MCU: 15 Marvel characters who deserve more screen time

8. Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier

When Steve Rogers’ beloved best friend, Bucky Barnes, fell to his death in Captain America: The First Avenger, nobody (well, non-comic fans at least) could have expected him to return as the antagonist of the sequel, The Winter Soldier. But alas, he did – due to an experiment that saw him fitted with a robotic arm and trained to become an assassin.

Bucky’s been through a lot throughout the course of the MCU and, thanks to Sebastian Stan’s multi-layered performance, we have felt every part of it. He’s been a best friend, a soldier, a trained warrior and even a prisoner in his own body. However, as seen in Captain America: Civil War and, later Avengers: Infinity War, his friendship with Steve was enough to help him break through his programming and ultimately remember the hero that he once was.

Having said that, this change-of-heart brought one negative with it, and that was the fact that he was subsequently given very little to do on-screen. Sure, he was involved in the MCU’s most iconic battle sequences as he helped the team battle Thanos and, in the process, completed his well-crafted redemption arc, but from a storyline standpoint, he received very little attention.

It’s not uncommon for superhero films and/or TV shows to push former villains into the background once their redemption is complete but, given that Bucky had a huge tie to Steve, it would have been nice to see the pair get to spend some more time together.

Thankfully, he’s going to get the attention he deserves as he will be joining Falcon in the pair’s upcoming co-headlined TV series on the Disney+ streaming service.

Just don’t reduce him to a background character this time, okay?