James Barnes

James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes is a World War II veteran, a former officer of the 107th Infantry Regiment and the best friend of Steve Rogers since childhood. Barnes was conscripted and assigned to the 107th in 1943. His regiment was captured by HYDRA, where Barnes was experimented on by HYDRA scientist Arnim Zola. Barnes, along with what remained of his regiment, were later rescued by Rogers, who had become Captain America during Barnes' military absence. Joining forces in the continuing war, Barnes and Rogers formed the Howling Commandos to battle the Red Skull's forces. During an attempt to capture Zola in the Austrian Alps, Barnes was caught in an ambush and plummeted hundreds of feet from a train. As no body was ever recovered, he was then presumed dead, but officially listed as MIA.

Unbeknownst to his team, Barnes' experimentation allowed him to survive the fall, albeit with the loss of his left arm. Found by the Soviet Union and HYDRA, Barnes was further experimented on, granting him superhuman abilities, and was subsequently brainwashed and armed with a new cybernetic limb in order to become an operative known as the Winter Soldier. Over the next fifty years, he would eliminate anyone who posed a threat to HYDRA, including his former ally Howard Stark and Howard's wife, Maria. Between his missions, Barnes would be put into a cryogenic stasis to ensure his longevity. In 2014, when he was ordered by current HYDRA leader Alexander Pierce to assassinate S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury, he was unexpectedly confronted by his old friend, Steve Rogers, triggering him to then begin remembering his prior life.

In the wake of the Battle at the Triskelion, Barnes, free from his brainwashing, deserted HYDRA in order to remember his past and end his long, violent history. Two years later, Barnes was then framed for the Bombing of the Vienna International Centre, which claimed the life of T'Chaka, the King of Wakanda, among others. As Black Panther sought revenge for his father's death, Barnes was repeatedly saved by Captain America, sparking the Avengers Civil War as a team lead by Tony Stark was sent to capture him. It was later revealed that Helmut Zemo had framed Barnes and reactivated his brainwashing all so Zemo could reveal that Barnes had murdered Stark's parents years earlier. Having survived Stark's revenge attempt, Barnes was given amnesty in Wakanda by Black Panther and was placed in cryostasis until HYDRA's control triggers could be removed from his mind.

Barnes was eventually cured of his brainwashing by T'Challa's sister, Shuri. When Wakanda came under threat from the Mad Titan Thanos for harboring Vision, who was currently in possession of the Mind Stone, Barnes joined T'Challa and the Avengers to help fight off the threat, receiving a new vibraniumarm. Despite their best efforts, managing to kill all of Thanos' forces, Thanos arrived at Wakanda personally, where he effortlessly overpowered Barnes and the heroes in his way and victoriously assembled all the Infinity Stones.

Meeting Steve Rogers
James Buchanan Barnes was born on March 10, 1917 and was the eldest child of four. Barnes grew up to be an overachiever, having been an excellent athlete who had also excelled inside the classroom.[2] Sometime during his childhood, he met Steve Rogers when bullies were trying to steal his money.[4] The two became best friends and stuck together for many years, with Barnes often defending Rogers from bullies who would have attempted to take advantage of Rogers' short height and small build.[5]

During one of their trips together, Barnes and Rogers had ended up being forced to get a ride back towards Brooklyn on the back of a freezer truck as they had used all their remaining train money to buy hotdogs, while Barnes had also inadvertently managed to spend three dollars as he attempted to win a stuffed bear for Dolores.[6]Another time when they were at Coney Island together, Barnes convinced Rogers to ride the Cyclone, which resulted in Rogers throwing up due to the ride, much to Barnes' great amusement.

Training Rogers
In 1936, Steve Rogers' mother, Sarah Rogers, died of tuberculosis and they buried her beside Rogers' father, Joseph Rogers. After her funeral, Barnes walked Rogers home and offered him his place to stay, but Rogers refused, saying he could get by on his own. Seeing Rogers struggling to find his house keys, Barnes revealed his secret key and told him that he did not have to because he was with him "to the end of the line," something Rogers would always keep to heart.

A year later, during their art class, Barnes and Rogers found out that the United States of America had joined the Second World War. By this time, Barnes was now the three-time YMCA welterweight boxing champion.[4] He then spent two weeks training Rogers at Goldie's Boxing Gym. They visited the US Recruiting and Induction Center within New York City where Rogers was classified as 4F and rejected from service, while Barnes was drafted into the United States Army.

Sergeant Barnes
Barnes, along with the rest of the 107th Infantry Regiment, was trained during the winter at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. Eventually, Barnes rose to the rank of Sergeant. The day before his shipment out to England, Barnes found Steve Rogers getting beaten up by a bully. He came to the defense of his friend and quickly sent the bully running away with a punch to the jaw and a kick to the behind.

Barnes learned that Rogers had been attempting to enlist in the army again so he could fight in World War II, using false documents to try and get deployed. Barnes informed Rogers that he had received his orders and would be going to war the next morning. At first, Rogers seemed upset, as he was not shipping out to war as well. Barnes remained determined to cheer his friend up and reminded him that he would last be the last eligible bachelor left in New York City.

Barnes and Rogers then went to the Stark Expo together, with Barnes determined to enjoy his last day in the city before shipping out. What Barnes did not tell Rogers, however, was that it was, in fact, a double date with Connie and Bonnie, who were both highly excited to spend the evening with a handsome soldier like Sgt Barnes. When Rogers asked what Barnes had told his own date about him, Barnes simply replied, "only the good stuff" while greeting the girls.

While happily exploring the Expo together, the group of four saw the inventions which Stark Industries was showing off. They later watched as Howard Stark himself demonstrated his prototype Hovercar, which had greatly impressed Barnes until it malfunctioned and fell to the ground hard, although Stark was still able to joke that the car was only a prototype. When Barnes turned around to suggest the group go dancing, he saw that Rogers had walked away from the group to try and enlist in the army yet again, despite Barnes' many previous objections.

Barnes soon found Rogers trying to enlist, and first tried to persuade him to rejoin him on the double date. When that did not work, he reminded him that he wasn't going to be fighting in a back alley, but in a war. Despite Barnes' protests, Rogers went through with it but said a heartfelt goodbye to Barnes before doing so. Rogers told him not to win the war until he got there, and Barnes left with the girls. Barnes and his unit shipped out to England the next day.

Prisoner of War
While serving on the front lines of World War II, Barnes and his unit, which included Dum Dum Dugan and Gabe Jones, were ambushed by the Nazis at Azzano.[8] Although the battle seemed hopeless as they were strongly outgunned and without any reinforcements, the battle turned when another German unit then appeared and used an extremely powerful tank which proceeded to easily kill the remaining Nazis who fled.

As Barnes, Dugan, and Jones got out of their hiding place and looked over the remains of the battlefield, the tank then turned its weaponry towards Barnes' unit and they were soon captured by HYDRA. Once they were HYDRA's prisoners, they were sent to work at the weapon facility in the Austrian Alps where they were forced to help make the new weaponry for HYDRA's forces.

In October 1943, Barnes met other Allied POWs: including Jacques Dernier and James Montgomery Falsworth. During his imprisonment in the facility, he was viciously beaten by Lohmer. However, other prisoners organized an "accident" which resulted in Lohmer's death.[9] Barnes and his friends worked on parts of the Valkyrie, a giant super bomber. When Barnes became too weak to continue, he was taken to undergo experiments conducted by Arnim Zola.

Saved by Captain America
In November 1943, the facility was infiltrated by Steve Rogers, who had undergone an experiment giving him enhanced strength. Rogers made his way through the base and freed the prisoners, including Barnes, having discovered him while chasing down Arnim Zola. Seeing his friend and his newly transformed body, Barnes was surprised and confused, noting that he remembered Rogers being considerably shorter than he was now while Rogers dragged him out.

As the freed POW's battled against the HYDRA forces, being led by Dum Dum Dugan, Rogers and Barnes became trapped inside the base as it began to self destruct. During the escape, Barnes and Rogers encountered Johann Schmidt and Arnim Zola, who mocked Rogers' transformation at the hands of Abraham Erskine. After a brief fight, Schmidt and Rogers soon became separated before Schmidt revealed to them his true demonic face, caused by taking an early version of the Super Soldier Serum. Schmidt mocked Rogers' belief that he was still just a simple soldier despite being a higher class of humanity before then escaping from the exploding base.

With Schmidt gone, Rogers and Barnes refocused their efforts and began working out an escape route. Rogers suggested that they move up and they decided to use a support beam to move to a safe section of the facility. Due to his poor health, Rogers insisted that Barnes get himself to safety first, however just as he reached the other side, the beam fell apart from under Barnes' feet, trapping Rogers on the other side of the exploding facility.

Although Rogers ordered that Barnes escape now before the base exploded and killed them both, Barnes refused, insisting that he would not leave his friend behind; he claimed that they would be able to find another way across. Barnes watched in amazement as Rogers used his strength to bend a steel bar out of his way before launching himself across the gap and rejoining Barnes. They were then able to escape moments before the entire facility was destroyed.

Return To Camp
Barnes and Captain America eventually regrouped with all the rest of the escaped Prisoners of War and together they then walked all the way back to Chester Phillips' base in Italy, 30 miles away. Once they had all arrived along with the weapons and vehicles they had stolen from HYDRA, they were then greeted warmly by the other soldiers, who were amazed that Rogers' mission to save the missing men had somehow been successful.

While Barnes and Dum Dum Dugan were reuniting with their fellow soldiers, Rogers then offered to surrender himself for court-martial; however, Phillips chose not to punish Rogers for undertaking the rescue mission against all of Phillips' strict orders against that plan. As the entire unit gathered together and Rogers was reunited by Peggy Carter, who teased him for being late as Rogers had been unable to contact her to inform her of the success, Barnes then called for the soldiers to cheer for their savior, Captain America. The Prisoners of War were then given some medical attention before all being given some time away from the battlefield to recover.