YOINK

So, it’s at three in the morning that, after seeing a gif, I begin having revelations/disturbing thoughts/deep contemplations about the bionics and biology of the Winter Soldier’s arm. And, of course, at three in the morning, that’s when I start assembling pictures and diagrams. 

Here’s a normal shoulder, and then the Winter Soldier’s. What gets me is that it’s not just a plug-in prosthesis that joins neatly up with his shoulder joint and the bone structures there. 

As seen here, all of these muscles: 

are what you need to actually move an arm and shoulder. With structures even as far down and centralized as the pecs, the muscles there bunch up in the shoulder region. As seen on the Winter Soldier, all of the places where his upper chest/pectoral, and shoulder muscles should be bunched up are (whether partially grafted with or entirely) metal. 

Here, (on my phone) I drew out how more natural muscle patterns would be going without the interruption of the prosthetic. And here’s what looks to be going on: 

At the seam of the prosthetic, we can see a glimpse of material that seems to extend down, following the basic lines of where musculature would need to be to support movement- which leads me to believe that at least in the front, that metal had to be extended (or at least extended by way of more flexible wiring to at least graft and connect to existing muscles and nerves) down through his entire pectoral muscles. Sure, his entire pec might not have to have been recreated/replaced by metal and wiring, but I’m getting the feeling that the lighter colored metallic structure at the seam continues farther down into his chest in order to connect to existing muscles and nerves. Depending on how far down they had to take things, they may or may not have had to anchor the pec and under arm metal structures to his ribcage. 

Now, onto the back. 

The scapula and other skeletal structures in the shoulder area are all pretty necessary for movement, and although Bucky only seemed to lose below the upper bicep after the fall, the scapula alone couldn’t support the weight and power of his new arm. So, I’m guessing that they left both the scapula and collarbone, but would have needed to reinforce both bone structures with metal (this includes shoulder joint and socket, if they were still intact enough); and all of that, they’d need to anchor to his spine/rib cage to keep the weight balanced and make sure the muscles and cartilage didn’t rip and tear with the weight of the arm during standing and fighting and such. 

As for what they’d do about the muscles needed for arm movement in the back, I don’t have a clue- for weight and efficiency’s sake, they probably would have done their best to preserve and connect existing nerves and musculature on his back to the arm, after reinforcing bone structures. Given that the muscles in the back and shoulder connect to the spine and neck, that would be a whole lot of metal to try and anchor down if they replaced everything back there with straight up metal (as opposed to connecting wiring and such to the muscles already there). 

Knows by heart how many women there are in New York and casually throws that in a conversation he has when he’s on his way to a science fair

“LOOK AT THAT FUCKING FLYING CAR" “Holy cow” feels

Best friend is a kid who is into arts and takes books with him to the army

“STEVE YOU’RE KEEPING YOUR SUPER HERO OUTFIT RIGHT??”

Smithsonian tells me Bucky was “an excellent athlete who also excelled in the classroom” – like, his grades were good enough Smithsonian thought “hey we should mention that”

If my math teacher wasn’t lying to me, you needed some pretty great math skills to be a good sniper in WW2, so there’s also that

Color-coded post it notes on his journal

Backpack chest strap

“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT? :DDDDDDDDD”

“*mean Winter Soldier face* Can you move your seat up?” “No.” “… *moves to the other seat*”

I read this interesting meta about Steve's brain changes post-serum, specifically this bit:

Steve’s brain is smarter and faster, the neurons have a longer life span, the hippocampus — that’s your memory storage — is nice and healthy; whatever. But then they said that the part of Steve’s brain that increased the most in mass and synaptogenesis was the amygdala.

So I had to be a nerd and crack open a Neuroanatomy textbook. Accordingly, the amygdala forms part of the limbic system (which I've briefly talked about in another meta), one of the key parts of the brain that governs memory, emotions, and by extension, behaviour. It serves a role not only in creating and regulating emotions, but also in recognising facial and verbal cues for emotions.

Onward for super soldier angst!(?)

trying to fit in within the army, being rejected and mocked because you’re weaker and different, but later proving your strength by staying kind, persistent and clever is a story many old feminist media pieces used. i think of that scene from the first movie when peggy, after steve tells her about his life, says she knows what it’s like to have the doors closed for her. she does point out the reason why so many women are so passionate about steve (and why he’s really popular within the lesbian community, where attraction doesn’t really play a part). and i think it’s just so fundamentally different from the way i expected to read his story—as a typical patriotic male-centered superhero movie—and why it stuck with me when I saw it.

and i know we’re all joking calling bucky a damsel in distress, but when you think about it, he really does fit into the archetype of a superhero love interest. and steve does spend a lot of time trying to save him. and i, the great hater of this trope, find myself loving them tremendously. the thing is that, outside of their relationship, bucky has his own complicated and deep character conflict, and you would care about him no matter how the story handles him. in a world where such superhero love stories usually require the hero to be strong and powerful, and the love interest to be helpless and bleak, we have the cap trilogy. it plays with so many tropes that are so outdated even for superhero cinema that they should get boring, but it makes them interesting, dynamic and complex and refreshing.

And the MCU is not shy about the topic. In the early days, they had Bruce talk about his attempt, recently they showed Marc attempting and being saved by Khonshu. Also, despite it being a bit of a different situation, we were shown Zemo attempting suicide but T’Challa stopped him. If the mcu/Disney is willing to actually show suicide attempts, obviously they have no problem with talking about the matter.

And the reason why I’m so curious they didn’t mention anything for Bucky, is because it’s been brought up several times by crew members. Raynor’s actress specifically stated TWICE, in two different interviews, that Raynor is actively trying to get through to Bucky in therapy so he doesn’t commit suicide. The actress’s exact words being: “She wants to save his life. She knows if he doesn't do this, he is going to die. He will kill himself.” and “That's why she sees her work with Bucky as a life and death situation…. She can interpret just how bad it would be for him, and if he doesn't connect, he could die. As so many veterans do. PTSD is a horrible, horrible thing. If left to your own devices, if you go inside, you're just going to take your own life…..So her job is to not let him.”

One of the screen writers for the cap trilogy, Christopher Markus, was talking about Bucky’s character and said “Do you want to go on? Do you want to be free? Do you want to put a bullet in your head? What is it?". Seb Stan said in an interview “Bucky’s relationship with Steve may be the only thing stopping him from committing suicide.” And I’m 99.9% sure Seb said something along the same lines as that another time too.

It's implied that the Winter Soldier was only active for 50 of the 70-or-so years Bucky was held captive.

I think at the beginning he was fed by force, and later through an NG tube, as a way of exerting power over him during training and conditioning as they broke him down and molded him into their weapon.

When the Winter Soldier began operating, I can see them moving over to a TPN-like substance (which began showing promise in the 30s and 40s, with the more modern form of TPN being invented in the late 60s) they'd developed. They'd likely intentionally leave major nutritional gaps where they could, reducing Bucky's neurological capacity in an attempt to increase his complacency.

I think the central line would be replaced every time they woke him up from cryo, because they couldn't be bothered to maintain a clean and functional line.

And they are absolutely right. And I’m so glad someone agrees with me on this analogy, because this is EXACTLY how I see him, and exactly what I get into below. This is the whole thing I was writing up previously:

“The winter soldier was treated like a living weapon.”

Mmm, yes. The whole living weapon thing is not a wrong metaphor. But I’d argue that there’s something else far more accurate (aka what the now added tags say).

He wasn’t their weapon. He was their dog. In such an uncanny way, almost literal sense. I wouldn’t even say a guard dog, I’d actually say he was Hydra’s hunting dog.

I mean think about it. Really. They actually treated him like a dog.

He wears a harness. He wears a fucking muzzle for gods sake.

But that’s just the bare minimum of similarities.

What do they do when he gets out of line? To punish him, to put make him obey and learn to fall back into good behavior? They shock him. Just like how people have always used shock collars and electric fences for dogs. When he’s been “bad”, when he does something he’s not supposed to, he gets shocked to correct that behavior.

They also smack him and get physical. People don’t do that with weapons. There’s no point in that. And you wouldn’t wanna damage or harm a weapon. But people do smack dogs. They hit their dogs when they don’t behave or do something wrong because harm, pain, and damage will teach it. Just like it teaches him. And they’ll heal so it’s not a concern.

He was trained to obey commands. Just like dogs. He does any little thing he’s told because he’s conditioned with a rewards system. He even has specific command words that trigger compliance. Just like you teach a dog to sit or roll over with trigger words, he has em too. I mean literally, he has a Pavlovian response to said words. And what was the original Pavlov experiment done on? A dog. The only difference is he doesn’t get physical treats. His treat is praise, which they manipulated him into being desperate for. They even go as far to incentivize him with this praise (think about the bank scene, where Pierce praises him), just like you would present a dog with a treat when you want it to do a trick. Hell, actually praise is a way you reward dogs too, because they listen and learn when you tell them they’re a “good boy, good dog”.

Hydra asserts their dominance over him just in case he turns on them, just to remind of who’s the “alpha”. Because they know (just like big dog owners) that he can tear them up, he can attack and shred them to pieces, but if he thinks he’s not the “alpha” then he’ll back down.

And yeah, he’s protective and reliant on his “owners” like most dogs would be. But like I said, not just a guard dog. A hunting dog. Because just like people teach their dogs to track down and go after bears, squirrels, dear, etc. he was also taught how to track down stuff to kill. Stuff that his owner wanted dead. That’s his whole purpose, to hunt for them.

Also, think about how Hydra obtained him. It’s like if a person saw an injured dog in a ditch, brought it to a vet to heal up, then took it home to have as their own pet. Because that’s exactly what they did with him. It’s just the owner was an abusive one.

And they are absolutely right. And I’m so glad someone agrees with me on this analogy, because this is EXACTLY how I see him, and exactly what I get into below. This is the whole thing I was writing up previously:

“The winter soldier was treated like a living weapon.”

Mmm, yes. The whole living weapon thing is not a wrong metaphor. But I’d argue that there’s something else far more accurate (aka what the now added tags say).

He wasn’t their weapon. He was their dog. In such an uncanny way, almost literal sense. I wouldn’t even say a guard dog, I’d actually say he was Hydra’s hunting dog.

I mean think about it. Really. They actually treated him like a dog.

He wears a harness. He wears a fucking muzzle for gods sake.

But that’s just the bare minimum of similarities.

What do they do when he gets out of line? To punish him, to put make him obey and learn to fall back into good behavior? They shock him. Just like how people have always used shock collars and electric fences for dogs. When he’s been “bad”, when he does something he’s not supposed to, he gets shocked to correct that behavior.

They also smack him and get physical. People don’t do that with weapons. There’s no point in that. And you wouldn’t wanna damage or harm a weapon. But people do smack dogs. They hit their dogs when they don’t behave or do something wrong because harm, pain, and damage will teach it. Just like it teaches him. And they’ll heal so it’s not a concern.

He was trained to obey commands. Just like dogs. He does any little thing he’s told because he’s conditioned with a rewards system. He even has specific command words that trigger compliance. Just like you teach a dog to sit or roll over with trigger words, he has em too. I mean literally, he has a Pavlovian response to said words. And what was the original Pavlov experiment done on? A dog. The only difference is he doesn’t get physical treats. His treat is praise, which they manipulated him into being desperate for. They even go as far to incentivize him with this praise (think about the bank scene, where Pierce praises him), just like you would present a dog with a treat when you want it to do a trick. Hell, actually praise is a way you reward dogs too, because they listen and learn when you tell them they’re a “good boy, good dog”.

Hydra asserts their dominance over him just in case he turns on them, just to remind of who’s the “alpha”. Because they know (just like big dog owners) that he can tear them up, he can attack and shred them to pieces, but if he thinks he’s not the “alpha” then he’ll back down.

And yeah, he’s protective and reliant on his “owners” like most dogs would be. But like I said, not just a guard dog. A hunting dog. Because just like people teach their dogs to track down and go after bears, squirrels, dear, etc. he was also taught how to track down stuff to kill. Stuff that his owner wanted dead. That’s his whole purpose, to hunt for them.

Also, think about how Hydra obtained him. It’s like if a person saw an injured dog in a ditch, brought it to a vet to heal up, then took it home to have as their own pet. Because that’s exactly what they did with him. It’s just the owner was an abusive one.

And they are absolutely right. And I’m so glad someone agrees with me on this analogy, because this is EXACTLY how I see him, and exactly what I get into below. This is the whole thing I was writing up previously:

“The winter soldier was treated like a living weapon.”

Mmm, yes. The whole living weapon thing is not a wrong metaphor. But I’d argue that there’s something else far more accurate (aka what the now added tags say).

He wasn’t their weapon. He was their dog. In such an uncanny way, almost literal sense. I wouldn’t even say a guard dog, I’d actually say he was Hydra’s hunting dog.

I mean think about it. Really. They actually treated him like a dog.

He wears a harness. He wears a fucking muzzle for gods sake.

But that’s just the bare minimum of similarities.

What do they do when he gets out of line? To punish him, to put make him obey and learn to fall back into good behavior? They shock him. Just like how people have always used shock collars and electric fences for dogs. When he’s been “bad”, when he does something he’s not supposed to, he gets shocked to correct that behavior.

They also smack him and get physical. People don’t do that with weapons. There’s no point in that. And you wouldn’t wanna damage or harm a weapon. But people do smack dogs. They hit their dogs when they don’t behave or do something wrong because harm, pain, and damage will teach it. Just like it teaches him. And they’ll heal so it’s not a concern.

He was trained to obey commands. Just like dogs. He does any little thing he’s told because he’s conditioned with a rewards system. He even has specific command words that trigger compliance. Just like you teach a dog to sit or roll over with trigger words, he has em too. I mean literally, he has a Pavlovian response to said words. And what was the original Pavlov experiment done on? A dog. The only difference is he doesn’t get physical treats. His treat is praise, which they manipulated him into being desperate for. They even go as far to incentivize him with this praise (think about the bank scene, where Pierce praises him), just like you would present a dog with a treat when you want it to do a trick. Hell, actually praise is a way you reward dogs too, because they listen and learn when you tell them they’re a “good boy, good dog”.

Hydra asserts their dominance over him just in case he turns on them, just to remind of who’s the “alpha”. Because they know (just like big dog owners) that he can tear them up, he can attack and shred them to pieces, but if he thinks he’s not the “alpha” then he’ll back down.

And yeah, he’s protective and reliant on his “owners” like most dogs would be. But like I said, not just a guard dog. A hunting dog. Because just like people teach their dogs to track down and go after bears, squirrels, dear, etc. he was also taught how to track down stuff to kill. Stuff that his owner wanted dead. That’s his whole purpose, to hunt for them.

Also, think about how Hydra obtained him. It’s like if a person saw an injured dog in a ditch, brought it to a vet to heal up, then took it home to have as their own pet. Because that’s exactly what they did with him. It’s just the owner was an abusive one.

Hydra was infiltrated in the world government, the US especially. Evidenced by the Senator arrested in CATWS and another one, Bucky helped arrest in TFATWS.

Imagine the cans of worms that could open if Bucky told who he was ordered to kill and who ordered the hit. Who worked for Hydra.

Now first off, MatPat (my fav YouTuber who I’m so sad is retiring, literally adore him) did a mini theory a few years ago, calculating Bucky’s compound interest in previously earned money from WWII in his frozen bank account while he was presumed dead. It totaled out to $51,143. This is just the money that he earned in the 30s/40s and has grown interest on. This is assuming the money wasn’t given to his family and for the purpose of this post, we’ll go with that it wasn’t. However, MatPat didn’t account back pay, for disability pay, and other military pay/benefits.

So as a starter point, we’ll use $51,143. Next, I’m going to calculate his back pay from being MIA/POW because he would have been considered active duty. A MIA/POW is given back pay of 50% of the average per diem rate, for each day held in captivity. The 2023 rate is $157 per day, and I assume that would be similar for him because TFATWS takes place in early 2024. So that means Bucky would get $78.50 per day. There is no time limit on how far back pay can date to, so the entire span of Bucky’s capture is accounted for. As per the Smithsonian memorial in CA:TWS, Bucky was captured in 1944, making it exactly 70 years of capture. So, the back pay for those 70 years, is $2,005,675.

Next, we’ll look at the different forms of disability pay he would receive. I’m only going to look at canonical, confirmed disabilities for this. Bucky would be classified under SMC-N 1/2, where one arm was amputated above the elbow and/or was amputated so close to the shoulder that a prosthetic cannot be worn. Now obviously, Bucky does have a prosthetic but it is implanted into his body, as a majority of his left shoulder seems to have been amputated. Since he is single and has no dependents, aka has no children and is not taking care of any family, and he is still able to work, he would be receiving $6,182 a month.

He also has PTSD, which he would most likely get a 70% percent disability rating for, as 100% is very rare to receive for mental and is considered to be extreme impairment in daily functioning. (He could recieve 80 or 90% but I’m being generous here and trying to give the most realistic assessment). All this means, his mental illness pay for PTSD would be $1716 a month.

It’s also canonical that he has brain damage via The Wakanda Files book. We know in that book, he’s described to have pretty severe TBI. However, we don’t know anything of his symptoms and the book only describes of the brain scan looks bad and that the serum is keeping him from being more impaired. The VA uses 10 areas of impairment as criteria to rate the severity of TBI disability. The only canonically confirmed area that we know Bucky deals with is memory. Since we know no other symptoms and we know he’s not extremely impaired, I’m going to estimate he’d be rated at 50%. Which would give him a compensation of $1075 a month.

Now, we can assume Bucky is retired from the military. From being a retired sergeant, we can assume his monthly pension is around $5,482.

Reminder, all VA pay is untaxed. All of these together, his monthly salary is $14,455. However, this is not including disability back pay. The VA sometimes will pay a lump sum from back from when the diagnosis was made. Assuming the Wakandans were involved in Bucky’s trial and pardon, I’d assume some of his medical records were brought in as well. Back dating to when he was being treated in Wakanda, that’s 7 years, however we don’t know if the blip would count so for that reason, I’ll say 2 years. So, his lump sum would be around $215,352.

Now, endgame was in October, six months before TFATWS, meaning it took place around March/April. Within, the span of October to March, Bucky woulda have accumulated $86,730. Because even if his pardon wasn’t official yet in October, he would still receive payment for that month.

We know why he's sleeping on the floor, Steve had the same problem, the bed is too soft. But there's another reason why he's sleeping in the living room, and why the TV is on, and especially on something as neutral as a sports channel.

I wonder if it's simply because he hates the quiet. If his mind wanders too much when there's nothing for him to focus on, if his thoughts get too dark, if his enhanced senses are reaching for every small sound that a normal person wouldn't catch, every creak of the building, every whistle of the wind, and he can't fall asleep.

Or if it's also because of the nightmares. If when he jerks awake into darkness and silence, he panics. I'm back there, I'm trapped, I'm frozen and tortured and controlled, I'm a machine and a monster.