Bucky Barnes

Real Name
James Buchanan Barnes

Occupation
Adventurer; formerly S.H.I.E.L.D. operative, Soviet assassin, freelance assassin, sidekick to Captain America, army mascot

Citizenship
U.S.A.

Place of Birth
Shelbyville, Indiana

Known Relatives
George M. Barnes (father, deceased); Winnifred C. Barnes (mother, deceased); Ida (aunt, presumed deceased); Rebecca P. Barnes Proctor (sister); Proctor (first name unrevealed, brother-in-law); unidentified niece and nephew; Scott Proctor (grandnephew); Kimberly Proctor (grandniece)

Group Affiliation
Avengers; formerly Kid Commandos, Liberty Legion, Invaders (wartime), Young Allies; former partner of Captain America

Education
High school dropout

Height
5'9"

Weight
260 lbs.

Eyes
Brown

Hair
Brown

Powers
When becoming Winter Soldier, Bucky was given a bionic left arm, which grants him a degree of superhuman strength, enhanced reaction time, sensory array, electrical discharge, and Bucky can even control his bionic arm from a distance (in case it were separated from his body) due to a cybernetic implant. As his career progressed as Captain America, Nick Fury found it necessary to upgrade his arm to be fully synthetic in order to look and feel real.

Abilities
He is an Olympic-class athlete and exceptional acrobat highly skilled in both unarmed and armed hand-to-hand combat and extremely accurate marksman. He is fluent in four languages including German and Russian.

Other Info
Born in 1925, James Buchanan Barnes lost both his parents early in his life; his mother had died when he was a child and his father had died in an accident while in basic training at Camp Lehigh shortly before Christmas in 1937. He was separated from his younger sister Rebecca, who was sent to boarding school while he persuaded officials into letting him remain at camp Lehigh as a ward of the state due to sharing his father's love of the armed forces. Barnes was eventually considered the camp mascot and given the nickname "Bucky."

During World War II, Bucky soon began to receive select assignments as a special military operative, having received hand-to-hand combat training with British Commandos. He met and befriended a young and somewhat naive private Steven Rogers, who had recently become the government operative, Captain America. Bucky was assigned to accompany Rogers, but was initially unaware of the true nature of his work. However, one night, Barnes happened to walk into Rogers' tent just as he was changing to his masked identity. Sworn to secrecy, Barnes joined Captain America on his first mission against the Red Skull, freeing many Nazi prisoners. After this, for several months, Barnes underwent an intensive training program under Captain America's tutelage. He officially became Cap's sidekick and the two went on many missions together. (To learn about Cap and/or the Red Skull, click on their highlighted name above.)

When America entered WWII after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 1941, Captain America and Bucky abandoned their military identities for most of the war to devote their full energies to serving as costumed freedom fighters. They soon found themselves allied with the Sub-Mariner, the original Human Torch, and his young mutant partner Toro, in a team that Winston Churchill dubbed the Invaders. Bucky served Captain America and the Invaders capably and faithfully, leaving the team only temporarily to organize and lead his own team of teenage soldiers, the Kid Commandos. Once, to rescue the Invaders from the Red Skull, Bucky assembled a team of costumed super-humans who operated on the home front, a group that would remain together until the end of the war and was known as the Liberty Legion. Bucky also worked with another group of teenagers known as the Young Allies. (Click on the highlighted names above to learn about the characters and/or teams.)

Toward the end of the war in late 1945, on a final mission against Baron Zemo, Bucky and Cap hopped on an experimental drone plane in an attempt to disarm a bomb. The bomb detonated, dropping Cap in the North Atlantic (where he would later be found and thawed out in the future by the Avengers). On the other hand, American forces never found Bucky's body, and he was presumed dead. However, unbeknownst to the Americans, Bucky was found and revived by Russian General Vasily Karpov. (To learn about the above highlighted characters and/or team, just click on their name.)

When Bucky awoke, he had no memory of his identity, which gave Karpov an opportunity to reprogram Bucky as a Soviet assassin called the "Winter Soldier." In addition, during the explosion on the plane, Bucky lost his left arm. Therefore, Bucky was outfitted with bionic left arm to assist him in his future duties. The Winter Soldier was sent all across the globe, committing political assassinations with huge effects on the Cold War. However, his memory implantation caused mental instability, and he was kept in stasis between missions to prevent rebellion. (Bucky as the Winter Soldier is shown in the third and forth picture posted above.)

It was during this period that Bucky met Natasha Romanoff (aka Black Widow), whom he helped train in combat while she was undergoing espionage training. Soon afterward, the two fell in love. Barnes would often sneak out into her sleeping quarters just so he could see her. However, this relationship did not last, and the two separated as friends. (To learn about the Black Widow, click on her highlighted name above. Note: Beware of the extremely form-fitting outfits on Black Widow's bio page.)

Later, Winter Soldier was given the mission to aid in his wartime ally James Howlett's (aka future Wolverine) escape from the Weapon X laboratory. However, part of his mission was to also kill Howlett's then pregnant wife Itsu, and the Winter Soldier came through on both parts of his mission. (To learn about Wolverine and/or the Weapon X program, click on their highlighted names above.)

Desiring the Red Skull's Cosmic Cube for himself, former Soviet general Aleksander Lukin hired the Winter Soldier to assassinate the Red Skull. After this was done and the Cube was taken, Lukin wanted to mess with Cap's mind; therefore, he commanded the Winter Soldier to kill Jack Monroe and launch a major terrorist attack on the city of Philadelphia, fueling the Cosmic Cube's power in the process. However, when the Winter Soldier kidnapped S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter, she told Captain America (upon her rescue) that she believed her captor to be Bucky. Later, Nick Fury confirmed to Cap that the Winter Soldier was indeed his former partner. (Click on the highlighted names above to learn about the characters, object, and/or team.)

Afterward, when Lukin ordered the Winter Soldier to bury the Cosmic Cube in an underground bunker, Captain America (with help from the Falcon and Iron Man) tracked him down and defeated him. After the battle, Cap used the Cosmic Cube to restore Bucky's memories. Overcome with remorse, Barnes then used the Cube to disappear and went underground to search for Lukin. Everyone, but Captain America, believed Bucky had died. (To learn about Falcon and/or Iron Man, click on their highlighted names above.)

Over sometime, Barnes eventually encountered the Young Avengers' Hawkeye and Vision and learned how his and Cap's adventures had inspired contemporary heroes. Later, Bucky also reconciled with his former Invaders teammate Namor, assisted Wolverine with incapacitating his son Daken (who had earlier been presumed dead), and comforted a cynical Patriot (Elijan Bradley). (Click on the highlighted names above to learn about the team and/or characters. Note: Beware of Hawkeye's revealing outfits on the Young Avengers' and her bio page.)

When the Superhuman Registration Act was passed, S.H.I.E.L.D's Nick Fury recruited Bucky for covert operations, so as to protect Captain America from government forces. However, following Captain America's assassination, Barnes resolved to kill Iron Man. When Bucky was able to confront Iron Man, he disabled his armor and fought him to a standstill. However, it was then that he learned of his Cap's final requests of Stark: to rescue Barnes from his descent into violence and insanity, and to pass the Captain America identity to a successor. Stark felt the best way to honor both his friend's requests was for Barnes to become Captain America. Barnes agreed and became the new Captain America. (To learn about the Superhuman Registration Act, just click on the highlighted name above. Note: Bucky as the new Captain America is shown in the fifth picture posted.)

Now residing in Steve Rogers' S.H.I.E.L.D. safe house, Bucky outfitted himself with an alternate version of Cap's costume built by Tony Stark and carried his indestructible shield along with other weapons. Although he was reformed, there were still a few officials from both America and other foreign nations who had not all forgotten Bucky's past as the Winter Soldier.

Later, it was discovered that Rogers had actually survived his assassination. When Rogers returned, however, he officially and respectfully handed the Captain America mantle over to Bucky--giving Bucky his blessing. Barnes then continued on as Captain America with the Avengers while Rogers accepted a federal role as an administrator managing super-heroes.

More recently, when Sin led an attack on Washington, D.C., Bucky was there to oppose her. However, her power proved too great and he was mortally wounded. (To learn about the Red Skull's daughter, click on the highlighted name above. Note: Beware of the revealing outfit on Sin's bio page.)

To learn more about Bucky Barnes, click on the following link, http://marvel.com/universe/Captain_America_%28James_Barnes%29.