An orphaned state ward, young James Barnes was Camp Lehigh's mascot when he befriended Pvt. Steve Rogers, who had recently become the government operative Captain America. After discovering Roger's alter ego, Barnes was sworn to secrecy and assisted Captain America on a mission against the Nazi Red Skull (Johann Shmidt), later receiving government approval to serve as Cap's partner, Bucky. When America entered World War II, Bucky served on teams such as the Invaders, Kid Commandos, Liberty Legion and Young Allies. During a mid-1945 England mission, Bucky and Captain America discovered Nazi scientist Baron Heinrich Zemo had stolen an experimental drone plane. Bucky unsuccessfully attempted to defuse a bomb aboard the plane, which blew up over the North Atlantic Ocean. Captain America and Bucky were believed dead, although Cap actually fell into a state of suspended animation and revived over a decade ago.
Preserved by the freezing waters, Bucky was retrieved by Vasily Karpov's submarine and taken to Soviet authorities in May 1945. Barnes was thawed out and pronounced legally deceased, but doctors revived him with cardiopulmonary resuscitation and adrenaline injections to his heart, although Barnes suffered considerable brain damage and had no knowledge of his previous life besides reflex memories. When the Soviets determined he had no super-soldier formula in his system, Barnes was placed in stasis. In June 1954, a K.G.B. spy within Britain's MI-6 obtained schematics for a robotic appendage that was reproduced and used to replace Barnes's missing left arm. Planning to turn Barnes back on the Americans, the Soviet government cleared Department X to begin Project: Winter Soldier. Barnes was reprogrammed with mental implantation during sensory deprivation; sent out to conduct several strategic assassinations for the K.G.B. throughout the mid-20th century including assassinating James Howlett's (later Wolverine) wife Itsu (who was carrying Howlett's unborn child); and placed in stasis between missions to slow his aging.
Upon Karpov's death nearly 20 years ago, Barnes remained in stasis due to mental instability and was placed in a storage facility inherited by Karpov's protégé General Aleksander Lukin, who went rogue after the Soviet Union's fall and formed the Kronas Oil Corporation. Coveting the Red Skull's Cosmic Cube, Lukin reactivated Barnes and had him assassinate the Skull, although Barnes did not realize that the Skull had simultaneously used the Cube to transfer his consciousness into Lukin's body. Barnes next assassinated Jack Munroe (Nomad, the former 1950’s "Bucky") and framed him for the Skull's assassination. Barnes then detonated a fire bomb in Philadelphia that helped Lukin power the Cosmic Cube; but when Lukin discovered the Cube's negative side-effects, he sent Barnes to take it to a nuclear-safe vault in West Virginia, causing Barnes to question his orders for the first time. Learning the Winter Soldier's true identity, Captain America used the Cosmic Cube to restore his memories, causing Barnes to turn against Lukin and go underground.
Barnes next resurfaced in Belgrade, Serbia where he was confronted by Wolverine, who had recently regained the memories of his wife's assassination. Barnes then appeared in London, England, where Lukin unleashed Red Skull's Sleeper robot. Barnes teamed with Captain America to defeat the robot, which vaporized his cybernetic arm in the process. After the battle, Barnes disappeared, headed toward France and making arrangements with Nick Fury to obtain a new arm. Barnes has most recently resurfaced in America working with Nick Fury as an undercover operative.
