Marvel’s Thunderbolts* trailer had me worried about the MCU’s handling of Bucky’s arm

The thunderbolts* Trailer suggests Bucky Barnes’ Vibranium arm will continue to lose its impact in the MCU’s Phase 5. The most important part of Bucky Barnes’ MCU journey is definitely his near-death experience in Captain America: The First Avenger and his transformation into the legendary Winter Soldier before he returned in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Representing Bucky’s brainwashing is his metal arm, which made him a powerful villain-turned-hero but also serves as a constant reminder of his many decades’ worth of brainwashing under Hydra.

Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes returns The Falcon and the Winter Soldiers finale to join the titular team in thunderbolts*. Like the first one thunderbolts* Trailer suggests, Bucky has brought his winter soldier persona back to some degree, leaving his hair longer and using his sticky bomb to blow up moving vehicles. However, while Bucky’s current arm is much more powerful than his original Winter Soldier arm due to its vibranium nature, it seems to be the source of comedic relief once again.

I’m worried that Thunderbolts* is making Bucky’s arm a joke in the MCU (again)

Bucky Barnes’ metal arm has been the butt of jokes for a while now

The threat of Bucky Barnes’ arm began to diminish further Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The first instance of Bucky’s metal arm being used as comedic relief came in Captain America: Civil WarWhere Spider-Man stops Bucky’s punch effortlessly and tells Bucky “You have a metal arm? That’s awesome, dude.”. Avengers: Infinity War Bucky is later seen meeting Rocket Raccoon, who offers to buy Bucky’s arm in the middle of battle. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special calls back to This scene when Nebula gifts Rocket Raccoon with Bucky’s Vibranium arm.

The first thunderbolts* Trailer presents Bucky in Valentina Allegra de Fontaine’s refurbished Avengers Tower and then shows him retrieving his metal arm from a dishwasher. Although thunderbolts* Seeming to bring Bucky back to his deadly Winter Soldier days, his arm continues to be shown in a comedic light. Whether as a coveted prize for Rocket Raccoon, as a useless weapon against the Dora Milaje in The Falcon and the Winter SoldierOr as a regular object Bucky washes and stores in his dishwasher, Bucky Barnes’ metal arm is far from the deadly weapon it used to be in Phase 2.

Why Marvel needs to stop with the jokes about Bucky’s arm

Bucky Barnes’ prosthetic arm is more than a simple fictional weapon

Bucky Barnes’ arm may yet be an MCU weapon as iconic as Captain America’s shield or Thor’s Mjolnir. But aside from wasted action-scene opportunities, The MCU’s recent treatment of Bucky Barnes’ metal arm is insensitive, as Bucky is a disabled veteran who uses a prosthetic. Bucky lost his arm in World War II, and he returned from the brink of death with significant physical and psychological side effects. Bucky learned to get his Winter Soldier programming and mastered the wide range of abilities his prosthetic arm gives him. His vibranium arm should be celebrated, not mocked.

The MCU has featured the characters’ wounds and assistants in comedic moments before. for example, Iron Man 2 including a comically shocking scene where Pepper Potts helped Tony Stark modify his arc reactor, and Hawkeye Including a scene where Clint Barton turns off his hearing aids to ignore Kate Bishop. However, the comedy in these scenes relied on how the characters used their devices and the strange situations they found themselves in, although Bucky’s metal arm was repeatedly depicted as a hindrance and the butt of jokes.

How Thunderbolts could actually redeem the MCU’s handling of Bucky’s arm

Bucky Barnes’ metal arm might be the best weapon of the MCU’s Thunderbolts team

thunderbolts*The plot seems to put a bit of focus on the different ways the main anti-heroes deal with their trauma. For example, John Walker, alias Yu. Instead of bringing Bucky back as a living weapon once again, thunderbolts* Can continue The Falcon and the Winter Soldiers story with Bucky’s therapy work. now, Bucky can weaponize his Winter Soldier training and the deadly abilities of his metal arm, but also welcomes them as part of himself without losing control.

Rather than portray Bucky Barnes’ prosthetic arm merely as a weapon or as comedic relief, thunderbolts* had the opportunity to use it as a representative element of Bucky’s character arc – from a broken man manipulated by forces beyond his control to a hero reclaiming his autonomy and power. Likewise, each member of the MCU’s Thunderbolts may have similar elements. For example, the shield of US