wintercyan:

reddestkay:

i always forget how much i hate the ‘lock bucky in a cell and remove his arm for his own good’ trope until i stumble onto it again.  for a movie that’s pretty much all about the importance of agency, it’s astounding how many fics involve tearing that agency away from the winter soldier as a precursor to bucky’s recovery

“Removing Bucky’s arm” is my #1 MCU!fandom pet peeve too, and here’s why:

I’m guessing this trope is partially inspired by the comics, in which Tony Stark did imprison Bucky on board S.H.I.E.L.D.’s helicarrier and removed his cybernetic arm to 1) incapacitate him, and 2) allow S.H.I.E.L.D.’s scientists the opportunity to study it further.

Of course, this plan backfired spectacularly when Bucky’s arm turned out to be independently functional, staged an escape, and reunited with Bucky—who then used it to beat the crap out of Tony (not undeservedly).

In the comics, Bucky turned his loss of bodily autonomy to his own advantage: like a Trojan horse, his opponents thought he was weak without his primary weapon and let their guards down, taking him exactly where he wanted to be. Bucky then freed himself, fought Tony to a draw, and proved beyond a doubt that he was the right person pick up Steve’s shield and uniform after Steve’s death. Rather than disabling him, removing Bucky’s arm enabled him to achieve his main goal—and demonstrated his ultimate badassery to the audience.

However, when Bucky’s arm is removed in the MCU fandom, his loss of autonomy is never* (*that I can recall seeing) turned into an opportunity for self-empowerment. The decision of having the arm returned to him always rests firmly with others, mainly Steve, and hinges on Bucky’s compliance—only when he is deemed sufficiently “recovered” or “harmless” (or when Steve is in trouble and the Avengers need Bucky to save him) is he allowed to have his arm back. Often this is combined with some form of upgrade rendering the arm lighter (and often more fragile) or removing tracking/self-destruct devices from it, again making Bucky dependent on others for his safety and/or comfort. This is problematic (sorry!) because, as OP says, it robs Bucky of agency—he and his arm are objects acted upon by others rather than subjects acting upon their environment themselves. Rather than an opportunity to show off Bucky’s badass super-assassin skills like in the comics, the loss of his arm is used to put him in a position of weakness and make the audience pity him.

(I also feel sorry for Tony, to be honest, because in 98% of MCU!Steve/Bucky fanfics where he makes an appearance, his sole purpose is to remove/upgrade/replace Bucky’s cybernetic arm, shoe-horning him into the role of “the mechanic” as if that’s all he can contribute to Bucky’s recovery. Remember, Tony also had a cybernetic body part (the arc reactor) installed without his consent, came to terms with it and other people’s reactions to it (Pepper through it was disgusting and made faces when she touched it in Iron Man 1), and eventually turned it to his own advantage: it almost killed him a couple of times, but ultimately he used it to save the world. I think Bucky would benefit more from hearing Tony’s story than from any upgrade of his arm Tony could provide.)

((I’ll also add the usual caveat that fanfic authors are of course allowed to write anything they want, period—if you want to remove Bucky’s arm for plot or hurt/comfort reasons (yes plz!), or because you’re a meanie (hello, HTP!), no one’s stopping you! Just take a moment, as all conscientious authors do, to reflect on why you choose to do so and be aware of the wider implications.)) 🙂