Captain America And Bucky Reunited Before ‘Avengers: Infinity War’

Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Infinity War, in theaters now.

If Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes seemed a little too casual about reuniting in Wakanda during Avengers: Infinity War, that is only because this is not the first time they have seen each other since Captain America: Civil War.

At the end of that film, Bucky — who had been the cryo-frozen Soviet Killing Machine the Winter Soldier — was sent to Wakanda where their next-level technology could help to rehabilitate him and Black Panther’s role as the nation’s sovereign leader would prevent the U.S. or other foreign entities from attempting to lay claim to him.

Apparently, though, Steve and Bucky have seen each other since.

During a fan Q&A released on YouTube’s Buld Series channel, the filmmakers were quizzed about it and weighed in with their opinions.

“I don’t believe that’s the first time they’ve seen each other since,” said director Joe Russo.

Sebastian Stan, who plays Bucky, chimed in, “You have two and a half hours. That hug would be like half the film. You need to get moving.”

“I think we make these choices based on the story real estate that we have,” Russo added. “An appropriate amount of time had passed for Bucky to be healed since Civil War. Share, as we know, is a genius, perhaps the smartest person in the world, and she found a way to repair Bucky when nobody else could for many years. I think for us, clearly, Steve had been on the run since Civil War has been keeping in close contact with Shuri and T’Challa. Obviously he’s been hiding somewhere; I think he’s made his way through Wakanda a couple of times, and that’s how we directed that scene. it was not the first time that they were seeing each other since he woke up.”

This actually makes sense, when you consider that Wakanda would be a safe haven for Captain America and his people. Yes, they are on the run for violations of the Sokovia Accords, but in the same way Bucky could be hidden away in Wakanda, so too could Steve, Scarlet Witch, and the others presumably come and go, largely unolested by the rest of the world.

Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War are now playing in theaters. Ant-Man and The Wasp is set for release on July 6, 2018. Captain Marvel will follow it on March 6, 2019, with the untitled Avengers 4 set to tie everything about the Marvel Cinematic Universe into a bow on May 3, 2019. Leave your Marvel questions and thoughts in the comment section below or send them to @RussBurlingame on Twitter!