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The Future of James Buchanan Barnes

Bucky, 'Winter Soldier,' 'Captain America'

By Alexandrea CallaghanPublished 5 years ago 3 min read
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Oh, the love of my life, James Buchanan Barnes, there are so many directions for the MCU to take his character after the resolution of Endgame. He could (and should) be the one to take up the mantle of Captain America (he is the other super soldier, I know falcon would also be comic book accurate but it makes much less sense don’t fight me on this), but as seen in Black Panther’s end credit scene, apparently White Wolf is an option for the future of Bucky Barnes (which makes no sense whatsoever but sure). So let’s talk about just how much of this character the MCU has left to explore.

The first time Bucky takes up the mantle of Captain America is after Steve dies and asks Tony to watch out for Bucky. This very important piece of comic book fact is one of the many reasons I think that this should be the direction they take with Bucky especially taking into account how the MCU has handled Steve and Tony’s relationship. He was met with resistance from some of the other Avengers when he donned himself in Captain America’s gear, I feel that this would play well on screen. Bucky already feels isolated, his friends list is short and with Steve gone his biggest ally, friend and his only family will be gone as well. I think sticking to the comics would allow for he and Falcon to grow closer opening up even more storylines for them to explore.

Bucky taking up the mantle of Captain America is not to say that he would lead the new Avengers, truer to the MCU’s version of the character he would be a soldier, unless of course, he felt he was being controlled or was outwardly against a fight. But unless met with extreme circumstance I feel Bucky would be more of a right-hand man than an outward leader.

In comic storylines, Bucky also kind of bounces back and forth between holding up the mantle of Captain America and being Winter Soldier. Again, if we stay comic book accurate, the writers will still be able to do everything I am sure they want to. I would start with Bucky as Captain America and when the world gets dark again, when the circumstances get too extreme, we bring back the Winter Soldier, therefore, allowing for Falcon to become Captain America.

Bucky also has many storyline with Black Widow and although I think all the fans of the MCU are assuming that we aren’t going to see any of the original Avengers after Endgame, the reality is that we are unclear as to what heroes are going to appear in the MCU after the next Avengers movie in the current MCU timeline.

Now, let’s talk about White Wolf briefly, one of the children in the Black Panther end credit scene referred to Bucky as White Wolf, which would, of course, make absolutely no sense considering that the White Wolf is the leader of the Hatute Zaraze, Wakanda’s secret police force. He is T’Challa’s adopted brother I feel there is no reason for making Bucky Barnes who has a plethora of his own storylines, White Wolf. I am really hoping that the White Wolf reference was to someone we didn’t see and not to a very broken down Bucky, as that would also make no sense given that the character of the White Wolf is more towards the anti-hero side at best and if we had rid Bucky of the mental manipulation that he suffered becoming the Winter Soldier, keeping him trapped under the darker character personas is a massive step backward for the character.

There are many storylines for Bucky Barnes whether he stays the Winter Soldier or takes up the mantle of Captain America, or even (sigh) becomes the White Wolf I am eager to see the future of my Bucky Barnes.

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About the Creator

Alexandrea Callaghan

Certified nerd, super geek and very proud fangirl.

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