So I’ve said Steve/Bucky is my modern Achilles/Patroclus and there are a few reasons for this rattling around in my head, which may turn into fic at some point:
Steve and Achilles both came into their powers by artificial means. Sure he was half god, but Achilles’ invulnerability came from being dipped into the River Styx by his mother Thetis. So in a way, they were both artificially “submerged” or transformed by a liquid into their god-like forms.
A major part of Achilles’ heroic story is him receiving a shield forged by the gods themselves. The shield is the most recognizable part of a suit of armor he given as a gift, in order to encourage him to return to fighting in the Trojan War.
Patroclus borrowed up Achilles’ shield and impersonated him on the battlefield. Being mistaken for Achilles led to Patroclus’s death when he was mistaken for Achilles. Bucky Barnes in the comics goes on to assume the identity of Captain America, and of course there is the fact that he “died” the first time seconds after taking up Captain America’s shield.
Patroclus’s death brought Achilles back to the battlefield. Where once he had little interest in killing Hector, Patroclus’ death made it his singular purpose in the war. Likewise, Steve fought in WWII but was not particularly bloodthirsty about it until after Bucky’s death. This thirst for vengeance could be said to have directly contributed to his suicidal plunge into the Arctic within weeks of Bucky’s death.
Achilles died soon after Patroclus, shot in the heel with an arrow dipped in the Hydra’s poison. Steve’s suicidal dive into the Arctic means that it can effectively be argued that he was taken down by HYDRA. (I may have actually gotten this wrong and the hydra-venom arrows of Philoctetes were used in a different part of the war, oops)
Unlike his other comrades-in-arms, accounts agree that Achilles and Patroclus grew up together, and were both taught by the centaur Chiron. All accounts agree they were close friends, the debate was only whether or not they were lovers too (the Greeks thought it was totally obvious that they were) and the only question was who topped. Likewise, Steve and Bucky grew up together (at least in the movie canon), something that cannot be said for the other Howling Commandos. In contrast with all his other comrades, Steve and Bucky were particularly close and had known each other most of their lives.
Ancient scholars don’t actually agree whether Patroclus was younger and therefore “the beloved” of Achilles, or if as the fairer one Achilles was “the beloved” of Patroclus. “The beloved” in this case is sort of a gentle of way of saying “who was on the bottom” and the Greeks were really hung up on the idea. Anyway, it has rather interesting parallels for the fact that in the comics, Bucky was younger and Steve took care of him, but in the movies Bucky was older and took care of Steve. So, similar ambiguity, which I personally prefer to resolve as “they were both roughly the same age and took turns taking care of each other”, which apparently is a concept none of the Ancient Greek philosophers could quite wrap their minds around.
Though Steve would never have a “Briseis” situation, dropping out of the battle because he was supposed to give his slave girl to the commander the way Achilles did, I could easily imagine a similar and less gross modernization. Namely, if Peggy was taken out of command because she was a woman, I could very easily see Steve stepping down and saying he won’t do a single mission until she’s reinstated with full honors.
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