How Stucky was Queer Coded

Coding/Subtext

Some people might say that this scene is saying that Bucky is jealous that Steve is getting the girl for once, but that doesn't fit with his personality. It showed in the beginning that he was trying to get girls for Steve. He wanted Steve to be happy. He wouldn't be upset if Steve finally found someone. He just didn't realize it would happen so soon. So the only explanation? Now that Steve actually has a chance with someone, Bucky is jealous because he wants Steve.

After Peggy walks away, after he's frowning after her, Bucky says "I'm invisible." He's trying to play it off like he's invisible to Peggy, but by the way he's looking at Steve with a hurt expression, then looking away, it's really the opposite. He can't even look Steve in the fucking eyes. Then the lyrics repeat "Fare thee well for I must leave thee. Do not let the parting grieve thee. And remember that the best of friends must part, must part." Bucky realizes he's nothing compared to Peggy. Then the song ends. Interesting that they decided to end the song there. The rest of the song basically just talks about being in love with someone who is in love with someone else.

I want to point out real quick that the way he addresses Peggy in this scene is very different to how he addresses other women in the MCU, especially in this movie. Yes he's a flirt (like I said, a cover) but he's also polite and kind towards women. That's not the case with Peggy. It doesn't seem like he likes her, and there is no other reason why he wouldn't like someone as amazing as Peggy unless it was because he was jealous.

So. That's what I call The Bar Scene. This movie came out in 2011, over 10 years ago now, and there STILL isn't a heterosexual explanation for it. I sometimes have to remind myself that this scene is actually real.

Link to The Bar Scene, watch the words closely and watch Bucky's expressions and the way they look at each other!
Captain America: The First Avenger Bar Scene Stucky Easter Egg -- There is a Tavern in the Town

Here's some more detail about that scene if you want it:

Homoerotic Subtext from the Bar Scene in CATFA - vulcansmirk - Captain America (Movies) [Archive of Our Own]

Facial Expressions

Before I get onto the next specific piece of evidence, let me point out the way they look at each other. ESPECIALLY the way Bucky looks at Steve. He looks at him like Steve is his whole world. I'm sorry, I don't look at my friends like that. If you look at the way Sebastian Stan (the actor for Bucky) and Chris Evans (the actor for Steve) look at their love interests in both the MCU and other things they have acted in, it's practically the same look.

Look at the way Bucky looks at Steve when they are sitting at the bar. Or when Steve and Peggy are talking right after Steve gets back from saving all those people from Hydra. In that scene specifically, when Steve is looking at Bucky, Bucky smiles. As soon as Steve looks away, his face falls as he's looking at Steve and Peggy talking. That's TWO scenes where Bucky looks jealous that Steve is talking to Peggy.

Almost every time, if not every time that Bucky smiles in any of the movies (not including the show) he smiles for and at Steve.

There are many more examples of the way they look at each other, and I could go on about it all day. Instead, let me get to my next topic.

The Apartment Scene

In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, we have another scene that is queer coded through the music. The scene where Steve is in his apartment and Nick Fury gets shot by the Winter Soldier (aka mind controlled Bucky.) The song playing in the background as Steve walks into the apartment is "It's Been a Long, Long Time." Yes, I know we all have feelings about this song. This was the song used for Steve and Peggy (Steggy) at the end of Avengers: Endgame. But it was used for Stucky first, way before it was used for Steggy.