He does it a couple of times throughout his friendship with Steve, as late as 2004 or 2005. This is the one that was easiest for me to find (I had handily titled it “Falcon calls racism”). I don’t think it’s necessarily Falcon calling Steve out on racism directly, more like calling racism out in general, but I think it’s demonstrative of how the comic was written, and how far we haven’t come with regards to racism both in the country and in the comics. This is from Captain America and the Falcon #194, dated to 1976:
Also: yes, they ARE sharing a bedroom fifties-married-couple-in-a-sitcom style. This time it’s because they’re undergoing scientific testing, but they did this kind of thing all the time. They’d just…hang out together. In a hotel room. Talkin’ about politics while one of them bathed.
Seriously you guys, the early Captain America And The Falcon comics were awesome.
HEY LOOK AT THAT A COMIC TREATING STEVE AS A FUCKING HUMAN BEING INSTEAD OF THE PERFECT NONPROBLEMATIC FAVE
Okay, I’m supposed to be working right now, but I got to get this off my chest and see what you guys think–
So, WHY was Sam being such a dick to Bucky? Yes, it’s funny as hell, but I keep finding myself chewing on it as a characterization choice and trying to decide what it says about Sam.
Because Sam works with emotionally damaged vets, and he has SEEN SOME SHIT. He also knows who Bucky Barnes was, and what he means to Steve. So are we to think that, because Bucky kicked his ass a couple of times, he’s going to be blatantly rude to Bucky? Really? Some have theorized he’s jealous of Steve and Bucky’s friendship, but … I highly doubt that, canonically. (Can make for fun fic, tho.)
What I WANT TO BELIEVE is that, in some cut scene, after they got in the bug, he tried to talk to Bucky, tried to put his VA counselor hat on and have a normal conversation, and Bucky told him to go fuck himself. Maybe repeatedly. Maybe kicking the back of Sam’s seat to get him to shut up. Because the only thing that works for me for Sam’s character is if he gave it the ol’ college try–having *some* kind of convo with Bucky–and Bucky shat upon him, and Sam was like, “Okay, so that’s how it is–good to know,” and turned that aggro up to 11.
That is my favorite idea, but I’m curious what other people think?
I go with “Sam gives Bucky shit because he’s treating him like a human being.” Cause honestly, I saw their interactions less as hate or being a dick and more the way a couple of pre-teen siblings get along. As someone with three sibs myself, if one of us did something to piss the other off (”you flushed the toilet while I was showering!”), you’d better believe the petty war would start. That seat would not be getting moved forward, it’d be getting scooted backward as soon as the request was made. And this would go back and forth pretty much until our mom made us stop.
So to me, this is Sam’s way of showing Bucky that he’s not afraid of him, that he trusts him to react like a human being, that he’s not worried Bucky’s gonna turn into a murder-bot if Sam pisses him off. He’s not treating him like a ticking bomb, and at the same time, he’s acknowledging that their history includes some messy stuff. But by reacting to that mess with such little jabs, he’s also downplaying how big the mess was – he’s reducing what happened between them in Winter Soldier to the level of dumb shit that happens between siblings. He’s making it something deserving of petty little paybacks, instead of something Bucky needs to carry a heavy burden of guilt over.
It’s his subtle way of saying, “Okay, you’re on the team now. You’re part of the family, which means I would fight the demons of hell to keep you safe. But that doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to give you shit, just that nobody else gets to touch you. And I still owe you payback for that helicarrier crap, so screw you and your legroom.”
Are people unfamiliar with the concept of banter or something???
I mean seriously. This is one hundred percent Sam treating Bucky as an equal, letting him know there are no genuine hard feelings about what’s happened in the past. And it’s Bucky responding in kind. This is Sam and Bucky respecting and trusting each other enough to joke around over trivial shit. The “You couldn’t have done that earlier?” / “I really hate you.” exchange is them being bros.
[Putting the wings back on was very difficult] because when you look at Sam’s background, his partner in the Falcon programme got shot down the same way. I actually talked about that with the Russo’s, but it definitely affects him because it brings back all that stuff from his past. – Anthony Mackie
So I was thinking, related to this post about what happened to Sam on the Raft:
How much does the rest of the world know what is going on here? How much does Sam’s family know?
What if Sam’s mom takes it upon herself to camp out in front of Stark Tower at first, to demand transparency from the only Avenger left publicly standing, to ask Tony Stark where is her son? What if, as the days since she’d last heard from him start to stretch, as it becomes obvious that the ‘controversy’ over the Accords was much bigger than they’re letting on, she gathers a whole following, she reminds everyone that the Avengers are people too, that they are citizens, and that their families deserve to know what happened? What if she learns (through some deliberate tip-off by Natasha or someone) that Stark isn’t the only one responsible, that Ross is the one she really needs to talk to, and she harnesses the media spotlight to start a march from New York to Washington, asking all the while, Where is my son?
What if, when Sam is finally out of the Raft, when Sam is finally safe in Wakanda (for a few moments, at least), he turns on the TV to find his mom, his family, his co-workers, and holy shit that is a lot of other people ranged behind her, all of them asking the same question:
Where is Falcon?
Just like that, Sam’s knees won’t hold him anymore and he collapses with a hard stop on the coffee table. She’s right there, in her five-foot-nothin’ glory and best Sunday dress, in a spot in Central Park that Sam recognizes is not far from Stark Tower. Her voice is that same stern-resounding tone that he grew up with, and Sam suddenly misses her so hard his chest hurts.
It takes a long moment for him to register what, exactly, she’s so stern about, for the scrolling words at the bottom of the screen to make sense. When they do, though, Sam’s heart hurts anew: Mama Wilson, his sisters, all those people, they’re looking for him. They don’t know why he helped Steve or refused to sign the Accords, they’re not even sure he’s alive. The more he listens, the more he realizes that they’ve been stonewalled at every turn but his family has been trying to get him a lawyer, a message, anything.
Sam takes a long, shaky breath and lets himself cry for a while, listening to his mother’s voice, letting her faith in him soothe over the places he let break to keep Steve safe.
When he’s done, though, he knows what he needs to do, knows Steve will help him ask for the resources he needs to make a statement to the press without giving himself away.
Sam won’t let his mama get all the way to DC without knowing whether or not he’s alive. And he’s done keeping the US Government’s secrets.
