The character of Bucky Barnes has one of the most storied and transformative histories in comics, marked by two distinct and wildly successful eras. He first appeared as Captain America's plucky young partner, Bucky, in Captain America Comics #1 in March 1941, created by the legendary duo Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. During the Golden Age of Comic Books, kid sidekicks were a popular trope, designed to appeal to a younger readership and serve as a viewpoint character. Bucky was to Captain America what Robin was to Batman—an energetic, brave, and relatable counterpart to the larger-than-life hero. For decades, Bucky's defining characteristic was his death. He was famously killed off in a 1964 flashback story in The Avengers #4, the same issue that reintroduced Captain America to the Silver Age. His death, in an attempt to disarm a drone plane launched by Baron Zemo, became a cornerstone of Captain America's character, fueling him with immense guilt and loss. This death held a unique permanence in an industry known for frequent resurrections, leading to an informal industry rule known as the “Bucky Clause,” which stated that aside from Uncle Ben and Gwen Stacy, Bucky was the one character who should stay dead. This all changed in 2005. Writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve Epting took on the Captain America title and orchestrated one of the most acclaimed retcons in comic book history. In Captain America (vol. 5) #1, they introduced a mysterious and lethal Soviet assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Over a masterfully paced storyline, it was revealed that this enigmatic killer was none other than a resurrected, brainwashed Bucky Barnes. This revelation was a seismic event for readers, shattering the “Bucky Clause” and revitalizing the Captain America mythos with a dark, modern, and emotionally resonant spy-thriller narrative. The Winter Soldier's creation was a testament to the power of thoughtful retconning, transforming a once-simple sidekick into a complex, tragic, and compelling anti-hero who remains a fan-favorite to this day.
The specific details of how Bucky Barnes became the Winter Soldier differ significantly between the primary comic book universe and the cinematic adaptation, each providing a unique emotional context for his tragic transformation.
In the original Earth-616 continuity, James Buchanan Barnes was an orphan whose father, a soldier, died in training at Camp Lehigh in Virginia. The camp unofficially adopted the tenacious young man, and he became their mascot, known as “Bucky.” It was here he befriended the seemingly clumsy Private Steve Rogers, eventually stumbling upon his friend changing into his uniform and discovering his secret identity as Captain America. Instead of being sent away, Bucky was trained extensively by Steve Rogers to become his official partner. However, Bucky's role was far darker than the public knew. At only 16 years old, he was tasked with performing the covert, morally ambiguous operations that the symbolic figure of Captain America could not—espionage, assassinations, and “wetwork” behind enemy lines. He was the covert operative to Cap's public soldier. In the final days of World War II in 1945, Captain America and Bucky were tasked with stopping the original Baron Heinrich Zemo from stealing an experimental Allied drone plane. While confronting Zemo, the duo leaped onto the departing plane, which was booby-trapped. When Bucky tried to defuse the bomb, it exploded in mid-air. Steve Rogers was thrown into the freezing waters of the North Atlantic, where he would be frozen in suspended animation for decades, while Bucky was believed to have been killed in the blast. However, Bucky did not die. The explosion ripped off his left arm, but he survived the fall into the ocean, his body preserved by the icy water. He was later found by a Russian submarine, the crew led by General Vasily Karpov. With no memory of his past, the amnesiac Bucky was taken back to the USSR. Soviet scientists attached a sophisticated bionic arm and subjected him to an intense brainwashing program, programming him to be a loyal Soviet agent. Codenamed the Winter Soldier, he became the Soviet Union's ultimate weapon. For over 50 years, he was kept in cryogenic stasis between missions to preserve his youth and skills. When needed, he was thawed out and dispatched to perform political assassinations and acts of terror across the globe, becoming a ghost story among intelligence agencies. During this time, he was also an instructor in the infamous “Red Room” program, where he trained other operatives, including a young Natasha Romanoff, with whom he developed a romantic relationship. His existence remained a secret until the modern day, when he was tasked by Karpov's protege, General Aleksander Lukin, to assassinate the Red Skull. This act put him on a collision course with a now-revived Steve Rogers. After a series of brutal confrontations, Captain America finally managed to get his hands on the Cosmic Cube and used its reality-warping power to restore Bucky's memories. Flooded with guilt over the atrocities he had committed, Bucky fled, beginning a long and difficult path toward atonement.
The MCU reimagined Bucky's origin to create a more intimate and brotherly bond with Steve Rogers. Sergeant James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes was not a teenage sidekick but Steve's lifelong best friend from Brooklyn. Before Steve's transformation, the charismatic and physically capable Bucky was his fierce protector, constantly defending the scrawny Steve from bullies. They were inseparable, with Bucky's parting words before shipping off to war being, “Don't do anything stupid 'til I get back.” Bucky and his unit, the 107th Infantry Regiment, were captured by hydra forces during the war and taken to a facility overseen by Arnim Zola. Here, Bucky was subjected to rudimentary Super-Soldier experiments. He was later rescued by the newly empowered Steve Rogers, who led a daring solo mission to free the prisoners. Following this, Bucky became a key member of Steve's elite team, the Howling Commandos. During a mission to capture Zola aboard a HYDRA train in the Alps, a blast from a HYDRA soldier blew a hole in the side of the car. Bucky was thrown from the train, desperately clinging to a damaged railing before it gave way. He plummeted into the icy ravine below, his apparent death mirroring his comic book counterpart's fate and leaving Steve devastated. As in the comics, Bucky survived the fall, but his left arm was destroyed. He was recovered by HYDRA forces (a key change from the Soviet discovery in the comics) under the command of Arnim Zola. Zola's earlier experiments had given Bucky enough enhanced physiology to survive. He was taken to a secret HYDRA facility where his memories were erased, he was given a powerful cybernetic arm, and he was systematically brainwashed into becoming the Winter Soldier. The MCU's Winter Soldier was HYDRA's fist, a relentless and brutal assassin responsible for countless deaths over the decades, including, it was later revealed, Tony Stark's parents. Similar to the comics, he was kept in cryo-freeze between missions. His programming was maintained through a series of Russian trigger words (“Longing, rusted, seventeen, daybreak, furnace, nine, benign, homecoming, one, freight car”), which would instantly turn him into a compliant killing machine. He re-emerged in Captain America: The Winter Soldier as the primary antagonist hunting Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff. During their first fight, Steve dislodged the Soldier's mask, revealing his best friend's face. This shock became the film's emotional core. In the final battle aboard a crashing helicarrier, Steve refused to fight Bucky, appealing to their shared history with the phrase, “I'm with you 'til the end of the line.” Though Bucky beat him nearly to death, Steve's words began to fracture his brainwashing, and he dragged the unconscious Steve from the Potomac River before disappearing, taking his first steps toward reclaiming his identity.
Bucky's capabilities in the comics are a unique blend of peak-human training and advanced technology, honed over a lifetime of conflict.
Bucky's personality is a fractured mosaic of his life experiences. As a youth, he was brave, idealistic, and fiercely loyal. The Winter Soldier persona was a complete void—cold, detached, and ruthlessly efficient, a programmable weapon without a will of its own. After his memories were restored, Bucky emerged as a brooding, cynical, and guilt-ridden man. He is haunted by his past and struggles with severe PTSD, often keeping others at a distance with a sarcastic and dry wit. Beneath this hardened exterior, however, lies the deep-seated loyalty and desire to do good that defined his youth, making him a tragic but ultimately heroic figure.
The MCU's version of the Winter Soldier is a definitive super-soldier, placing his physical abilities on a much higher tier than his comic book counterpart.
The MCU provides a detailed look at Bucky's evolving personality. Initially, he is the charming, confident, and sometimes reckless big brother figure to Steve Rogers. As the Winter Soldier, he is a terrifyingly silent and persistent force of nature, an it rather than a he. After his programming begins to break, he is portrayed as a lost, terrified, and confused man on the run. The series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier delves deeply into his post-redemption persona. He is deeply traumatized, plagued by nightmares, and bound by a rigid, self-imposed code of amends. He is socially awkward, emotionally repressed, and struggles to connect with a world that has moved on. His antagonistic, bickering relationship with Sam Wilson slowly thaws into a genuine, hard-won friendship, revealing the loyal and caring man still buried beneath decades of trauma. His time in Wakanda, where he was known as the “White Wolf,” represents a period of peace and healing, showing his capacity for a life beyond fighting.
This is the landmark Ed Brubaker story that brought Bucky back. The narrative is a tense, paranoid spy thriller where Captain America investigates a series of high-profile assassinations committed by a legendary Soviet operative known only as the Winter Soldier. As Steve digs deeper, evidence mounts toward an impossible conclusion. The story climaxes with the shocking reveal of the assassin's identity, forcing Steve to confront the ghost of his greatest regret. The arc culminates in a desperate battle where Steve uses the Cosmic Cube not to defeat Bucky, but to restore his lost memories, an act of profound hope and friendship that forever changed both characters.
In the aftermath of the superhero Civil War, Steve Rogers is assassinated on the steps of a courthouse. In his wake, a letter to Tony Stark reveals Steve's last wish: that the mantle of Captain America should not die with him, and that he wanted Bucky Barnes to be his successor. Wracked with guilt and feeling unworthy, Bucky reluctantly agrees. He dons a new version of the Captain America costume and begins a difficult journey to honor his friend's legacy, all while fighting to prove to himself and the world that the Winter Soldier is truly gone. His tenure as Captain America was defined by a more brutal, pragmatic style, often combining the use of the shield with a firearm.
This film is widely regarded as one of the best in the MCU and masterfully adapts the core elements of Brubaker's comic. When Nick Fury is seemingly assassinated by the Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers is forced to go on the run with Black Widow and Sam Wilson. They uncover a vast conspiracy: HYDRA has secretly been growing within S.H.I.E.L.D. since its inception. The Winter Soldier is revealed to be HYDRA's primary enforcer and, in a stunning highway battle, is unmasked as Bucky Barnes. The film's emotional core is Steve's desperate attempt to reach his brainwashed friend, culminating in his choice to sacrifice himself rather than fight his oldest friend to the death, a decision that successfully cracks Bucky's conditioning.
Set after Avengers: Endgame, this Disney+ series functions as an in-depth character study of a recovering Bucky Barnes. He is now pardoned but forced to attend government-mandated therapy, where he confronts the immense trauma of his past. The series explores his attempts to make amends to the families of his victims, a process filled with pain and difficulty. He teams up with Sam Wilson to stop a new global threat, and their clashing personalities create the central dynamic of the show. By the end of the series, Bucky has helped Sam accept the mantle of Captain America and has taken a crucial step in his own healing: confessing his past to a friend whose son he murdered as the Winter Soldier, finally choosing radical honesty over secretive atonement.