Ho Yay / Captain America: Civil War

• The film as a whole can be interpreted as a drama about Steve choosing Bucky over Tony.
  Steve: Sorry, Tony, he's my friend.
  Tony: So was I.
• Marvel plays with the above scene where these lines were said in the "Civil War Cure" promotional video for Doctor Strange (2016). Here, Strange is prescribing treatments for various injuries sustained in the film when the aforementioned scene comes up, prompting Strange to say that there's no cure for a broken heart.
• Crossbones taunting Steve in the beginning sequence by telling him, "You know, he remembered you. Your pal, your buddy, your Bucky." It's already enough that Crossbones somehow knows that bringing up Bucky would be the perfect way to distract Steve. But the sneering way he enunciates that phrase, and the fact that historically WWII soldiers were encouraged to form "buddy" bonds for morale's sake but which often became a pretext for homosexual relationships, makes it sound like, regardless of whether it's true or not, Rumlow is accusing Steve of having feelings for Bucky in the manner of a homophobic slur.
• Cap explaining to Wanda why he failed to properly defuse Rumlow's suicide vest before it was detonated, causing the disaster that launched the Sokovia Accords, which makes questionable sense otherwise:
  Cap: Rumlow said "Bucky" and all of a sudden I was a sixteen-year old kid again in Brooklyn.
• This movie in general seems dead set on cementing the idea that Bucky is Steve's real love interest. Steve's loyalty and devotion to Bucky is arguably the biggest over-arching theme of his series of films. Nearly everything that Steve has done in The First Avenger, The Winter Soldier, and Civil War had Bucky as the main motivating factor in some way. In The First Avenger, Bucky is what causes Steve to finally take initiative and join the war as a real soldier, with some encouragement from Peggy. In The Winter Soldier, Steve allowed Bucky to nearly beat him to death, without fighting back, because it was what Bucky seemed to have wanted. Here, it is established once and for all that Steve is willing to do anything for Bucky — to the point of splitting up the Avengers himself and becoming a fugitive, potentially ruining his legacy and reputation, just to protect him. That level of commitment is unnaturally high, surpassing even that of some Happily Married couples. On Bucky's end, it seems one of the main reasons why Bucky stayed away from Steve for so long is because he knows how far his best friend is willing to go for him, and that he doesn't want to cause Steve anymore pain. This is combined with the wracking guilt he has over the crimes he committed as the Winter Soldier, and with it the belief that he simply isn't worth it, even though Steve sees differently. This eventually leads to his decision to go back into a cryo chamber until a way to safely remove his programming is found. With how much the universe seems intent on keeping them apart, Steve and Bucky's relationship starts to resemble as that of one between Star-Crossed Lovers.
• Scott Lang has a Stupid Sexy Flanders moment with Steve, touching his pecs in a similar manner to Peggy Carter in TFA.
• Meta examples: The movie's writers describe Cap's relationship with Bucky as "a love story; he can't let go of his brother", which is an example of a mid-sentence case of Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading, plus the fact that Sam and Bucky apparently are nicknamed "Cap's two girlfriends" on-set.
• Also, the scene where Tony is cradling a seemingly dead Rhodey in his arms. It obviously escalates the conflict.
• At the end of the film, it looks like Rhodey is the only one Tony still cares and worries about. And then you remember Tony is no longer dating Pepper.
• Towards the end Zemo refers to T'Challa as a "dutiful son", but quite a few fans heard it as "beautiful son" and assumed Zemo was Eating the Eye Candy instead.
• Shipping Sam and Bucky with each other has gone way up post-movie, thanks to the Like an Old Married Couple flavor of their bickering (also helped by the actors engaging in much the same behavior during press junkets).
  • Alternately, a lot of their interactions could be seen as interplay between the present boyfriend vs the Ex.
• When Ant-Man grabs War Machine, Tony gets pissed. Serious Business in the middle of a lighthearted action sequence.
  Tony: Give me back my Rhodey!
  • And continuing the trend of Tony's movie endings involving bonding with a male colleague, he spends his last moments in this film helping Rhodes learn how to walk.
• Zemo reveals that over the course of his plan he obsessed over the Avengers and followed them for a year. When he comes face-to-face with Cap the first thing he notices about him is "there's a bit of green in the blue of your eyes". Talk about dedicated.
• The final shot of the movie, pre-credits, is Steve rescuing Sam from prison. Note that Sam's already smiling when he turns around, indicating he knows Steve's come for him. The knowing smile they share has been described as... less than heterosexual.