Basically, what these scenes were telling us was that they were romantic, because Steve and Peggy were romantically involved in the movies and in the show. So by telling us the scenes were romantic in the show, they were telling us they were always supposed to be romantic.
Like, why would you parallel 2 characters who were actually romantically involved with 2 people who are "just friends?" It doesn't make sense.
Miscellaneous
Before I go, let me point out a couple things that couldn't quite fit in any of the other categories. For one, in Avengers: Infinity War, the first scene we see with Bucky, his hair is all greasy and he looks dirty from being out on the farm. Shuri tells him that Steve will be coming soon, and the next time we see Bucky, he's all clean and his hair is very clean and fluffy and pretty and he looks so happy to see Steve even though it was confirmed that Steve visited him multiple times when Bucky was in Wakanda.
In Avengers: Endgame, Steve has to fight a past version of himself. They're having a pretty intense fight and matching each other in strength (which makes sense, they're the same person) and at one point 2012 Steve had current Steve (2023) in a chokehold. Do you know how he gets away? Current Steve says "Bucky is alive." And 2012 Steve loosened his grip on 2023 Steve long enough for him to get away. Out of everything he could have told him, he said that, because he thought that would be the most likely way to get him to stop. Again, Bucky is his main weakness, if not his only weakness.
When Bucky turned to dust, his last words were "Steve...?" Even when he was dying, his first instinct was to address him, in his final moments, Bucky looked at Steve for comfort and because he was all that mattered. I imagine his final thoughts were confusion about what was happening and to show Steve, but ultimately, as he was fading away, he probably thought "It's okay. Steve is okay and that's all that matters." Jeez, that's making me emotional just writing that! Then Steve goes over and touches his ashes as he looks at what Bucky had been reduced to in shock and horror, defeat and confusion.
So this one doesn't have anything to do with Stucky, but this is some proof that Bucky is queer. In the show he recently was in, "The Falcon and The Winter Soldier," there was a scene where Bucky went on an unsuccessful date with a woman who worked at the place he went to eat sometimes. When they're on the date, they're talking about online dating. Before I tell you what Bucky said, let me explain something. On dating apps, it's quite popular to have a man pose with a tiger for his profile picture. It's a guy thing specifically, though. Bucky says he's seen some weird pictures on dating apps, saying, "I mean, tiger photos? Half the time, I don't even know what I'm looking at. It's a lot." This is weird because dating apps show gender preferences.
The director of the show tried to give some half- assed excuse for it by saying that Bucky just thought it was weird and reminding us that he's 106 and finds modern technology confusing. But that still doesn't explain why he was seeing tiger photos in the first place? It just doesn't add up. There's no explanation.
Just like how Wanda was the only one able to destroy the mind stone out of Vision's head (she had to kill the love of her life for the good of the universe, it was sad), Steve and Bucky are equals and only Steve can get through to Bucky.
I'm just going to put this one out there. If one of them was a girl (especially Bucky) it would've been canon by now. Quick tip: if you ever need to figure out whether something is queer coded or queer baited, just imagine it as a straight relationship. Now think of Bucky and Steve being in a straight relationship. It would probably be considered the greatest love story of the MCU. Even if it wasn't made canon, there would be so many more people shipping it. They would take one look at the way they look at each other and say "Omgs they're so cute together!" I'm just giving you the facts here. So here's all the evidence laid out for everyone to see. We're not making this up.
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How Stucky was Queer Coded
RandomAn almost 30 page document I wrote on the queer subtext and coding between Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes in the MCU. Most of my information comes from Danielle Silverstone, you can find them on Instagram, Tik Tok, and YouTube.
Coding/Subtext
Start from the beginning
