Pax Soprana

E.g. Bucky's speech patterns in dialogue in fanfic are very much comics!bucky rather than MCU!Bucky. The idea that Bucky was intended to function as Cap's partner who does the dirty work that Cap couldn't be seen doing onscreen in propaganda films (killing people) appears in a lot of fics and that comes from here.

MCU did a couple of things that lit the fuse for this story to be truly explosive in the Collective Sicko Consciousness, though: for one, exchanging the domino mask for a mask that covers the Winter Soldier's mouth and nose, evoking the idea of a muzzle, paired with some sick ass eyeliner. Whereas comics!winter soldier does some snarking and bantering when he's fighting, and engages in dialogue with other characters, MCU!winter soldier hardly talks at all; iirc it's not quite clear if he can while he's masked. He's not a Darker and Edgier, evil iteration of the same person (as in the comics) he's a black hole.

The other thing the MCU did... okay, two closely related things. One, it made Bucky and Steve roughly the same age and eliminated the hero-sidekick dynamic. Two, it completely failed to sell the idea that Steve is in any way attracted to women.

In the comic version of this storyline, Sharon is a major secondary character whose relationship to and history with Cap is a major source of tension, conflict and uncertainty; in the same storyline in the movies, she is completely sidelined and Steve shows zero signs of genuine attraction to or interest in any female character.

Seriously, MCU!Steve is shown being kissed three times by women, twice non-consensually and causing him clear discomfort, once with dubious consent (iirc, he didn't seem distressed when Peggy kissed him, but he didn't really reciprocate). The conversation he had with Peggy about dancing with her was when he was psyching himself up to face death so I don't think that reads as an expression of romantic interest?

Steve's awkward, stilted, half-forced romance scenes were clearly not played solely because someone was angling for signaling him as gay. if the audience can see it, there's no way active professional filmmakers didn't know.

but if you compare Tony and Steve, what is the absolute major difference there? not in personality or anything. but character?

like they couldn't wrap their heads around it.

so when we get his flirting, it's awkward and forced, and when we get his kissing scenes, it's as if the kisses themselves elicit no response.

because they can't imagine a man fully respectful of women to be an active participant without showing off his "male prowess".

and so we get "so obviously written as gay MCU!Steve Rogers".

that's my theory anyway.

I think what they were trying to go for is portraying Steve as sexually naive. Part of this is because his enhanced body is new to him and he hasn't experienced people being attracted to him, but part of it is that Steve is a deeply good character and writers and audiences consistently misunderstand that as meaning "straight-laced"/goody-two-shoes/Allergic to Fun.

This says a lot about how the writers view men and manhood.

particularly I feel like the godawful ending he was given in Endgame was one of the most misogynistic plot points pertaining to this because of the logic underpinning why it was seen as a resolution to Steve's arc... he is granted access to a woman, as though he's earned a prize. There is never any question of whether Peggy would WANT to be with him, even though she literally married someone else.

And me.

Obviously intentional benches are preferable, but I'll take what I can get.

As the great poet and prophet Bruce Springsteen once said, “don’t waste your summer praying in vain for a savior to rise from these streets.”