20 Best Performances In MCU History (So Far)

Much like Bruce Banner, Bucky Barnes is a character who seems to have been a dozen different people over his various appearances in the MCU, be it a loyal best friend and soldier, a silent assassin used for decades as a killer experiment, or a mourning lost soul unable to come to terms with his past.

Through all of these compelling contradictions, there has been one constant bright spot in Bucky's development, and that's Sebastian Stan. Shifting between tough, deadly and depressed, Stan's performance is one of the franchise's most underrated.

Whether playing Steve Rogers' best friend, the deadly Winter Soldier, a reluctant Avenger, or a man completely incapable of confronting the full extent of his past actions, Stan brings both raging intimidation and quiet sensitivity to Bucky's crushing rise and fall.

Never given the props he truly deserves for being such a consistent franchise mainstay, Stan's performance recently reached its apex in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and promises to only get better within Bucky's uncertain future.