning; Clint, whom he knew had a family to protect; and Wanda.
And most of all, he owned up to the blame on the pain he caused Tony, apologised to him while respecting Tony’s anger at him—even giving back his shield when Tony asked him to, despite his shield being such a integral part of who he is, the way Mjolnir was to Thor—and willingly gave Tony the space and time away that he needed; but also—and this is the most important part—promising Tony that no matter what happened between them, no matter what will happen between them, no matter what Tony feels towards him, he will always be there for Tony. He gave Tony that phone because he wanted to give Tony the choice to contact him, wanted to let Tony have that initiative, and he wouldn’t impose himself on Tony if Tony didn’t want him to. He respected Tony’s choice to cut him off, but—this should be stressed—he made it clear that he wasn’t cutting Tony off from his life.
And on a related matter, it should also be noted that the Steve Rogers of Civil War is also the Steve Rogers who had been betrayed by both SHIELD and HYDRA in Winter Soldier, who found out that the very organization he was working for was in fact using him covertly in their mission to take over the world.
This is why he said:
“[The Sokovia Accords] just shifts the blame. [Organizations] are run by people with agendas, and agendas change. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don’t think we should go? What if there’s somewhere we need to go and they won’t let us?”
It’s simply because he doesn’t want any of his friends to be betrayed by the government the way it happened to him; which is exactly what happened by the end of the movie anyway. The point I’m trying to make is not that he’s right—the politics here is tricky and there’s no one way to do it right—but simply that he didn’t make his point out of selfish reasons and he sure as hell didn’t do it just for Bucky; he did it because he wanted to protect his friends from the agendas of organizations who might end up using them like they did to him.
And most of all, he didn’t want to undermine the safety of anyone or any country just because of the ever-changing politics and agendas of people.
Fast forward to Infinity War, and people are criticizing his choice to save Vision instead of destroying the Mind Stone immediately (and killing Vision in the process). Barring the fact that I find it highly disturbing that people are even suggesting murdering a friend(yes, I consider Vision as someone with life—but that’s a whole other issue that I’m willing to discuss another time), I also want to point out that Vision can also be considered as Tony’s son, in a much truer way than even Peter Parker.
Bruce even said it directly: there is so much of himself and Tony in Vision, making them more like family—especially because there is so much of JARVIS and Ultron in Vision, both of whom are alsoTony’s creations. In choosing to protect Vision, Steve in essence did the best he could to protect not only a friend and comrade, not only the person Wanda loves, but also Tony’s son, when Tony couldn’t be there to protect Vision himself, regardless of whether or not Tony has already forgiven Steve.
Steve did his very best to do the right thing for Vision, for Wanda, for Tony, because he unconditionally loves them all, regardless of how they felt about him.
And that moment in the Avengers compound when Steve was watching Wanda’s face crumple when Vision himself was suggesting that he should sacrifice himself, that moment was incredibly poignant too; because seeing the empathy flicker across Steve’s face, he must have been reminded of his own missed chance of a love and life with Peggy, and he didn’t want Wanda to experience that—precisely because he knew what the heartbreak felt like.
“We don’t trade lives,” Steve declared. And to the very best of his ability, he would always, always mean all of them.
You can trace this all the way back to The First Avenger, too – when Colonel Phillips told him Bucky was most likely dead, Steve still went behind enemy lines BY HIMSELF to rescue the 107th
Because Phillips and the US Army may have been written off the 107th as a lost cause, but Steve would have never been able to live with himself if he didn’t at least try to save as many men as he could, even if Bucky was already gone.
the1timetraveller 