M174--Captain America (Bucky) by Green-Mamba on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Captain America

Real Name: James Barnes

First Appearance (as Captain America): Captain America #34 (March 2008)

After the joint efforts of Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, and Sharon Carter unraveled Johann Schmidt's schemes, James "Bucky" Barnes, Rogers' old war buddy turned brain washed assassin, was finally freed from his decades long torture as the Winter Soldier. Rogers ended up letting Bucky go, sure that no government would give him a fair trial. On the run but finally free, Bucky deliberately kept himself out of Avengers affairs to keep the pressure off of Rogers for his disappearance. But only a short time later Rogers seemingly sacrificed himself to stop Ultron's destruction of Slorenia, and the world thought itself without a Captain America. In this void, there came the People's Militia.

Claiming to be the people trying to uphold Rogers' legacy, it was no secret that they were using this as a way of pushing their radical "America First" political agenda, often by force. When the Militia took control of a port harboring Slorenian refugees demanding the US government send them back, Bucky recognized the leader, Brock Rumlow, as one of his handlers when he was used as the Winter Soldier by Schmidt. Seeing the memory of his best friend used to spread hatred by the very same people who had used him as a weapon disgusted Bucky beyond belief. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Bucky stole Rogers' shield from his memorial in the Smithsonian and fashioned himself a Captain America suit of his own. Taking the fight to the People's Militia, Bucky decided to show them what Captain America would have really thought of them.

Bucky did not keep the shield for very long when it turned out that Steve had actually faked his death to infiltrate the People's Militia from the beginning after discovering machinations by Schmidt to influence his followers while still imprisoned. But for his actions in help taking them down, Bucky received a full pardon for his actions as the Winter Soldier.

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He takes up the shield one other time--and by "time" I mean "timeline"--in the world where Apocalypse unleashed his techno-organic virus. Bucky's cybernetics allowed him to survive where Steve did not, and he became a symbol of hope for the people left as one of the founding Askani and the one who taught Cable everything he knew about being a soldier.

I had a bunch of ideas for Bucky that I had to get around to here, and I hope it sheds some light on when some of these events I've mentioned in disparate entries take place. The Ultron incident here is specifically the original Ultron story, not the one hinted at in Yellowjacket's entry, if that helps. I did not really want Bucky to be like a full time Captain America at any point, I wanted him instead to be a man on a mission who uses the identity as a means to an end, to discredit the People's Militia. And that whole bit on him being the Captain America in the Age of Apocalypse was another story thread I thought of that I think helps tie the whole universe together.

For his design I decided to make him decidedly less "official" looking than my Steve Rogers look. He's not an officially sanctioned hero or anything, he's decided to take this upon himself. So it's a little more slapdash looking than Rogers' look, which I think the scarf helps pull it all together. It's also damaged and battle worn. But all told it's still an adaptation of Bucky's Captain America uniform from the comics. I decided to have his goggles opaque so you could not see his eyes as I still wanted my Bucky to look distant to you guys, the viewers and leave a little more mystery into what he looks like, and I think it would make him a little scarier to the People's Militia.