Hero Profile: Winter Soldier

It’s time for another Theme Week. This time, in honor of the 4^th of July, I thought it would be a good idea to focus on patriotic superheroes. The Heroes I’ll be mentioning this week are former soldiers and/or have a patriotic style of costume. Again, no repeats, or you’d probably be seeing John Stewart on here. For the first hero of this week, I thought I go with one that has had a rather…bumpy career. I’m talking, of course, about James Buchanan Barnes, aka Bucky, aka The Winter Soldier. Let’s get to it.

His costume got a pretty serious upgrade.

James “Bucky” Barnes was born in Indiana back in 1925. His life was uneventfully until his father was killed in a training accident at U.S. Army Camp Lehigh in Virginia. And since his Dad was his primary caregiver, this kind of meant the end of normalcy in Bucky’s life. He was unofficially adopted as the camp mascot. I feel Child Protective Services would have gotten involved…if it was a thing yet. Anyway, Bucky learned a lot about the Army and US Military life while growing up at Lehigh. While there, he met and befriended Private Steven Rogers. Around this time, people also started hearing about the mysterious Red White and Blue superhero, Captain America. Bet you never thought you’d see mysterious and Captain America in the same sentence. Yes, like Iron-Man, there was a time when people didn’t know that Steven Rogers and Captain America were the same guy. How? Spider-Man rules, of course. Basically, Steven pretended to be the most uncoordinated, clumsy soldier that the US Army has ever seen. So, Bucky began to idolize the Captain, and wonder bemused how Steven ever became a soldier. This changed when he…accidentally walked in on Steven changing into his uniform? Wow, what a weak way to reveal Cap’s secret ID to his young friend.

Bucky discovering Captain America’s true identity motivated him to undergo extensive training in the hope of becoming Cap’s sidekick. For some reason, the US Government agreed to this. Why? Two reasons, 1. To show young people that they are “involved” in the war effort, and 2. To do the jobs that Captain America couldn’t be seen doing. Like killing dangerous Nazi prisoners. Assigning a fifteen year old orphan to serve in the US Army, and work as a covert assassin. What could possibly go wrong? Actually, not that much. To begin with at least. He help Captain America on a number of missions, against foes like the Red Skull, Baron’s Zemo and Strucker, and various Nazi super soldiers/weapons. In the final days of the War, Cap and Bucky were tasked with stopping Baron Zemo once again. This time the masked Nazi scientist planned to destroy an experimental drone. His plan? Hit it with his own experimental explosive drone. For a genius, Zemo is surprisingly simple minded… Whatever. So Cap and Bucky arrive just before the launch. Bucky tries to defuse the bomb, but it is a very complex explosive. Zemo launches the plane, with Cap and Bucky still on it. They didn’t defuse the bomb, but set it off before it reached its target. The heroic duo were pitched into the Atlantic Ocean. Both are presumed dead, until Captain America was rediscovered by the Avengers a few decades later. The Super Soldier Serum in Captain America kept him alive in a state of suspended animation, but Bucky is still presumed dead. It’s interesting to note, that it’s the death of Bucky that lead to sidekicks more or less not being a thing in the Marvel Universe. The heroes that followed didn’t want to put young men and women in dangerous like that. Seeing a teenager dying horribly does seem to make the most reckless hero cautious.

Yeah, this costume was silly.
See previous posts on my thoughts about
stealth guys wearing bright colors.

Bucky holds the record for longest time dead in comics. He was dead for about forty years. Heck, it became a saying that “the only characters that stay dead are Bucky, Uncle Ben and Jason Todd.” This changed in 2005, when we learned that Bucky was only dead for a little while. It’s revealed in the Winter Soldier story arc that Bucky survived the explosion. His body was discovered by an experimental Russian sub under the command of General Vasily Karpov. The Russians pulled the body from the water and discovered that it was amazingly well preserved. You know, except for the fact that Bucky had lost his left arm in the explosion. They ship the body to Moscow, where a surprisingly crazy Russian doctor proposes they try to revive the body. Even more shocking, it works. They also discover that being dead in the water for so long lead to some pretty severe brain damage, in the form of near total amnesia. No idea who he is, where he’s from, but he still possessed all the old muscle memory of a trained soldier. He could also speak several languages, the most important of which being his accent free English. Russian scientist surgically attach a bionic arm, and begin turning Bucky into the ultimate assassin. He’s given the code name Winter Soldier.

The Winter Soldier became one of the Soviets most dangerous and effective weapon. In order to keep him “fresh,” Winter Soldier was cryogenically frozen between missions. As a result, Bucky has aged maybe ten years in the forty years since his “death.” There was just one major problem, the longer he was active, the more…erratic his behavior became. He’d start to ask questions, disobey orders, and even put a fellow operative in intensive care. Which, you know, detracts from ones effectiveness as a superweapon. It got to the point that the docs in charge recommended that he undergo reprogramming every time he was pulled out of his freezer tube. In the 70s, he killed a man in the US and then, just…disappeared. His Soviet handlers went nuts as they frantically searched for their spy. They found him in New York, sleeping in a homeless shelter. They nabbed him, and decided that they probably shouldn’t send him on Missions in the US again. In the intervening years he spent time serving as Karpov’s bodyguard, until Karpov’s death. Karpov had been humiliated by Captain America in WWII, so he took a perverse pleasure in using Cap’s old sidekick as his attack dog. He’s put in cold storage after that, before being revived by Karpov’s protégé, Aleksander Lukin years later. Lukin uses Winter Soldier to kill the Red Skull and steal the Cosmic Cube. He also orchestrates a terrorist attack in Philadelphia, which kills hundreds and helps charge the Cosmic Cube. He also murders Jack Monroe, a former soldier that stood in for Bucky after he and Cap disappeared, and planted his body. Lukin had hoped that this would be enough proof for SHIELD that a soldier with severe PTSD was responsible for all the death. Unfortunately for Lukin, Captain Steven Rogers isn’t easily tricked. After battling several AIM and former Russian soldiers, Captain America learns from friend, and former girlfriend, SHIELD Special Agent Sharon Carter that Winter Soldier looks like Bucky. Fury gives Cap all the info on Winter Soldier that he has, but it’s not much. Thankfully, the info plus his own intellect and resourcefulness helps Captain America pieces together the story of Bucky’s life after death. Eventually, Cap tracks down Winter Soldier and the two duke it out.

Yeah, cyborg arm is pretty cool.

Captain America is able to overpower Winter Soldier and gets his hands on the Cosmic Cube. Using the Cube’s immense power, Cap restores Bucky’s memories. Which, I have to give the writers props for not using the “I know you’re in there” cliché to get Winter Soldier to stop fighting Cap. Bucky, overwhelmed by the guilt of his crimes as Winter Soldier, grabs the Cube in his robo-hand and crushes it. He is teleported back to Camp Lehigh, where he contemplates his life. He returns a short time later and gets a job as a SHIELD Agent. Much like Black Widow, Bucky uses his assassin skills and training to help protect and better the free world, and he excels at it. After the events of the Superhero Civil War, Bucky works with Nick Fury to try to break Captain America out of SHIELD custody. Before the plan could be enacted, however, Captain America is murdered by Crossbones and a brainwashed Sharon Carter. After that, Bucky takes the mantle of Captain America. Almost literally. He steals the Shield from SHIELD to ensure Tony Stark doesn’t pass it down to someone unworthy of the title. Tony eventually agrees to allow Bucky to take up the mantle. Bucky works as a more… aggressive Captain America for a few years. He finds ways to combine his more lethal tactics with the somewhat stricter moral code that Captain America NEEDS to have. Bucky eventually returns the Shield and title to Steven Rogers when he is revived. It’s for the best, Winter Soldier is best left defending from the shadows. From sidekick to assassin, soldier to Captain America and back again. Bucky’s had a pretty roundabout life, hasn’t he?

Bucky doesn’t have superhuman powers. But like Batman, he could have fooled me. He was trained in hand to hand combat and martial arts. First military grade, and then received additional training from Captain America and later, the Soviets. He was also given extensive training with firearms and grenades, skills that, again, were further honed by his Soviet handlers. He’s also a gifted linguist, he’s fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Russian and Japanese. After being resurrected and transformed into the Winter Soldier by the Soviet Union, he’s given a cybernetic prosthetic to replace his left arm. The metal arm is outfitted with electrical weapons. It has enhanced strength and reaction time. It can also discharge a powerful EMP. It’s also equipped with a camouflage function that makes it look like flesh and blood when Bucky is in civilian mode. During his brief stint as Captain America, he uses Cap’s shield, and wares a costume that is a blend of Kevlar and Nomex. He also uses a Colt 1911-A1 .45 pistol and combat knife in conjunction with the shield.

The Winter Soldier has appeared a few times in Marvel’s TV and Movie series. Mostly in the last ten years, which isn’t all that surprising since that’s about when he was revived.

Such a nice reunion.

Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes features Bucky’s complete story arc. He works with Captain America in WWII but is presumably killed when the Red Skull’s escape plane blows up. In the final minutes of the episode “Hail HYDRA” Captain America grabs the Cosmic Cube half a second before Baron Strucker. We then see a flashback of Bucky hitting the water after the plane blows, his eyes opening in the water. Even though Cap and Strucker touched the Cube less than a second apart, it’s kind of implied that Cap’s guilt over Bucky’s death was greater than Strucker’s desire to rewrite history. There you go, love (platonic love, I’m implying nothing) is stronger than hate. Captain America proved it. The Winter Soldier appears in “Code Red” as a member of Code Red, a covert superhuman group that works for Secretary of Defense Dell Rusk. He, the Falcon, Red Hulk, and Doc Samson, all heroes that wear a lot of red, are used by Dell Rusk to attack the Avengers. It’s revealed that Dell Rusk’s name is an alias, and an anagram. Can you guess for who? Here’s a hint, capitalized right, its dell RuSk. Got it? It’s Red Skull, if you didn’t. They strike the Avengers with a potent toxic gas that withers the skin and muscles of the face to make it look like a red skull. While Winter Soldier is Skull’s favored agent, he does betray Skull to help Captain America save the day. He appears again in the following episode “Winter Soldier,” where Cap and Fury try to figure out the mysteries of both Winter Soldier, and Skull’s plans. We also learn that Winter Soldier is the reason that Fury lost his eye in this Universe. A bomb went off in his face, nasty. They do learn that Winter Soldier is Bucky, and that Red Skulls plans involve a Megazord. Seriously, he has several giant robots that combine into an even more giant robot. Captain America and Winter Soldier are captured, but they work together to take Skull down. The episode ends with Bucky running off, but he and Cap part on good terms.  He is one of many background heroes that aid the Avengers in the series finale “Avengers Assemble.” It’s interesting to note that young Bucky is played by Scott Menville, a voice actor most well-known for portraying Robin on Teen Titians and the abysmal Teen Titians Go! He’s replaced by Jon Curry as the adult Winter Soldier.

His Captain America costume is unusually
shiny.

He appears in Captain America: The First Avenger. He’s reimagined as Steven Rogers’s longtime friend, and is portrayed by Sebastian Stan. He enlists in the Army while Steven is recruited for the Super Soldier program. He and his unit, the 501^st, are captured by HYDRA shortly before Captain America arrives to entertain the troops. Captain America infiltrates the HYDRA base and finds Bucky had been tortured and possibly experimented upon. He joins Steve’s Howling Commandos and helps beat back HYDRA. He and the Captain has some of the best banter in the film, particularly when Bucky is reminding Cap was once the shrimp that he had to look after. Bucky’s assumedly killed when the Commandos apprehend Arnim Zola, HYDRA’s top scientist. He’s knocked out of a speeding train into a frozen river, it was a pretty safe assumption that he died. His “death” greatly depresses Cap.

Stan’s Bucky returns in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. He’s used as HYDRA’s superweapon, to assassinate Nick Fury and others to help HYDRA “push” humanity to the point that they’d be willing to be subjugated by HYDRA. It’s a stupid plan, but Winter Soldier is pretty badass, so I give it a pass. It’s also a little…disheartening that they go with the old ‘I know you’re in there” cliché during the films climax to explain why Bucky doesn’t kill Cap despite getting a couple of chances. His costume is pretty amazing, too. We also learn that in this universe, Bucky was there to support and look out for Cap back when his mother died, hence why Steve was so fiercely loyal. He’s set to return next year in Captain America: Civil War.

Bucky is an excellent character. I think that his Winter Soldier story arc and later developments make him one of the most memorable characters in comics. I consider him a patriotic superhero despite the fact his Winter Soldier persona started off as an anti-American weapon. Why? Because even while brainwashed he represents the best parts about America. Even with all the drugs, and reprogramming they did to him, there ever remained that small, unbreakable kernel of himself that remained. They had to pretty much constantly “reprogram” him as his mind kept searching out the truth of who he was. What’s more American than never completely giving in? Probably his the loyalty, strength and courage that he displays when he’s back in control of his body. He’s the dark soldier, a lethal guardian, the unconquerable Winter Soldier.

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 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucky

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Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme review

I’ve said before that Marvel is the undisputed King of Cinema and DC has the animated movie market cornered. Despite this, both companies have come out with good products in the opposite field. Batman Begins and The Dark Knight spring to mind for DC, while Marvel’s Animated Features (MAF) series was pretty good as well. Of the eight movies, created in colaberation with Lions Gate Entertainment, my personal favorite was Doctor Strange. Let’s get to it.

The only two you need to remember are Mordo,in green,
and Wong, the guy on the far right. I don't think they name
any of the others, at least not until after they get the axe.

Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme was released back in 2007. The movie opens, not with the titular character, but with a couple of construction workers. They're horribly killed by a monster in the sewers. A few minutes later, several sorcerers appear and begin to hunt down the creature. There’s seven or so of them, but the only ones we need to know about are Wong, an old Asian wizard, and Mordo, a powerful battle-mage with an affinity for green. The mages use their various powers to battle the monster, a large komodo dragon-like beast of magic. They also use their powers to shroud the battle in illusions, normal people don’t see the mages, and the monster appears as a tornado. They slay the beast, Wong chastises Mordo for his reckless actions before Mordo teleports away. Wong sums up quite clearly that Mordo cares more about killing the monster than protecting the innocent. Real subtle hint about Mordo's story arc, isn't it? Before the others follow suit, a fancy car pulls up and a bewildered Dr. Stephen Strange sees them before they vanish again. Wong is intrigued by Strange somehow seeing through his illusion.

We then start following Stephen. Dr. Stephen Strange is a gifted neurosurgeon, he specializes in “hopeless” cases. Despite his skill in healing, Dr. Strange is a pretty big jerk. He’s only interested in A. Rich Patients, or B. have such a unique disease that the case could be pitched to a medical journal. While it does make some sense, the better Strange’s reputation the better the hospitals reputation, but he’s kind of forced by his boss to perform a pro-bono consult on a young girl in a coma. A colleague, Dr. Gena Atwater, first chastises him for being, well, an asshole, and then shows him the patient. The little girl’s brain scan shows some weird abnormalities, stuff that shouldn’t have progressed in the week she’s been in a coma. Strange is dismissive of the girl, and tells the family “Sorry, can’t help.” My bedside manner sucks, but even I would have been nicer about the whole “daughter-might-never-wake-up” thing. The girl suddenly sits up and grabs Stephen’s hand. He’s given a vision of a giant blazing demonic skull roaring. The creature terrifies Dr. Strange to his very soul. He throws the girl off, who sunk back into sleep, and ran off. While driving, he keeps seeing the blazing skull in his mirrors. After coming out of a tunnel, he’s surrounded by a mass of children that all seem to be in a trance. He swerves to avoid them, loses control of his car and crashes. He wakes up several days later, and Dr. Atwater informs him that the children weren’t real, and that in the crash, Stephen’s hands were crushed.

Floating possibly Asian man. Are they common in Tibet?

They’re rather vague on how bad the damage is, but we can see that Strange’s hands are now constantly trembling, and that he has trouble gripping objects for any length of time. He’s depressed as hell, which is understandable, and spends everything he has on various experimental procedures, none of which help. In case you’re wondering, Stephen Strange is so vain that he refuses to even consider the prospect of teaching. Depressed and destitute, he goes to a bridge to commit suicide. I would never condone suicide, but I’m not going to lie, I can see why Stephen might go to this extreme. He leaps, but is saved by Wong. Well, the astral projection of Wong. It’s like a magic hologram. The old sorcerer tells Stephen that he needs to travel to the Himalayas in Tibet, promising Stephen that his master, the Ancient One, can heal his hands. Stephen goes to Atwater, they used to date in case that wasn’t clear before now, who agrees to get him the plane ticket.

After climbing the mountainous terrain, which is pretty amazing considering how much trouble he has with his hands, and enters the ancient temple. He meets Wong in the flesh, as well as Mordo and their master, The Ancient One. The Ancient One is like the Mr. Miyagi, a tiny Asian man with a lot of strength/power and even more wisdom. Stephen is set to work in the temple, with the promise that his hands will be healed when it is all over. While Stephen works, Wong, Mordo, and the rest of their team go out to battle some monsters. The team returns a short while later, but they lost two in the fight. After an unspecified amount of time cleaning, scrubbing and general labor, Stephen get’s depressed and attempts to leave the temple. He walks through the snow, and is given visions of his past failures.

Pretty much what I picture when I think of an evil spirit, master
of a Hell dimension. Yes, there's more than one of both.

We’ve seen a few flashbacks before this point. Here’s a general summary of the scenes. We saw that Stephen had a younger sister, April, who he was very close with. April apparently suffered from a brain tumor that several specialists said was inoperable. Young Stephen wouldn’t be deterred, he swore that if April could last a few more months, he’d be her doctor and remove the tumor. She did just that, and Stephen attempted the operation. Unfortunately, April died on the table. While Young Stephen grieves, the Ancient One appears in his memory and gives Stephen his wisdom. Basically, that it wasn’t his fault that his sister died, that he needs to let go of his grief, and move on. Stephen finally agrees and returns to the temple to train. The Ancient One teaches Stephen some of the basics, manipulating matter and energy, and scaring the pants off of him with a magic sword.

Wong, Mordo, and the rest go out to stop two charging monsters that look like the unholy spawn of a Rhino and a triceratops. The Ancient One advises that they attack one monster, then the other, as they would need all their power to kill just one. Mordo disagrees and breaks them into two teams. They kill the two monsters, but lose about half their group in the battle. The Ancient One grieves for his lost students, chastises Mordo for forgetting that their job is to protect others not slay monsters. He forces Mordo to train Stephen, much to Mordo’s disgust. During their training session, Stephen instinctively absorbs Mordo’s magic and throws it back at Mordo. Mordo, enraged, lunges for the kill, but is stopped by Wong.

Strange has been doing magic for, like, a month, Mordo, and
he's already schooling you. Can you see why the Ancient One
passed over you, now?

A short time later, Stephen, The Ancient One, Wong, Mordo, and the few remaining students travel to the Sanctum Sanctorum, a mystical focal point in the middle of New York. The Ancient One tells Stephen that millennia ago a powerful demon, Dormammu, attempted to conquer our dimension. The Ancient One beat him back, and sealed Dormammu in a separate dimension. The Ancient One is still perplexed at how Dormammu is breaking free, but Stephen has the answer when he sees Dormammu’s burning skull. Stephen realizes that Dormammu is using the minds of the sleeping children to augment his powers. The Ancient One prepares for battle, and sends Stephen and Mordo to awaken the children. Stephen gets to work, but Mordo is up to no good. He enters the dream of sleeping child and offers his services to Dormammu. In the physical world, Dormammu awakes the bodies of his sleeping slaves to gather them, while Mordo attacks Stephen. He’s saved by Wong, who was watching in wait. Wong and Stephen return to the Sanctum, to find the Ancient One slain. By that jerk, Mordo. The dude fell fast. Wong gives Stephen the Eye of Agamotto, a symbol of the position of Sorcerer Supreme, and claims it is his destiny. After this it’s a battle of magics, Dr. Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme vs. Dormammu, Lord of the Dark Dimension. It’s a finale filled with fire and fury, watch it and enjoy.

The movie is a somewhat darker take on the origin story of Doctor Strange. While the dead sibling thing seems like kind of a weak way to explain Stephen’s more…jerky behavior, the fact that she died on his operating table does add a surprising amount of pathos for the former surgeon. The voice acting is top notch, I especially like Jonathan Adams as the malevolent Dormammu. The guys got a very deep, powerful voice, a perfect fit for the evil master of the Dark Dimension. Bryce Johnson also does a good job as Dr. Strange. He does the sorrowful parts best, but is also believable during those rare moments of joy that Stephen feels with each of his successes. I especially like his line in the finale, “I’m Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme!” as he’s battling Dormammu. Overall, I’d give it a B. Not the best movie ever, but a good first foray into a feature series for the good Doctor. I hope that Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance next year is up to snuff. We’ll just have to wait and see. Next time, we begin another theme week. Patriotic heroes of Marvel and DC. It’s going to be awesome.

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