Stucky (fandom)
Several individuals associated with Marvel, including Winter Soldier co-creator Ed Brubaker, Barnes' actor Sebastian Stan, and MCU director Joe Russo, have commented positively on Stucky, frequently in a context that affirms Rogers' and Barnes' canonical heterosexuality while offering support for the broader Stucky fandom.
[9] Rogers and Barnes are depicted in-canon as having a deep and meaningful personal bond, with some critics likening their relationship as wartime compatriots to Achilles and Patroclus.
The MCU re-conceptualizes the nature of their relationship, presenting them as same-age lifelong best friends[4][11] and establishes their bond as a key plot element and mutual character motivation.
[17] While Carter has an established history as a canonical love interest for Rogers in the comics, Joanna Robinson wrote in Vanity Fair that the depiction of Carter was the "one flaw in the otherwise great" film, arguing that the film's kiss between Steve and Sharon exists primarily to "put the nail in the coffin of speculation" around a homoerotic interpretation of Rogers's and Barnes' relationship.
[19][20] Robinson and other critics hypothesized that their interactions were minimized to build popularity for Sam Wilson / Falcon as he assumes the title of Captain America,[c] and to emphasize the canonical love story between Rogers and Peggy Carter.
[40] In May 2016, Twitter user Jess Salerno tweeted "#givecaptainamericaaboyfriend" in response to a similar internet campaign around the hashtag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend, which focused on Elsa from the 2013 film Frozen.
[41][44][45][46][47] While the hashtag was ostensibly organized around fans who wished to see Stucky made canon, both it and #GiveElsaAGirlfriend were also broadly concerned with the lack of LGBT characters in media properties owned by Disney, of which Marvel is a subsidiary.
[50] The outlet further commented that #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend "highlights demographic shifts that have yet to be reflected in the texts audiences are responding to", in reference to the popularity of Stucky relative to the lack of LGBT characters in superhero films.
[14][54][55] An image from a fan photo op of Evans and Stan at Wizard World Philadelphia posing with cosplayers kissing while dressed as Rogers and Barnes went viral in 2016.
"[14][15] Screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who jointly wrote the Captain America film trilogy, Infinity War, and Endgame, though describing the Rogers–Barnes relationship as platonic, likened it to a love story and described the characters as soulmates in the foreword of the trade paperback edition of the comic book series Captain America: White.
[56] Other individuals who have remarked positively on Stucky include writers Ed Brubaker, who co-created the Winter Soldier with artist Steve Epting,[57] and Mark Waid, who remarked in an interview with Marvel regarding his 2016 run on the comic book series Black Widow that both Black Widow and Barnes "have had a crush" on Steve Rogers.
