History Fridge / CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier

* It's been conjectured that one of the reasons Steve chose to wear his vintage suit was to jog Bucky's memory of him. It doesn't initially work; the Winter Soldier fights him. It's not until Steve removes his mask, drops his shield, and starts talking to Bucky about their lives together that the Winter Soldier really starts to crack--because ''Bucky Barnes'' was the one guy who never saw "Captain America" when he looked at Steve. Bucky wasn't following Captain America, Bucky was following "that little guy from Brooklyn" to the end of the line.

* In ''Film/IronMan2'', Tony didn't believe Fury saying that his father loved him, answering that his happiest day was sending Tony to boarding school. Learning that Howard potentially figured out HYDRA's infiltration, it actually makes sense: Fury was one of the few people he could be honest with, while his colder attitude to Tony was to protect him from becoming a target for HYDRA. Of course sending Tony away was Howard's happiest day, it was when he didn't have to worry for his son anymore.

** Hooray, HYDRA is gone because we took out S.H.I.E.L.D. Now all we have to worry about are [[{{ComicBook/MODOK}} the]] [[{{ComicBook/Thanos}} dozens of]] [[{{ComicBook/Ultron}} super-villains we're]] [[{{ComicBook/Loki}} now at the]] [[ComicBook/RedHulk mercy of]] because of it. Now, instead of an entire agency defending the world, we have [[Franchise/TheAvengers six people]], who, despite their abilities, are still ''only six people''.

* S.H.I.E.L.D is broken, Fury's faked his death, and their secrets just got uploaded to the Internet. As mentioned above, this includes Coulson. However, if S.H.I.E.L.D rebuilds, they're going to need a new director, one who is experienced, a good team manager, and completely immune to corruption. Phil Coulson would probably be ''very'' close to the top of that list. [[spoiler:This one has been confirmed. The ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' season 1 finale includes Fury naming Coulson the new director of S.H.I.E.L.D.]].

** TheReveal in Series/AgentsOfSHIELD Season 3 that [[spoiler: HYDRA is actually an AncientConspiracy that has existed for millennia, founded to rescue and serve a powerful Inhuman who had been banished to another planet]] adds another layer to it, suggesting that [[spoiler: Zola truly was loyal to HYDRA's cause and turned his back on Schmidt because he recognized that the Red Skull had turned his back on HYDRA's true goal in favor of his own [[AGodAmI vanity]], and Zola's betrayal of Schmidt was a means of [[PragmaticVillainy eliminating his superior before he could derail HYDRA's true plans.]]]]

* Stephen Strange seems like a weird name for Sitwell to drop under the list of 'potential dangers', if we go with the assumption that he hasn't become Sorcerer Supreme yet - after all, the catalyst for his Origin Story is an ''accident'' that mangles his hands. Regardless of how good Zola's machine is, it seems unlikely that it would be able to predict something that random, or even that HYDRA would know enough about the existence and purpose of the Sorcerer Supreme to include it in their variables. Until you remember that Stephen Strange is a talented neurosurgeon, and HYDRA is ''awfully fond'' of brainwashing people; anyone with the potential skills to undo their hard work would probably make their hit list just for that. In fact, being a talented neurosurgeon would be an excellent reason for HYDRA to ''arrange'' the "accident" that mangles his hands. He can't surgically undo any brainwashing if he can't use his hands. With Project Insight shut down, they can't just blow him away from the comfort of a S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier anymore and killing him the up-close and personal way would draw Cap's attention, since Cap knows that Strange is on their threat list. Destroying his hands and dressing it up like an accident would take this threat off the table without alerting Cap. Perhaps we're looking at the Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse version of his OriginStory? There ''is'' a Doctor Strange movie set for 2016.

* If you look at the targets of Project Insight you realize something: even though it was targeting big names like Banner and Stark, as well as the loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, it was also targeting ''potential'' threats, otherwise regular people with a certain mental and emotional makeup that proved to be against HYDRA's interests. The brilliance is who they are up against. Remember, Steve was just a skinny kid from Depression-era Brooklyn. [[BeneathSuspicion He was probably the last person]] anyone thought would end being a world-saving hero three times over, least of all himself. HYDRA learned from Captain America himself that you can't underestimate the potential of even one human. They were trying to prevent another Steve Rogers.

* In ''Film/IronMan2'', Tony didn't believe Fury saying that his father loved him, answering that his happiest day was sending Tony to college. Learning that Howard knew about HYDRA, it actually makes sense: Fury was one of the few people he could be honest to, while his colder attitude to Tony was meant not to make him a target for HYDRA. Of course sending Tony away was his happiest day, it was when he didn't have to worry for his son anymore.
* Fury says that the last time he trusted someone, he lost an eye. This seems like a pretty strange thing to say, considering that he already had his eyepatch when he trusted the Avengers to save New York... until you remember that Coulson, Fury's "one good eye", died in that movie. Of course, Fury knows that Coulson is still alive, but he's keeping up the ruse with the team.

** Not only that, as shown on [[Series/AgentsOfShield Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.]], many of the loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had no idea who was HYDRA and who was on the up-and-up. How many loyal agents were frightened/tricked into fighting and killing other good agents by HYDRA's machinations?

* Zola's algorithm itself is an interesting meta example. It uses all the digital information found by what is essentially the whole planet's CIA to estimate who is going to grow up to be exceptional. This would include the pedestrian stuff like scientists, politicians, civil and military leaders etc. But we see heroes tagged in there as well. Zola's algorithm, in that case, could act as an OriginStory predictor.

** He's talking fast, so it's easy to miss, but when Sitwell is naming all the kinds of people that the algorithm will kill, he says "high-schoolers." That's right, HYDRA is targeting "potential threats" as young as high school students. Then again, [[FridgeBrilliance the guy who took down HYDRA in World War II started off as a 95 pound asthmatic from Brooklyn that the U.S. Army had rejected four times]], so they weren't taking any chances.

* In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', Coulson's remark about having watched Steve Rogers sleeping was a comically-awkward moment on first viewing. Post-''Winter Soldier'', it becomes tinged with FridgeHorror: [[spoiler: it's entirely possible that Coulson's obsessive vigil over Cap's unconscious body was the only thing that kept HYDRA's agents within S.H.I.E.L.D. from ''assassinating Rogers in his sleep'' or taking samples to replicate the Serum before he could be revived.]] Suddenly that fanboy tendency looks a lot less silly.

* For all of HYDRA's talk of wanting a world of order, there are several hints that they have't really let go of their Nazi origins or World War II. The mere fact that among Project Insight's targets include a good chunk of the U.S. government and a sizable portion of New York City or that someone blatantly Nazi-esque like Von Strucker could rise up the organization's ranks, one can't help but wonder whether they're ''still'' following the Red Skull's shadow.

** Or just that Fury's heartbeat and respiration are ''slowed'', not ''stopped''. If Natasha stands there long enough, Fury's heart is going to beat or he's going to take a breath, and Natasha is precisely observant enough to notice.

* Sam's comment "I do whatever he does... just slower" is funny enough, but it becomes heartwarming when you realize [[CallBack it fits Steve Rogers' condition pre-serum]]. Even when he physically outmatched by ''everyone'' during his boot camp, he just didn't give up.

* It was essential that all of S.H.I.E.L.D. had to be destroyed in order to destroy HYDRA. The HYDRA slogan is "cut off one head, two more take its place". If you can't attack the head, what do you do? Attack the body. HYDRA was a parasite in S.H.I.E.L.D., so it had to be burned to the ground to be saved. Similarly, if you know where a parasite (Hydra) is but can't attack it outright because it's disguised itself as a non-parasitic entity (undercover Hydra agents vs. legitimate S.H.I.E.L.D agents), you can starve it by simply killing its host (S.H.I.E.L.D).

*** Yet another reason: Natasha is ProperlyParanoid, and she's been handed a drink by someone she knows is a ruthless enemy. Possibly she's worried about poison as well. While it's admittedly unlikely Pierce would kill them all, it's completely in character for Natasha to refuse a drink poured by someone she doesn't trust.

** It's elaborated on in ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. After the Battle of New York, Pierce and a STRIKE team lead by Brock Rumlow, Jack Rollins and Jasper Sitwell arrived at Stark Tower to demand that Loki, the Tesseract and the scepter be handed over to them to be studied by S.H.I.E.L.D (HYDRA). In the actual version of the scene (not the version seen in the film), the Avengers were able to keep the Tesseract away from Pierce while Thor got to take Loki back to Asgard, but they were unable to keep Pierce from confiscating the scepter.

* For all of HYDRA's talk of wanting a world of order, there are several hints that it hasn't really let go of its Nazi origins or World War II. The mere fact that among Project Insight's targets include a good chunk of the U.S. government and a sizable portion of New York City or that someone blatantly Nazi-esque like Von Strucker could rise up the organization's ranks, one can't help but wonder whether they're ''still'' following the Red Skull's shadow.

** Or just that Fury's heartbeat and respiration are ''slowed'', not ''stopped''. Natasha stands there long enough, Fury's heart is going to beat or he's going to take a breath, and Natasha is precisely observant enough to notice.

** It can seem like a coincidence that Winter Soldier was waiting for him the very same block he managed to turn and escape to. But in fact, that wasn't a coincidence at all, but a BatmanGambit. When Fury tells his car to find him an escape route, the onboard computer responds that the streets ahead are blocked, with one still clear. Fury takes its advice and plows through the crowded street in order to reach the clear one... just as Winter Soldier expected.

* During the World Security Council's face-to-face meeting towards the end of the film, Pierce proposes a toast to them. Watch carefully; The lone female member ''hesitates'' to lift her glass, stalling until Cap takes over the PA system so she ''doesn't'' drink at all... because she's actually Black Widow. She's worried about the drink interfering with her high-tech LatexPerfection-esque disguise!

* While Fury's story about his grandfather the elevator operator is pretty awesome because he's able to intimidate tons of thugs into backing off by showing them he's packing, keep in mind that that was life in America before the Civil Rights movements, where if he hadn't been packing he might have gotten the bullet or even worse, lynched. Similarly, when the fake police give Fury the stinkeye right before the attack, he thinks it's just routine cops-harassing-black-man crap. Here's Nick Fury, professional paranoid and head of one of the most powerful organizations on the planet, and he's so used to cops being jerks to him for being black that he misses an oncoming attack.

** Becomes even worse with the midpoint reveal in ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar Civil War]]'', that [[spoiler:there are five other Winter Soldiers. Bucky says they're worse than he was, since they were originally enlisted HYDRA agents chosen for the project because of their already-massive kill counts. Was Bucky the one chosen for Project Insight ''because'' he was the most disposable? Did they just think they could cut costs on the [[BrainwashedAndCrazy preventive maintenance]] involved in using a fundamentally good man?]]

** Also, it can be assumed that Bucky is a pretty righteous man just by nature, so it would probably take more than erasing his memories of his past to get him to agree to brutally murder people. While Pierce does attempt to sway him into obeying by trying to explain that The Winter Soldier's actions have been a "gift to mankind," he does so after slapping him, so it obviously wasn't his first plan. Also, while Bucky doesn't appear to have any scars aside from around where his left arm got amputated, his status as a super-soldier kind of rules out the possibility that he in any way has the recovery rate of a normal human, so for all we know HYDRA could have subjected him to [[ColdBloodedTorture brutal torture]] along with the pretty clear [[TwoPlusTortureMakesFive psychological reconditioning]]. In a broader scope, if this is the case, it becomes so much more horrifying when realize that, if HYDRA was torturing him, they did so for '''the better half of a century'''. Whether it was decades of abuse or constant cognitive tampering, the film made it pretty clear that, however Bucky appears in upcoming sequels, he's gonna be pretty fucked up.

** And they said they reached "target saturation," not that they had locked on all targets. And, this was just in New York and Washington DC

* According to Rogers, "Even when [Steve] had nothing, [Steve] had Bucky." In this film, Bucky is the one who has nothing. Not even his identity. Explains why Steve feels so inclined to help him, even after Bucky disappears to piece together his past (and clearly doesn't want to be found).

* A lot of people are upset that the Winter Soldier doesn't actually have that much of a speaking part when he's the AntagonistTitle. Except... there's not really anyone there to speak. HYDRA hollowed Bucky out so that he's an effectively mindless minion of theirs, a gun with no ability to act by himself. What did Zola call him? A fist of HYDRA, i.e., a hand ''completely under the control of and useless without the mind.'' Bucky doesn't speak because he doesn't have his own character any more - he's simply HYDRA's embodiment, their hand. The ''hand'' of an antagonist is not the limb you talk to.

* When Winter Soldier is being prepped by Pierce, Pierce tries to make what they're about to do sound like a good, heroic deed he should be proud of, specifically trying to make it sound like if he doesn't do this, the world will be plunged into chaos. While it doubles as propaganda, there's a deeper meaning. to get him to do what he wants, he had to convince him that it was a heroic deed. In other words, behind the brutal and silent combat style, the scary mask, and the hyper-lethal skillset, at his core, ''he's still a good man who thinks he's doing the right thing''. While he's brainwashed, he's still a moral human being trying to be ultimately a good person, and thus, means that Bucky really is still inside. What's more, in the final fight with Cap, he opts to not finish Steve off once Steve stops fighting, and then saves his life as he starts remembering who Steve is, meaning that even if he's willing to do all those awful things, he's still incapable of killing a man who's surrendered and trying to make peace.
* It's been conjectured that one of the reasons Steve chose to wear his vintage suit was to jog Bucky's memory of him. It doesn't initially work; the Winter Soldier fights him. It's not until Steve removes his mask, drops his shield, and starts talking to Bucky about their lives together that the Winter Soldier really starts to crack--because ''Bucky Barnes'' was the one guy who never saw "Captain America" when he looked at Steve. Bucky wasn't following Captain America, Bucky was following "that little guy from Brooklyn" to the end of the line.

* Fury having ''both'' his eyes registered seems like usual ProperlyParanoid for him, yes, but it has more practical reason: It allows him to do things [[NecessarilyEvil he thinks won't be sanctioned]] [[CowboyCop (at least]] [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight legally)]] by Pierce, also to ensure that [[KeystoneArmy if something happened to Pierce,]] [[DefiedTrope S.H.I.E.L.D. can still function.]] So yes, ProperlyParanoid, but for more benign reasoning.

** Additionally, we learn in ''Age of Ultron'' that Clint has a secret family. Most likely, he was either with them or on assignment during the events of the film. Either that, or again, they were afraid of him being HYDRA. In fact, given how many STRIKE agents turn out to be HYDRA, this is actually a reasonable assumption. And if he's with his family, by the time he got out to help them, it might be too late anyway.

* Fury having ''both'' his eyes registered seems like usual ProperlyParanoid for him, yes, but it has more practical reason: It allows him to do things [[NecessarilyEvil he thinks won't be sanctioned]] [[CowboyCop (at least]] [[ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight legally)]] by [[LawfulGood Pierce,]] also to ensure that [[KeystoneArmy if something happened to Pierce,]] [[DefiedTrope S.H.I.E.L.D. can still function.]] So yes, ProperlyParanoid, but for more benign reasoning.

* When Sam meets Steve he connects by relating a story about [[PrefersRocksToPillows soft beds]] and using "rocks for pillows". But then you think about it. Sam's ''Pararescue'', by definition, he has to be ready at an airbase to jump in a helicopter and rush out to wherever he's needed. This means a bed in a forward base with a hard bunk, but not a rock. But that's ''his'' experience, not Steve's. Steve's life was on the frontlines with a mostly WWII tech base behind him, and mostly ''was'' the kind of man who had to rough it with a rock to lie his head on. And Sam ''knows'' this, so he takes a story he likely heard from someone else in the VA to establish a connection and get Steve to open up.

* The EstablishingShot of Washington, D.C. right before Nick Fury is attacked is in itself foreshadowing. Most movies or shows, the establishing shot of an area is blue skies, an idyllic scene. In this, seconds before Nick Fury is betrayed and attacked, it's conspicuously cloudy, showing that things are about to get murky.

** Even better, from HYDRA's point of view it's a [[XanatosGambit win-win]]: either they kill Bruce, (since, unlike his suicide attempt discussed in ''The Avengers'', he doesn't know the shot's coming), or the Hulk comes out and, lacking any visible foes, just starts smashing whatever is handy... which would cause chaos and fear, which they could take advantage of. Moreover, one of the world's very few surviving heroes would then be viewed with suspicion, and HYDRA could easily pain themselves as the saviors.

* As we saw in Avengers, [=SHIELD=] has nuclear strike capabilities, which means [=HYDRA=] had those capabilities. How many nukes were left in the wind when [=SHIELD=] fell? How many off-books nukes has [=HYDRA=] squirreled away or sold off?

* While Steve doesn't contact any of the other Avengers for help because he didn't have the proof they weren't HYDRA until it was too late, another reason for why he didn't contact Tony at least to help him and Natasha would be because in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' Tony told Steve that he set up a bug into SHIELD's files and in a few hours will know every dirty secret SHIELD ever tried to hide. Assuming Steve remembers that, there are only two possible explanations for Tony not discovering this, he either FailedASpotCheck, there was nothing about HYDRA written down, or he is a secret HYDRA agent. It was the first one, but Steve couldn't take any chances.
** Additionally, we learn in ''Age of Ultron'' that Clint has a secret family. Most likely, he was either with them or on assignment during the events of the film. Either that, or again, they were afraid of him being HYDRA.

** As for Thor? Simple. He probably doesn't have a phone.

* While Steve doesn't contact any of the other Avengers for help because he didn't have the proof they weren't HYDRA until it was too late, another reason for why he didn't contact Tony at least to help him and Natasha would be because in ''Film/TheAvengers2012'' Tony told Steve that he set up a bug into SHIELD's files and in a few hours will know every dirty secret SHIELD ever tried to hide. Assuming Steve remembers that, there are only two possible explanations for Tony not discovering this, he either FailedASpotCheck or is a secret HYDRA agent. It was the first one, but Steve couldn't take any chances.

** Even better, from HYDRA's point of view it's a [[XanatosGambit win-win]]: either they kill Bruce, (since, unlike his suicide attempt discussed in ''The Avengers'', he doesn't know the shot's coming), or the Hulk comes out and, lacking any visible foes, just starts smashing whatever is handy... which would cause chaos and fear, which they could take advantage of.

* In ''Film/TheAvengers2012'', Coulson's remark about having watched Steve Rogers sleeping was a comically-awkward moment on first viewing. Post-''Winter Soldier'', it becomes tinged with FridgeHorror: [[spoiler: it's entirely possible that Coulson's obsessive vigil over Cap's unconscious body was the only thing that kept HYDRA's agents within S.H.I.E.L.D. from ''assassinating Rogers in his sleep'' before he could be revived.]] Suddenly that fanboy tendency looks a lot less silly.