WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD
Marvel fans will remember Bucky was frozen in Wakanda during the end credits scene of Marvel‘s Captain America Civil War.
With this in mind, there was much speculation he would appear in Black Panther.
However despite King T’Challa’s struggle against Killmonger, Bucky’s wasn’t awoken to aid in battle, but was instead saved for an end credits sequence with Shuri.
Now director Coogler has revealed to Empire, on their Black Panther spoiler special, why this decision was made.
Coogler said: “[A Bucky scene] was something that was always—it was a Shuri thing, because in our world we kind of figured that Bucky Barnes would be her assignment.
“We kind of drop the hint at that when they bring Ross in and she’s like, ‘Oh another one.’
So we dropped hints in there, but what we kind of decided was that her cracking his mental code, if Shuri’s as smart as she is, that wouldn’t really be a big problem.
“But Bucky would have horrible PTSD, he would need spiritual guidance. The last thing he would need to do is jump into that Civil War, and so that was kind of the thought process there.”
He added: “And it could be potentially problematic if it’s a bunch of Africans fighting and you bring in a White dude, he comes in shootin’ people (laughs).
“We were aware of that. Bucky’s not trained to neutralise people peacefully, he’s an assassin…”
Bucky and Black Panther will return in Avengers Infinity War, released in UK cinemas on April 27, 2018.