Bucky was captured by Hydra in 1945, received experimentation with a variant of the Super-Soldier Serum, was brainwashed, and was implanted with a metal arm made of titanium to replace the left arm that was amputated when he fell from a train and plummeted nearly to his death.
Hydra Retrieves Bucky Barnes And Turns Him Into A Killing Machine. Bucky Barnes' flashbacks reveal that Hydra rescue him as he lays dying after the train incident. Arnim Zola orders Hydra's top scientists to begin treating his wounds. Given the damage it suffers from the fall, Bucky's left arm has to be amputated.
In December 2025, Nebula went to Earth specifically to steal Bucky Barnes' vibranium arm from him. After defeating him, she succeeded in removing his arm and took it with her back to space, intending to give it to Rocket Raccoon as a Christmas present.
Fighting overseas, Barnes and many of his fellow soldiers in the 107th were captured by a HYDRA unit. As their prisoner, Barnes was subjected to experimentation by HYDRA scientist Arnim Zola, until Rogers—going against orders—rescued him and his unit, with the two friends encountering the Red Skull during their escape.
The fact that Bucky did wear the arm is why it disappeared according to the Russo brothers (via Comicbook), as they stated anything that was part of someone's identity would disappear when snapped.
In the 2022 Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special, each member of the team gets a personalized gift. Rocket, following his tradition of collecting metal body parts, is unexpectedly given Bucky's arm. More impressively, it's actually the newer black and gold vibranium arm that Bucky got from Wakanda.
On a 1945 mission gone wrong, Bucky fell to his assumed death, losing his left arm in his fall from a train. When he was recovered by Hydra and brainwashed to become the Winter Soldier, he was given a titanium prosthetic arm, but he didn't keep it for long.
Bucky Barnes, like Steve Rogers, has lived for several decades due to cryogenic freezing and the super-soldier serum. Bucky's life expectancy could potentially surpass Steve's 116 years, depending on circumstances. Despite outwardly aging at the same rate as Steve, Bucky can still live for at least another 80 years.
For details of the version of Bucky Barnes seen in the video game Captain America: Super Soldier' please see here: James Barnes (Earth-TRN999). Bucky counts the years he was Blipped when adding up his age, given that he was born in 1917 and that he states that his age is "106" years old in 2024.
With the brainwashing in place, Zola had the remains of Barnes' mangled left arm amputated, and gave him a metal prosthetic marked with the Soviet red star. Barnes was then trained by HYDRA and, dubbed the Winter Soldier, became one of the world's deadliest assassins.
The fact of the matter is, the arm still functions as a part of his body. The superpowered enhancements do not change the fact that he will still naturally experience pain when his body is put under such stress, especially when the arm is attached to so many nerves that could've been damaged from losing his actual arm.
Summary. The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special showed Nebula giving Bucky's arm to Rocket as a Christmas gift, but it was never explained what Rocket did with it. One theory posited that Nebula's new arm in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was made by Rocket using Bucky's stolen prosthetic.
With all this armstory between them, when fans saw Nebula had a new arm in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, they suspected it might be related to Bucky's stolen/borrowed limb. But James Gunn has confirmed that is not the case. Nebula's arm is not Bucky's; instead, it is its own creation.
What does Ayo say to Bucky after removing his arm?
What Ayo actually says is "Bast damn you, James," in English. According to Wakanda's origin story, Bast is the panther goddess who led the very first Black Panther to the Heart-Shaped Herb that granted him his superhuman powers.
The Hydra experimentation on Barnes causes him to survive his fall, and he is recaptured by the Hydra wing of the Soviet Union, where he is tortured and brainwashed by Arnim Zola and turned into the Winter Soldier, a mind-controlled super soldier with a metal prosthetic arm.
Bucky, then, fought against HYDRA and his many experiments, but they ultimately got what they wanted. This makes Bucky's story even more tragic than it already was, as he went through 20 years of torture in addition to 50 years of being the Winter Soldier.
Even Bucky's variant serum should allow him to age normally (unless he gets frozen again). A side effect of the Super-Soldier Serum that the Winter Soldier shares with Captain America is that neither can get drunk.
Bucky owes his youthful appearance to repeated cryo-freezes orchestrated by the Russians. He possesses no super powers and never received a form of the Super Soldier Serum as many assume, but continues to operate at peak human ability.
Unlike some characters, Bucky does have a canonical birthday: March 10, 1917. He's a little more than a year older than Steve, which makes him the oldest human Avenger at a chronological 106-years-old.
Enhanced Speed: The Winter Soldier's speed is comparable to Captain America's. It should be noted that Captain America can run at 30 mph with relative ease, and still had trouble keeping up with the Winter Soldier in a chase sequence.
According to Google, comics Bucky was born March 10, 1917. If we presume that's the case for movie Bucky, he'd have been 24 when the US declared war against Japan and 28 when the war was in it's closing days, which is generally the time frame for when he disappeared.
The Super-Soldier Serum dramatically prevents individuals from aging due to the regeneration of healthy cells. For instance, Dr. Kudrin has stated that Natasha "don't age as fast."
His family is long dead, he has to wear gloves to cover his vibranium murder arm, and even his friendships are rooted in a desire to atone for past sins. Obviously I have never experienced what the Winter Soldier has, but I do find my own trauma is often exposed on first dates.
Nebula simply wrestled the arm off Bucky in the name of Christmas. Gunn also confirmed that the Guardians of the Galaxy purchased Knowhere, the planet where part of the special is set.
