100% Crack Theory That Is NOT Supposed To Be Taken Seriously, It's Really Just A Combo Of Bucky's Absurd

100% crack theory that is NOT supposed to be taken seriously, it's really just a combo of Bucky's absurd location hopping and coincidence.

Bucky's serum that Zola gave him was adapted using the Space stone and just happened to be compatible with Bucky's naturally high spatial awareness so it worked. It spatially locked him, ie making him immune to other people's spatial powers, and gave him the ability to slip in and out of space as flashy or subtly as he likes, and being Bucky/WS he's always gone the subtle route. It's how the Winter Soldier gained a reputation for being a ghost, and how Bucky seems to just disappear in a blink in scenes or implausibly show up in entirely different locations at speeds too fast for even a super soldier to be capable of.

Maybe he isn't really aware he can do it either and it escaped Hydra notice because it's bending space and reality in a specific way that mortals don't tend to be able to compute unless they're Wanda or a trained sorcerer. He uses it way more as the Winter Soldier because in that state he uses everything available to him to complete the mission, even powers he's only subconsciously aware of/uses like muscle memory or instinct. But as Bucky he's not so one track minded and can't consciously use something he's not aware he has.

Bucky can teleport in the comics but it's through the use of technology. It wouldn't be the first time Marvel has changed its characters' power sets and origins around, just look at the Maximoffs, Kamala and even Sam, who can talk to birds in the comics and has a real bird companion, but only has a drone in the MCU.

It really made me laugh rewatching CACW where he's just constantly showing up out of nowhere, popping up in completely different locations with not enough time for even a super soldier to get there and disappearing into thin fucking air so quickly it's frequently a running bit with the other characters doing double takes over where tf he just went. (I've seen so many commentators and reactors call out how the fuck he moves through the building so fast in CACW, and his dramatic exits? Where he's just gone? Outta nowhere? Even for a big scary elite Hydra super soldier that's ridiculous. It's not just editing weirdness either, it's something that's acknowledged IN UNIVERSE by multiple characters.)

On a final note it's fucking hilarious to imagine Bucky either somehow never noticed or just assumed it was something every super soldier could do too so never brought it up since they don't exactly go around stating their powers out in an itemized list lmao

This could be a country difference maybe, because where I'm from counsellors and therapists are one in the same and I've seen the terms used interchangeably all the time. I didn't know there was a difference between them in America. Sam's history working with veterans and advising on how to handle reintegration the way he does, drawing on his personal experiences with Riley (and subsequent re-trauma of seeing the exact same thing then happen to Rhodey...) I'd assumed when the term counsellor came up that it meant he was a ptsd/trauma therapist specifically for veterans of war, thus the lived experience I mentioned.

I apologize for how my initial post came off, even if it wasn't my intention that still doesn't change the fact it is about Bucky and did gloss over Sam's history too vaguely and really only in a context that benefitted Bucky with the topic of the post (Bucky's gif in my header probably didn't help the case either, I'm well aware that there's way too many Bucky stans who seem to think he's a poor baby boy who shits gold.) I don't usually interact with Marvel fandoms as I've really only ever heard negative things from friends, so there's a lot I'm not aware of.

things about recovery and therapy that TFATWS did right: Sam, who has 10+ years as a PTSD and trauma therapist with lived experience of his specialist field, notifying Bucky when his symptoms are presenting or worsening (such as when Bucky starts staring off, an extremely common symptom of PTSD) or deescalating situations wherein Bucky has been triggered (the notebook, most interactions with Zemo...), while still framing it all as light hearted jokes appropriate for their type and level of rapport (i.e that of a colleague/friend rather than a clinical therapist)

things about recovery and therapy that TFATWS got wrong: basically everything else. they didn't frame it as a critique of veteran psychological care like they could have, they framed it as ha ha no bullshit therapist lady makes comic relief scenes at the expense of her client's health

(I also can't be the only one who thinks Bucky was assigned the wrong speciality for his therapy, his trauma aligns closer with survivors of cult conditioning, kidnappings/hostage situations, abuse and/or sexual assault than the strictly war veteran angle the show took. Not all therapy is the same and not all trauma requires the same kind of care, and just because Bucky was a soldier does not necessarily mean the kind of trauma he experienced and the care he needs is tied to that.)

the more I think about it the more I know if Bucky did end up doing the same thing as Steve and going back to live out his life from the 40s again he'd lose his goddamn mind within a week. This man has so many gadgets, he has all the gadgets all of the time, there's a theory that the flip phone he gives Raynor is a decoy because she expects being from the 40s that's what he'd use, and he's always playing around with tech and admiring cars

Bucky would miss modern tech way too much, he'd cry just seeing ONE single computer with a 5 byte capacity taking up an entire room

Although let's be realistic he wouldn't even last the week, he'd only make it ten paces the day of arrival before losing his shit at the first white person to open their mouth

Every time I see these two running together I think about the fact that super soldiers can effortlessly out run cars and realize Bucky has been slowing himself down to keep pace with Sam since the moment they became allies even though he doesn't technically need to. Like come on just admit you enjoy Sam's company goddamn

SEBASTIAN STAN as BUCKY BARNES Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Bucky has to be under some kind of blackmail from Val or whoever because there's no way you can look me in the eye and say honestly that Bucky would choose to work for the government that screwed over Sam (and Steve's wishes along the way), and did to Isaiah and his troop what Hydra did to him by experimenting on them; dehumanizing them, unknowingly and unwillingly turning them into super powered weapons of war, then punished and imprisoned Isaiah for doing the same shit they made Steve a hero for.

Bucky is one universe-hopping visit from Hobie away from becoming a punk rock anarchist, come on now.