James Buchanan Barnes is no stranger to a fight. He’s about to embark on another one in the upcoming The Falcon and The Winter Soldier series premiering this week on Disney+. Let’s take a look back at his complicated and sometimes horrid history within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers grow up together as best friends. he was always there to help the weaker Rogers when it came t handling bullies. During a double date, Bucky reveals that he’s enlisting in the army. While fighting in the 107th infantry, he is captured by Armin Zola unaware of Steve’s transformation into Captain America. When he found out about his friends’ torture, he heads out to help him, where he uncovered strange experiments were being done to him. In a mission to capture the German scientist, Barnes gets caught in the ambush and plummets to his presumed death.
It isn’t until Captain America, the Winter Soldier that we are introduced to the Winter Soldier. Bucky survived the fall from the train but lost his left arm in the process. He was found by the Soviet Union and HYDRA, who experimented on him. They gave him superhuman strength and a cybernetic arm. Over the next fifty years, he was their number one assassin, eliminating anyone who posed a threat. Steve confronts him and can reawaken Bucky’s consciousness. He went into hiding ever since until he was framed for the bombing of the UN in Vienna two years later.
He becomes the catalyst of Captain America: Civil War, as Zemo uses him to get his hands on the whereabouts of proto-Super Soldiers in Siberia. He used a secret code implanted into Bucky’s mind that activates his murderous side. It turns out, the wild goose chase with the Avengers was all to unveil secret footage of him killing Stark’s parents to rip the Avengers apart from the inside. Stark attempts his life, where he teams up with Rogers to stop him. In fear of the programming within his mind, he has frozen again in Wakanda so that no one can manipulate him again.
After taking some time to recover, Bucky joins the group of former Avengers to aid them in a battle against Thano’s army in Avengers: Infinity War. He battles alongside Steve and Rocket Raccoon, who tries to buy his new Wakandan arm. Unfortunately, Thanos achieves his goal of gaining all of the stones and snaps half of all life out of existence. Bucky happens to be one of the people who fade from existence. It isn’t until five years later that Bucky is resurrected and participates in the final battle against Thanos. After the war has finally been won, he says farewell to his old friend in a somber moment before allowing Sam Wilson to take
How does Bucky live in a world without Captain America? More importantly, can he? Will his time as the Winter Soldier continues to haunt him? These questions and more will be answered as The Falcon And The Winter Soldier commences on March 19th on Disney+
