Bucky Barnes was near cats in ‘What If…?’ and I still don’t have my favorite comic pet

There are some Marvel animals that delight fans. We’re all obsessed with Jeff the Land Shark and Lucky Pizza Dog is beloved. My favorite happens to be Bucky Barnes’ pet cat from the comics. For one brief moment, I thought What If…? was giving her to me.

Alpine has appeared in the Kyle Higgins run of the Winter Solider comics. It is my favorite of Bucky’s story and I do believe part of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was pulled from this run. Bucky Barnes did not, however, have Alpine on the show. She’s an all white cat who was featured in the background as Tony Stark fixed Bucky’s arm.

She’s beautiful, perfect, and a character I want to see Bucky have in the live action. So when season 3 episode 3 of What If…? titled “What If…The Red Guardian Stopped Bucky Barnes?” put the two in a vet’s office, I thought my time was here. Alas, this show like every other bit of Marvel programming is teasing me. What do you mean he was sat in FRONT of a cat, getting his arm fixed up, and I still do not have my Alpine girl?

To be fair, the episode was set during the 90s when Bucky assassinated the Starks. In this timeline, Howard Stark and his wife Maria live thanks to the Red Guardian and so Alpine wouldn’t be alive yet. That doesn’t mean I’m not angry I was teased a cat for Bucky!

Alpine is something of a comfort to Bucky. A man who has been brainwashed kind of needs a good cat to keep him company. So I did think his Disney+ series would bring her to me. Alas, I was wrong. We do see him living a “domestic” life in the trailer for Thunderbolts though…

Is Thunderbolts going to give me what I want?

I ask for so little when it comes to the Marvel Cinematic Universe but I have been asking for Alpine for a while. Since her introduction, I just want to see a cat dad version of Bucky on screen. You know he’d get her the best food around and make sure she knew he was loved so why not allow that to happen in Thunderbolts?

Bucky Barnes washes his arm in a dishwasher in the trailer for the film. To me, that’s his home. Granted that might not be the case but for my line of thinking, it is Bucky’s own dishwasher. If he has a whole home all to himself, why not let him have Alpine? Look, we got Kate Bishop with Lucky in Hawkeye so why not allow me this one joy?

All Alpine has to do is walk around in the background. She doesn’t have some special skill. She’s essentially an emotional support cat. And we need more feline representation in media. Cats often get the short end of the deal and I love that Bucky Barnes is a cat guy. So if What If…? isn’t going to give me Alpine, can Thunderbolts do it? Please?