Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes has become one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most familiar faces, but the movies have only covered a fraction of his comic book history. He’s carried Captain America’s shield, led the Thunderbolts, and spent years trying to build a life after the Winter Soldier. His friendship with Steve Rogers may be his best-known relationship, but there’s plenty for Marvel to draw from beyond another reunion.
That makes Bucky an especially interesting part of Avengers: Armageddon, which brings him into a conflict involving Red Hulk and another man who has held the Captain America mantle, David Colton. The five-issue series from Chip Zdarsky, Delio Diaz, and Frank Alpizar sets up a new Avengers run arriving in November. Its fourth issue, however, leaves Bucky’s place in that future in serious doubt.
Marvel has confirmed that Bucky Barnes was killed by Red Hulk, with the preview for Avengers: Armageddon #5 explicitly naming him among the victims. The fatal explosion occurred in the previous issue, but the new installment’s recap removes the ambiguity surrounding the Winter Soldier’s fate: “Red Hulk exploded, killing thousands, including BUCKY BARNES.” The confirmation makes Steve Rogers’ longtime friend one of the casualties of a disaster whose aftermath dominates the preview.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which MCU Villain Do You Align With? Killmonger · Namor · Zemo · Thanos
Eight honest questions about how you actually are: what you do about something unfair, how long you will wait for what you want, who you are really loyal to, how easily you let a thing go. Answer them and we will tell you which one of these four you have more in common with than you would like. Every one of them thinks they are the reasonable person in the room.
🐆Killmonger(Black Panther)
🔱Namor(Wakanda Forever)
🎭Zemo(Civil War)
🧤Thanos(Infinity War)
01
How do you react to something you think is unfair? All four of these men started here.
02
How long will you wait for something you want? Patience separates these four more than anything else.
03
Who are you actually loyal to? Answer for the real one, not the polite one.
04
How do you win an argument? Everybody has one method and uses it every time.
05
How easily do you let something go? This is the question that makes villains out of people.
06
What do you think about breaking the rules? Nobody on this list has ever felt guilty about it.
07
What do people say about you behind your back? You already know which one it is.
08
What would you do with real power? Eight questions in, this is the one that picks your villain.
The Case Is Made You Align With…
Four villains, and four arguments the films were honest enough to
actually let them make. Here is the one you lean towards, the part of it that holds up, and the
exact point where it stops holding up.
Black Panther · Marvel Studios · 2018
Erik Killmonger
You align with the one who was right about the problem and wrong
about the solution. Killmonger is the most persuasive villain Marvel has produced because
the film never pretends his anger came from nowhere.
You notice who was abandoned and you cannot let it go, which is a moral instinct before
it is anything else.
His argument lands because Wakanda really did watch and do nothing, and the film makes
T’Challa admit it out loud.
Where it breaks is the method, since a man who was failed by power decided the answer
was to hold more of it.
Michael B. Jordan plays him as somebody performing certainty over grief, which is why
the last scene of that film still works.
Wakanda Forever · Marvel Studios · 2022
Namor
You align with the protector, which is the most understandable
and most dangerous position on this list. Namor is not chasing power or revenge, he is doing
whatever keeps his people hidden, and he has been doing it for centuries.
Your loyalty has a hard border around it, and everything inside that border matters far
more to you than anything outside it.
Talokan is the best realised world Marvel has built since Wakanda, and the film makes
you understand exactly what he is guarding.
His logic is airtight right up until it requires somebody else’s people to pay for his
people’s safety.
He would rather be feared by the surface world forever than trust it once, and history
has given him reasons.
Captain America: Civil War · 2016
Helmut Zemo
You align with the patient one, the only man on this list with no
powers, no army and no hurry. Zemo lost his family in Sokovia and then spent years working
out that you do not fight the Avengers, you introduce them to each other’s secrets.
You go quiet when you are hurt, and the quiet is where the thinking happens.
Zemo is the only MCU villain who completely won, and he did it with a notebook, a plan
and a great deal of self control.
His grief is real, and the film is careful never to let you forget that he started as an
ordinary man with a family.
Where it fails is the cost, since taking apart the people who hurt him meant hurting a
great many people who did not.
Avengers: Infinity War · 2018
Thanos
You align with the one who decided the answer was arithmetic.
Thanos is not angry and not grieving in any way he will admit to, he simply reached a
conclusion and never once revisited it, which is precisely what makes him frightening.
You are capable of holding a position that costs you everything, and you would call that
conviction rather than stubbornness.
Infinity War works because it is structured as his film, with a goal, a journey and a
sacrifice, and the heroes are the obstacle.
The flaw in the plan is not the cruelty, it is that he never seriously considered a
single alternative to it.
Josh Brolin plays him tired rather than triumphant, which is the choice that turned a
purple giant into a real character.
‘Avengers: Armageddon’ #5 Confirms Bucky Barnes’ Death
The recap traces the catastrophe back to General Ross taking over Latveria and renaming it New America before moving against other countries. Despite the United Nations asking superheroes to stay out of the conflict, the Avengers intervened alongside members of the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and former Captain America David Colton. Ross subsequently partnered with Russia and the Winter Guard, while Colton began destroying nuclear arsenals around the world. When the heroes confronted Ross in Russia, they failed to move him far enough away from civilians before he exploded. The preview opens with heroes searching the wreckage, including Black Panther and a visibly distraught Steve Rogers holding Bucky’s severed metal arm. A news report puts the death toll at a minimum of 9,000, while rescue workers search for survivors and attempt to dissipate the radiation. For Steve, the disaster has also taken someone whose history with him stretches back to World War II. The image of him holding what remains of Bucky’s arm makes that loss painfully specific amid the larger destruction.
Captain Marvel survived, but the preview shows her recovering under Reed Richards’ care and struggling with what she witnessed. She explains that she tried to absorb the blast and could not stop Ross, leaving her haunted by the people she saw die. Meanwhile, the political response is already taking shape at the United Nations, where a speaker condemns the devastation caused by superpowered battles. Sue Storm and Johnny Storm watch as the discussion turns toward outlawing the use of powers. Bucky’s death is therefore part of a much broader crisis for the Avengers, with surviving heroes facing grief, injuries, and an increasingly hostile public. Although a future story could always bring the Winter Soldier back, the preview identifies him as dead at this point in the series. The immediate question is how his friends move forward while the consequences of Red Hulk’s attack continue to unfold.
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