The Falcon and the Winter Soldier's Sebastian Stan broke down his history of wearing cybernetic arms in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how each new model influenced his performances as both Bucky Barnes and the Winter Solder.
In a BBC interview, Stan was asked how the metal arm functioned as a prosthetic, to which he revealed that its original model in 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier was rather uncomfortable. According to him, that arm initially broke in two due to it being made of "a really hard material so I couldn't even like, just getting it to use it was like extremely difficult. But again, that also informed [a] kind of a behavior for the character in a way and I remember refusing to wear the less shiny one. I wanted the hard, uncomfortable material because that was gonna look the best."
As for the post-Civil War vibranium arm he wielded in later movies, Stan revealed that the new model was still one-piece but far more flexible and comfortable to wear on-set. Despite this, he explained that "I still find myself sometimes catering to the old one, you know because it just had such a specific shine to it, and it was so iconic in the comic books. So physically I definitely had some love wounds from my partner in crime, the left arm."
A byproduct of his sustained injuries from a fall in World War II, Bucky's metal arm would be utilized alongside other HYDRA mental conditionings to turn him into the Winter Soldier. Eventually, Bucky sacrificed his arm in Captain America: Civil War's climactic fight against Iron Man and was later cured of his brainwashing programs while in Wakanda, remaining there until T'Challa and Shuri gave him a new arm to fight Thanos' forces in Avengers: Infinity War. While he retains the vibranium arm in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it's revealed during Bucky and Sam's meeting with Isaiah Bradley that Isaiah actually broke half of the Winter Soldier's arm during their Korean War encounter, implying that his iconic shiny prosthetic wasn't the original model.
Created by Malcolm Spellman and directed by Kari Skogland, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier stars Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Emily VanCamp, Wyatt Russell, Noah Mills, Carl Lumbly and Daniel Brühl. New episodes debut on Fridays on Disney+.
Source: YouTube