This article contains spoilers for “Thunderbolts*.”
“Thunderbolts*” is an emotional gut punch that does wonders to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, especially since it comes so soon after the lackluster and forgettable “Captain America: Brave New World.” Despite their noticeable differences in quality, the two movies do share at least one throughline: The surprisingly rapid political rise of one Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan). In “Brave New World,” we learned that the former Winter Soldier is trying to leverage his world-saving fame into a career as a congressman. Come “Thunderbolts*,” viewers discover that Bucky’s election bid was actually successful and he finds himself walking in the halls of power — admittedly frustrated and slightly out of his depth, but still.
Advertisement
Before long, Bucky ends up grabbing his trusty “Captain America: The Winter Soldier”-era magnetic grenade launcher and jumping back in action. He joins forces with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and Red Guardian (David Harbour) to stop CIA Director Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) amoral actions … and before long, the uneasy alliance of the Thunderbolts find themselves up against the terrifying Void persona of Bob Reynolds (Lewis Pullman). After a successful and psychologically surprisingly nuanced world-saving mission, the Thunderbolts find themselves guarding the world as the New Avengers — but can Bucky really pull that off while still serving as a congressman?
Advertisement
If you ask “Thunderbolts*” director Jake Schreier, the answer is no. In fact, the director confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that heroic Congressman Bucky Barnes has left politics behind and returned to superhero stuff:
“I think he’s found a new place that makes much more sense for him.”
Sebastian Stan thinks Bucky’s political career was understandable, but he’s better at superheroics
Bucky’s dynamic with the rest of the Thunderbolts — sorry, New Avengers — indeed makes it seem like he’s in a place where he belongs. All the members of the team have their issues. They also have multiple super soldiers (which isn’t an experience too many people in Bucky’s life can relate to), and many in the group have been involved in their share of black ops missions and assassinations, which is something the former Winter Soldier knows about all too well. Sebastian Stan, who was also interviewed by Entertainment Weekly about the subject, feels that Bucky is keen to leave politics behind and focus on what he does best:
Advertisement
“He’s still been trying to find his way of how he can contribute in a way that he hasn’t before. Ultimately, he realizes, ‘No, I am who I am, and I do things how I do them, and I should just do that.'”
While Bucky is no doubt feeling more comfortable as a member of the New Avengers (at least whenever his friend, Anthony Mackie’s Sam “Captain America” Wilson, isn’t getting on his case about accidentally commandeering the Avengers name), this doesn’t mean that his quick political side-step was all in vain. After all, while Stan admitted to been taken aback when he first found out about Bucky’s bid for congress, he ultimately came to appreciate just how purely surprising the career move was:
“I think it was an interesting turn that I didn’t see [coming], and I think probably a lot of people wouldn’t have seen.”
Advertisement
“Thunderbolts*” is now playing in theaters.