Epsilon Civil War
A/N: One of my favorite games is "Well, How Would You Fix It?" Here's how you play: whenever someone complains about something (or whenever you find yourself complaining), stop and ask the simple question, "how would you fix it?" This turns the destructive, negative exercise of complaining into a positive, creative one. Playing this game with my writer friend Raina has already spawned a six-part fix-it for the Star Wars sequels (still in the works), and when I applied it to my favorite least favorite MCU film, this was the result.
For this thinking exercise, I had a few simple rules.
1. Change as little as possible. The story still needs to be recognizably Civil War.
2. Keep it realistic. Stick to superhero movie conventions, and make no changes that wouldn't be available to the real film crew.
3. Make it fun. Turn Civil War into a movie I would have actually enjoyed seeing in theaters.
This is the result. It is not a perfect fix by any stretch of the imagination; I might be coming back to change it sometime in the future. I'll try to explain my choices, and other things I would like to have changed, in the author's notes below. Epsilon isn't perfect, but it's good enough that I'm starting to be able to replace my memories of the real Civil War with this imagined movie, which means it successfully passes this exercise.
Why "Epsilon"? Well, because in Timeline Epsilon—a branch timeline that split off from our own somewhere back in 2015—this is the real Civil War that hit theaters! Or so I'd like to believe. Anyway, enjoy.
Siberia, 1991. The movie opens with a sweeping shot of the snow-covered tundra. We see the Winter Soldier being removed from cryofreeze; a sting of violins and high, metallic screeches echo in the background, which will become Bucky's musical motif throughout the movie.
Europe, present day. Captain America and a small group of the Avengers are doing recon in a small town, looking for an unnamed vigilante. The audience learns more about this mysterious character through their conversation over the com links. Steve gets separated from the group, and someone, probably Natasha, warns him to be careful.
Natasha: This guy has taken out at least a dozen HYDRA cells all through eastern Europe. We don't know who we're dealing with.
Steve: You know what they say about the enemy of your enemies.
Natasha: Yeah, they can still stab you in the back. Stay sharp.
He's entered the shadow of an empty warehouse. The score quietly rises into anxiety-inducing strings. A hand in a black glove emerges from the darkness behind Steve, and the score cuts out. We hear the arm whir as it claps its hand over Steve's mouth, and another hand, without a glove, tries to take the com out of his ear.
Steve grabs the guy from behind him and flips him over his head. The masked attacker goes rolling, but Steve's com clatters to the floor too.
Steve and the masked man spar briefly. They're matched for speed and strength. At one point, Steve throws a punch, and the masked man blocks it with his left arm. CLANG.
They share an intense look. The masked man's ocean blue eyes look very familiar. They fight some more. They're at least three yards apart, and the masked man is standing over Steve's com link.
He holds one hand out for peace and takes off the mask slowly. A gentler version of the strings from earlier plays. It's Bucky.
Steve is still tense, but he can't help but be overcome with some emotion.
Bucky: You're walking through a dead zone. The signal went out, and you'll be back to them in a few minutes. Do you understand?
Steve, emotional but resigned: So you were never here.
Bucky doesn't answer, but looks relieved that Steve understands. Steve removes his helmet and holds it in his hands.
Steve: It's been a long time, Buck.
Bucky, nodding: Seventy years.
Steve: Or one.
Bucky doesn't answer, but his eyes shift slightly.
Steve: I was looking for you.
Bucky, walking away: I didn't want you to find me.
Steve: You can come back. HYDRA is...
Bucky, interrupting: Don't you dare say "gone". It's not. Trust me, I've tried.
Steve notices a grungy map pinned on the wall of the warehouse. Bucky takes it down and starts to roll it up.
Steve: All those cells—Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Kaliningrad—that was you?
Bucky: I guess you could call it repentance. Or revenge.
Steve: You've got at least three purple hearts with your name on it.
Bucky shakes his head and puts it down even before Steve finishes talking.
Steve: We could get you asylum, a pardon, for everything.
Bucky: I can't.
Steve: You could come home.
Bucky, fed up: Look, whoever you remember to be, I'm not him anymore. Haven't been for a long time.
Steve looks disappointed.
Bucky, more kindly: You seem like a good person. I owe you.
He reaches into his pocket. Steve tenses for a fight, in case what comes out is a knife or a gun, but Bucky pulls out a pen instead. He turns his back and begins to write a note.
Bucky: There's a bio-weapons testing plant in Lagos. Caught the eye of a HYDRA cell, headed up by someone called Crossbones.
Steve, recognizing the name: Rumlow.
Bucky: Bastard.
Steve chuckles and turns away.
Bucky, folding the note: They plan to raid the place. Should be in Nigeria within the month. I'd take it myself, but it's too public. Figured it'd be more your speed.
Steve: You're sure about this?
Bucky: Positive.
Bucky hands him the folded note. The camera focuses on their hands for a moment as Steve takes it and stares at the folded paper.
Steve: What if the situation changes? How can I find you again?
Bucky: Hopefully, you don't.
He smiles and begins to walk away, picking up his bag and the map on the way out.
Steve opens the first fold of the paper. There's an address scrawled inside.
Bucky: By the way, what shoe size do you wear now?
Steve, surprise: Uh, eleven?
Bucky, quietly: Eleven.
He stares off into space for a moment, as if remembering something, then chuckles and shakes his head.
Bucky: Don't lose that.
He points to the note and walks away. Steve opens the note fully, and a key drops out and falls onto the warehouse floor. Steve bends to pick it up.
Bucky: Bye, Steve.
Steve: Bucky?
He looks up and looks around the warehouse, but there's no evidence the Winter Soldier had ever been there.
The music begins to pick up again. Steve picks his com link off the floor and fits it back into his ear. There's shouting on the other end; the Avengers are panicking about losing contact with Steve, and are frantically trying to find him again.
Steve, trying to keep the emotion out of his voice: Hey.
Sam: Cap?
Steve: Yeah. Sorry, walked through a dead zone.
He looks around the warehouse one last time, as the score picks up to an energetic crescendo, and then starts walking.
Steve: What did I miss?
Cut to shaky-cam footage of Johannesburg, South Africa, in the Hulk rampage from Age of Ultron. The footage is from the ground, showing the destruction and fleeing citizens.
We hear Tony Stark's voice before we see him. We see footage of him a press conference, giving a speech about relief efforts that the Avengers are funding in the wake of Ultron. However, the listeners are unhappy, and he gets boo'd and shouted down off the stage.
Wakandan King T'Chaka is also interviewed about the destruction, and he reports that Wakandan relief workers were among those killed in the destruction. He calls for responsibility from the Avengers.
Steve might catch Wanda watching this broadcast. She feels guilty for the incident; after all, it was her mind manipulation that caused the Hulk to go on a rampage in the first place. Steve has a quiet chat with her, which is interrupted by Vision reporting that Tony has returned and brought the Secretary of State.
Secretary Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross pitches the Accords. An argument ensues between the Avengers about whether or not to sign. Steve receives a text informing him of Peggy Carter's death. He goes to mourn by himself on the staircase.
London, day. Steve is a pall-bearer in Peggy's funeral. He sits in the pew with Sam Wilson at his side. While Sam is attentive, Steve spaces out while the minister speaks. Either through voiceover or a small flashback scene, he recalls Peggy once encouraging him to be strong.
Peggy: Compromise where you can. And where you can't, don't. Even if everyone is telling you that something wrong is right. Even if the whole world is telling you to move. It is your duty to plant yourself like a tree and say, "No. You move."
Steve's eyes are reddened from weeping, but when the voiceover or flashback ends, he looks up with a sad, hardened resolve.
Natasha meets him in the chapel after the funeral to give him a hug.
Cleveland, day. Zemo interrogates Bucky's former handler for information on the Winter Soldier and where he was kept. He kills the handler and takes the Red Book from his belongings.
Vienna, day. King T'Chaka and Prince T'Challa are introduced. Natasha talks to the latter. T'Chaka is the first speaker at the UN meeting.
Wanda and Vision have also come to attend the signing, but they have lunch in the town and become distracted. Running late to the meeting, they encounter a white van outside the UN building, which security guards are searching. The guards cry out in alarm and run away; there's a bomb in the van.
It goes off. Wanda manages to suppress the blast with her powers, but she's straining and grimacing with the effort. Vision manages to fly the two nearest people out of the way of the blast. Meanwhile, T'Challa sees what's going on at ground level and shouts at everyone to get down, lunging to protect his father.
Wanda loses hold. The full force of the bomb shatters the UN windows, knocking T'Challa back in mid-leap. King T'Chaka is killed. Vision barely manages to save Wanda, but she is badly injured.
Security footage later identifies the bomber as the Winter Soldier. Natasha fails to convince either Steve or T'Challa to get involved.
Meanwhile, Secretary Ross is having a heated discussion with a soft voice on the phone.
Ross: We had an agreement! This ratification is crucial. You just killed one of my best supporters and rattled the others. You'll be sorry for interrupting this!
?: It will deter suspicion. Besides, you still don't have the support you need. Half of them were going to vote against you. Trust me. Be patient. They'll be begging you to get them in line when I'm done.
Steve is already on the hunt for the Winter Soldier. He's sifting through police reports and claims of sightings on social media, but none of them seem to narrow it down.
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the key Bucky gave him; he carried it with him to Europe. The company logo embossed on the key is not in English, and Steve struggles to read it.
Steve, slowly: Bucureşti...bu...bukku...Bucharest.
He narrows his search to police reports from Bucharest, Romania. There's a single blurry photo of someone who looks like Bucky entering an apartment building.
Steve holds the key in front of his face as the string motif frets and rises to a crescendo.
A moment later, he's in that apartment building, testing the key in the lock of a certain door. It fits and turns. There's newspaper on the walls, and the place looks abandoned, but a few sparse essentials and a disturbance in the dust on the floor suggest that it's been occupied recently.
Steve searches the place quietly. The score is quiet and tense. He searches a small room, then turns around. A knife is held to his neck. He raises his hands for peace.
Steve: Are we gonna keep meeting like this?
Bucky, gruffly: Are you here with the police?
Steve, firmly: No.
Bucky, slightly desperate: I wasn't in Vienna.
Steve: I know, and I believe you. But they're convinced you did it, and they're not planning on taking you alive.
Bucky pauses, then removes the knife and releases Steve. Steve winces and rubs his neck. Bucky goes to the window and peeks between the sheets of newspaper, seeing several police cars parked nearby.
Bucky: You shouldn't have come.
Steve: If we make it clear you're under my protection, maybe they'll go easy on you.
Bucky: Yeah, 'cause your word counts for a lot right now, doesn't it?
Steve doesn't answer. Sam Wilson, over the com link, warns him that they've surrounded the building. Bucky overhears this.
Bucky: You got a plan?
Steve: You got an escape route?
Bucky: A few.
Sam's voice barks that they're moving in. Steve and Bucky tense for a fight.
Steve: Then pick your favorite!
Bucky attempts to escape. He evades the police, but a wild Panther joins the fight, and they fight on a rooftop. Bucky steals a motorcycle in an attempt to make a getaway, but fails. Bucky, Steve, and T'Challa are apprehended by Rhodes and the police.
Avengers HQ, night. While Wanda recovers from her injuries, she and Vision are making paprikash and conversation, and also betraying one another.
Atlantic Ocean, day. Steve, Sam, and T'Challa are in an armored plane, being sent to the United States. To break the tense silence on the plane, Sam asks the prince, "so you like cats", and the conversation continues from there.
Meanwhile, Zemo boards a plane and quietly leaves Europe.
Joint Terrorism Task Force building, Long Island, day. Steve sees that Bucky is held in a gigantic glass box, and they share a look through the glass. Bucky appears frightened and silently pleading for help, though he's trying to hide it. Steve looks angry and upset at the situation, though he's trying to hide it as well. The machine moves the box with a jolt, and Bucky turns away.
We meet Everett Ross, who is condescending and generally a pain. He brags about the psychiatrist sent to examine Bucky, someone "recommended by the Secretary of State himself". Steve isn't pleased with this revelation.
The psychiatrist, of course, is Zemo.
Halfway through the psych exam, an EMP goes off at the nearby electrical substation and cuts power to the Task Force building. Steve immediately realizes something is wrong and follows the Task Force guards to the prison block where Bucky is kept.
Meanwhile, Zemo uses the cover of darkness to electrocute Bucky, using the internal disciplinary system in the glass box, to torture him into obeying his old HYDRA commands from the Red Book. Bucky is in intense pain, but struggles against the electrocution enough to break free of the box. Once free, he crouches on the floor, trying to catch his breath, and Zemo demands "mission report, December 16, 1991". Bucky grabs him by the throat and beats him up.
Cut back to Steve. Other terrorists held prisoner in the building have taken advantage of the blackout to attempt escape, fighting the guards in the halls. Steve takes down a few of the terrorists, but is wounded in the process. (Among those prisoners, as an Easter egg, might be Ulysses Klaue or Brock Rumlow.)
Bucky is attempting to escape. All of the guards who try to intercept him are taken down easily. Bucky tries to spare Steve and Sam, whom he recognizes, but has no trouble fighting Tony and T'Challa. In his confrontation with Natasha, he recognizes the Widow's Bites as she's about to use them and smacks them away. "Not that again."
Bucky attempts to leave in a helicopter. Steve catches up and tries to hold the helicopter down. Gunmen appear on the roof and begin shooting out the windows of the helicopter. Steve loses hold of the bar on the landing pad. The helicopter throws him into the air, and he loses hold and tumbles towards the Sound below.
Bucky leaps out of the helicopter to save him. Both of them hit the water. The copter crashes. Fade to black with police sirens wailing in the background.
Steve wakes up in a warehouse. He's propped up into almost a sitting position, and his clothes are wet through and stained in places with blood. Bucky sits nearby, similarly drenched, and sharpening a knife. Sam comes in from outside, and Bucky informs them about the psychiatrist's plan to find the other five proto-Winter Soldiers, known as the Wolf Spider Project.
Bucky: We have to get to Siberia.
Sam: Unless you plan on swimming, we need a ride.
Steve: I think I know where we can get one.
Bucky uses his skills at espionage to steal their gear back out of the Task Force building. Steve carjacks a Volkswagen bug as their vehicle to the airport. Bucky is cramped in the backseat. "Can you move your seat up?" "No."
A high school cafeteria, Queens, New York, day. Peter Parker shows his friend Ned a youtube video of Spider-Man fighting Stilt Man. Ned asks why Spider-Man didn't just go for the legs. Peter says that he's heard Spider-Man should be an Avenger, but Ned is unsure Spider-Man is good enough for the team. "He's good, but he's not Avengers good. He's not as good as, like, the Falcon." They argue. Peter overhears that something's going on at the airport, puts it together with the news about Captain America and the fugitive Winter Soldier, and runs off, yelling to Ned that he's got something to do.
John F. Kennedy International Airport, day. Clint Barton brought Wanda Maximoff and Scott Lang as backup for Cap, while Iron Man showed up with the rest of the Avengers and Black Panther to stop them from leaving. Peter, in his homemade Spider-Man suit, jumps in line with Iron Man. Tony barks at him to leave because it's not safe, and Peter blurts that Iron Man is his favorite Avenger and pleads to give him a chance.
The airport fight goes as normal. Ant Man goes Gi-Ant Man. Peter fights with Falcon and gets his butt handed to him. He's muttering dejectedly to himself until he remembers Ned's comment from earlier and goes for Ant Man's legs, turning the tide in favor of Team Iron man.
Steve and Bucky break away and run for the Quinjet. Natasha interrupts them, but shoots Black Panther with her Widow's Bites instead so they can escape. They get airborne.
Vision accidentally shoots Rhodey out of the sky. The fight over, Iron Man tells Peter he's done and to go home.
Meanwhile, in the Quinjet...
Bucky, thoughtfully: What's her name?
Steve, focused on the controls: Natasha.
Bucky, remorseful: Natasha...I shot her.
Steve: Yeah, in the shoulder.
Bucky: And the side.
Steve, surprised: You remember that?
Bucky, shaking his head: Bits and pieces.
His eyes become distant, and he sighs heavily.
Steve, after a thoughtful pause: You know, those things you did...it wasn't you.
Bucky: But I still did it.
Steve doesn't answer.
Bucky, darkly: Can't say much has changed.
Steve is thoughtful for a moment, and then smiles slightly.
Steve: I think you're wrong.
Bucky looks up.
Steve: You jumped into the water to save my life. You didn't have to tell me about the psychiatrist, but you did. You can't look me in the eyes and tell me you're not a good person.
Bucky doesn't answer, and Steve doesn't get to see the tiny smile that comes to his face.
Steve begins flipping switches to put the plane into autopilot.
Bucky, casually: When did you learn to fly?
Steve, tensing suddenly: Um…
Atlantic Ocean, night. Team Cap has been locked in the Raft prison. FRIDAY finds evidence that Bucky was framed for the bombing, and Tony tries to report this to Ross. Of course, this is to no avail, because Ross has exactly what he wants—the Avengers behind bars and under his control—and he was secretly involved in the bombing. Tony takes matters into his own hands and talks to Sam, who tells him that Steve and Bucky are headed to Siberia. Tony decides to head there in secret.
Siberia, day. Steve and Bucky touch down on the snow. They reminisce briefly about a snowy day from their childhood; "you called her Dot". Midway through their search of the facility, Iron Man shows up.
Tony: Hey, Manchurian Candidate, you're killing me. There's a truce here.
Steve motions for Bucky to put the rifle down.
Bucky, skeptical: So are you supposed to be friends or something?
Tony: No. Yes.
Steve: It's complicated.
Bucky doesn't seem convinced, but lowers the rifle anyway.
Unbeknownst to them, the three were followed by Black Panther. They encounter Zemo, who beat them there and has already killed the Wolf Spider prototypes. Bucky makes it clear that he didn't appreciate being electrocuted for information. Zemo is dismissive and much more interested in Steve and Tony. He admits to bombing the UN, which causes Black Panther to realize his error.
Zemo then sparks a fight between Steve and Tony by playing footage of the Winter Soldier killing Tony's parents. Bucky stammers through an apology and Steve attempts to defend him, but Tony is having none of it. A fight breaks out.
Zemo slips away, content that his revenge is complete. T'Challa meets him and stops him from committing suicide. "Vengeance has consumed you. It's consuming them. I will not let it consume me."
Bucky slips away from the fight, leaving Steve and Tony to fight to a stalemate. Wounded and exhausted, they come to their senses and realize they've been manipulated into hurting one another.
Tony, unwilling to see his friends rot in prison (and beginning to doubt Ross and the Accords), tells Steve that they're being held in the Raft. They agree to rescue them, and then all offending parties will have to drop off the grid.
So they break Team Cap out of the Raft. Wanda is especially useful with her powers, and she gets revenge for the shock collar she was forced to wear in the cell.
Steve has to drop off the grid. He sends a letter to Tony, the contents of which we get to hear as voiceover. Steve apologizes for his part in the conflict. He extends an olive branch to Tony, hoping that they'll be able to work together again soon.
As contrast, we see footage of Secretary Ross visiting Zemo in his glass cell in the Task Force. Zemo expects that Ross will have him freed, but instead, Ross has Zemo killed for failing to deliver on his promise.
Steve expresses that even when separated, they will always be a team. Tony folds the letter and stores it away. The camera lingers on the "A" symbol on the outside of Avengers HQ as the Avengers theme plays quietly and triumphantly, and credits roll.
Mid-credits scene: Unknown safe-house, day. Steve receives a phone call from a blocked number. After a pause, an automated voice begins listing off numbers. Steve realizes this is a code and grabs a sheet of paper to jot it down. After the recording ends, the caller hangs up with a click.
Steve spends some time deciphering the code, but when he finally does, he smiles wistfully and gives a little laugh. He places the translated code in an envelope with Bucky's apartment key. The violin strings from before rise in the background as the camera lingers on the translated code, which reads, "until the end of the line. see you soon."
End credits scene: Peter Parker returns home to find Tony Stark flirting with Aunt May. Peter and Tony talk privately in Peter's room, where Tony confirms that he knows Peter is Spider-Man. He gives Peter a suitcase and leaves. Curious, Peter opens the suitcase. We don't see the contents, only the back of the case, and the Spider-Man symbol is projected onto the ceiling.
Black background, white text: "Spider-Man will return in Spider-Man: Homecoming."
A/N: Super long explanations for everything below. I welcome polite discussion. Reviews are keys.
One of the things that irked me about Civil War was its strange lack of continuity. You don't get much of a sense of what happened since AoU, or even what happened to Bucky since the CA:TWS. To imply more continuity in the story, and to bring Bucky closer to what he is in the comics, I tried to portray him as an independent vigilante, someone not exactly on the side of good but firmly against the evil that hurt him.
Of course Epsilon focuses a bit too much on the relationship between Bucky and Steve. I'm going to justify it by saying that we never really get a sense of why Steve cares so much about Bucky in Civil War, and that makes his final choice between Tony and Bucky seem really strange. Epsilon did start out as an exercise to "make the audience care about Bucky", and the rest came afterward.
Rumlow lives in Epsilon. I tried to leave the possibility open for a potential Winter Solider solo movie, and Rumlow, considering his charged history with the Winter Solider, would make an interesting antagonist.
No Lagos here. The Lagos fight is one of my favorites in the movie, but it feels like it belongs somewhere else. So much was set up here that goes nowhere, including Crossbones, biowarfare, and Wanda's character arc of overcoming guilt. We don't need Lagos to make Wanda feel guilty anyway; there's still Johannesburg, and to me, the Ultron incident and near destruction of the planet always felt like a more realistic reason for the Accords than the accidental deaths of a couple dozen people in Lagos.
Sharon Carter is not present. Sorry, Sharon. Maybe I'll revisit this sometime and give her a real character arc. But she was barely a character in Civil War—only an awkward spouter of exposition and even more awkward love interest—and after her performance in CA:TWS, she either deserves a better arc or not to have her name tarnished at all. Besides, after playing around with removing her from the story, I realized that her absence forces Steve and Bucky to become more competent and do things for themselves, which I obviously can't complain about.
Steve comes to his own decision not to sign the Accords here. It's in memory of Peggy, for sure, but he's not just swayed by a random speech he happened to hear that had nothing to do with his current situation.
Wanda still gets to fail to suppress a bomb, but this time, it has more consequences. She and Vision can still get their awkward romantic subplot, but at least this way we get a little Vienna scenery.
Civil War desperately needed a singular villain. I have always headcanon'd that Ross created and artificially pushed through the Accords so that he could take control of the Avengers for himself. Zemo working for Ross just adds a fun twist and entertaining villain conflicts.
Yes, Steve carried that key with him to London. Yes, Steve is a sap. I always wanted the reunion in Romania to be more friendly, and here, despite the circumstances, it is.
I'll explain why the Task Force was moved later. For now, it's in New York, and that means a plane ride, and that means "so you like cats" happens in a plane.
You have no idea how much I wanted Steve and Bucky to share a look through that glass box. The angst. ThE ANGST I TELL YOU
I had two choices: Zemo kills the actual psychiatrist, or Ross pulls strings so that Zemo is shooed in as the psychiatrist. Either one is evil, but I went with the chance to make my main villain more evil.
Oh boy, I do not have time to go into all my problems with the Words. Suffice it to say that I always understood Bucky's Winter Soldier conditioning in CA:TWS to be manipulation of his environment and gaslighting; he was told what to believe, and wasn't allowed to hear or remember anything else. His obedience to his handlers was mostly because he couldn't remember how to disobey. On the other hand, the Words strike me more as a magic spell to summon Bucky's secret evil twin out of nowhere, and I Do Not Like. So here, Bucky has to be tortured into submission to the Words, and even then it doesn't really work. He fights through anyway.
"You could at least recognize me?" Well, now he does, Natasha. He at least knows those Widow's Bites hurt.
Bucky saves Steve as a matter of giving him more autonomy. It's his choice to rescue Steve. It's his choice to stick around until Steve wakes up. It's his choice to tell Steve about the psychiatrist and his plan. This builds their relationship and also makes the audience more sympathetic to him as he's opening up to people and making strides to do the right thing. Also, parallel to when Bucky pulled Steve out of the Potomac? Yes.
The other five "Winter Soldiers" are not Winter Soldiers. They're Wolf Spiders. There's only one Winter Soldier, because if HYDRA could make better ones, they would have disposed of the defective, rebellious one. There's only one Winter Soldier and you can fight me.
"Can you move your seat up" and "no" are still the best lines in this movie.
Peter's entire involvement in this story is inspired entirely by "The Spider-Man Problem" by Nando v Movies on Youtube. Please go watch his video for a more in-depth discussion. The Task Force had to be moved to New York so that Team Cap would go looking for a Quinjet at the JFK Airport in Queens, so that Peter can drop in uninvited. No, Tony does not recruit a minor in Epsilon, because that's dumb and illegal and also why would he want to.
It is still undecided between me and Raina whether Bucky knows about Steve crashing the plane into the Arctic or not. On one hand, it's hilarious. On the other hand—it's still hilarious.
It still irks me that Bucky was the center of the conflict in Siberia and he didn't get to say a word to his own defense. Sebastian Stan is a talented actor! Give him lines, darn it!
Removing Bucky from the fight means that Tony no longer has anyone to kill and Steve no longer has anyone's life to protect. Therefore, the fight fizzles out. Bucky gets to keep his arm.
No cryo scene. On one hand, I'm happy to see Bucky making his own choices for his recovery and finding some peace. On the other hand, that's exactly what HYDRA did to dehumanize him and treat him like a useless object. Freaking yikes. So the answer here is no.
Zemo dies. He might be important in the upcoming Falcon and Winter Soldier show, but for the purposes of this exercise, I don't care.
Bucky's happy ending is an open-ended one that leaves the option open for a HYDRA-smashing solo movie.
Out of the context of the whole "recruiting him to fight Captain America in another country" thing, Tony in Peter's house is one of the best scenes of the movie. I'm glad Nando figured out how to rescue it.
And I think that's it. If I had my way, Wanda and Vision would have beefier roles. This movie was their second outing after AoU, and they desperately needed the characterization. Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out a way to flesh them out that didn't derail the focus of the story. Maybe I'll come back to that sometime.
If you've made it this far, I have a dad joke for you: Which president got his start in landscaping? George W. Bush. HAH okay bye