Some thoughts on Bucky’s role in Thunderbolts*

Overall I enjoyed the Thunderbolts* and thought it was a return to form after Brave New World really disappointed me. But there’s one aspect of the script/story that has been bothering me and I’d like to get a vibe check on it from my fellow M8s.

Sooooo like….what was the point of Bucky being a Congressman??? That’s a huge swing for this character that was just dropped in in Brave New World and fleshed out a little bit more here before he basically completely abandons it by the beginning of the second act.

First of all, granted the MCU is a crazy place where nuts stuff happens all the time, but they elected a 100+ year old former Hydra assassin who may have killed JFK to Congress? That’s already a wild turn to just introduce without explanation. And then he just abandoned his post because it turns out the legislative system is more cumbersome than just blowing shit up?? Uh, yeah, Buck, what did you think this job was when you ran for office???

I can’t help but think a few lines of dialogue better flushing out his motivations would have gone a long way to ameliorating this. But as is I just don’t see what the point of introducing this whole idea into the script. If I squint I can see something about Bucky taking on a leadership role and how he’s better suited to being a superhero/Avenger than politician but you could have done something similar and the plot wouldn’t have changed too much if he started out the movie just doing Winter Soldier stuff.