Not long ago I stumbled across an article claiming that Bucky Barnes of Marvel’s recent series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, was a Nazi and that his redemption arc meant the show was sending the message that we should forgive Nazis.
This is absurd for a few reasons, but primarily the origin of the character. The Bucky Barnes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is based off two characters from the comic books: James “Bucky” Barnes who was Captain America’s sidekick, and Arnold “Arnie” Roth who was Steve Rogers’ childhood best friend and defender from bullies.
Arnie is Jewish and gay in the comics. In the MCU, much of Bucky’s backstory is taken from Arnie. While his queerness has been hinted to be erased by giving Bucky girlfriends, it follows that everything else from Arnie’s backstory not directly contradicted by the text could be on the table.
While I highly doubt the Marvel Powers-That-Be would ever be brave enough to have an openly queer superhero (much to the disappointment fans and seemingly actors and creative teams as well), there’s nothing to contradict Bucky being Jewish in the MCU. This is in stark contrast to Wanda Maximoff, who in the comics is canonically Jewish, but in the MCU voluntarily agrees to join the Nazi splinter group Hydra and has a crucifix in her bedroom. Wanda’s Jewishness is directly contradicted by MCU canon, but Bucky’s cultural upbringing remains ambiguous. The only insight we’re ever given is that he grew up in Brooklyn, which has a very large Jewish community to this day, giving even more weight to the theory of Bucky being Jewish in the MCU.
Steve grew up being defended by his Jewish best friend who he was then separated from until his friend needed him.
Steve is a golem — a being from Jewish mythology, created from clay by the rabbis to protect the Jewish people in times of strife — on both a metatextual and a textual level. For one, he was created by Jewish comic creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby during WWII to fight Nazis, but he was also turned into a golem by the serum created by Jewish-German scientist Abraham Erskine for the explicit purpose of protecting people from those that wish them harm.
“I don’t want to fight anyone, I just don’t like bullies.”
While it’s a different kind of star to not be quite so obvious, the Hebrew words for “star of David” is “magen david” (מגן דוד) or “shield of David” and what does Steve fight with?
A shield with a star. A shield he uses to save his Jewish best friend from the Nazis as his first true act of Captain America. A shield he uses to save that friend a second time from the Nazi splinter group that held him prisoner for years.
(Side note: Jewish prisoners of the Nazis were more likely to be singled out for experimentation and Bucky was subject to this at least twice.)
Now, let’s talk about why it’s so important that Sam isn’t given the super soldier serum but Bucky is. Bucky was held captive by a fictional group of people that started off from Nazi ideology and have since morphed into something different, something possibly more dangerous due to how deeply entrenched it has become in the US government. He was held captive and tortured by Neo-Nazis, who forced him to do terrible things to survive, something with which many white Jews have to reckon. Bucky had his identity erased over seventy years of torture and brainwashing until he didn’t know his own name anymore, that is, until he was sent to kill his former friend. Instead, Steve saved him by tethering him to his childhood, to the scrappy Jewish kid from Brooklyn fighting off bullies.
Bucky ultimately can’t be held responsible for his actions by any law, but he is morally held responsible and takes it upon himself to make amends. This is a very Jewish concept of forgiveness (not to say it doesn’t exist in other cultures). According to Jewish law, a person “may not expect forgiveness” unless they’ve sincerely undergone teshuvah (תשובה) “return” or “repentance”. This means a sincere attempt at making amends to the person you’ve wronged, or to their family. I don’t know if the FAWS team knew what they were doing here, but honestly kudos either way. If they did, great job on getting it right; if they didn’t then I have nothing but respect for accidentally getting it right.
Teshuvah is not just about making amends, it also involves self-reflection and the resolve to not only apologize and amend but also the resolve to change as a person.
The elements of teshuvah include rigorous self-examination and require the perpetrator to engage with the victim, by confessing, expressing regret and making every effort possible to right the wrong that he committed.
What is therapy if not self-examination persisting?
That also means that Bucky isn’t really making amends in the way that Jewish law requires until Sam sets him straight. Sam Wilson, a black man who grew up in the modern day United States and (in FAWS) the American South. He’s grown up constantly bombarded by an image of America that has never fought for him. But when he’s handed the shield by Steve, he doesn’t become a golem the way Steve was, because he was never given the serum.
While Steve, in his position of social power over Bucky as a white goyische man (though still a victim of oppression himself as a disabled working class Irish Catholic in the 30s) was the one protecting and rescuing Bucky, now Bucky, the white Jewish man, is the physically stronger one who protects, defends, and uplifts the black man wearing the stars and stripes.
When Steve first had his Captain America moment, Bucky shouted to the crowd “Let’s hear it for Captain America!” Steve was a vehicle for a Jewish voice. On the other hand, Sam’s Captain America moment involved him getting to directly shame US senators over their refusal to help the people of their country and the world who need them, even though they very easily could. After Sam gets to have his voice heard, Bucky quietly tells him, “Good job, Cap.” It’s not Bucky’s place to speak for Sam, but to validate and support him instead.
“You have as much power as a genocidal god, or an angry teenager.”
There is a long history between the Jewish and Black communities, one of both contention and support, as well as sharing quite a few members. We are often pitted against each other by white goyische society despite the fact that we have common goals, and Sam and Bucky are a really great (probably mostly accidental) metaphor for what we can accomplish working together.
Bucky is a victim of white supremacy as a Jew but also he benefits from it as a white man, so it’s his responsibility to use that whiteness to defend Sam when he needs it; both in fights — Bucky often jumps in front of Sam to take a hit meant for him — and in society in general — like when Sam was justifiably angry at him and the cops started hassling Sam for his ID.
Bucky’s story is one of reclaiming his agency and then using it to fight for others, even if he’s not being read as Jewish. Regardless of what you think of the show or Marvel as a whole, let’s at least try to be honest in our criticism. And hey, if Marvel wanted to do justice to good old Arnie, it wouldn’t be particularly out of the blue for MCU Bucky to be queer.