Greetings shippers welcome back and now that Endgame has allegedly closed the door on this
chapter of the MCU some are looking back at their ships or lack thereof and doing some
post mortems.
A lot of people are pondering what they view as missed opportunities and for some there
is no bigger missed opportunity than Witnerwidow or Bucky Nat the pairing of Black Widow and
the Winter Soldier.
So let us continue our marvel journey and examine why fans were hoping for this pairing
what they saw in it and what ultimately ended up happening.
Before we get started if you haven’t already please follow on social media to stay up to
date know when we’re streaming or just come on over and chit chat about fandom.
It’s a good time I swear.
Now let’s examine Winterwidow.
The pairing of Natasha and Bucky has become a fan favourite or if not a favourite then
a pairing that people are aware of even to the point where it can be recognized amongst
more casual fans as well.
This phenomenon is not something that occurs with all comic couples for example despite
years of distance and strife depending upon what era you are reading fans still think
of Cyclops and Jean Grey rather than cyclops and Emma Frost whom he was married to for
a significant amount of time especially in comic terms.
Black Widow has been quite paired however while people have their favourites not all
have managed to capture people’s attention like Bucky and Nat.
PArt of that may have been the relative newness and recentness at the time of the MCUs emergence
of Bucky and Nat’s romance and just of Bucky in general.
Bucky Barnes having been dead for decades before his Resurrection by Ed Bruebaker in
The Winter Soldier story arc in 2005.
Up until that point he had been considered one of the true comic deaths in history.
Part of his return involved him reforging and building bonds with prominent captain
america characters, and others which lead to an intricate backstory and romance with
Black Widow.
One that began while he was a brainwashed Soviet agent in fact he was one of Natasha’s
instructors in the red room.
The two are torn apart and years later a brainwashed Bucky doesn’t fully know her not initially
anyway.
Overtime the two rekindled their friendship and in many instances dance around or flirt
with fun fully intended something more.
Some fans point in particular to their interactions in 2011 story event fear itself.
So when both of these characters entered the MCU and it became clear that the marvel cinematic
universe was taking some of it’s relationship cues from the mega relationships of the comics,
certain fans began to anticipate they could see these two get together, and their mcu
ship began to rise.
This was a case of a ship with plenty of alternate canon in this case the comics backing and
in the kinds of many fans their mcu counterparts carried on the rationale for why they felt
these two would be good for each other.
And fans have set about making it work creating their own headcanons of these two’s past
as well as their new meeting and reconciliation.
Canonically a wrench was thrown in the plans of some in the form of 2015's Avengers 2 Age
of Ultron and the Hulk Black Widow romance.
Part of what threw so many fans off about this was the numerous other canonical romantic
interests for Natasha on hand with three in particular standing out as potentially being
set up.
2012 and the Avengers film saw the rise of Clintasha also canonically dashed by Age of
Ultron though canon stops no shipper.
CapNat as set up by comics and more firmly by Captain America 2 the Winter Soldier and
the 3rd of course being Bucky also introduced 2014’s the winter soldier, which was what
some thought was set to be the beginning of that story arc.
Well in all fairness we could make it 4 if we add Tony but he was attached to Pepper
early on.
However, also in 2015 Sebastian Stan who plays Bucky Barnes was asked what he thought about
the potential for that relationship and he stated.
“Yes they can, yes they should.”
And that wasn’t the first time he had expressed enthusiasm at that particular story arc in
2014 he has stated “I could talk about the Black Widow all you want!
That’s an amazing storyline.
I would love for that to happen.”Now while some took this as a portend of things to come
others were more cautious.
As actors opinions are their own and not necessarily indicative of production plans as the amount
of control actors have over proceedings vary and is often far less than fans ascribe them.
In many instances they are simply giving their opinions but because of their status their
opinions end of having more weight than they may intend.
Though some feel fans need to take more things with grains of salt.
Still fans hopes rose again for a canonical acknowledgement of this couple with the 3rd
captain america film civil war which was set to feature Bucky in a prominent fashion, and
for a brief moment fans thought they had it when during a fight sequence between the two
characters Nat utters the line (Clip) fans felt this was a direct acknowledgement of
these twos past.
The thoughts were this is it, it’s all happening and the pairing had a bit of surge hard to
see amidst those mired in Stucky but it was there, however after this…(crickets).
Still fanon did it’s job creating scenarios and the comics provided plenty of fodder to
keep these two’s ship alive.
But as the years went on it became apparent that this couple was far from creators minds
and ultimately at the time of this recording in the MCU it appears to have come to naught.
In fact since Civil War the two have barely occupied the same space.
Heck since Civil War Bucky has barely occupied any space period.
So in the minds of some fans this was a huge missed opportunity.
Why?
Well fans who enjoy this couple feel it adds something to each character and extra layer
of pathos and drama that plays well with the themes of these twos potentially conflicting
loyalties.
It creates a unique tie between the two that other characters don’t have or of they do
they are different.
It was a romance uniquely bucky’s that managed to attach itself to many a fan if not as something
they shipped then as something that was important to the characters.
Some felt it would have broadened out each character given them a more fleshed out backstory
particularly Bucky.
Now some feel there was no time for this in the mcu , or that it wasn't important, or
that it was better gone as romance has no place in this genre and weakens characters
or that these two were side characters though many fans will bristle at that and Black Widow
certainly rose above side character status.
Some feel there is still hope that these two’s relationship could be explored despite the
Russo’s insistence that Black Widow is gone, which honestly could quite quickly be retconned
by new creators with a compelling enough case to Kevin Feige.
So some feel there is still hope for these two be it in the future or in Black Widow’s
rumouredly at the time of this recording prequel film.
So where do
you stand are you Natasha and Bucky shippers?
If so did you want to see it explored in the MCU or you fine with how things played out
and content to live in the realm of fanfic.
Do you still carry the torch of on screen hope, for this or any other MCU pairing.
And finally are you just perplexed and need a whole winter Widow video to explain what
people see in these two outside of their comic book history at all.
Let me know down below.
Thanks so much for taking some time out of your day to spend it discussing shipping with
me I always appreciate it.
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There are of course as always more videos coming soon so I’ll see you all again when
I can and don’t forget there are as many ships out there as there are stars in the
sky.