thedoubteriswise:

I know we’re all suffering over Infinity War or whatever, but you know what my major takeaway was re: Steve and Bucky? It’s that Bucky has been awake for a while and Steve has been visiting Wakanda on a regular basis. I’m fully serious about this; I’m not attempting to “fix” a problem with canon by making a fluffy headcanon. This is the first blush impression I got from the movie, and the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Why?

We joke about Steve’s “depression beard” a lot, but actually, Steve looks really good in this movie. That guy has been eating a lot of fruit, moisturizing, and getting his beauty sleep. Bucky also looks shockingly healthy and relaxed compared to the last time we saw him. They both seem to be physically and mentally healthier, which doesn’t point to Bucky being freshly de-iced and still processing the worst of his shit. It also doesn’t point to Steve working himself to death and being forcibly separated from his best friend.





Steve seems to have a friendly and relatively informal relationship with T’Challa, which suggests to me that they’ve spent some time together. The other Avengers don’t appear to be very familiar with Wakanda, but Steve knows exactly where he’s going and what he’s doing.





On top of that, the Avengers seem to have more than adequate funding and appear to be working, but they no longer have the backing of the US government or Stark Industries. Where did they get the resources to do this? Where are their missions coming from? Sure, they’re likely doing their own supervillain hunting and probably some residual Hydra mop-up, but I’m guessing they’re being bankrolled by T’Challa and probably doing a fair bit of collaborative work with Wakandan intelligence. Steve would feel the need to repay T’Challa’s kindness, but what do you get the man who has everything? If you’re Steve, probably loyalty and black ops missions.





When Steve and Bucky greet each other, it feels warm, but also routine, suggesting that this isn’t their first contact since Civil War. This is a greeting you’d expect between two people who last saw each other maybe one or two weeks ago and text each other pictures of what they ate for lunch, not two people who have a lot of unresolved shit and haven’t spoken in years. The tension and sadness you see at the end of Civil War is absent in Infinity War.





Finally, the relationship between Wanda and Vision establishes that it’s possible for Avengers to go off alone for a day or two without any significant notice or concern from the others. Clearly it’s not unheard of for them to take short breaks to do personal stuff.



My take on all this? Bucky’s been up and about for a fairly long time, doing some Wholesome Farm Labor, babysitting some Charming Wakandan Children, and generally getting better. Steve and the Avengers have been running whatever missions come up, and when there’s a break in the action, Steve comes to Wakanda, says hi to T’Challa, and spends a day or two with Bucky. Maybe he takes the opportunity to finally get a full 8 hours of sleep in Bucky’s little hut. I’m just saying; they both look way less tired in this movie. Those are the faces of people who have taken some quality naps together.

So everybody’s healthier and happier than expected! Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

