Bucky (Marvel Comics)

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This article is about the superhero. For other uses, see Bucky (Marvel Comics) (disambiguation).
Bucky
File:Bucky.PNG
Bucky in World War II. Cover detail, Captain America 65th Anniversary Special (May 2006). Art by Eric Wight.
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
First appearanceCaptain America Comics #1 (March 1941)[1]
Created byJoe Simon
Jack Kirby
In-story information
Alter egoJames Buchanan Barnes
Team affiliationsThe Invaders
Young Allies
Kid Commandos
Notable aliasesWinter Soldier, Capitan America
AbilitiesSkilled acrobat, fighter, scout, and assassin
Cyborg arm

Bucky is the name of several fictional masked heroes in the Marvel Comics universe. The original, James Buchanan Barnes, was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby as a sidekick character in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941), published by Marvel's 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics.[1]

Publication history

Following his debut, Bucky Barnes appeared alongside Captain America in virtually every story in Captain America Comics and other Timely Comics series. In the post-war era, with the popularity of superheroes fading, Bucky appeared alongside team-leader Captain America in the two published adventures of Timely/Marvel's first superhero group, the All-Winners Squad, in the unhyphenated All Winners Comics #19 & 21 (Fall-Winter 1946; there was no issue #20). After Bucky was shot and seriously wounded in a 1948 Captain America story, he was succeeded by Captain America's girlfriend Betsy Ross, who became the super heroine Golden Girl. Captain America Comics ended with #75 (Feb. 1950), by which time the series had been titled Captain America's Weird Tales for two issues, with the finale a horror/suspense anthology issue with no superheroes.

Captain America and Bucky were both briefly revived, along with fellow Timely stars the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner, in the omnibus Young Men #24 (Dec. 1953), published by Marvel's 1950s iteration Atlas Comics. Bucky appeared alongside "Captain America, Commie Smasher!", as the hero was cover-billed, in stories published during the next year in Young Men and Men's Adventures, as well as in three issues of Captain America that continued the old numbering. Sales were poor, however, and the series was discontinued with Captain America #78 (Sept. 1954).

Retroactive continuity, beginning with The Avengers vol. 1, #4 (March 1964), established that the original Captain America and Bucky went missing near the end of WWII and were secretly replaced by then-U.S. President Harry S. Truman by successor heroes using those identities.

Bucky appeared in very occasional flashbacks from the 1960s on, and co-starred with Captain America in flashback WWII adventures in Tales of Suspense #63-71 (March-Nov. 1965). His death was depicted in flashback in The Avengers vol. 1, #56 (Sept. 1968).

In 2005 issues of Captain America, series writer Ed Brubaker returned Bucky from his seeming death near the end of World War II. He additionally revealed that Barnes' official status as Captain America's sidekick was a cover-up. According to this retroactive continuity, Barnes began as a 16-year-old operative trained to do things regular soldiers and the 20- to 21-year-old Captain America normally would not do, such as conduct covert assassinations.

Bucky's death had been notable as one of the few comic book deaths that stuck. An aphorism among comic book fans, known as the Bucky Clause, was that "No one in comics stays dead except Bucky, DC Comics' Jason Todd, and Spider-Man's Uncle Ben".[2] However, all three have been brought back to life in their respective universes in 2006, although Uncle Ben turned out to be an alternate Ben from another reality.

Bucky's death has also been used to explain why the Marvel Universe has virtually no young sidekicks, as no responsible hero wants to endanger a minor in similar fashion. Stan Lee also disliked the plot device of kid sidekicks, saying in the 1970s that, "One of my many pet peeves has always been the young teenage sidekick of the average superhero".[3] Roger Stern and John Byrne had also considered bringing Bucky back, before deciding against it.[4] However, co-creator Jack Kirby said in 1990, when asked if he had ever heard talk of resurrecting Bucky, answered that "speaking completely for myself, I wouldn't mind bringing Bucky in; he represents teenagers, and there are always teenagers; he's a universal character".[5]

A climactic scene of Bucky's return involves Captain America using the reality-altering Cosmic Cube to restore the Winter Soldier's memories. Writer Brubaker in an interview said he intended no loophole, and that Captain America did not "will" the Winter Soldier to have Bucky's memories.[6]

Fictional character biography

Origin and World War II

Barnes (named after James Buchanan, the 15th President of the United States, and the only president to be an acrobat, hence the homage)[citation needed] was born in Shelbyville, Indiana. He is an orphan, the son of a soldier killed in training at U.S. Army Camp Lehigh in Virginia just before the United States' entry into World War II. As a result, he is unofficially adopted by the camp as a mascot. Nicknamed "Bucky," he takes to wearing a uniform and becoming savvy with the ins and outs of military life, even though he is a teenager. It was at Lehigh that he meets and befriends Private Steven Rogers, who by all appearances is the clumsiest soldier in the camp. This was at the same time that reports of the then-mysterious Captain America begin to appear in news magazines, and Barnes eagerly devours the accounts of this new hero.

One night in 1940, however, while accidentally walking in on Rogers changing in his tent, he sees that his friend was changing into the uniform of Captain America. Barnes makes a deal to keep the secret of Rogers' dual identity if he can become his sidekick. Rogers agrees and trains Barnes appropriately. They fight the Red Skull together, and Captain America accepts Bucky as his partner.[7] Together, Captain America and Bucky fight Nazis both at home and abroad, as a duo and as part of the superhero team known as the Invaders, fighting Master Man in their first mission.[8] Barnes also teams up with the sidekicks of other heroes in a group called the Young Allies. Additionally, Bucky was retconned in 1976 as the organizer of the flashback World War II super-team the Liberty Legion, set between the formations of the Invaders and the post-war All-Winners Squad. He was also briefly one of the Kid Commandos at this time.

In the closing days of World War II in 1945, Captain America and Bucky try to stop the villainous Baron Zemo from destroying an experimental drone plane. Zemo launches the plane with an armed explosive device on it, with Rogers and Barnes in hot pursuit. They reach the plane just before it takes off. Bucky unsuccessfully tries to defuse the bomb, and it explodes in mid-air. Bucky is killed, and Rogers is hurled into the freezing waters of the North Atlantic.[9] Rogers' body, preserved in suspended animation in a block of ice, is only found decades later by The Avengers.[10]

Winter Soldier

File:CAPA011 covcol.jpg
Promotional art for Captain America vol. 5, #11 (Nov. 2005), by Steve Epting.

The day after the villain Baron Zemo and his troops tortured Barnes while Captain America was forced to watch, a drone-plane explosion apparently killed Barnes. The young man's arm was pinned to the plane — at odds with Captain America's memory of Bucky choosing to stay with the drone and attempt to defuse it. After the plane exploded, General Vasily Karpov and the crew of a Russian patrol sub found a cold-preserved body (minus an arm). The recovered young man was revived in Moscow, though as a result of the explosion, he suffered brain damage and amnesia. Scientists attached a bionic arm.

Programmed to be a Soviet assassin under the code name the Winter Soldier, he was sent on covert wetworks missions, becoming increasingly ruthless and efficient as he killed in the name of the state. The Winter Soldier was kept in stasis when not on missions, and as a result has aged only a few years since the closing days of World War II. On assignment in the United States in the 1970s, he suffered a breakdown and went missing for days after assassinating his target.

In the present day, the Winter Soldier catches the attention of Captain America when the Soldier seemingly kills the Red Skull and Jack Monroe (Nomad) under orders from former Soviet general Aleksander Lukin (Karpov's former protégé). The Soldier's objectives are to retrieve the Cosmic Cube for Lukin and to play mind games with Captain America. He launches a terrorist attack on Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, killing hundreds of people; charges the Cosmic Cube; and gives Captain America a glimpse of him. The Winter Soldier kidnaps Sharon Carter, an agent of the international espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. and an erstwhile paramour of Steve Rogers (Captain America). Upon her rescue, Carter tells Captain America the Soldier looked like Bucky. S.H.I.E.L.D. chief Nick Fury confirms the Winter Soldier's existence, but cannot ascertain his identity.

The Winter Soldier is ordered to bury the Cosmic Cube in an underground facility in West Virginia. With help from Iron Man and the Falcon, Captain America tracks down and confronts the Soldier; upon gaining control of the Cube, he tells the Winter Soldier, "Remember who you are". Regaining his memories and overwhelmed by guilt over his action the Soldier takes back the Cosmic Cube, and teleports away.

File:Wsoldier9.jpg
Captain America with the Winter Soldier, after the latter has recovered his memories.

He reappears shortly afterward in London, England, and badly damages his bionic arm helping Captain America fend off a terrorist attack. He asks Nick Fury for employment and new equipment. Following the events of the superhuman Civil War, the Soldier helps Fury plan the escape of an arrested Steve Rogers. Before the plan can be implemented, however, Rogers is assassinated.[11] The Soldier considers registration architect Tony Stark (Iron Man) as ultimately responsible, and plans to kill Stark in revenge. Deducing Stark will oversee the appointment of a new Captain America, the Soldier steals Captain America's shield from S.H.I.E.L.D. so that it cannot be handed down. Ultimately, he heads to Kronas' headquarters, where Lukin reveals he is the Red Skull and has the evil psychiatrist Dr. Faustus attempt to brainwash the Winter Soldier.

Captain America

After Faustus' failed brainwashing attempts, Sharon Carter helps Bucky escape in an attempt to redeem herself after the events in Captain America #25. Bucky is then captured and detained by agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. After a failed escape attempt and a brief fight with Tony Stark, Stark reveals a letter from Steve Rogers to Bucky in which Rogers appeals to Stark to take care of Bucky. Bucky agrees to take up the mantle of Captain America with the aim of bringing the Red Skull to justice. [12]

Legacy

Late-WWII and post-war Bucky

Fearing that the deaths of Captain America and Bucky, if revealed, would be a blow to morale, President Truman asked William Naslund, the hero known as the Spirit of '76 (a member of the Crusaders), to assume the identity of Captain America. Assisting him was Fred Davis, a former bat-boy for the New York Yankees, who had posed as Bucky in 1942. The new Captain America and Bucky finished the rest of the war and continued to fight crime with the All-Winners Squad. Naslund was killed in 1946 fighting the android Adam II, and Captain America's identity passed to Jeff Mace, the Patriot.[13]

Davis assisted Mace until 1948, when he was shot and wounded, forcing him to retire and leaving him with a permanent limp. In 1951, Davis joined the V-Battalion, a secret organization that hunted war criminals, and eventually became one of its leaders on the Penance Council. He served the V-Battalion in both a leadership role in the Penance Council, and as an engineer.[14]

1950s Bucky

In 1953, an orphan named Jack Monroe, who idolized Captain America and Bucky, discovered that his history teacher also had a similar passion, to the extent of undergoing plastic surgery to make him look like Steve Rogers and assuming his name as well. In addition, "Rogers" had discovered, in some old Nazi files stored in a warehouse in Germany, the lost formula for the Super-Soldier serum that had given Captain America his abilities. The two used the serum and began to fight Communists as Captain America and Bucky.[15]

Unfortunately, "Rogers" and Monroe were unaware of the stabilizing "Vita-Ray" process used on the original Captain America. As a result, despite their bodies being enhanced to peak human efficiency, they slowly grew paranoid and dangerously insane. By the middle of 1954 they were irrationally attacking anyone they perceived to be a Communist. In 1955 the Federal Bureau of Investigation managed to hunt them down and placed them in suspended animation. The 1950s Captain America and Bucky would be revived years later after the return of Steve Rogers, going on another rampage, and would be defeated by the man they had modeled themselves after.[16]

Nomad

Main article: Nomad (comics)

Monroe was eventually cured of his insanity and took up the superhero identity of Nomad, an identity that Rogers himself had once taken in the 70s (when he discarded Cap's mantle as a consequence of the Marvel-version of the Watergate Scandal, engineered by the Secret Empire), even teaming up with the original Captain America on a number of occasions. At one point during his solo career, Monroe was injured severely enough to need to be placed in stasis once again. He was revived and brainwashed by Henry Peter Gyrich (who was in turn being manipulated by Baron Strucker). Monroe was then forced to become the new Scourge of the Underworld and sent to kill the reformed supervillain team known as the Thunderbolts. Monroe eventually broke free of the conditioning, helped the Thunderbolts to defeat Gyrich, and then disappeared (Thunderbolts #35-#50, 1999-2001). When last seen, Monroe had been shot by the Winter Soldier (James Buchanan Barnes, the original Bucky) and dumped in the trunk of a car.[17]

Rick Jones

For a brief time after Rogers awakened in the modern age, perennial Marvel sidekick Rick Jones also donned the Bucky costume in an attempt to make himself Captain America's partner. However, Rogers was still wracked with guilt over the original Bucky's death, and refused to make this a permanent arrangement although Jones was insistent that Rogers should finally put the tragedy behind him.

Others

When the role of Captain America was taken over by John Walker, he formed the Bold Urban Commandos (BUCkies) as a backup team. Walker's main partner was African-American Lemar Hoskins, who used the name "Bucky" until he realized the racist connotations of the alias when applied to him, and assumed the name "Battlestar". Other persons who have used the Bucky alias include an unnamed baby that Nomad looked after for a period {in which she was later adopted and given the name Julia Winters[18]}, and Rikki Barnes, who was from the alternate Earth created by Franklin Richards in the wake of the Onslaught incident. Rikki Barnes is still a member of the Young Allies on Counter-Earth. In the wake of the Onslaught Reborn series, Rikki has been transported to the mainstream Earth.

Powers and abilities

The original Bucky Barnes was trained by Captain America in hand-to-hand fighting techniques as well as being skilled in the use of military weapons such as firearms and grenades. He also used throwing knives on occasion and was a gifted advance scout.

As the Winter Soldier, Barnes has superhuman strength and reaction time in his cybernetic left arm. In issue #16, he used the arm to take down a spider machine that was terrorizing Pilsburg, Iowa.

Of the various Buckys, only Monroe and Hoskins had augmented strength and reflexes. Fred Davis, Rick Jones, and Rikki Barnes were merely highly skilled in acrobatic fighting techniques. The infant Bucky, Winters (now a young girl), obviously had no training.

Other versions

Batman/Captain America

In the John Byrne-penned and -drawn intercompany crossover set during World War II, Bucky briefly takes Robin's place as Batman's sidekick, while Robin becomes Captain America's. In this particular continuity (which is set in one of DC Comics' numerous Elseworlds continuities), Bucky dies (off-page) as he did before in numerous Avengers and Captain America recollections. However, it is an adult Dick Grayson as Batman who discovers Captain America frozen in a block of ice - who screams, "BUCKY! NO!!!" upon regaining consciousness.

Bullet Points

In this alternate reality, James Barnes never teams up with Steve Rogers as the Super-Soldier program was never activated. However, Steve volunteers for the 'Iron Man' program and as such, saves James and several fellow soldiers from an advancing tank. Unfortunately he is not swift enough to save James from severe damage to his legs.

Marvel Zombies

In the second issue of the crossover miniseries Marvel Zombies vs. The Army of Darkness, a zombified Winter Soldier appears and attempts to devour Dazzler. This version of the Winter Soldier is ultimately killed by Ash Williams, who shoots his head off with his "boomstick".

Ultimate Bucky

In the alternate reality Ultimate Marvel universe, Captain America had a sidekick, Bucky Barnes. This Bucky was a childhood friend of Steve Rogers who accompanied him on his missions as an Army press photographer. Surviving the war and believing Rogers had died during his last mission, Bucky eventually married Rogers's fiancée Gail. Barnes and Gail both lived long enough to see Rogers's revival in the 21st century and renewed their friendship with him.

U.S. War Machine (Marvel MAX)

In the alternate reality Marvel MAX series U.S. War Machine, Bucky was serving in the present as Captain America, as the Captain had died in his stead in World War II. Bucky was accompanied here by two assistants, Hawkeye and Falcon, neither wearing a costume and both addressed by their real names.

What If?

In the 2005 What If? event, the Captain America story, set during the American Civil War, featured Steve Rogers' commanding officer, Colonel Buck Barnes, whom the men called "Bucky". His mercenary tendencies led to Rogers' desertion, and when he later intervened in Rogers' transformation into Captain America, his face was destroyed, turning him into an undead being known as the White Skull.

In other media

Television

Bucky also appears in an animated series entitled The Marvel Superheroes.

Film

Ultimate Bucky appears in the movie Ultimate Avengers.

Video Game

The Winter Soldier appears in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by Crispin Freeman. The Winter Soldier had joined Doctor Doom's Masters of Evil in a plot and, alongside Radioactive Man and robot troops, was sent to S.H.I.E.L.D.'s helicarrier to blow up her engines. The player characters must defeat Winter Soldier twice, and each time he and his partner will escape for a further encounter. The third time, Winter Soldier will remain knocked down. If one of the player characters is Captain America, Winter Soldier will hint at his true identity (he says, "me and Cap go way back, don't we, buddy?"), but Rogers will miss the references. He also appears as a comic mission villain for Captain America.

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b The 1995 Marvel Milestone Edition: Captain America archival reprint has no cover date or number, and its postal indicia says "Originally published ... as Captain America #000". Timely's first comic Marvel Comics #1, likewise had no number on its cover, and was released with two different cover dates.
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ Lee, Stan, Origins of Marvel Comics (Simon and Schuster, 1974; Marvel Entertainment Group, 1997 reissue, ISBN 0-7851-0551-4), p. 17
  4. ^ [2]
  5. ^ Marvel Age #95 (Dec. 1990): "Birth of a Legend: Jack Kirby Talks about Captain America"
  6. ^ Newsarama (Feb. 2, 2006): "Spoiler Sport: Ed Brubaker on the Winter Soldier", by Matt Brady

    Newsarama: But playing devil’s advocate — asking the Cosmic Cube to help you is very "monkey's paw" at best ... the Winter Soldier could have been, in reality, someone named Comrade Pitor Nikoli, created just to demoralize Cap, but with him wishing it to be so with the Cube, couldn't Cap just have willed the Winter Soldier to be Bucky, and so he was?

    Brubaker: That wasn't how I looked at it. Look at what he said — "Remember who you are". He didn't say, "Become who I think you are". Or, "Be Bucky". It was very straightforward. Which is more the tragedy, since Bucky immediately has this immense guilt for everything he did as the Winter Soldier.
  7. ^ Adventures of Captain America #3-4
  8. ^ Giant-Size Invaders #1
  9. ^ depicted in Avengers #56
  10. ^ The Avengers #4 (March 1964)
  11. ^ Captain America #25 (issue date needed)
  12. ^ Captain America #33 (Dec. 2007)
  13. ^ What If #4 (Aug. 1977)
  14. ^ Captain America Comics #66, 1948; Citizen V and the V-Battalion #1-#4, 2001
  15. ^ Young Men #24 (Dec. 1953)
  16. ^ Captain America #153 (Sept. 1972)
  17. ^ Captain America Vol. 5, #3, April 2005
  18. ^ Captain America vol. 5, #7 (July 2005)

References

External links

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