I've seen Avengers: Endgame twice now and loved it! And I'm sure I will go see it some more and enjoy it just as much every time.
Yes, I love to ship Stucky as much as the next fangirl, but I think a lot of the extremely angry criticism of Avengers: Endgame on the internet is overblown and unrealistic.
Why?
Because we all know that the MCU is heteronormative. In canon, Steve Rogers is straight and loves Peggy Carter. (And who doesn't love her? Peggy is one of the all-time great heroic female characters!) Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes are platonic best friends. And that's all.
Which is precisely what makes shipping Steve and Bucky as gay lovers so much fun and so subversive! Finding the things that can be interpreted as gay subtext, making transformative fics/videos/art to tell a whole new and more exciting story -- it's great!
But we can't expect that the ship will replace the canon (no matter how much we may want it to!) We must watch Avengers: Endgame on its own heteronormative terms and enjoy it for what it is. And then transform it to what we would prefer to see instead!
That's how it's always worked.
That's not to say that Avengers: Endgame doesn't have some things in it that could have been handled better. Trying to think through the convoluted time travel implications can be mind-boggling and raise serious problems. It would help if the Russo Brothers and the movie's writers would just shut up and stop trying to "explain" because clearly they are only making things worse.
And yes, it would have been nice to have had more Steve/Bucky interaction than was shown. We've got to hang the ship on something, after all! Marvel and Disney were clearly pulling a pretty blatant "no homo" distancing act that was unfair to those characters, even as platonic best friends.
But, all in all, I have no problem accepting Avengers: Endgame as a magnificent movie and a fitting end to this story arc of the MCU. And I look forward to how the fandom will transform the narrative into one which gives Steve and Bucky an equally happy ending!
I'll be posting memes and commentary about some of the main issues people have with the movie. Good points are made, although the main point (as noted) is often overlooked. Sometimes I'll write about how I agree or disagree with particular interpretations. Sometimes I won't.
But at the end of the day, I can honestly say that I can hold both truths in my mind and in my heart simultaneously -- the heteronormative reality of the MCU and the sexy subversive subtext of Steve 'n Bucky's true love for, and devotion to, each other.
And, in that spirit, here's the best Endgame meme I've seen so far --
["I really like steggy but ... Sorry guys!"
by dieflut]
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