They used to say “the only people to stay dead in comics are Bucky, Jason Todd and Uncle Ben”. Well, some one better check Uncle Ben’s grave. Introduced in Captain America Comics #1 (1941) by Joe Simons and Jack Kirby, Bucky was originally portrayed as a young teenager that stumbled on Captain America’s true identity and force Cap to make him his sidekick. It was later revealed (rather retconned) as being a cover story. He was instead a highly trained young soldier that was assigned to be Cap’s sidekick by the military. He would join Cap and his allies on many missions during WWII, even going on secret solo missions. Before the end of WWII, Bucky joined Cap in a mission in England to stop Baron Zemo from launching a drone mission. Both Cap and Bucky both tried to jump on the plane but only Bucky was able to grab it before it exploded. Cap believed Bucky to have died for many years.

While he would reappear in many incarnations of the Legion of the Unliving, it was actually revealed that he survived, though he lost his arm, and was placed in a form of suspended animation similar to Cap, He was eventually founded by a Soviet Sub and taken back to Russia. He was then brainwashed, given a new arm and trained to be an assassin to the Soviet Union, being place in cryostatis during each mission. In between a few missions, he was assigned to train a young Natasha Romanov, the future Black Widow, who he began a brief relationship with, and later was assign to kill the future Wolverine’s wife under the order of Romulus. He eventually was placed in a long term cryostatis eventually coming under the ownership of Aleksander Lukin. All these missions made him an urban legends that became known as Winter Soldier.

He would eventually be reunited with Cap when he was sent by Lukin to kill the Red Skull to gain the Cosmic Cube and after killing Jack Monroe, the former Bucky and Nomad. Cap would try and save Bucky, eventually using the Cube to restore Bucky’s memories, but Bucky used the Cube to escape as he was disgusted with what he had done. He would continue to work underground helping other heroes in the shadows. After the death of Cap at the end of Civil War, he was approached by Iron Man to become the next Captain America, under Rogers request to save Bucky. He would remain Cap for many months, becoming a member of the Avengers. He would remain Cap after Steve was revive but was later believed killed during Fear Itself. It was later revealed that he fake his death so that he could go under cover and evade Russian authorities, who wanted to bring Bucky back to Russia to stand trail.

Bucky would go back to be the Winter Soldier, working behind the scenes. He was later summoned by Nick Fury after the murder of Uatu, eventually taking Fury’s role as the “Man on the Wall”, prevent treats to the universe. He eventually went to investigate Pleasant Hill, where he learnt the truth of the facility. He rescue Kobik, the living embodiment of the Cosmic Cube, and would help her recruit the Thunderbolts, leading them to protect the child. They were eventually hunted down by the evil version of Captain America and was believed killed by Zemo. He worked together with the Avengers to rescue Kobik and bring back the true Captain America. He has since returned to working in the Shadows.

Bucky was never a character many people know about until he was revived in the Winter Soldier arc. Since then, he has become one of the most popular character in Marvel, making the jump into the MCU. His first ML was in the third Hasbro wave, the Brood Queen wave, as the Bucky figure, alongside First Apperance Cap. He would later receive a 2-pack with Black Widow, a winner of a Fan Poll. However, of the 3/5 Fan poll 2-packs, Winter Soldier was the only one not an option in the poll. He would later get a new figure in the Arnim Zola wave as his Captain America version, which would become the standard body for many male figures. Finally he gained a new Winter Soldier version in the Black Widow wave.

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