Why Bucky Was Weaker Than Redwing

The finale of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier saw the title heroes go against Karli Morgenthau and the Flag Smashers, but during that battle, Redwing was shown to be stronger than Bucky Barnes himself – and here’s why that happened. With the Infinity Saga now over after the events of Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is moving forward with its Phase 4. What makes this new wave so exciting is that it won’t just focus on the movie side of this universe but also a long list of TV shows that will connect directly to the movies.

Phase 4 began with WandaVision, followed by The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which was more directed towards the action genre and had an overall style closer to the MCU movies. Set six months after the events of Avengers: Endgame, the series followed Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) as he decided whether or not to take the mantle of Captain America after Steve Rogers’ retirement, and Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), who continued to struggle with his past as the Winter Soldier. Sam and Bucky teamed up to bring down a radical group known as the Flag Smashers, led by Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman), while they also dealt with John Walker (Wyatt Russell), the man the U.S. government chose as the new Captain America.

Luckily for fans, by the end of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sam had taken the identity of Captain America as Walker proved to not be worthy, though he joined Sam and Bucky in the fight against the Flag Smashers. With a new identity comes a new suit, which Sam got thanks to the Wakandans, as Bucky asked them for a favor when he handed them Baron Zemo (Daniel Brühl) when their alliance came to an end. Sam’s Captain America suit included Redwing, his loyal combat and reconnaissance drone who has gone through a couple of versions, and this last one proved to be stronger than Bucky Barnes, even though the latter is a Super Soldier with a bionic arm.

The MCU hasn’t seized Bucky Barnes’ powers, downplaying his skills every single time, but in the final battle in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he got to show a bit more of what he can do. After his bionic arm was destroyed in Captain America: Civil War, Bucky got a new one courtesy of Wakanda, and it’s now made of vibranium, which grants him higher durability and the benefit of vibration absorption, though it can also be deactivated by Wakandans who know how the arm works. But even with all these characteristics, Bucky was outpowered by Redwing, and the best example of it is how the drone effortlessly used one of its many capabilities to open the sealed van with hostages, while Bucky, using his bionic arm, struggled to open it. This disparity between Bucky’s powers and Redwing, even though the drone and the arm are both made of vibranium and operate thanks to Wakandan technology, is because Redwing is a drone, so the risks it goes through are less than those of Bucky, who even though is a Super Soldier, is still human.

As such, Redwing has many characteristics that Bucky doesn’t even with years of training and a powered bionic arm, such as scanner vision, grappling proficiency, guns, pulsed laser and missile, and more. It’s also worth noting that, as mentioned above, the MCU hasn’t done justice to Bucky and everything he can do as it seems to have forgotten that he is a highly-trained Super Soldier and his arm makes him even stronger and more powerful, so with that in mind, it’s not that surprising that Redwing was made to be stronger than Bucky. There’s still a lot to learn about the new Redwing and there are more chances for the MCU to do things right with Bucky Barnes, and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was only the beginning.