Captain America and Bucky Barnes

A tough kid who spent his whole life on Army bases, James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes proved himself strong enough to be Captain America’s sidekick during World War II. While Steve Rogers stood in the spotlight and fought the Axis powers, Bucky used his smaller stature and more lethal skills to take care of dirty dealings that wouldn’t make the newsreels. Together, they defended the nation from foreign threats and became close confidants and brothers-in-arms. They would go on to fight alongside the 107th and the rest of the Howling Commandos, as well as the Black Widow, Falcon, and Agent Peggy Carter against HYDRA, the same vile organization that brainwashed Barnes into serving them as their weapon, Winter Soldier.

Despite their close friendship, it was never clear how much Steve actually valued Bucky’s value as a person. He often referred to him as “Bucky, man.” This made it easy for the thugs and traitors who brainwashed Bucky to manipulate him into being their weapon. Programmed to assassinate Department X operatives on covert wetwork missions under the code name Winter Soldier, Bucky became ruthless and efficient in his work.

When the war was over and Bucky blew up with a plane-bomb launched by Baron Zemo, General Vasily Karpov and Aleksander Lukin found him and turned him into a cold-preserved cyborg with a bionic arm, upgraded as technology improved. His new name, the Winter Soldier, allowed him to continue to torment Cap, along with Crossbones, Sin, Doctor Faustus, and Arnim Zola, to this day.