#[ yeah he probably should've pushed harder to not allow bucky ]

[shieldslinger-a]

so you know i think there’s a lot of comparison between robin and bucky and batman and captain america and i think that’s... honestly i can see why they get compared, but they actually have very little in common when it comes to the sidekick thing?

tl;dr: steve would kick batman’s ass for allowing a child to be put in harm’s way, no matter how bullheaded the child, because despite bucky dying at an older age (20), he was essentially steve’s younger brother, and he never recovered from that loss, and made damn sure that bucky’s death meant something--that no other child was going to meet the same end that he did. not if steve had anything to do about it.

so like, first thing and most obvious thing i want to point out: steve and bucky are partners in world war ii. they are partners during a war, where it was likely that if bucky wasn’t steve’s partner, he was going to enlist in the army anyway. like, not that that justifies anything, but bucky was bound and determined to throw himself into that war one way or another. he was not going to be dissuaded, and frankly, the culture surrounding him wasn’t going to discourage him either. everyone was doing all they could to support the war effort. and a lot of people were volunteering for the war. did you know that kids as young as 16 could enlist with parental permission? and there’s no telling how many soldiers were enlisting and lying about their age. so there was a definite culture of younger men enlisting and serving when steve and bucky became partners. and like--sure, maybe steve’s complicit in noticing that bucky’s too young to be enlisting--but keep in mind, bucky’s an orphan at this point, and in the custody of the army. the army can approve whether or not (or int his case, when) bucky can enlist. he wants to join up at 16? yeah, they’ll take him. bucky was going to join the army one way or another, and frankly, at least by being captain america’s sidekick, bucky wasn’t going to be shoved into a trench where his chances of dying were super fucking high.

batman and robin? 2/3 robins were 12 year old boys. the difference between a 12 year old and a 16 year old is drastic. 12 year olds have barely touched puberty. a 16 year old can drive a car. like there’s a huge difference in age there, and the difference between 16 and 18 isn’t nearly as drastic. and there’s no war going on in gotham, there’s no culture of enlistment or all-encompassing... effort? like there’s no organization, no real reason for someone to be trying to play hero before they’re an adult. kids could be kids in this area--tho crimes committed often interrupted that. but there’s still like... no real, pressing reason for a 12 year old to put on a fabric costume and face down people with guns, aside from someone who is supposed to be a parental figure thinking that’s a good way for a kid to deal with his misplaced grief and rage instead of like, yknow, therapy.

which kinda goes into my next point: there’s only 4 years difference between steve and bucky when the cap + sidekick stuff starts. they’re close in age. their relationship is that of siblings, of brothers, not father & son. and lets also realize that the first year as cap and bucky, they were stateside--bucky only hit the frontlines at 17, and a year after that, was 18. for a majority of his time on the frontlines of the war, he was of age.

and if you look at when he died? he was 20. he was a young man, a young soldier, but legally an adult. jason, the second robin? dies at 15. still very much a child.

like. taking a step out of in-world stuff for a moment, their roles are also very different. both were to bring in younger audiences, sure, but bucky’s overall statement is that young men were lost in a terrible, terrible war. bucky was an example of why it was so important that adults protect society, and children specifically. bucky’s death devastates steve. he never gets over it. and he never  allows another child to take that role--when rick jones tries and tries and tries to be his sidekick and be an avenger, steve says no, over, and over, and over again. he will not let anyone die like bucky again. period. end of story. if you are a child, your job is to be a child and enjoy life, worry free--not get hurt, not train for combat, not die, like so, so many people steve saw die. because again, remember, he worked with bucky and lost bucky, for sure, but he also saw so many young men die in wwii. that tragic loss stays with steve, even when the young avengers begin trying to form, where he almost completely tries to shut them down. 

but fuckin batman man. jason todd, aka the second robin, dies at 15, and not too long afterward he takes a 13 year old sidekick under his wing again. like.... don’t get me wrong, tim drake is my fave robin and he legit gave batman very little choice... but also: bruce is a grown fucking adult and he just had a child die on him. he should know better than to let another child volunteer for the dangerous job of his sidekick. all of steve’s sidekicks after bucky? adults. people who could decide for themselves and realize what they were signing up for. because they frequently did die, or get terribly close to it over and over again.

like there are some similarities between batman and captain america, especially when it comes to plucky sidekicks, but the context is really important to differentiating between them. bucky is a lot older than most robins when he becomes a sidekick, he’s underwent military training, it’s a period of war and he reaches adulthood by the time he dies. robin 1 & 2 are 12 when they’re made robin and really don’t have any business being robin, as there’s no external pressure or cultural push for it, and robin 2 dies at 15, only for batman to... not have learned a thing, apparently, and just picked up another child sidekick not too much later. 

#mun :: reads comics. #steve rogers :: headcanon. #steve rogers :: captain america. #bucky barnes :: winter soldier. #[ like. comparing them is an insult ] #[ you wanna blame someone for bucky being so young ] #[ blame the army ] #[ blame the culture ] #[ but don't point the finger just at steve ] #[ yeah he probably should've pushed harder to not allow bucky ] #[ but consider that bucky was going to join the army one way or another ] #[ he could've died in a trench at 16 ] #[ or in a plane blast at 20 ] #[ but it was so highly likely both of them would die ] #[ because it was a war ] #[ batman and robin? completely and fully irresponsible ] #[ and only really comparable on the surface ] #[ any deep read and comparison just... shows how fucked up batman is ] #[ and how much bucky's death really fucked up steve ] #[ anyway no one asked for this but here it is ] #[ there's no snacks i'll get off my soap box now ]