James Buchanan Barnes | |
Portrayed By | ?? |
---|---|
Gender | Male |
Date of Birth | ?/??/1926 |
Age | 32 |
Zodiac Sign | ?? |
Aliases | Bucky, Winter Soldier |
Place of Birth | Shelbyville, Indiana |
Current Location | New York City |
Occupation | Covert Operative |
Known Relatives | None |
Significant Other | ??? |
Identity | Known to select individuals |
Known Abilities | Cybernetic Arm, Master Soldier, Scout, Acrobat, Fighter, and Covert Operative |
First Appearance | Captain America Comics #1 |
History
He was an orphan. Living with his father in the early forties until his father was drafted to stop some distant madman; a faceless threat; a raving lunatic that held the world in a grip of terror. Just under the age of enlistment himself, James Buchanan Barnes became a sort of good luck charm and mascot to Camp Lehigh's troopers. After his father died in a training incident in preparation for a European invasion, maintaining the troops' morale was all he could do to take his mind off of the loss. His life and history cut down, James decided to dedicate his life to the country his father loved so much and to America. He joined within the month, lying to a newly assigned recruiter about his age in order to make the cut.
He was young, but James was no slacker and worked with every ounce his heart could give. Soon he was a young star in his outfit, going so far as to take some of the less adept soldiers under his wing. Prime among his pupils was the hopeless Private Steven Rogers. With someone as obviously gifted physically and mentally as Rogers it made no sense to Barnes that he barely skirted by every assigned task; James had to help the poor guy out. When he stumbled on a certain secret Private Rogers possessed Barnes made him swear to take him with. It took a lot of convincing, but Rogers was able to provide Barnes with specific and advanced training and with that Captain America began to appear with Bucky, expert scout and scrappy sidekick.
Throughout the European Campaign the duo managed to distinguish themselves repeatedly and save countless lives while managing to extinguish countless more. Always running ahead of the common soldier; always leaping into the fray, Captain America and Bucky became more than Operatives and turned into American icons. Behind the scenes, too, Barnes and Rogers had become comrades and confidants; bonding so thoroughly they could easily have been brothers and, as daring and gallant as Rogers was behind a mask, it was Barnes who was the charismatic and dashing face when they were simply James and Steve. As the war progressed and America's victory seemed assure, though, Nazi malice and ingenuity became more nightmarish and aggressive. Battles raged behind the scenes with the Red Skull and Baron Zemo becoming more than alien nightmares, and when Italy and Japan began to enter the superhuman arms race Cap and Bucky nearly found themselves overwhelmed. When fellow sidekick and close friend Thomas 'Toro' Raymond died, Bucky's helpless, repressed rage manifested and Cap had to literally restrain him from murdering Hitler with his bear hands, leaving the dictator to fall at the hands of the original Human Torch.
On a final mission to stop Baron Zemo from destroying an experimental drone aircraft, Cap and Buck found themselves involved in yet another vicious melee with the prototype, filled to capacity with megatons worth of explosives, powering to jet into the heart of London. The duo leapt to the craft in desperation and, as it sailed across the channel, frantically tried to disarm the timing mechanism. They failed.
Before both could leap to safety, Rogers' suit became lodged in the Adhesive X used to attach the explosives and, before even the supersoldier could react, it was Bucky who braced himself against an awkward panel of the jet to rip Rogers free and, with the white cliffs of Dover rapidly approaching over the horizon, it was Bucky who made the only 'right' decision he could see.
To this day Steve still remembers looking into Bucky's eyes that night as the sidekick threw him from the wing and detonated those explosives over the Atlantic; seemingly vaporizing himself to save both Rogers and the people of London from a fiery death.
The blast pitched Steve into the icy Atlantic waters and into history; for Bucky it was different. The arm caught in the wing's panel was instantly disintegrated, his broken body sent spiraling the opposite direction and, while Steve was frozen solid and preserved for future generations, Bucky was recovered by a soviet sub that had been monitoring the battle.
Hoping to remove the Super Soldier Serum from an American hero, they were extremely disappointed when they discovered a common man. Hoping to derive something from the find, they resuscitated him and tried to force him into compromising his advanced training and offer his considerable skill. He refused. Where conventional techniques failed, the Soviets switched tactics to the unconventional and began a harsh regimen of brainwashing to essentially rewire his mind while maintaining his skill and competence. To negate a handicap, he was granted a prosthetic limb that was updated with the pinnacle of Soviet technology and with his guidance the USSR forged the Red Room program.
A professional soldier, scout, and covert operative, Bucky had a wide array of skills that Russia studied and augmented; further enhancing his repertoire by turning him expert spy, saboteur, and assassin as well. Crafted into a perfect weapon, it was only suitable that it was around this time in his life that he met Natasha Romanov. A woman going through enormous loss and reinvention, Bucky, who was now codenamed 'Winter Soldier,' felt an unusual and seemingly uncharacteristic sympathy and nostalgia.
He grew close to the woman and even took a personal interest in her training, spending inordinate amounts of time with her between missions and cryogenic 'naps' to preserve him for future use until their relationship reached new intimate levels. The Red Room was displeased. Upon discovery the Winter Soldier was captured and 'reprogrammed' once again. Zeroed once more into the cold, efficient dealer of death he had become, the Winter Soldier was embraced by another frigid slumber, this time to last for an extended period. Natasha was told of his death during a mission and, once again, Barnes disappeared to the world.
Over the course the following decades the Soldier lived a mechanical life, stirred from his sleep to perform an increasing number of clandestine assassinations and immediately placed under as Communism was in its dying throws and, when the hammer dropped and the sickle was torn asunder, he was little more than a weapon in the hands of the KGB. With the rapidly failing economy, the KGB sought to earn money for greater investments, pawning off rifles, tanks, and attack helicopters to the highest bidder. The Winter Soldier was traded along with a collection of volatile isotopes for unknown treasure by a quiet, patient, and malicious hand and transported to a Hydra cell in New York. For the price of a small island, the Red Skull had purchased his revenge.
Powers
Physical Conditioning: Thanks to years upon years of intense military training from numerous agencies, governments, and heroes, Bucky's physical capabilities border peak human speed, stamina, and agility, as well as being considerably stronger than the average man. His reflexes and coordination are on a level so advanced as to border superhuman.
Bionic Arm: Made of a collection of durable alloys, Bucky's bionic left arm has enough strength to punch through a steel door; able to lift and hold with roughly one ton of force.
Martial Mastery: In Hand-to-hand combat Barnes is one of the most competent and dangerous opponents in the Marvel universe, able to stand up to multiple superpowered individuals and hold his own against America's Greatest Super Soldier for an extended period.
Military Training: With both standard and advanced military training, he is an expert with most infantry weaponry, his skill sharpened to dangerous levels by years upon years of training. If he shoots, he's very likely to do so when he knows he can hit something and if he plants a mine it is in a tactically advantageous area. Always skilled with throwing knives, Captain America trained Barnes to be a master with throwing weapons and even use his shield to great effect.
Black Ops Training: From covert insertions to hacking through databases, from stealing cars to silently clinging to a ceiling as complacent sentries patrol below, he's a skilled and resourceful operative with a n enormous quantity of skills at his disposal.
Timeline
Quotes
"This is one party you Ratzis won't soon forget!" - Bucky
Trivia
-Barnes is a superb swing dancer and has fond memories of upstaging the Super Soldier himself on the dance floor.
-May be one of the only heroes alive that can boast of pummeling Mussolini, Tojo, and Hitler personally.
-Finds Namor's unbearable arrogance unusually endearing.