Captain america who is bucky

Like most superheroes, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes was orphaned at a young age and acquired his powers after an accident nearly took his life. Friendships are complicated sometimes. In fact, actor Sebastian Stan told us in a recent cover story that playing Barnes in the Marvel movies has been celebrated by combat veterans, who often tell Stan his character helps them cope with post-traumatic stress.

As a soldier, Barnes' powers were his combat skills: hand-to-hand he was a boxing champion , guns, grenades. Barnes is injured and falls hundreds of feet down into an icy river. Barnes survives the fall, but his left arm is maimed—it was severed on impact. This new experimental program, the Winter Soldier Program, outfits Barnes with a fancy new prosthetic arm and turns him into a mindless weapon.

After being sent to kill Nick Fury, a masked Barnes still brainwashed encounters both Black Widow and his old best bud, Captain America. The three battle it out. He realizes he was fighting his old pal all along. And bam! Barnes remembers who he is. Of course, he was going by a different name, and he served a different purpose by time he did.

HYDRA nursed him back to health, naturally, and gave him not only the finest brainwashing, but also a killer metallic arm. Their friendship led to Captain America and Winter Soldier's adventure mission, which broke the freshly ratified Socovia Accords, with the pair getting into some heroics that eventually uncovered a horrific truth.

Left behind, Steve mourned his friend, using that grief to power him through one "last" adventure. With half of all life snapped away, Steve Rogers once more donned his more traditional, clean-shaven look when he engaged in the battle to undo the events of Avengers: Infinity War.

By the time he walked onto the field of battle at the end of Avengers: Endgame , he was back in full Captain America regalia once more. He and Steve both found themselves as valuable as ever in the fight to restore balance to the world. After the tremendous battle had settled, and the fallen had been mourned, Steve Rogers headed off into the time stream a final time, in order to return the Infinity Stones to their rightful places.

Saying his final goodbyes to his best friend, Steve Rogers stepped into the Pym Particle accelerator and vanished. Bucky is also cryogenically frozen periodically, which explains why he hasn't aged much by Civil War. In one of the periods where he's animated, however, Bucky is tasked with the greatest offense against an Avenger: he is sent to kill Howard Stark, Tony Stark's father, in In Civil War 's most devastating scene , we see Bucky complete his mission, murdering both of Tony Stark's parents, a fact that makes the war between Cap and Tony personal when Cap won't allow Tony to get his revenge.

So after a series of assassinations and in between freezer time, Bucky emerges into present day, coming face to face with Cap in The Winter Soldier after being sent to kill Nick Fury. Of course, Bucky has no recognition of Cap and continues to fight for Hydra and fight Cap, until their final battle scene, when Cap refuses to fight Bucky and falls into the Potomac River.

The first real flicker of his memories and Steve come back to Bucky, and he pulls Cap from the river, saving his life, then disappears. Shortly thereafter in the Winter Soldier 's postcredits scene , Bucky goes to the Smithsonian and has his mind blown when he finds the Captain America exhibit, which includes a memorial to him. To find out what happens between that scene and the events of Civil War , we have to skip to Ant-Man , where it's revealed in that postcredits scene that Falcon and Cap have Bucky as a prisoner.

Which brings us up to date if you've seen Civil War , anyway. After spending the film being accused of terrorist activity, the Winter Soldier completes his transformation from villain to hero when he is fighting alongside Cap yet again, in a nice little parallel to The First Avenger.

He still feels vulnerable, however, and after telling Cap that he can't trust his own mind, he is cryogenically frozen again in Civil War's midcredits scene.

Let's hope to see him again, by Cap's side, in Infinity War. The Winter Soldier Era Like Cap, Bucky is thrust forward a generation, but he's manipulated so far beyond recognition that, well, Cap doesn't recognize him when he first sees him as the Winter Solider. Present Day So after a series of assassinations and in between freezer time, Bucky emerges into present day, coming face to face with Cap in The Winter Soldier after being sent to kill Nick Fury.

Currently Which brings us up to date if you've seen Civil War , anyway. Image Sources: Everett Collection and Disney.