If you read through enough of my writings, you’ll quickly deduce that I am a big Winter Soldier fan. I love the character in the comics, and I love the character in the movies. Ed Brubaker’s 8-year Captain America comic book run from 2004-2012 is my favorite Marvel series of all-time and it was Brubaker’s work that really won me over to Bucky Barnes as a character.
Bucky is one of Marvel’s oldest characters, right up there with Namor the Submariner, The Original Human Torch, and Captain America himself. Despite a rich heritage in comic book history however, Bucky didn’t have all that much of a legacy in the comics aside from being Captain America’s sidekick. Bucky was ultimately killed off-panel and the events surrounding his death were later weaved into a heroic tale of sacrifice, but in a world where characters die often and are eventually resurrected, Bucky was one of the very few characters whose death remained an ongoing part of Marvel’s continuity.
Then, along came Ed Brubaker, and he changed everything! Brubaker not only resurrected Bucky, he also completely re-imagined the character, revealing that Bucky’s body had been confiscated following the Second World War and that he was brainwashed, rehabilitated, fitted with a cybernetic arm, and transformed into a lethal terrorist known as The Winter Soldier. Brubaker would furthermore enhance Bucky’s war legacy, revealing that he was the guy all along who went out there and did the things that Captain America couldn’t be seen doing. He had always been lethal and effective and far more than a teenage sidekick.
As Ed Brubaker’s Cap run continued, he would eventually make Bucky Barnes Captain America, and I thought Bucky was a phenomenal Cap, wielding the shield and teaming with The Avengers in celebration of Steve Rogers’ legacy, while dealing with some very complex political issues that pertained to his past activities as The Winter Soldier. We’ve never seen Bucky become Cap in the MCU, but we have certainly seen The Winter Soldier, and Sebastian Stan has shined in the role, capturing both the sinister and heroic traits of the character, beginning all the way back in Captain America: The First Avenger.
Bucky is one of my Top-5 favorite MCU characters, behind only Loki, Wanda Maximoff, and Steve Rogers. He was the missing piece in 2019 to finally have a collection of Hot Toys that featured all ten of my favorite MCU characters at the time, and it was an exciting moment to finally add Bucky to my collection.
I thought the Winter Soldier figure from Captain America: Civil War was the best choice on the market at the time, though I really love the masked look in Winter Soldier. This Hot Toys figure was actually the first used Hot Toys figure I’ve ever purchased, and I was really pleased with the seller and the mint condition of the figure (sans his gun).
The Winter Soldier is an awesome looking figure! The face sculpt is spot-on Sebastian Stan and the hair is sculpted to hang long just past his chin. His clothes are dark, and his cybernetic arm is shiny, complete with the red Soviet star. Bucky looks stoic and menacing and I am so happy to have this figure specifically as part of my collection, as this is my favorite look of the character, as it is closest to The Winter Soldier’s appearance in the comics.
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