The Winter Soldier is one of the most enigmatic characters in modern Marvel Comics continuity. Unlike the rest of the Marvel heroes who that have graced the silver screen, Bucky's pretty myserious. In comics continuity, he was legitimately deceased until 2005, and the two movies he’s actually in he’s either smiling like a dope or grimacing like a teen who just saw his parents in the shower. If you’re pumped for Captain America: Civil War, but have no idea why you should care about Bucky Barnes, take a quick peek at this Winter Soldier trivia and learn to love Steve Rogers’s sidekick.
Even for a comic book character, some of the information in the Winter Soldier biography is absolutely ridiculous. He spent decades being deceased. He’s pretty much offed every Marvel side character you can think of, he’s traveled through time, and he’s been in almost every super group except for the Great Lakes Avengers (even Bucky wouldn’t stoop that low). However, we does slay a major Marvel character’s wife. Before you go to the theater to follow the adventures of Captain America and the rest of The Avengers, take a look at our countdown of things you didn't know about the Winter Soldier and marvel at the strangely long life of Bucky Barnes.
How many of these archaic facts about the Winter Soldier did you know? Or did you feel left out in the cold after reading this collection of Bucky Barnes facts?
This is pretty obvious, but Bucky Barnes is named after the famous President Chester A. Arthur James Buchanan. Nobody's quite sure why he was named after the 15th President. Maybe President Buchanan secretly had a cybernetic arm?
He Fought Communism with The Liberty Legion
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In a '70s throwback to the Golden age, Bucky escaped a brainwashing attempt by Red Skull (which is pretty ironic) and put together a group of patriotic heroes like The Whizzer, Miss America, and Red Raven to fight Communists running around America.
Bucky Went Out with a Bang
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Here's the thing about Bucky Barnes - he always perishes. In The First Avenger, Bucky loses his life when he falls off a HYDRA train, but in the original comic, his passing is somewhat more exciting. He and Cap are trying to disarm a drone equipped with an explosive device, which detonates mid-air, sending Bucky and Cap to their watery dooms.
Bucky Remained Deceased for a Long Time
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Bucky used to be one of the few deceased comic book characters that stayed six feet under. At one point there was even something known as the Bucky Clause, stating that "No one in comics stays dead except Bucky, Jason Todd, and Uncle Ben." Whoever made that up probably feels like a fool at this point, given that Jason Todd's been back and mixing it up as the Red Hood for the last several years.
The Winter Soldier Was Originally of Russian Design
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In the modern Marvel films, Bucky is brought back by HYDRA and that's that. But in the comics, things get kind of timey-whimey. In 2005, Bucky was reintroduced as the Winter Soldier, who was revived by Russian scientists and later eliminated some higher-ups in HYDRA by members of the Russian government who were also members of HYDRA. Isn't comic logic fun?
There's a Reason He Looks So Young
Photo: Marvel
If you're trying to figure out why Bucky looks so babealicious after being alive for 80 or so years, here are the Cliff's Notes. Bucky's amnesia makes him crazy and super goth, so he's kept in cryogenic stasis in between missions. That's how he and Captain America are still basically the same age even though Cap spent all those years on ice.
