ok a followup from my irony post: one of the things i love most about steve rogers as seen in the mcu is that he doesn’t do the thing that ‘feels right’ or looks most virtuous or american or whatever, he’s not sentimental, he knows what hell is like because he has been there and it’s called the western front. he grew up sick and poor and irish catholic when there was no kindness for those things in the american narrative, he is not the kind of guy who thinks everything will turn out okay if you just believe in yourself.
he doesn’t do what he feels is the right thing, he does what he decides is the right thing. and sometimes it feels terrible, and has terrible consequences. at no point in ‘civil war’, for instance, does he seem to think his decision is The Right Choice and tony’s is Wrong. he knows there was no right answer, only two wrong ones, and he picked the one he could live with. and people bled for it.
i wouldn’t say he’s a ‘logic’ character, he’s not that trope, but he is secretly, subtly, ruthlessly thoughtful.
so when he does something like, say, become a fugitive from the entire world within minutes of hearing there’s a shoot-first order out on bucky, it’s not that blind emotional panic that drives so many heroes. it’s as cold and unstoppable as a glacier.
an emotionally driven hero has, inherently, a sense of entitlement about the outcome of their choices. if you believe in your friends, if you tell the truth when you ought to lie, if you refuse to take the kill shot because heroes don’t kill, things will definitely turn out okay in the end somehow. and of course the narrative always supports this, because that’s the genre, that’s the trope set. there’s no room for a counterpoint in their universe.
and then there’s captain fucking america.
look, i’m sleep-deprived and haven’t planned this post out at all so it’s probably kind of a mess, but what i’m getting at here is that the ‘golden boy’ of superheroes, the star spangled man with a plan, this corny, schmaltzy, old-timey character, isn’t light because the darkness hasn’t touched him. he’s light because he set his jaw and marched into the darkness and he set it the fuck on fire.
tl;dr i love steve rogers a lot the end.
Louder for the people in the back: he’s light because he set his jaw and marched into the darkness and he set it the fuck on fire.
that moment in the first avenger when bucky shoots that guy and steve turns around and salutes him makes me laugh bc, like, i will be the first to admit i know nothing about military strategy, but i feel like you probably shouldn’t so blatantly give away your sniper’s location like that
like, was that moment immediately followed by bucky scrambling to his feet like ‘goddamnit steve HOW MANY TIMES’ and takin off into the woods while hydra goons fired at him,, like thank you, captain america, for that, i was hoping to make this more complicated than necessary
These scenes…I really wish they’d been left in. You truly get the sense of how displaced Steve feels by what has happened to him.
His hands on the train, his body language, he looks so alone and lost. These scenes never should have been cut. This is the first we’re really seeing him out of the ice; they’re necessary to his character development. It also serves as a far better introduction to Steve Rogers than just the punching bag scene since much of the audience hadn’t seen CA: TFA.
I feel like we don’t talk about Bucky Barnes’ name enough. I mean, who the heck names their kid after President James Buchanan? Who even cares about President Buchanan? Literally all I know about President Buchanan is that he was 1) unable to prevent the Civil War from happening and 2) almost definitely gay.
I REALLY ENJOYED IT AND I WANT TO THANK GOD AND MOSES AND THAT MY EMPLOYER IS A JEWISH CHARITY SO I HAVE THE DAY OFF TODAY TO GO SEE IT AT LUNCHTIME INSTEAD OF WAITING TILL LATER. omg.
I MEAN ok I would have seen it at 9am this morning but my Mum is not up for before lunchtime cinema-going. SO.
