The Winter Soldier: a retrospective of Bucky Barnes and all his history in Marvel

Not long ago, we offered you an article in which we related the story of Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier, but focusing on his trajectory and evolution in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Today our “walk” through the history of the character is going to be different. Today we go to his origins, to the comics, how the Winter Soldier was conceived and how he became a member of SHIELD after going through the history of Captain America, a role that he also held. A good “tapita” before lunch that turns out Falcon and the Winter Soldier

And yes, now we go back in time, but not to World War II, but to 1917. This kid has his time already … Barnes was originally born in Shelbyville (not The Simpsons … that we know of). His father was a soldier, but he died without even going into combat, which meant that even though he was a kid – whose only remaining family was his sister Rebecca – he entered the army without a specific role. It looked more like the soldiery had picked up poor Bucky; that he was treated in a very different way from the rest, as you might expect. But it will be in that environment that takes place in the Timely Comics (and that its own creator, Joe Simon, indicates that the boy’s name came from a basketball player in his city, Bucky Pierson).

We are still in the forties of the 20th century – if we refer to the publication date of the comics – and this young man would meet here with the figure he would accompany (because at the beginning all superheroes used to have a young companion, and if no, once again we are going to name you the example of The Simpsons by Radioactive Man and Fission Boy, an absolute example of 20th-century superhero comics). It is something that was established as “natural” and that little by little it was removed from the middle, although it is a technique that has thrown its tail … until Captain America: Civil War in the cinema, when curiously Peter Parker becomes the young companion of Tony Stark, who “sponsor” on his entry into the group of heroes.

And it is that, taking up Bucky’s early years, that’s where he meets Steve Rogers, to whom he will take affection and that, contrary to what is seen in the UCM (where it is curiously Barnes who protects the young Rogers) and whom he will accompany. It will be something very widespread in the comics, not without an important time slot dedicated to training. Since then they will fight against the Nazis and against red skull, something that is reflected in Captain America: The First Avenger in the cinema; but he is not the only character that they will fight that we know today: do you know who Zemo is? If you have seen part of the filmography, you know who we mean. And if not, put Falcon and the Winter Soldier on, because there he is again.

Be careful, because now you will see how the story merges (pun intended) with the cinema, although not his own: trying to dismantle a bomb from the plane created by Zemo himself (not by Red Skull), he explodes himself and his body It falls to the North Atlantic Ocean, where it will freeze … and it will remain in that state until The Avengers find it and resurrect it … but we would find out about this already in the 2000s. What does that sound like to you? The most interesting thing is that this “original” Barnes dies, although it has an appearance after death on various occasions.

In the end, he will be defeated by Captain America (attention to that scene from the movie Winter Soldier).


We now enter the history of Winter Soldier, not that of Bucky Barnes, who as we say, would have died. It was an idea from the 21st century to create a story line in which Captain America is aware that Bucky is alive, and that when he found his body, he had lost an arm. They take him to Russia as part of Department X, re-program him and employ him as a hit man. What if, the bionic arm enters to scene. And now is when Marvel fans salivate: Barnes will carry out several missions, including assassinating Dr. Zhang Chin … but he is also sent to the Weapon X laboratory, where he will help free none other than Wolverine, although he will also kill to his wife, who was pregnant. But then we’ll know the baby was saved.

It is in the adventures of today when Bucky Barnes will begin to carry out serious attacks, attacks with dozens of deaths, and when he will manage to finish off the Red Skull. He is also going to kidnap Sharon Carter (yes, Maggie’s niece, our Cap’s once “girlfriend” in the movies, and who also appeared in Winter Soldier, where we recognize that they managed to pressure a lot of information from the comics) . But don’t you know who her lover was in times in the Soviet Union? None other than a young lady named Natasha Romanov, the Black Widow herself.

Steve Rogers will die in the comics, at which point his shield will go under the supervision of SHIELD, but Bucky will steal it, knowing that Tony Stark (who in the comics Yes survives Rogers) will oversee the appointment of a new Captain America. He will thus become the bearer of the shield of vibranium. But Stark has no hesitation in accepting Rogers’ latest request: to keep an eye on Barnes. And what he will offer is that he is recognized as the new Captain America.

We have just merged with the timeline that is partially contemporary with Falcon and the Winter Soldier, although you know that the series/cinema and comics are parallel but with points in common. Without the intention of carrying out any hint of spoilers, it is possible that we skip from Civil War (much of the argument that we have told you comes from there) to a situation in which Bucky himself ended up holding the shield once Falcon has done it, to whom Rogers hands it. How they will adapt this situation remains a mystery. How we will see it or if it will even happen in the series, another.

But Marvel does things quite well, and although to reflect the brutal content of the comics it would be necessary to have many hundreds of hours of footage, we hope that this walk through the “past” of the character in the comics will help you to place a little plus the elements that we see in the series, which continues to be inspired by their content. Y we encourage them, of course, to read (now yes, but under your responsibility as far as possible spoilers are concerned) the already finalized series Bucky Barnes: The Winter Soldier.

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