Warning: This post contains Black Widow spoilers.
Black Widow served as a swan song for Natasha Romanoff but also set up futures for several characters — including, potentially, Bucky Barnes. A firm favorite among fans, the MCU journey of Bucky Barnes (a.k.a. The Winter Soldier) has already been a long and storied one. Initially, Bucky was the best friend (and stalwart World War II ally) of Steve Rogers. Following his seeming death, however, Bucky served as a feared Hydra assassin for multiple decades, before ultimately breaking free to become a superhero in his own right.
Taking the co-center stage, parts of Bucky's journey were explored like never before in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. As well as delving into the tearful moment Bucky was officially deprogrammed, the Disney+ Marvel series saw him reckon with his unwittingly murderous past. This came in the form of frequent therapy sessions and a relationship with Yori Nakajima, the father of a Winter Soldier victim. Unfortunately, the payoff never entirely matched the build-up, with no name change on the title card and his confession to Yori given short shrift. These fueled the belief that Falcon and Winter Soldier had failed with Bucky Barnes' redemption. The show's writers, however, promised that there was more to come.
As it happens, Black Widow may have actually offered a taste of how that may look — and the next stage of Bucky's journey. Revisiting the MCU's now-distant past, Black Widow introduced Olga Kurylenko's formidable Antonia Dreykov (a.k.a. Taskmaster). She and a whole host of Widows, including Florence Pugh's Yelena Belova, had similarly spent years as brainwashed murderers. By way of synthetic gas, each was ultimately freed from their chemical subjugation in the third act. Like Yelena briefly demonstrated midway through the movie, Taskmaster and the others were now able to make their own choices and live life on their own terms by Black Widow's ending. As such, Bucky Barnes now had a whole wealth of people with whom he could more deeply relate, and who could relate just as much back.
Yelena more or less seemed to throw herself into her newly-discovered freedom - clothes shopping for the first time, adopting a dog, and likely much more. Regardless, she still struggled with the idea of where the conditioning ended and her true self began. Equally, the idea of reintegrating with society, and finding her place within it, would no doubt have been daunting. That would be true of the other Widows, and most especially Taskmaster, who have all known nothing but their Red Room existence since childhood. Such a journey and exploration would be fascinating to behold and could lead in a variety of different directions — ranging from heroic and civilian to potentially even more villainous. In either case, the now trigger-free Bucky Barnes would be the most perfectly placed character to overlap with such journies.
Crossing paths with such characters would allow a deeper exploration of the trauma and PTSD they all share. It would be the kind of exploration that The Falcon and the Winter Soldier only touched on, while also following through on that show's events. Bucky could clash with potentially dark reflections of himself, from a path he could easily have taken. More importantly, it would give him a chance to guide those more inclined to follow his path, passing on the wisdom he received from Sam Wilson and Steve Rogers. In that regard, he could follow in Steve's counseling footsteps and embody that side of the character as Sam furthered the Captain America mantle after The Falcon and the Winter Soldier finale.
It would make for a logical next step for Bucky Barnes, with him learning from those he mentors as they evolve under his tutelage. It would allow compelling interactions and growth on all sides. And it would offer a wealth of material both dramatic and comedic — as they all leave behind or officially recontextualize their bloodsoaked titles and embrace new chapters. Following the events of Black Widow, it could even lead to a whole new MCU team.
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