The Victim Blaming of Bucky Barnes…
Now that Sebastian Stan is going to be reprising the role of Bucky Barnes, the former brainwashed assassin in the upcoming movie Thunderbolts* it is relevant to re-examine his character. Bucky has not been seen on screens since 2021, when he appeared as Sam’s sidekick in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series.
When the series released, there was a lot of discourse over the depiction of Bucky Barnes. Whilst many were happy with the way he was portrayed and his redemption arc, some were less so. Some individuals found the scenes displaying his court-mandated therapy sessions to problematic, and real therapist waded in to provide their own opinions and insights. The opinion was almost unanimous: Dr Chrstina Raynor was not the right therapist for Bucky Barnes, and she did a terrible job.
However, the discussion of Bucky’s therapy, which appear in only 2 Episodes, fail to address a deeper problem that some people had with the series. The problem was the way the series depicted Bucky’s trauma and tragic life experiences overall. Some felt that the way the series treated his time as a brainwashed captive under the control of the autocratic organization HYDRA crossed the line into victim-blaming.
The responses to such people, were — unpleasant. Because the primary theme of the show was racism in modern America and the African American experience, many greeted *any* criticism of the show as tantamount to racism. Articles or opinion pieces which focused on the co-lead instead of Sam Wison were subjected to vitriol from fans. Several articles detailing Bucky’s negative depiction were removed or deleted because of harassment and online hate.
Those that did stay up were bombarded with negative comments about “taking the show too seriously” and a silly reaction to a “comic book movie”.
The negative responses stifled legitimate discourse about the series: and this is a bad thing — because those who were uncomfortable with Bucky’s depiction had a point- and a relevant point at that.
After watching the show myself earlier this year as an unashamed Bucky fan, I was also left with feeling uncomfortable and deeply disappointed. For a long time, I wasn’t sure why but after speaking with other fans and drawing on my own experiences as an abuse survivor, I finally put my finger on it. The series does nothing but victim-blame Bucky and stigmatize mental health from start to finish.
An excellent article from Nerdist published not long after the show finished highlighted this: the series starts out by trying to reframe Bucky’s character altogether. In the second and third Captain America movies, Bucky Barnes appeared to the world as the feared assassin in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The truth, however, was much more complicated and tragic.
Bucky was originally a young, ordinary guy from New York who lived through the depression and stuck up for his physically small, chronically ill best friend Steve Rogers who was often getting into fights and scrapes because his strong sense of justice led him to have run-ins with bullies. After being conscripted into the army in WW2, Bucky’s life went downhill.
He was captured by HYDRA, the MCU equivalent of a cult of supernazis, and Steve Rogers, now the jack-up super soldier Captain America in very bad shape. Bucky and many of his troops had been experimented on by the diabolical HYDRA scientist Arnim Zola.
Although Steve saved his best friend from the POW camp, along with dozens of other allied soldiers, the damage had already been done. Bucky was already traumatized by his experience of war: the formerly extroverted- fun loving man had become quiet, serious, and fearful of returning to the front line. He kept that last part under wraps, not wanting to let down his troops and his best friend who he still felt obligated to protect.
In thier final military engagment to capture Zola, Bucky fell from a train into an Alpine Ravine and was left for dead. Although severely injured, Bucky survived the fall only to fall into the hands of HYDRA. This time, Steve wasn’t around to save him and for decades, HYDRA worked on “turning” the loyal and kind American Soldier. Eventually they achieved it by erasing his memory, torture and creating a form of hypnotic “programing” used to prime him for missions.
When he catch up with him 70 years later, Bucky is, in every sense, a captive. He is being kept in a prison-like bank vault, surrounded by bars and armed guards who point their weapons at him when he becomes distressed or angry. He is subjected to painful torture when he becomes defiant, questions orders or does not answer quickly enough.
Bucky is clearly a man who has no agency or autonomy. He has no choice over anything he is doing, or anything that is being done to him. He does not even attempt to resist when his handler orders him to be tortured, despite clearly being aware of what is about to happen and scared of the torture device.
During the movie and its sequel Captain America: Civil War, it becomes obvious that this was the state which HYDRA had kept Bucky in for all the long decades of his captivity. Bucky is more than just a slave, or a puppet being manipulated, he is a human who has been essentially reduced to the status of a machine and incapable of doing anything except adhere to his programming.
In the Black Widow movie, its even implied that HYDRA found a way to entirely supress Bucky’s free will by chemically altering or damaging parts of his brain responsible for descision-making.
Joe Russo, one of the directors of the movies confirmed this when he referred to Bucky’s character as the “longest serving Prisoner of War” and a “pure victim”.
Yet despite that, Bucky is pursued relentlessly in the movie by authority figures for a crime it turned out he did not commit, and is later nearly killed by Tony Stark for an act commited when he was not in contol. Many in fandom still hold Bucky for this act, suggesting that brainwashing is just a thinly veiled excuse to let him off the hook, despite the overall evidence of his total lack of agency. Even in real life, brainwashed Prisoners of War have been judged not guilty for their actions, and the MCU, where supernatural entities and fantastical scientific procedures can take control of a person’s mind and body, it is an even more credible defense.
In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series, the victim blaming narrative gets even worse.
Instead of being a Prisoner of War with no agency, the series presents Bucky as having been willingly complicit in the actions of HYDRA whilst he was the Winter Soldier. He calls HYDRA “my people” when they were his captors and torturers.
Even his own therapist treats in the series treats Bucky as a guilty and dangerous criminal who owes a debt to society, instead of a recovering POW and survivor of horrific abuse who needs support.
In a bizarre exchange with her, Bucky refers to the power he “gave” to a corrupt Senator who utilized his services as an assassin to rid herself of political rivals. The remarks are strange, because Bucky did not have the power in that scenario let alone the ability to bestow it.
The Director of the series, Kori Skogland, famously remarked that Bucky could only find redemption by taking responsibility for his actions, instead of “hiding behind his lack of control”.
These remarks are confusing: because Bucky never, at any point does any such a thing. Never does Bucky use what was done to him as an excuse for the Winter Soldier’s murders, nor does he even mention it. Except to say that he had no choice- yet this is not an excuse. It is the simple truth- at least within the context of the story.
So why does the does the narrative of some later movies and the series seek to turn Bucky’s characterization on his head- transforming him from a victim and a brainwashed captive who had no control over his actions into a victimizer who was doing everything willingly?
It might have a lot to do with gender.
There are many characters in the MCU who have similar backstories to Bucky- brainwashed, used as assassins or subjected to mind control by malevolent forces. However, Bucky is the outlier because he is one of hte only men among them.
All the others are women or young girls. Natasha Romanoff, Yelena Bevoka, Taskmaster (AKA Antonia Dreykov), Jessica Jones. All of these women are recognized as victims, and rightly so.
Yet there is a double standard for Bucky.
It was always going to be controversial to depict a male character as a helpless victim who was not only robbed of his agency, but even his bodily autonomy.
Bucky was not allowed to choose what to do with his own body: he had a prosthetic arm surgically attached without an anaesthetic and without his consent. He was given the super-soldier serum without his consent, experimented on without his consent: and was not allowed to refuse or resist anything his handlers or HYDRA lab techs did to him.
Whilst female characters are often framed in his way, the idea of a male character being victimized and robbed of his autonomy in such a way goes against our concepts of masculinity and male roles. Especially within the MCU. Where men are super strong, super capable, and super powerful. They aren’t just making choices; they are leaders and constantly saving the world.
Even “normal” men in other movies and in society at large as supposed to be strong and capable, self-reliant, and responsible for both their own actions, and for defending others.
For 70 years, Bucky was none of the above. Despite possessing great physical strength as a super soldier, Bucky has none of the autonomy, nor even the capacity to make choices about his own life, actions, or body that any other person does. The choice was taken from him. Forcibly and violently.
And that makes a lot of people uncomfortable. Men in particular like Bucky as a “badass” fighter with a metal arm, but hate the idea that he never wanted any of it and spends the next two movies recovering from his trauma and trying to find peace.
Compare this to Clint Barton (AKA Hawkeye) was subjected to mind control by Loki the first Avengers movie. Yet Clint is not condemned or blamed for what he did (despite having killed multiple people under mind control) and his team members rally around him.
The contrast with Bucky is stark; and one cannot help wonder if Clint gets off more easily because he is closer to the traditional masculine stereotype. A husband, father, respected warrior and self-reliant leader who is regularly involved in the action.
Another interesting difference is that whereas Bucky turns his back on violence and eschews killing after escaping HYDRA (to the point he won’t even kill villains), Clint relishes the chance to get back into the fight even though he’s meant to be retired. He later responds to the loss of his family by becoming the feared vigilante, Ronin.
Bucky can, once again be seen subverting the masculine heroic stereotype, going into hiding, embracing pacifism, and becoming a farmer in Wakanda for a time. Instead of pursuing revenge, he was content live a quiet, pastoral life in obscurity. At least until The Falcon and the Winter Soldier came around, anyway.
How does all this translate to real life?
A lot of the discourse surrounding Bucky in fandom has some rather disturbing echoes with some of the things that people say about male abuse victims in real life.
The idea that it must somehow have been his fault, that he must have asked for it, that he must have done something to deserve it, or was weak for having “allowed it to happen” to him. Even Kori Skogland’s claim that he was “responsible” and hiding behind his lack of control is very similar to the victim-blaming narratives which are prevalent in society.
Like when rape victims are told they bear some “responsibility” for what happened to them, or trauma victims are told they are using what was done to them as an excuse for bad behaviour.
Or when men are told they should be “grateful” for female attention, even if that attention is unwanted.
More concerning of all is that Bucky is not only a victim in the MCU, but he is also a representation of mental illness. In the current canon, it is established that Bucky has PTSD, and he also exhibits symptoms of chronic depression.
Sebastian Stan, who plays Bucky, has been very candid on this matter, and discussed PTSD, trauma and other subjects relating to mental health at length.
“And as everybody knows PTSD is not something you’re done with, it’s really something that one has to continue to grow with and to become better at dealing with” — Sebastian Stan
In the movies Bucky blames himself for what HYDRA made him do and hates himself for it. This is, sadly, something which many real trauma victims can identify with.
As much as me might know on an intellectual level that the events which caused our trauma weren’t our fault, we still blame ourselves and get caught up in harmful, self-recriminating monologues. Asking ourselves what we could’ve done differently, whether we could’ve escaped the situation.
Instead of challenging this self-loathing mentality the series doubles down on it. It reframes the cause of Bucky’s trauma as not what HYDRA did to him, but in his own actions- the killings he was forced to perform. Each one of the characters reinforces his self-loathing, telling him he is an evil monster and a psychopath including characters who are meant to be his friends.
Bucky clearly starts to believe his trauma and mental health issues are something to be ashamed of- he remarks at point that another character who is a veteran facing a stressful situation is “acting crazy”. Then adds “I know crazy because I am crazy”. Sam Wilson, who is meant to be a health professional specializing in veteran care, does not challenge this hideous negative labelling of PTSD. In fact, he joins in himself- calling Bucky a “freak” and a “bionic man” — adding an extra ableist edge by making fun of Bucky for being an amputee too.
Later in the same episode, the “mad, bad and dangerous” stereotype of people with trauma is reinforced when one of the other traumatized characters kills a terrorist in the street and then suffers an obvious nervous breakdown shortly after. Instead of responding with sympathy and compassion, Sam does nothing but condemn the man in question. Even though the symptoms of his trauma were apparent for some time beforehand, Sam did nothing — but was perfectly ready to cast judgement.
The message is clear: traumatized people and people with conditions such as PTSD cannot be trusted. They are dangerous, unstable, immoral, and lesser beings. Instead of compassion and understanding, they are greeted with nothing but mockery and self-righteous condemnation.
The final indictment of the series is its treatment of men showing emotions. In an age when men are encouraged to be open about how they feel, Bucky is shamed or dismissed for expressing his feelings of grief, loss, and disappointment when Sam gives up the former Captain America’s shield. Instead of being acknowledged as legitimate, or the narrative reassuring us that Bucky is entitled to feel the way he does- Bucky’s feelings are dismissed as self-centred and childish.
In the fifth episode, he is made to apologize for his previous feelings, with the series pretending that he was the one being inconsiderate and, in the process, gaslighting not only him, but the audience. In this version of the MCU men are not supposed to express their feelings If those feelings are inconvenient to another character.
Following his “apology”, Sam gives him advice: although this likely originated with Bucky’s own therapist. The advice is vague and from a mental health perspective, outright harmful. Instead of allowing Bucky to recognize that he is a victim and come to terms with the things which were done to him and their impact on his life- Sam tells him to basically “man up” and take responsibility.
The narrative is thus driving the message home that what happened to Bucky is a result of some moral failing or weakness on his own part. (Which reflects those age-old stereotypes about mental health *again*.) Instead of recognizing that Bucky was victimized by a malevolent outside force, and that in addition to what he was forced to do left him with deep scars, the series pretends that Bucky’s PTSD related nightmares are simply a result of him wallowing in self-pity.
He “let himself” be manipulated, and he is responsible for the consequences of that. Instead of, you know, the people who held him captive, tortured him and robbed him of his autonomy. HYDRA. The actual abusers in this scenario.
Sam is essentially telling Bucky “You are not a victim, and you never were. Stop pretending to be stop wallowing in self-pity. To recover, you must take responsibility for things you were forced to do against your will and try to repair that damage. You must punish yourself, or you will never get better”
Imagine if Sam had told a female character such a thing.
References:
The Art of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Marie Javins (Contrib), Marvel Worldwide, 2014, 2024.
Nerdist. com “How the Falcon and the Winter Soldier Villainizes Trauma”, May 12th 2021, https://nerdist.com/article/falcon-winter-soldier-villainizes-trauma/
The Direct.com “Sebastian Stan Addresses Mental Health & PTSD Themes In The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”, 14th March 2021, https://thedirect.com/article/sebastian-stan-falcon-and-winter-soldier-ptsd-mental-health
Brainwashing as a Criminal Law Defence | Office of Justice Programs (ojp.gov)
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