James Barnes

"This isn't a backyard, Steve, it's a war!"

- Bucky Barnes

James "Bucky" Barnes is the protégé and childhood friend of Captain America, and a member of an elite special unit of Allied soldiers formed in World War II known as the Howling Commandos.

Captain America: The First Avenger
After meeting him in his childhood, Bucky became Rogers best friend. After the Pearl Harbor attack, Bucky enlisted in the US army and assumed the title of Sgt. Barnes.

The day before his shipment out to England, Bucky helped his friend Steve from being beat up by a bully by kicking him in the balls. Bucky and Steve then went to the Stark Expo on a double date, though Bucky was having fun, Steve was interested in enlisting for the sixth time. Despite Bucky's protests Steve still went though with it but said goodbye to Bucky before doing so. Bucky and his unit the 107th then shiped to England the next day.

A year later, Bucky and his unit consisting of 200 men went up against a Nazi sup group named HYDRA lead by Johann Schmidt at the orders of the SSR but 150 of the men were either killed or captured while 50 barley escaped. Bucky and the Howling Commandos were among the captured. Bucky was taken to a prison where he was forced to work to desgin rockets called Valkyries, but it eventually became too much and he was taken to an isolation clinic for interrogation. But a few days later Steve (who had become Captain America infiltrated the base, freed the prisoners and evetually Bucky too. During the escape Bucky and Steve encountered Schmidt and Zola but were able to escape them and the facility before it blew and walked all the way back to base, 30 miles out.

Bucky, Captain America and Gabe Jones zipline on to the top of a HYDRA train. 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 and Cap is unable to save him, letting him fall into a icey river below.

The Avengers
Bucky Barnes' files is among the ones studied by Steve Rogers, awakened at the present days. Oddly enough, he's reported as "Missing in action", implying that S.H.I.E.L.D. thinks he may be still alive.

Character traits
Bucky Barnes is a loyal and brave man, a honest person and a good soldier. He firmly believes in the duty of protecting his Country, and is eager to test his own value. He's a very close friend of Steve Rogers, who he has always protected by bullies.

Barnes is a highly trained soldier, an expert fighter and a talented marksman. In battle, he uses canonical firearms.

Friends and Allies

 * Steve Rogers/Captain America - Best friend.
 * Howling Commandos
 * Dum Dum Dugan
 * Gabriel "Gabe" Jones
 * Jim Morita
 * Jacques Dernier
 * Montgomery Falsworth
 * Peggy Carter

Enemies

 * Red Skull
 * Arnim Zola
 * Heinz Kruger

Behind the scenes

 * Sebastian Stan was considered for the role of Captain America, but got the role of Bucky instead.
 * Bucky's uniform is based on his original and his codename The Winter Soilder.
 * About the role, Stan stated, "Steve Rogers and Bucky are both orphans and kind of like brothers. They kind of grow up together and look after each other. It's a very human, relatable thing.... I also wanted to look out for how their relationship changes once Steve Rogers becomes Captain America. There's always a competition and they're always one-upping each other. I paid attention to how Bucky is affected by Steve's change and suddenly Steve is this leader".
 * When Steve finds Bucky hooked up to machines in Arnim Zola's HYDRA Lab and Bucky is in a sort of trance, many fans assume Zola was experimenting on Bucky and brainwashing him with dormant Winter Soldier programming, thus possibly allowing him to survive the fall and appear in a a sequel (as Stan is contracted for more Marvel films).

Appearances/Actors

 * Marvel Cinematic Universe (2 films)
 * Captain America: The First Avenger (First appearance) - Sebastian Stan
 * The Avengers (Photograph only) (Deleted scene)

Trivia

 * In the comics, Bucky is younger than Steve Rogers.
 * Bucky's codename is Winter Soldier, much like his older self in the comics.
 * Notice that Bucky does not wear a mask like in the comics, and his identity isn't a secret.
 * Bucky used Captain America's shield, in the comics Bucky becomes Captain America when Steve was supposedly dead.
 * Bucky used a Sniper simulator when he became The Winter Soldier.
 * In the comics, Bucky was a trainer and lover of Black Widow, and the two have rekindled their relationship and remained steady since Bucky's ressurection.