Winter Soldier

"Most of the intelligence community doesn't believe he exists. The ones that do call him the Winter Soldier. He's a ghost. You'll never find him."

- Black Widow

James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes was a soldier and the childhood friend of Steve Rogers. During World War II, he became a member of the Howling Commandos. They attacked many HYDRA bases together. During a battle on a HYDRA train, Bucky was attacked and fell off the train. He was then assumed to be deceased, but he actually survived, though he lost his left arm. Brainwashed and armed with a new cybernetic limb, he eventually became a HYDRA operative known as the Winter Soldier.

Early life
James Buchanan Barnes was orphaned at an early age and was living in an orphanage ever since. During a regular day, he noticed a skimpy, weak kid getting beaten up by some bullies. He stepped in and saved the kid, who introduced himself as Steve Rogers. The two become best friends and stick together for years.

Years later, during an art class Bucky and Steve find out that America has joined the Second World War. Over the next two weeks he trains Steve at Goldie's Boxing Gym. They visit US Recruiting and Induction Center in New York City where Steve is classified as 4F and rejected from service. But Bucky was later enlisted in the Army.

Sergeant Barnes
"This isn't a back alley, Steve. It's war!"

- Bucky to Steve Rogers

Eventually, Barnes rose to the rank of Sergeant. The day before his shipment out to England, Bucky defended his friend Steve from being beat up by a bully. Bucky and Steve then went to the Stark Expo on a double date with Connie and Bonnie; though Bucky was having fun, Steve was interested in enlisting for the fifth time. Despite Bucky's protests Steve went through with it but said goodbye to Bucky before doing so. Bucky and his unit the 107th then shipped to England the next day.

Prisoner of War
On the battlefields of Europe, Bucky and his men were captured by the Germans at Azzano. and sent to work at the HYDRA weapons facility in the Austrian Alps, halfway between Kitzbühel and Klagenfurt. In October 1943, he met other Allied POWs: Jacques Dernier, Dum Dum Dugan, Gabe Jones, and James Montgomery Falsworth.

During his stay in the facility, he was viciously beaten by the commander of the compound, Colonel Lohmer. However, other prisoners organized "an accident" which resulted in Lohmer's death.

Bucky and his friends worked on parts of the Valkyrie, the giant super bomber. Bucky became too weak to continue and he was taken to an isolation clinic. In November 1943, Steve (who had become Captain America) infiltrated the facility, freed the prisoners and Bucky too. During the escape Bucky and Steve encountered Johann Schmidt and Arnim Zola. Steve and Bucky were able to escape them and the facility before it blew and walked all the way back to Colonel Phillips' base in Italy, 30 miles out.

Howling Commandos
Eventually, Bucky, Dugan, Dernier, Jones, and Falsworth joined Rogers in his crusade against the Nazis and HYDRA, forming an elite group of fighters known as the Howling Commandos. Over the following months, Bucky, Rogers, and the Commandos progressively destroyed most major HYDRA operations, preventing Schmidt and Zola any real ability to work on their scientific projects and plans. Bucky also participated in Captain America's raid on Castle Zemo where they destroyed the gigantic robot called the Sleeper.

"Death"
In the winter of 1945, Bucky and Captain America boarded a HYDRA train carrying Arnim Zola. Bucky takes Captain America's shield and blocks him while he's down, but clearly not having the upper body strength to hold on to it when getting hit it shoots him out the side of the train. He was hanging on to a rail on the outside of the train, but it broke before Rogers was able to save him, which resulted in Bucky falling into an icy river below.



Found by HYDRA
"Sergeant Barnes, you will become the new fist of HYDRA!"

- Arnim Zola

Surviving the fall from Zola's train, although missing his arm, Bucky was found by Soviet soldiers some time later. He eventually ended up in HYDRA custody. From experiments performed on him during his time as a HYDRA prisoner, Bucky had been given some form of the Super Soldier Serum which may have contributed to his survival.

In the care of the newly recreated HYDRA now working underneath S.H.I.E.L.D.'s nose, Barnes underwent further experimentation at the hands of Arnim Zola and various other doctors. Removing the remnants of his severed arm, the doctors replaced the missing limb with a prosthetic one. Bucky was also subjected to multiple mind control methods to keep him under their command. Over time Bucky would lose all memory of his former life and became nothing more than a weapon.

With the intention of using Barnes as their personal weapon, HYDRA had him frozen in suspended animation.

The Winter Soldier
Receiving vast training from HYDRA, Barnes became a formidable fighter and an even more ruthless killer. His experiences with the KGB would earn him the name of the Winter Soldier.

The Winter Soldier would remain frozen for long periods of time until HYDRA saw fit to unfreeze him for certain missions. Over the next 50 years, the Winter Soldier would be responsible for countless assassinations including political parties. Due to his expertise on the field and the shadowy nature of his existence, the Winter Soldier became something of a Ghost Story with Intelligence Agencies doubting he even existed.

Encounter with the Black Widow
During his long career as HYDRA's personal assassin, the Winter Soldier was sent to kill a nuclear scientist. He found his target being escorted by KGB Agent, Natasha Romanoff. Without hesitation, he attacked his target, sending him and Romanoff over a cliff. Finding Romanoff saved the target from falling to his death, the Winter Soldier fired a single round through Romanoff's stomach and into the scientist, effectively killing him. He then made his getaway without pursuit.

Bucky's Legacy
More than seventy years after the end of World War II, Steve Rogers, awakened in the 21st century, studied S.H.I.E.L.D.'s files about the Commandos. In Bucky's file, he was reported as "Missing in action", implying that he may be still alive in the modern age.

As of 2014, "Bucky" Barnes' name was listed in the Wall of Valor of the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy of Science and Technology.

Attack on Nick Fury
In 2014, the Winter Soldier was activated to kill Nick Fury when he began to unravel HYDRA's secret existence.

When Fury managed to escape death at the hands of over a dozen HYDRA agents in Washington, D.C., Barnes was sent and fired a magnetic grenade underneath Fury's car, demobilizing it. However, when he made his way to the vehicle to finish Fury, he found his target had used a laser to escape his car and into the sewers.

He later located Fury at Steve Rogers' apartment and shot him multiple times through the wall from another building. While making his escape, Rogers gave chase and tried to subdue Barnes with his shield only for the Winter Soldier to catch it and throw it back.

Hunting Captain America
"Bucky?" "Who the Hell is Bucky?"

- Captain America and the Winter Soldier

Instead of being returned to cryo-sleep, The Winter Soldier was later sent to Alexander Pierce's house for his next orders. His next targets were Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff who were attempting to reveal HYDRA's plan to wipe out over a million targets using S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Hellicarriers.

The next day he attacked Rogers, Romanoff, and Sam Wilson on the freeway while they were kidnapping HYDRA sleeper agent, Jasper Sitwell. Throwing Sitwell from the car into an incoming truck, the Winter Soldier destroyed the car and forced it off the road. When he fired a missile at his targets, Rogers deflected it and went flying off the bridge into a bus below. Instead engaging Romanoff, Barnes began pursuing her through the streets of Washington only to be ambushed. After shooting Romanoff through the shoulder, the Winter Soldier was attacked by Rogers before he could assassinate her.

The two engaged in a brutal one-on-one fight, both rivaling each other with every move. In the midst of the fight, Rogers ripped the Soldier's mask off and stared in disbelief. Recognizing him as Bucky Barnes, Rogers brought the Soldier to a stand still. Swiftly raising his gun to take a shot, the Winter Soldier was suddenly knocked to the ground by Sam Wilson and forced to flee while HYDRA agents captured Rogers, Romanoff and Wilson.

Forgotten Memories
Back at Base, Bucky became erratic and violent towards the doctors. After they repaired his arm, he began to remember fragments from his past including his fall from the train and the operations performed on him by Arnim Zola.

Pierce arrived at the Base to obtain Barnes' mission report only to find Barnes in a state of disarray. Claiming that he knew Rogers some how, Barnes was forced to undergo further mind alterations to force his cooperation.

The following day, before HYDRA could complete their goal and activate the Hellicarriers, Rogers and company infiltrated the Triskelion and revealed HYDRA's presence to his fellow agents who actively engaged in battle with HYDRA's undercover agents.

In the ensuing chaos, Bucky made his way to the Hellicarriers where he ambushed Rogers and Wilson. Destroying Wilson's flight suit and throwing him from the Hellicarrier, the Winter Soldier went to confront Rogers himself before he could reboot the Carrier's Target System. As the two stood opposite one another, Rogers pleaded with his former best friend for him to remember him. Ignoring these pleas, Barnes engaged Rogers once again.

Trying to obtain the Targetting Chip from Barnes, Rogers broke Barnes' arm and injured his leg before subdueing him. The Winter Soldier however regained consciousness before Rogers could reach the System Override and shot him multiple times. Despite this, Rogers managed to swap the Data Chips and had S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Maria Hill have the three Hellicarriers target each other, even with himself aboard one.

As the Carrier began to fall apart in mid-air, the Winter Soldier became trapped under debris. A badly injured Rogers leapt to his former friend's aid and freed him. Begging for Bucky to remember him, Rogers let his shield drop to the Earth and refused to fight. Barnes refused to listen and violently began beating Rogers to a pulp as their surroundings began to deteriorate.

As the Winter Soldier claimed Rogers to be nothing than his mission, Steve quoted something Bucky said to him 70 years prior when he had lost his parents. Barnes relented in horror as the surface beneath them fell away and Rogers plummeted into the river below. Bucky quickly leapt in after him and pulled him ashore, saving his old friend's life before slowly walking off into the nearby woods.

Some time later, Barnes visited the Smithsonian Institution's Captain America Exhibit and stared at his past life, remembering who he was.

Powers and Abilities
"He's fast. Strong. Had a metal arm."

- Captain America

After Bucky fell into a trench in an ice mountain, he was saved and given a metal arm, along with some other enhanced abilities from a serum that had similar effect to the human body to the Super Soldier Serum given to Steve Rogers.

Abilities

 * Enhanced Strength: The Winter Soldier has strength that is even superior to Captain America. Much of his strength is due to his cybernetic left arm and a serum given to him by HYDRA scientists.
 * Enhanced Speed: The Winter Soldier's speed is also comparable to Captain America's, who had difficulty catching up to him.

Skills

 * Master Combatant: The Winter Soldier is a highly trained martial artist and excels at improvisation and weapons handling.
 * Expert Marksman: Bucky was a remarkably precise shot, even prior to being turned into the Winter Soldier.

Relationships

 * Captain America - Teammate, Best Friend, and Leader. Later Enemy.
 * Chester Phillips - Superior officer (former)
 * Red Skull - Enemy
 * Arnim Zola - Enemy
 * Brock Rumlow - Ally
 * Alexander Pierce - Superior officer

Trivia

 * It is highly likely (and further hinted at by cast and crew of the second film) that while Bucky was captured, Arnim Zola was experimenting with an alternative to the Super Soldier Serum, thus granting Bucky the ability to survive his fall from the train.
 * Winter Soldier co-creater, Ed Brubaker appears in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
 * In the comics Bucky's metal arm was made by Russians who rediscovered his body. This is why he has a star on his metal arm in the comics. He has the star in the film, but it is currently unknown if he has it for the same reasons.