Clint Barton and Bucky Barnes, Steve’s hot-headed little brother and Steve’s original little brother, they both had a really interesting relationship going on in the comics. They first meet after Steve’s death and after Bucky debuts as Cap, which really pisses off Clint and well they don’t start on the right foot. And it’s no surprise because they both have that cocky attitude and have tremendous respect for Steve, they pretty much view him as their big brother and seeing anyone taking his spot really grates on them.
Of course Clint is more of a hot-head that tends to think more with his fist than his head and wants to punch everything and Bucky is a snarky smart-ass, they were going to clash eventually.
Besides the scenes shown here Bucky and Clint had the occasional talk on the Avengers, comic and over in Captain America and the Hakweye and Mockingbird mini they would be seen training and sparring together with Steve, also Clint was there for Bucky’s birthday.
It kind of sucks that Bucky bit it in Fear Itself, because these two had a really fun dynamic not to mention Bucky was forming a lot of interesting relationships with the Avengers (except for Thor, it was always weird with Thor) and he was starting to see them as family.
Of course these are comic books and Steve came back from the dead in the most weird way so Bucky can come back and then he can resume his banter and face-punching friendship with Clint.
Pictures are from Captain America #37 and New Avengers: The Reunion #1
EDIT: I forgot to mention but I find it funny how Clint refers to Bucky as “kid” and tries to talk to him about life experiences and shit despite the fact that Bucky is way older than Hawkeye and probably experienced some nasty stuff during the war that Clint never had to deal with. But I guess since Bucky was Cap’s young teenage sidekick some still view him as that and you know Clint will rub his seniority on the Avengers on him.
[I hope you don’t mind if I take out the pictures because I just have to have your comments on my blog!]
Aaaa I will never stop crying about how Bucky has not had the chance to really establish solid relationships with the rest of the Avengers in the comic books. He was in the second half of New Avengers v1 but he was mainly just their Captain-America-stand-in-slash-landlord. And in the new Avengers, he hardly had any dialogues, let alone any development apart from Bendis suggesting he would do something horrible such that the Next Avengers really abhor him.
Anyway, I’ve been so fascinated about Clint’s and Bucky’s relationship most too. Clint showed up more than almost any other one during his Cap run and it was pretty interesting how they got on from their hostile first encounter to the sexual tension the bantering in New Avengers: Reunion and then working pretty tightly together in Reborn. I guess one could argue that by being in the Avengers they’d learn how to work with each other, but I have the feeling that Bucky’d be pretty closed up with the other Avengers even back when they were in his place (he was still feeling insecure and unsure of pretty much everything, from his role as Cap, to his role as an Avenger, as well as just someone trying to squeeze back into a world which had moved on without him)—the relationships between him and the rest of them would be like, mostly professional. But I think Clint got a little bit more into his skin (omg suggestive pun!): there’s just this feeling that he managed to bond with Bucky as not just the-new-Captain-America, but James Barnes. This could be the reason why Clint felt so betrayed in Cap #611 when he found out about Bucky’s past as Winter Soldier through the media. Not because he was disappointed in him for having such a shady past (who was he to talk!), but because Bucky’d managed to hide such a big part of himself from him.
I think Dazz and I talked before about how Clint’s and Bucky’s relationship kinda made everything go full circle. Back when he first joined the Avengers, Steve and Clint had a rocky relationship which slowly transformed into mutual (maybe grudging?) respect for each other and then a close friendship. Steve helped Clint be the hero he had always been. I guess you could say Steve mentored Clint! And then when Steve ‘died’ for a bit, there was a new Captain America and the role was reversed: Clint could very much help Bucky with being more comfortable in the Avengers and the superheroics community (especially during Dark Reign when everything was all… “dark and complicated” (tm)).
And then when Dark Reign was over and it was all bright and shiny again and Bucky was actually in the Avengers, the official team in public spotlight without having to hide in the shadows and stuff anymore. I think he would’ve hesitated about that. Steve would have persuaded him to take up the offer anyway, but the discomfort is definitely even starker, especially now that Steve is obviously alive and everyone still calls Steve ‘Cap’ and Bucky ‘Bucky Cap’. Out of the new Avengers team, he would only know Jessica, Logan, Spidey and Clint. I guess Clint would sense his discomfort and that fish-out-of-water feeling and try to help him with it, just like how Steve helped Clint with being accepted by the superheroics community when he first started out. This probably involves shenanigans.
Also, I wish we got a bit more of how Bucky would have interacted with especially Tony and Thor, as Cap and as himself. Aaaaa.
I guess like. I’m just really sad because there’s this huge potential of how Clint and Bucky could have been with each other and I guess this is never gonna happen going to be put on hold for a bit. Ah.
I think this is very badly written like anything else by me but probably even more so because I’m trying to listen to lecture and type this out at the same time so. Yeah, I should pay attention.
