Apparently blown up by Baron Zemo, Bucky became a brainwashed weapon of the Russians until Captain America restored his memories with a Cosmic Cube. Since then, he has focused on making up for all the pain he caused as the Winter Soldier.
2016- Captain America Harbors Winter Soldier As A Fugitive Despite the worldwide manhunt for the Winter Soldier, Captain America finds Barnes first, and Bucky confirms that he remembers who he is and his relationship to Rogers. As such, Captain America determines to protect Barnes and clear his name.
On December 16, 1991, Barnes was reanimated from a Cryostasis Chamber at the HYDRA Siberian Facility and forced into the Memory Suppressing Machine to brainwash him while his handler, Colonel Vasily Karpov, recited his trigger words from the Winter Soldier Book.
Before he deals a killing blow he asks: “Do you even remember them?” To which Bucky replies: “I remember all of them.” For Tony the response is further reason to finish the job. For audiences it's a reminder that Bucky is still haunted by the killings he had no choice in committing.
"I Knew Him" Winter Soldier Begins to Remember His Past - Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Does Bucky Barnes ever get his memory back?
Apparently blown up by Baron Zemo, Bucky became a brainwashed weapon of the Russians until Captain America restored his memories with a Cosmic Cube. Since then, he has focused on making up for all the pain he caused as the Winter Soldier.
Because Steve said those magic words: “Don't do anything stupid until I get back.” Those were Bucky's last words to Steve before he left to fight in WW2.
That said, screenwriters Christoper Markus and Stephen McFeely came right out on Movieweb to state that was merely a coincidence; "Sometimes unintentionally you can create a connection and then play with it later - even if you didn't mean it that way in the first place!
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.
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.
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.
However, while Tony did make amends with Steve, he wasn't able to do so with Bucky. In fact, they didn't even get to have any interaction before Iron Man's death.
James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes enlists to fight in World War II, but eventually literally falls in battle. Unfortunately, the evil Arnim Zola recovers him and erases his memory, turning him into a highly-trained assassin called the Winter Soldier.
Later, Barnes, granted asylum in Wakanda, chooses to return to cryogenic sleep until a cure for his brainwashing is found. Sometime later, Barnes is cured by T'Challa's sister, Shuri and is given the name White Wolf.
So Winter Soldier ends with the franchise's lead SHIELD agents seeking other employment. We saw Maria Hill applying for a job at Stark Industries. We saw Nick Fury burn his secret stash to the ground, including his eyepatch.
Sergeant James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes is the childhood and life-long best friend of Steve Rogers and a member of an elite special unit of Allied soldiers formed in World War II known as the Howling Commandos.
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.
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.
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.
Longing, rusted, seventeen, daybreak, furnace, nine, benign, homecoming, one, freight car. Benign- Maybe representing when they put Bucky in cryo-freeze he was harmless? Feel free to point out mistakes I've made bc ik this isn't perfect!
Although it's still difficult to read, the engraving of the identification tag lists Bucky's name, serial number and his next of kin's name and address: James B Barnes / 32557038 T41 42 O / R.
During the Fear Itself storyline, Barnes takes up the Captain America identity again, but is apparently killed in battle with the villain Sin (temporarily empowered by Asgardian forces as Skadi). Bucky is revived and restored by the Infinity Formula, the same chemical used on Nick Fury during World War II.
However, Barnes actually survived the fall thanks to the experimentation Zola had performed on him, and it was HYDRA who would make use of the man who would come to be known as the Winter Soldier...
24 Unnamed People - Killed by Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier off-screen over the span of fifty years, mentioned. Unnamed Nuclear Engineer - Shot to death by Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier off-screen, mentioned.
