Vision has no hair anywhere on his body–no armpit hair, no eyebrows, no eyelashes. No fingernails. His skin tastes like metal. Sometimes, he forgets to breathe for minutes or hours at a time.
Captain Marvel smells like burning. When you touch her, your hand comes away cold because she’s absorbed your body heat. If she gets cut, she bleeds light. She can tell you what the inside of an explosion feels like.
Bruce Banner vomits after de-hulking. His skin is always red and peeling. He looks sick, like he has a fever, and he ingests more medication than actual food. There are blisters on his lips.
Tony Stark has a huge, sunken scar on his sternum where the arc reactor was removed and his chest aches each time he takes a breath. He has callouses in odd places–so does the whole team, really–and there is a permanent bald spot on the back of his head where it has been cut open every time he gets thrown around in his suit.
Spider-Man sometimes forgets which way is up–if you put him in a room with identical walls, floor, and ceiling, he couldn’t tell you which is which. His hands and feet are prickly to the touch, even through his costume. He is very nearsighted.
The Scarlet Witch has no sense of boundaries; if you can’t tell she’s spying on your thoughts, why should she stop? She doesn’t do it out of any malicious intent, just out of curiosity and convenience. She never loses arguments.
Thor speaks about events that happened thousands of years ago as if they were last week. Cats arch their backs and stare at him. Something about him–his eyes, or his skin, or the way he moves–seems slightly off, like he doesn’t belong on Earth at all.
stuff like that.
Bucky struggles with aphasia and has speech pathology issues from the head injury that caused his amnesia (because let’s be honest, retrograde amnesia -without- traumatic brain injury is just a cop-out.) It’s not like he ever really had to talk while he was the winter soldier, anyway, so nobody really noticed or cared.
Erik Lensherr is consistently iron-deficient and has to take supplements because some of it gets caught in the crossfire when he uses his powers, so he bruises really easily. He’s almost constantly disoriented balance-wise, and sometimes he wakes up with many, many small coins stuck to him.
Charles HATES hospitals. He can’t deal with the sheer amount of people pleading with god for the pain to go away. Sometimes, without realizing, he answers questions people haven’t asked yet. Sometimes, he flinches a bit for no apparent reason, when people think just a little too loudly.
Tag: meta
Why Jewish!Bucky makes me uncomfortable
Since I mentioned this the other day, I thought I’d dig into it.
* Bucky is in every way – appearance, acts, name, neighborhood – coded as Irish Catholic. I don’t feel like I’m indistinguishable from an Irish Catholic. I mean, I know, these days we’re all “white” but … no.
* Most Jewish!Bucky fics involve, like, a degree of Jewish religious practice that seems totally at odds with the “completely and utterly passing” thing. Passing isn’t effortless. It takes work. A lot of work. And a lot of that work is about ignoring your religious practices. So I don’t believe that Bucky would be going to synagogue or keeping kosher or any of that.
* For that matter, his name is James Buchanan Barnes. That is emphatically not a Jewish name, and I don’t believe a mother names her kid that unless she is intending to pass and pass hard. As in “literally never tell him about her ethnic or religious background” sort of pass hard.
* If Bucky does have any sort of Jewish consciousness, which Jewish!Bucky posits, I don’t believe for a second that he would never mention that in the context of the Nazis. That’s just… bizarre. Jewish American soldiers in WWII knew exactly what they were fighting for and what the stakes of their engagement were.
* The Soviets? Not fond of Jews. Bucky already has a silly character arc that confuses Communism and Fascism, but man. There is _no way in hell_ that the Soviets would use a Jew as their super-power experiment.
* I want to briefly go back to personal appearance. Yes, Jews come in all shapes and sizes but there is a very distinct way that Jewish men look and, to my eternal regret, it is not “ethereally haunted straight-haired pretty boy.” This bugs the hell out of me, not the least of which because common Jewish features are considered unattractive.
* Ultimately, it feels “tacked on.” If Bucky were a Jewish character, he’d have a different story arc, a different life experience, different personality, different appearance, different behavior, and be treated differently by his peers. Trying to shoehorn it in ex-post-facto just feels awkward and unnecessary.
Obligatory notes: I’m Jewish, but I’m descended from Holocaust refugees, so to a degree the “living in the US pre-war” story is not my family story. I certainly know about it, but from cultural context rather than personal family. Obviously, I don’t speak for all jews, or really any jews but me. Tons of Jewish fans love Jewish!Bucky and more power to them. I don’t mind if this is something you want to do, or if it feels right to you, totally fine. You don’t have to tag anything. I just wanted to air my grievances.
P.S. If I had to pick characters for “probably crypto-Jew” in Captain America it’d be Peggy Carter and the Starks.
Replying to this requires me to sort of gesture at something I’ve been meaning to write for a long time about canonicity more generally and the differences between “yeah, this is almost certainly not going to turn out to be canon” and “this is explicitly uncanonical,” but this is not that post.
I’m a Jew. I write middle-class Jewish Bucky. I’m almost certain that if Bucky’s ethno-religious background and social class are mentioned in Cap 3, he’ll be either poor Irish Catholic or less poor Anglo-Scottish WASP (ninnieamee writes him this way), and I don’t care. Because the thing is – we really see very, very little of Bucky in the movies. There’s lots and lots room to make stuff up as long as it’s not directly contradicted by canon.
Honestly, Steve being Catholic isn’t canon either. bomberqueen17 has done some really neat stuff with Irish Protestant Steve! (It’s a really long series, but totally worth it; possibly my fave Natasha in fic.)
But I don’t think Bucky is necessarily passing. In re: names, I have an ancestor named George Washington Guilford (or possibly Gilford? I can’t remember how it was spelled), which sounds really damn WASPy but…nope, Jew. (I’ve talked about this before.) Now, obviously somebody who Anglicizes Goldfarb into G(u)ilford and gives their kids the names of presidents is trying to emphasize American-ness and not be so clearly marked as a Jew to the non-Jewish world, but that doesn’t mean passing entirely, it just means that “coming out” is a choice rather than a default the moment someone sees your name.
I model Bucky’s degree of assimilation after my grandfather, who is about ten years younger but grew up in Jersey and Queens, and who was Bar Mitzvah’d and still doesn’t eat pork but who never spoke Yiddish after his grandmother died.
I mean, yeah, I agree, if Bucky were intended to be a canonically Jewish character they probably wouldn’t have cast Sebastian Stan, there would probably be lines about it in the films, etc. But there’s nothing in canon that actively contradicts that characterization, either. I certainly don’t think anyone is wrong for not writing Jewish Bucky, and writing Jewish Bucky requires, as you say, thinking about what that means for characterization and behavior and his feelings about the war and so on. But if you want to do that – if the pre-war Jewish urban experience, where people are assimilating asymmetrically and it’s very class-linked and there’s enough of a Jewish population that nice Irish boy James Cagney grew up speaking fluent Yiddish, if that interests you – Bucky makes a perfectly delightful vehicle to do it.
None of which is to say, of course, that you have to like it, or that people who don’t write Jewish Bucky are wrong (I’ve seen people claim that and wow, no). But that’s why I do.
ETA: I got a copy of Jews of Brooklyn when hansbekhart mentioned it and I highly recommend it.
Not to mention – there could be a lot more at play here if Bucky were only half-Jewish, or wasn’t raised with strong religious practices at home. It’s perfectly possible to have written him as ethnically Jewish and not religiously Jewish.
For my part, the Jewish side of my family came to the US pre-WWII, and oh man, did they assimilate and assimilate hard. They took names that wouldn’t mark them as Jews and Anglicized pretty much everything. They also did not raise their children as explicitly Jewish and more than a few of them converted to Catholicism (this is how we ended up with me, the Irish Jew).
I don’t write my Bucky as explicitly religious anything, but I do like reading Jewish!Bucky fics. It honestly doesn’t bother me that he’s not canonically Jewish. He’s not canonically queer, either, so, I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for both.
A lot of fics with Jewish!Bucky show him as being reasonably religious, but I would like to briefly present a reading of Jewish!Bucky that is NOT religious: born to immigrant parents, probably Russian or Polish, coming from an atheist socialist background that was incredibly common amongst Eastern European Jews of the time. Add Steve Rogers into the mix, and you cannot tell me that they are not the most rabble-rousing, argumentative, sharp-tongued socialists on any side of Brooklyn.
He would keep some of his cultural roots, but he’s not kosher, he didn’t have a bar mitzvah, he hardly steps foot inside a synagogue, his parents scoff at the idea of keeping sabbath. The labor party is their religion. As for joining up, he’s heard the horror stories of what’s happening in Europe, and keeps his religion off his dog tags.
^^^^ that was a large swath of my family, too. The ones who didn’t convert to Catholicism. 😉
inv3rtebrate replied to your post:so your post about steve’s dream was AMAZING…
hashtag defend actual brooklynite steve rogers 2k15
LET ME TELL EVERYONE ABOUT ACTUAL BROOKLYNITES – NAY, ACTUAL NEW YORKERS – STEVE ROGERS AND BUCKY BARNES
• Have you ever met a New Yorker outside of midtown who doesn’t talk with their mouth full? Me neither. Steve Rogers, garbled: “M’jus say’n s’bullshit,” he manages, and swallows. “Our team doesn’t belong in fuckin’ Cali. Listen. You hear that?” “Is it Jim Morita laughing at us from beyond the grave?“ “Hell yeah, it’s Jim Morita laughing at us from beyond the grave.”
• Steve Rogers getting splashed with water by a cab. “WHADDAYA DOIN, HUH? JESUS!”
• Steve Rogers, by turns incredibly polite and incredibly rude on the subway. “Is this guy bothering you? Because if he tries to grope you again, I’m kicking his ass, miss, pardon my French.”
• Food Trucks: The Autobiography of an American Hero
• Those dumb BKLYN ballcaps. Steve owns like minimum ten.
• Wary of visiting Barton in Bed-Stuy. “I think I liked it better when it was crooks,” he says to Buck, eyeing a hipster in confusion. That sweater has like fourteen different kinds of flowers embroidered on it; it looks like something his ma owned, only ironic.
• “How much is eighteen dollars in future money?” Bucky asks him inside the Balcony Lounge in the Met. Steve blanches, staring at the menu. “For a salad? Oh my God, we’re going to the cafeteria.”
• Haggling in the fish market. Listen to me, this is so important. “That fish is a fuckin’ tadpole, and you want how much for it?” Bucky demands. “Hell no, hell no, kid, I’m old enough to be your granddad. It’s fifteen for the bunch there or none.” “Sir, these are set prices.” Turning to Steve, incredulous: “Does nobody goddamn know how to do business anymore? I swear to Christ. Bleedin’ me dry. I’m moving to Hell’s Kitchen.” “Hell’s Kitchen is just as expensive, sir.” “Well, fuck a duck, Steve, you hear that?”
• Following along with a yoga class happening in Central from six feet away, hidden slightly behind a tree
• “Yeah, Carnegie got hit in the Chitauri attack.” “What?” “It’s fine! It’s fine! It’s still there!” Steve refers not to the hall, but the deli. Priorities.
• Searching for apartments. “I’m starting to get the feeling,” Steve says, “That it’s cheaper to live in Manhattan.” He reaches for the listings for the other borough. Bucky grabs his hand. “Do not,” he says, “If you don’t want to have an aneurysm.”
• Stopped by the HONY guy
• Bucky holding a stare-off with the 11 y/o kid on the subway wearing a Yankees jersey. The kid staring-off right back. Little punk.
• “Remember when New York was normal?” Steve asks Bucky, after watching the lady who owns the little domesticated monkey walk down Fifth Avenue, all up in her mink coat &etc. “Pal,” Bucky says, and drops a dollar into the can of a street performer, “New York was never normal.”
But the deli is gone now. How heart-broken would they be?
“That line was an interesting moment. At the time, the choice I was making is that [Bucky] had realized there was no way he was getting out of there, and someone was gonna die, whether it was gonna be him, Steve or Tony. When he says that line, to me, it was a turning point
—
he was, like, ‘Okay, I know what you want me to say, and I’m just gonna say it.’ When someone comes at you over and over again, and they can’t hear you, they can’t see you’re pleading with them, you’re trying to figure out how to get through to them and they just won’t accept it, at some point you just give in, and you go, ‘that’s right, that’s what you want.’ Of course [Bucky] didn’t remember them all.”
—
Sebastian Stan
Wow. I had
honestly taken this statement at face value but if this is true then Bucky
lying about the extent of what he remembers isn’t an isolated incident, it becomes
a pattern, a strategy: Bucky intentionally
and deliberately using his memories, the only thing he truly owns at this
point, as a bargaining chip throughout the entire course of the movie to steer the
events if not in his favor, then at the very least toward what he considers an acceptable
outcome, namely sparing everyone else, and especially Steve, the pain of having
to deal with his shit. We talk a lot about Bucky’s lack of agency, but this right
here? This is him seizing and wielding the only tool at his disposal to exert
some influence on the narrative, despite having been left with almost no options.In
Bucharest, he lies to make Steve go away. He wants Steve to distrust him, to
give up on him, and the only way he can see of accomplishing that is to pretend
that there’s not a “Bucky” anymore. He tries to shut Steve out completely, tries
to not even look (and fails, but he’s only human) as Steve is escorted away from
the glass cage. When he’s alone with the alleged psychologist though, he has no
reason to think Steve’s listening and no reason to lie, so he tells the truth,
a truth that is very important to him, especially in the face of being once
again trapped and examined by people who look at him and see only a weapon: “my
name is Bucky”.Later, as
he wakes up with his arm trapped in the vice, he is hurt and disoriented and so
relieved when he sees Steve, that he can’t hide it. But it doesn’t matter,
because he quickly realizes that there’s no point in pretending anymore: Steve has
just done exactly what Bucky feared from the start: compromised himself for
Bucky in a way that he can’t take back. And Sam too. They made their choice, stupidly,
impossibly: they’re here for him. They need Bucky’s honesty now, or it will be
all for nothing. So Bucky gives it to them. He finally tells Steve that he
knows him, that he remembers him (the fact that it makes him so desperately
happy to be able to recite every trivial little detail, every hard won scrap of
memory that is a testament to how much Steve means to him, is made all the more
heartbreaking by the fact that he only does it because it’s become necessary). He
tells Steve and Sam about his encounter with Zemo, about the Siberian facility,
about the making and training of the other Winter Soldiers. The three of them
have a common objective now, a mission, and Bucky needs them, wants them, to
trust him.It’s clear that
Bucky put a lot of effort into stitching together all the bits and pieces of
memory he could dredge up. And he did a good job of it. Does he already
know that there are still things he’s missing? Or does he realize that only when he sees the
beginning of that video? Given how committed he is to record and preserve in
writing whatever comes back to him, does that realization make him feel like he’s
failed all over again those people he couldn’t even remember killing?Whatever the
answer, if we believe Sebastian’s words, in that moment up there Bucky is choosing
to lie again. Telling Tony what Tony wants to hear. Giving Tony the excuse Tony
clearly is looking for to just go ahead and murder him. He has reached the
conclusion that someone is going to die in that place, and he says what he
hopes will ensure that that someone will be him.
on fan discourse
*wades cautiously into the wank-infested waters of Fan Discourse, pulls out megaphone*
AS FANFIC IS PRODUCED FOR FREE, IT’S KIND OF SHITTY TO COMPLAIN ABOUT ITS LITERARY QUALITY OR THE FREQUENCY OF UPDATES. THESE ARE COMMERCIAL EXPECTATIONS THAT CAN’T BE FAIRLY APPLIED TO WORKS CREATED AT AND FOR NO COST.
THAT BEING SAID:
AS FANFIC IS PUBLISHED FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION, IT’S KIND OF DISINGENUOUS TO COMPLAIN ABOUT READERS HAVING CRITICAL REACTIONS TO THE CONTENT. CRITICISM IS A LITERARY REACTION THAT CAN’T BE FAIRLY DENIED ON THE BASIS OF WHETHER OR NOT THE WORK COST MONEY.
THAT BEING SAID:
REGARDLESS OF WHETHER A WORK IS COMMERCIAL OR FANNISH, GOING OUT OF YOUR WAY TO SEND HATE OR CRITICISM DIRECTLY TO THE AUTHOR IS A DICK MOVE. YOU CAN DISCUSS THE CONTENT, MERITS AND/OR FAILINGS OF A GIVEN WORK WITHOUT THE NEED TO MAKE THEM AWARE OF YOUR FEELINGS. EVEN WHEN A WORK IS CREATED COMMERCIALLY, CREATORS ARE NOT BEHOLDEN TO THE PREFERENCES OF INDIVIDUAL FANS, NOT LEAST OF ALL BECAUSE THIS IS A PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE STANDARD FOR ANYONE TO MEET. SOME WRITERS ARE HAPPY TO BE MADE AWARE OF CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IN WHATEVER FORM, BUT MANY EXPRESS A PREFERENCE NOT TO SEE ANY, OR PREFER TO DO SO ONLY AT CERTAIN TIMES. IF YOU’RE NOT SURE, ASK FIRST. THIS IS BASIC COURTESY, BOTH PERSONALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY.
THAT BEING SAID:
SOME INTERACTIVE ONLINE SPACES – SUCH AS AO3, GOODREADS AND TUMBLR – ARE FAIRLY USED AND INHABITED BY BOTH CREATORS AND READERS. AS THESE SITES ENCOURAGE READER RESPONSES AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT VIA COMMENTS, REVIEWS AND REBLOGS AS A BASIC FUNCTION, IT’S GROSSLY UNREALISTIC FOR CREATORS POSTING IN THESE SPACES TO EXPECT TO ENCOUNTER ZERO CRITICISM EVER. SOMEONE EXPRESSING ABUSE OR UNWANTED COMMENTARY DIRECTLY TO A CREATOR IS NOT THE SAME AS READER/READER ENGAGEMENT TAKING PLACE WHERE THE CREATOR CAN SEE IT. YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY AS TO WHERE THAT LINE EVENTUALLY BLURS, BUT THE POINT IS THAT IT DOES BLUR AS A MATTER OF COURSE, AND THAT THIS IS A FEATURE RATHER THAN A BUG – ONE THAT WE ALL HAVE TO LEARN TO NAVIGATE.
THAT BEING SAID:
THE FACT THAT SOMEONE HAS WRITTEN SOMETHING THAT YOU FIND QUESTIONABLE, IMMORAL OR OTHERWISE AWFUL DOESN’T MEAN THE CREATOR SHOULD LOSE THE RIGHT TO CREATE MORE THINGS, OR THAT SUCH WORKS OUGHT TO BE ILLEGAL. YOU ARE WITHIN YOUR RIGHTS TO OFFER UP CRITICISM OF THE WORK ITSELF, THE TROPES IT EMPLOYS AND THE CONTEXT OF THEIR USAGE, BUT THE PROBLEM WITH ADVOCATING FOR THE TOTAL BAN OF PARTICULAR TYPES OF CONTENT IS THAT FICTION IS INHERENTLY LIMINAL. GIVEN THAT DEPICTION DOES NOT EQUAL ENDORSEMENT AND THE FACT THAT THE IMPACT OF A NARRATIVE IS ULTIMATELY DETERMINED BY THE INDIVIDUAL READER, IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BAN ALL STORIES WHICH USE “IMMORAL” DEVICES UNCRITICALLY WITHOUT SIMULTANEOUSLY BANNING STORIES WHICH EXAMINE AND ACKNOWLEDGE THEM IN DIFFERENT WAYS, AND THAT’S BEFORE YOU TRY TO GET A ROOMFUL OF PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES, CULTURES AND BACKGROUNDS TO AGREE ON WHAT “IMMORAL” MEANS IN FICTIONAL CONTEXTS IN THE FIRST PLACE, WHICH DEFINITION IS NEVER GOING TO OVERLAP PERFECTLY WITH WHAT “IMMORAL” MEANS TO THE SAME PEOPLE IRL.
THAT BEING SAID:
THE FACT THAT FANFIC IS FREQUENTLY WRITTEN IN THE SPIRIT OF NARRATIVE COUNTERCULTURE DOESN’T STOP IT FROM CONTRIBUTING TO THE SPREAD OF TOXIC TROPES OR STEREOTYPES THAT ARE ALSO PRESENT IN MAINSTREAM CULTURE AND/OR COMMERCIAL MEDIA. DEPICTION IS NOT ENDORSEMENT, BUT IT IS PERPETUATION, AND THE FACT THAT SOMETHING WAS WRITTEN FOR FREE DOES NOT MAGICALLY BALANCE ITS POTENTIAL NEGATIVE IMPACT AT EITHER AN INDIVIDUAL OR COLLECTIVE LEVEL. WRITING FIC IS OFTEN DESCRIBED AS A HOBBY, BUT AS IT IS LARGELY A SHARED ACTIVITY UNDERTAKEN WITHIN A DEDICATED COMMUNITY, IT IS A PUBLIC HOBBY, AND CAN THEREFORE POTENTIALLY IMPACT MORE PEOPLE THAN JUST THE INDIVIDUAL WRITER. KNITTING IS ALSO A HOBBY IN WHICH INDIVIDUALS CAN INVEST A GREAT DEAL OF TIME AND FEELING – AND, INDEED, MONEY – BUT IF SOMEONE IN YOUR KNITTING CIRCLE STARTED BRINGING IN SWEATERS THEY’D MADE EMBLAZONED WITH RACIST SLOGANS, THE IMPACT OF THIS ACT ON OTHER GROUP MEMBERS WOULD NOT BE AMELIORATED BY THE REMINDER THAT ‘IT’S A HOBBY’. IF THIS IS A VIABLE DEFENCE, IT IS A DEFENCE THAT CAN BE USED EQUALLY BY THOSE WHO WANT TO ACT WITHOUT CONSIDERATION FOR OTHERS IN THEIR COMMUNITY AND THOSE WHO WISH TO ENJOY THAT COMMUNITY WITHOUT FEAR OF BEING PERSONALLY DISPARAGED, AND IS THEREFORE LESS A DEFENCE IN EITHER CASE THAN A STATEMENT OF FACT WITH NO ACTUAL BEARING ON HOW TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
IN CONCLUSION:
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GOOD MANNERS, PERSONAL POLITICS AND FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS A COMPLEX ONE. IN THE WHOLE OF HUMAN HISTORY, NOBODY HAS YET SOLVED IT TO THE PERFECT SATISFACTION OF ANYONE OTHER THAN THEMSELVES, AND WHILE THAT DOESN’T MEAN THERE ISN’T A BETTER SOLUTION TO BE HAD IN THE FUTURE, I GUARANTEE THAT NEITHER CREATIVE ISOLATIONISM NOR BLANKET CENSORSHIP WILL GET US THERE, BECAUSE THE ONE THING BOTH THOSE POSITIONS SHARE IS FEAR OF CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT WITH A PERSON WHO DISAGREES WITH YOU, WHICH IS THE ONE THING YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED IN ORDER TO PROGRESS A DISCUSSION PAST WHATEVER STALLED YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE.
*flings megaphone into the distance, dons portable sharkcage, wades irritably back to dry land*
Oh my god, thank you.
No, you move.
I haven’t seen almost anyone discuss this, and I think
it’s because it’s an incredibly disheartening conversation to have, if you care
about Bucky, and if you don’t, well none of it probably even registered for you.
Because the movie very pointedly doesn’t place any kind of relevance on Bucky’s
choices, except for his very last one, and yes, the one to punch his way out of
the cage to get away from Zemo and his little red book (which is, however,
overruled as soon as Zemo finishes reciting the sequence of words).But the truth is that Bucky does make choices, and I
mean outside of the two notable instances just cited. Only, he makes them
before the start of the movie, or in between one scene and the next, or quietly,
in the background, while the movie tells us to focus on the flashier things
that are happening in the forefront. And they’re not very noticeable choices,
per se, because most of the time, what Bucky chooses is to NOT act. Especially not in his own self interest.
i’m all for the don’t-hold-a-grudge message of civil war but i do not think tony “feels entitled to take the life of an innocent human being to satisfy his own anger” stark deserved steve apologising for lying
tony “claims the moral high ground vis-a-vis the accords despite the fact that he broke the agreement the moment he didn’t like his new boss’s decision” stark
tony “holds bucky responsible for the winter solder’s crimes even though he was literally brainwashed while simultaneously feeling like his own tragic backstory is a good enough excuse to commit murder” stark
tony “beats steve to a pulp for having the nerve not to take his side in the fight when he’s genuinely trying to murder bucky even though he’s told that bucky is innocent” stark
and i’m supposed to believe that steve looked at everything that tony did and went maybe i should apologise for lying to him. that was the real problem here. attempted murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon are just water under the bridge
I chose to see it as Steve making amends for his own conscience regardless of Tony’s actions. After all, just like Wanda says earlier in the movie ‘I can do nothing about their fear, I can only control my own’, I think that Steve is being accountable for his own actions.
That’s just me tho.
Captain America: Civil War
Spoilers for Cap 3 (long-ish and has critique. If you are in a squeeful place this is not the commentary for you.)
Liked it, didn’t love it. Will gleefully mine it for stuff I can use in stories I probably won’t write.
1. Tony having that 3 minute speech about dead kids then recruiting 14 year old Spiderman. Really? I feel like this is a collision of RDJ shoehorning himself into a movie and making it about him and then being one-upped by the Marvel-Sony Spiderman heist. (RDJ of course gets the last laugh because he’s officially been added to the cast of Spiderman:Homecoming.) But the utter hypocrisy of that speech is just breathtaking, especially given that we are told over and over that he feels baaaaad about all the people killed with Stark tech.
2. As some great meta pointed out:
a. New York? Not the Avengers fault. Steve’s been awake for what? 10 days at that point. Wanda’s still being a teenage in Sokovia. Vision doesn’t exist. Etc.
b. DC? Yeah, terrible thing when someone stops your evil spy satellite network that was going to kill millions of people a second.
c. Sokovia? You mean the one that was all Stark’s fault for his stupid protect the world plan because he’s paranoid and no one has the ability to take his toys away from him? Where is the evil Pepper mastermind novel because I’d read the shit out of that. We see what happens every time you take away Tony’s support system.
d. Laos? Right because letting a biohazard out into the world for wherever Rumlow was going to sell it was a better idea.
This is more about pinning the blame on the group they could find than actually holding the Avengers responsible for anything. I have a pet theory about the Accords and that given the paperwork involved it was actually the new and improved WSC pulling the strings behind the scenes to basically recruit the Avengers to Hydra (no, it didn’t work but they didn’t really need it to, they just needed to make the Avengers bad guys to the public).
3. The press tour and the trailers and preview material kept talking about how Steve is now a guy with shades of gray but I didn’t actually see that change. The guy who went behind enemy lines for Bucky Barnes and ran the commandoes however the hell he pleased and then took down Hydra against Director Fury’s wishes (like Nick couldn’t have stopped him if he really wanted to?) didn’t change. He’s more cynical, sure, but even in TWS when he has that talk with Peggy about following orders you know he knows better about himself than that.
4. I just don’t see the nuance in Tony in this movie. He’s a screaming tantrum from beginning to end. It’s all about him and his control issues or lack thereof. Why hasn’t anyone just shot him yet?
5. That said, Steve, you’re a stupid man. Stubborn as fuck and about a subtle as a freight train. At least your characterization is consistent even if all you did was react to things throughout the movie. I didn’t see you make a single choice that wasn’t forced on you by events. Maybe get some therapy for that?
6. Sam was awesome.
7. T’Challa was amazing. Talk about an origin story crammed into someone else’s movie. That was some brilliant storytelling and so very well done. You can tell that when left alone the writers did some good work there.
8. Spiderman got the most laughs at both the screenings I went to. It’s going to be a popular movie and I’m glad they’re actually going back to his true roots. Not going tho because quipy movies are not my thing and it felt like such a jarring shoe-horned in moment (which, it totally was).
9. Bucky. This is the Bucky I wanted an expected and hoped for. Well done there. Too bad it’s going to get drowned out by everything else.
10. Where did the women go in this movie? Natasha shows up and vanishes. She’s not there after the airport battle at all, really. Felt really odd there was no closure for her. Sharon felt like half a storyline too that got cut for time or as the virtual closet from which to dispense stuff to the heroes.
11. I liked Wanda in this and am interested to see where they take her. Her interactions with Clint were great. Her interactions with Vision creeped me the fuck out. She’s legit a teenager and he just floats through her walls and then tries to woo her with food and then keeps her locked in the house? In any other movie with a regular dude of Paul Bettany’s age and every review would be screeching about it. Ugh. (Which is too bad because handled right the Vision and Wanda romance and plotline in the comics is cool.)
12. Zemo worked for me and I can’t wait to see what else he has in mind now that he’s been very much put back in play. I don’t buy the suicide attempt for a second.
13. There was a lot of stuff I liked in the movie and I’d love to know what the script was like before it became Civil War because I can almost piece together what it might have been.
Crossposted to DW because tumblr sucks for conversation (if you prefer)
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