Even writing the title of this blog post, you all know I am in immense pain.

For any of you who are fans of Sisters Assembled and know anything about Katie (hi, me), you know that my absolute favorite character is James Buchanan Barnes, aka Bucky, aka the Winter Soldier. So you should have expected that with some of the rumors beginning to float around about the future Thunderbolts movie, I would take it upon myself to look into it and either give the thumbs up on the possibility or debunk it. For the sake of my sanity, I am going to hope I can debunk this one.

Bucky Barnes has made 7 film appearances (I’m including end credits here), along with his shared leading role in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier with Sam Wilson’s Captain America. However, when you look at it by age, he is now one of the longest-running characters in the MCU. With his next appearance being The Thunderbolts, rumor has it he will act in his first leadership position, with all eyes turning to the former assassin. But with quite this impressive resume, is Marvel willing to kill off this character and free Sebastian Stan from the MCU role that he’s been playing for 13 years?

Let’s start with some facts. As far as his character growth, being able to lead a team against an existing threat would complete his arc, turning Bucky fully into a good guy. He would act very much like Cap in the first Avengers and that would help fulfill his need to be better and make up for the past. It also wouldn’t be shocking if Bucky sacrificed himself because of this, which would 100% give his character arc that final push. I hate saying this, but I could see it happening for his story to make him finally feel like he is a good person again. Phase 4 showed us just how much Bucky was still trying to prove himself to not just the public, but to himself. He’s haunted by his past and what makes a better redemption headline than the fact the Winter Soldier laid down his life for another member of his team against Sentry?

On top of all this, the Thunderbolts are full of what we would classify as anti-heroes, all heroes that have too much blood on their hands to say they just make the hero bucket. But each of them is on that team now to do better and grow from their past, just like Bucky. Being the leader of such a team gives Bucky that chance to not just help himself, but to help 5 (unless more members are added than the ones officially announced) other individuals prove themselves as well and make up for this past. It really is a sold trope to end his character on, as much as I literally want to stop typing and walk away from this, I have to admit it.

But, and it’s a big one, all the pros of this theory and how it could set up his end could just as easily set up his future. He’s known for being one of the most broken characters in the MCU, turned into a killing weapon without any knowledge or control of his actions for roughly 70 years. Finally being free of this and on his journey of redemption, Marvel could use his character as a driving force now that he will be seen as a leader and have completed such amazing character growth. Instead of being restricted to Cap’s right-hand man, Bucky could actually be allowed to shine in the spotlight himself. As we see other characters like the Scarlet Witch going through her villain arc now, it would be pretty interesting to see Bucky go through an actual hero arc.

One last angle to look at is of course Sebastian’s contract. When he initially came onto Marvel, he signed for 9 films. As mentioned above, while he’s made 7 film appearances, end credits don’t usually count in an actor’s contract, so he’s only really starred in 5 movies and 1 show. At the time, his contract didn’t account for a show, so for now, I will do one track where we assume it doesn’t count as a movie and one where it does.

• If we count the show as a movie: If we count the show, Sebastian is at 6 appearances, leaving him with three more. Thunderbolts is obviously one and maybe Cap 4, as this would help set up where his character actually goes to end up with the Thunderbolts. This only leaves one more movie, but if The Thunderbolts is supposed to be his last, well then he wouldn’t see his final one.
• If we don’t count the show as a movie: If we don’t count the show, Seb is at 5 movie appearances, leaving room for Cap 4, Thunderbolts, and then both Avengers: Kang Dynasty and Secret Wars.

Pretty much the point I’m trying to make is that unless end-credit scenes are counted, which it doesn’t appear they are, then Sebastian has enough of a contract left that it wouldn’t make sense to kill him in The Thunderbolts. This is also contingent on the original contract that Sebastian signed and not any addendums that have been made to it.

So can this theory be debunked? Unfortunately, for me, no. It has just as much merit as any good theory right now, but as seen, it is not a foolproof theory. There is still a counter case against it so we will have to keep our eyes and ears open for any possible updates to this one. And as always, we won’t actually get an answer until we see The Thunderbolts film in 2024. I will just put in writing for now that if I have to be nervous about walking into this movie or I experience Bucky’s death, no one will hear from me for a long time, thank you. Now, as far as looking to the near future, our 100th episode is this week! We have a super special episode coming your way, so don’t miss out, as Marvel just blew your mind, so let’s talk about it.

Image: “Bucky Barnes Thunderbolts”, Rotem Rusak, Nerdist