It didn’t make much sense that Steve Rogers decided to go back and live a strange weird alternate-timeline life at the end of Avengers: Endgame. However, Steve Rogers did make a much better decision after that. Upon returning to find his friends, Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes, right where he left them, Steve chose to pass the Captain America shield on to Sam.
This shocked audiences, as many viewers were expecting Bucky to become the next Cap. While Sam would be great in the role, there are many ways that Bucky would actually make a better Captain America than Sam, in the end.
10 Bucky Knows Exactly What Steve Wanted Captain America To Be
Ever since Steve and Bucky were children, they have been inseparable. They knew each other inside and out before they even knew anyone else. Bucky fought at Steve’s side as he became Captain America, and he returned to it in the 21st century —even when he didn’t remember him.
After everything that has happened, if anyone knows exactly what Steve Rogers wanted Captain America to be, it’s Bucky. He understood Steve on a level nobody else did, and Steve was the original Captain America. Bucky can embrace those original ideals better than anyone.
9 The Skills Bucky Has Lend Themselves Directly To Being Cap
Captain America is known for being a super-soldier. Ever since he was a very young man, back in the 1940s, Bucky has literally been a super-soldier. He was recruited into the army, where he became arguably the best sharpshooter the American military had. After that, he was placed on a special team.
He even remained on Cap’s Howling Commandos after Steve rescued him and his teammates. Over the years, Bucky became a more and more skilled soldier, gaining sharpshooting skills until he was one of the best of the best. These skills would serve him well as Cap.
8 Bucky Got The Super Soldier Serum That Can Keep Him Safe
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has been dealing a lot with the super-soldier serum and what it means. While the serum isn’t necessary for someone to become Captain America, it certainly does help. It is true that what was good becomes great, and what was bad becomes worse, but Bucky is good.
He has the serum, and he was able to overcome even HYDRA's brainwashing to use the superhuman powers he has for good. Even more, Captain America has to be someone who can take a lot of heavy hits. Only somebody like a super-soldier could do that, and Bucky’s had the serum in him for some time, now.
7 The Legacy Of Captain America Is Important To Bucky
If The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has proven anything, it’s that the legacy of Captain America is more important to Bucky Barnes than anybody originally anticipated. While everyone knows that Bucky and Steve mean the world to each other, the Bucky that came back was not necessarily one who might respect the shield.
However, above all else, Bucky respects Steve, and everything Steve stood for. Seeing the title of Captain America being completed shredded by John Walker has made Bucky livid, and for good reason. He wants to honor the legacy of Captain America, and nobody can do that better than Bucky can.
6 Bucky’s Chances For A Normal Life Are Significantly Lower Than Sam’s
After all of these years, Bucky’s hopes for a normal life are relatively slim. Not only is the man over one hundred years old, but the only person he knew with shared life experience, Steve Rogers, seems to have passed away. Bucky could have a better life, but he’s resistant to embrace this new world.
He still has a long way to go, and becoming Captain America could help him along that road. Sam has a family and friends, people who matter, and an actual life in the 21st century. He should be able to live his normal life and not dedicate everything to being Cap like Steve had to. If someone must bear the burden, Bucky can take it on.
5 Sam Should Get To Be His Own Hero If He Doesn’t Believe In Captain America
Steve may have passed the shield on to Sam, but that doesn’t mean that Sam wanted it. The title of Captain America could become incredible if he held it, but he doesn’t feel that he wants to. If Sam Wilson doesn’t feel attached to the image of Captain America, he shouldn’t have to take it on.
A lot comes with that symbol, and Sam isn’t exactly pro-all of that. Bucky believes in Captain America and what he stands for, and he could take up the mantle with that in mind. Sam could instead continue being Falcon, or become his own version of Cap, with his morals and character intact.
4 Giving Up The Shield Meant Something Different To Sam Than To Bucky
Bucky sees Sam giving up the shield to the government as him surrendering the title of Captain America, but, to Sam, the action meant something slightly different. Rather than giving up on Captain America, Sam was indicating that the legacy of Captain America had ended, for him, with Steve.
Nobody else could become Cap, because the title was so unique to Steve in Sam’s mind. Where Sam was at mentally when he received the shield, he couldn’t take up the mantle of Cap. He hadn’t yet uncovered what being Cap means —something that Bucky already figured out.
3 In Combat, Bucky Is The Superior Fighter
It is relatively unfair to compare anyone to Bucky Barnes combat-wise. The man has had a hundred years of training, and possibly even more —he was fighting bullies for Steve on the playground when the two of them were still little more than toddlers.
Bucky was a soldier in World War II before he became one of the army’s best sharpshooters, then a Howling Commando —and then a brainwashed HYDRA agent. As the Winter Soldier, Bucky was known around the world as an impossible threat, a ghost that couldn’t be stopped. After Steve saved him, Bucky was able to combine everything into who he is now.
2 Bucky Was Once A Leader, & He Could Be Again
While it may be difficult for people to look at the dynamic duo of Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes and see Bucky as the leader, Bucky has displayed many strong leadership qualities over the years. He was leading the Howling Commandos before Steve came overseas, and he was one of the highest-up agents of HYDRA while brainwashed as the Winter Soldier.
It’s likely he even trained people like the Black Widow. If Bucky was such a strong leader before, he could become one again, and perhaps even better this time. Captain America has to be a strong leader, and Bucky can be that man once again.
1 Bucky Can Redeem The Title Of Cap While Sam Becomes A Brand-New Hero
After everything John Walker has done to smear the title of Captain America in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, the image could probably use some rehabilitation. Bucky Barnes, too, could use some rehabilitation —his image has suffered greatly over the years.
Sam Wilson, as suggested previously, could become his entirely own new hero, completely separate from all the baggage that being Captain America now comes with. Bucky could instead take on that baggage and redeem himself simultaneously alongside the title of Cap.