What really frustrates me to a degree I’m too ashamed to admit in polite company is the anti-Team Cap argument of “consequences”. It’s a word that’s thrown around a lot against Team Cap and especially against Steve. As if Steve hasn’t payed for his decisions a thousand times over, as if he hasn’t given up his whole life to help others. In TFA he’s completely ready to face the consequences of disregarding orders after he saved Bucky and the rest of the unit from HYDRA. Of course, Phillips realized he needed Steve too much to dismiss him. Point stands, Steve would have accepted the discharge if that would have come to his way. Then, of course, he’d probably continued his anti-HYDRA campaign as a civilian. After, he accepted the ultimate consequence of losing his own life when he dived the bomber into the Arctic Ocean. TWS: he understands that HYDRA was inside SHIELD all along, that he has himself unknowingly been working for HYDRA as well. He understands that the whole thing must go, that no matter how big the forces of evil are, you have to take a stand against them. In his speech to the SHIELD personnel he says: “If you launch those helicarriers today, HYDRA will be able to kill anyone that stands in their way. Unless we stop them. I know I'm asking a lot. But the price of freedom is high. It always has been. And it's a price I'm willing to pay. And if I'm the only one, then so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not.“ He’s not somebody who makes big decisions for others, stays behind the lines and walks off without a scratch. He’s always the first in line to bear the brunt of it. AOU: As is his way, he’s willing to fight to the last. During the fight against Ultron he says to Nat: Natasha Romanoff: Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow this rock... Steve Rogers: Not 'til everyone's safe. Natasha Romanoff: Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there. Steve Rogers: I'm not leaving this rock with one civilian on it. Natasha Romanoff: I didn't say we should leave. What is this but accepting the consequences of his team creating the Ultron? I’m not saying that he wouldn’t give his life up if Ultron had been an alien or something, but I think to Steve (and to Nat and the rest of the Avengers) it’s unfathomable that they’d run off before the city blows up when there are still people in it, not when it was his team’s fault that Ultron existed in the first place. What’s that but accepting the consequences of his and his teammates actions? CW: Steve loves Bucky, so what he does for him is to a degree selfish. But more than that it’s wanting to right the wrong done to Bucky by HYDRA. He might even see Bucky being captured by HYDRA his fault: Bucky was following him, he was fighting for him when he fell and Steve wasn’t there in time to save him. He’s definitely feeling the consequences of leading Bucky to fight against HYDRA and he’s facing the consequences head on doing everything he can to save Bucky. No matter what sort of pressure he gets from international politics, his country, his teammates. He has the ability to see Bucky as a victim, an innocent man. He knows what’s right and he will do it, no matter the cost to him. And it does fucking cost him. He has to give up on being an Avenger, he has to give up on his shield, he has to become a fugitive. That is a price he’s willing to pay. His friends who follow him are put into an underwater jail. What does Steve do? He breaks them out. It’s bolding his name on Ross’s shit list, but he will take it. In short: those amazing shoulders of his are carrying a lot and he does not care what doing the right thing costs him personally. (a side note: the one thing he admits to not having the courage to face was the implications of Zola’s reveal. Yet, after everything, he writes to Tony and apologizes for hurting him. He tells him he will be there for him, if Tony needs him. He owns up to having this one weakness that is the man he’s known and loved all his life. And this is of course the one thing tonies blame him for for all eternity. Just. Have some fucking empathy.)
