MCU Fans Already Calling Bull on Bucky Barnes’ Latest Role in the Franchise

Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Captain America: Brave New World.

Sam Wilson steps out of Steve Rogers’ shadow in the latest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: Brave New World, embracing his role as the Star Spangled Man. However, Sam doesn’t leave everything in the past. In fact, near the end of the film, he receives a pep talk from Bucky Barnes, who’s found a new calling.

While the marketing for Thunderbolts* teases that Bucky is getting into politics, Brave New World outright confirms it, with Bucky having to leave Sam behind for a congressional campaign event. It sets the stage for the character’s return in 2025’s next MCU movie, but fans aren’t letting Bucky off the hook just yet, taking to social media to voice their confusion over his new job.

It all started when X user Neb, best known for his superhero movie and TV threads, posted a gif from Captain America: The Winter Solider where the titular villain kicks someone into the engine of a plane to stop them from getting it into the air. The tongue-in-cheek caption was “just did this to a guy who didn’t own any physical media,” but now that people have seen Brave New World, they’re taking the discourse in another direction.

“Bucky is a congressman in the new Captain America movie,” one X user wrote. “I wonder if that time he kicked a SHIELD agent into a plane engine came up during his debate.”

Related: Captain America: Brave New World Producer Reveals Why The Falcon and the Winter Soldier Season 2 Was Scrapped for Movie

The disbelief doesn’t seem to be around the idea that people can change. Bucky has done the work in the MCU not to have the audience judge him for his past, but it’s easy for them because they don’t actually live in the world where he killed countless people and helped a terrible organization try to take over the world. It’s different for the voters who watched all that go down on the news.

One of the major plot points in Brave New World is that the world hasn’t forgotten Thunderbolt Ross did during the event of The Incredible Hulk, with some other world leaders still referring to him as the “Hulk Hunter.” Bucky’s past is even more checkered than Ross’, and fans just can’t wrap their heads around voters embracing that, no matter how much he’s turned his life around.

Of course, it’s possible Bucky’s time in Congress won’t last long. After all, it’s not like the MCU is known for picking a lane and sticking to it no matter what. However, until another universe-ending threat shows up and forces him to turn his attention elsewhere, fans will have to get used to the idea of the Winter Soldier sitting in on hearings and trying to get traffic bills passed.