Bucky Barnes Role as The Revolution Could Have a Huge Impact on the MCU’s Thunderbolts*

[[{“value”:”

Among the many tragic origin stories within Marvel Comics, few have been through more than Captain America’s old sidekick, Bucky Barnes. Once fighting alongside Captain America and the Invaders in World War II, Bucky was believed to have died at the end of the war, but was secretly taken by the Soviets and turned into the assassin, Winter Soldier. Having his memories constantly wiped, Bucky operated as the Winter Soldier for over 50 years, accumulating dozens of kills until he finally regained his memories in Captain America #14 (by Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Frank D’Armata, and Joe Caramagna) and became Cap’s partner once more.

Throughout the years, readers have seen Bucky struggle with coming to terms with his past as the Winter Soldier and discovering who he is outside of war and violence. However, in 2022’s Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Carmen Carnero, Nolan Woodard, and Joe Caramagna), Bucky finally stops running from his past and takes the new name of The Revolution to take control of his future. This new development for the character finally brought him out of the shadow of Winter Soldier and is a theme that fans could see in the upcoming Thunderbolts* film.

The Century Game Destroyed Bucky’s Life

The Outer Circle are the orchestrators of Bucky’s tragedy

Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty follows Cap and Bucky as they uncover a secret cabal of powerful people known as the Outer Circle. They have secretly been controlling the world since the dawn of the 20th century in what they call the Century Game.

Together, they would pull the strings of the world in the shadows to ensure stability across the world. However, to make their game “fair,” Power recruited the man who shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Gavrilo Princip, to be the Revolution. His job within the organization was to take them down from the inside. To achieve their ends, the outer circle used a group of assassins known as Starpoints that all revolved around a super soldier to be their main agent of change.

To this end, The Outer Circle created the symbol of Cap’s shield, with the outer circle that controls, two inner circles that obey, and a star representing their weapon of enforcement. Not only does the Star represent their main Super Soldier agent, but the points of the star coincide with their other Starpoint assassins meant to aid their main weapon, including Bucky Barnes, Dryad (Peggy Carter), Destroyer, Redacted, and M.O.D.O.K..

The Winter Soldier Learns The Truth

Bucky earned his new title the hard way

Bucky uncovered the secrets of the organization and learned that the outer Circle was responsible for everything in his life, all the way to orchestrating his father’s murder, placing him in the care of the army, and later reusing him as the Winter Soldier.

After discovering that both he and Cap are unknowing participants in this game, Bucky once again realizes that his life is not his own and becomes determined to finally put an end to being a pawn in other people’s games.

Once infiltrating the group, Cap and Bucky are faced with the Revolution, who tells Bucky how the Outer Circle has used him his entire life and offers Bucky his freedom by killing him and taking his seat at the table. Steve tries to stop Bucky by putting himself between him and the Revolution, but Bucky shoots through Steve and kills the Revolution, taking his place in the Outer Circle. Upon taking his seat at the table, Bucky proclaims that Bucky Barnes is gone and that he is the new Revolution that will shatter their world.

Revolution Wins The Century Game

Bucky Barnes takes back his life

This puts him and Captain America at odds once again, as Steve tries to take down the organization while also trying to save Bucky, who has seemingly lost his way throughout the series. After various moves by the Revolution, Bucky enacts his final move of the game by capturing Captain America’s son Ian, and holding him captive in Dimension Z.

Captain America, along with Sam Wilson, Misty Knight, and Sharon Carter take on Revolution and the White Wolf to save Ian and end the Century Game. After defeating White Wolf, Bucky finally revealed his master plan to have Ian take control of Dimension Z and out of the hands of the Outer Circle. He knew that Steve would be able to stop him and set them up to take out the organization and win the Century Game.

In Captain America: Final #1 (by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Carmen Carnero, Nolan Woodard, and Joe Caramagna), Bucky plans his last move, death to the Outer Circle, and Captain America, along with the newly formed Invaders, execute their attack. Knowing that the game has been lost, Love and Money both withdraw. Captain America takes down the Machine, leaving only Power. Power refuses to withdraw from the game and is ready for Bucky to kill him, but he instead turns him over to Doom in Latveria. Bucky finally put an end to the vicious cycle of his life and created his own destiny through revolution.

When speaking about Bucky’s character arc into the Revolution, writer Collin Kelly stated, “You can’t go toe-to-toe with Money and Power. The only way to win is by undercutting them at the core and revealing them. In the end, “revolution always wins.” Co-writer Jackson Lanzing further commented that it felt important for them to give Bucky a new mission and not run from the sins of his past but embrace them to finally move forward.

The Revolution Never Ends

Revolution continues the fight to free the world

After taking out the Outer Circle, Bucky also acquired all their secrets and continued his revolution around the world by writing the wrongs of the Century Game. On his new path of justice, Bucky recruits his own team of Thunderbolts to take down Red Skull and his network for good.

The newly formed Thunderbolts dismantle Red Skull’s levies of power and wage their final assault after discovering his last base in Latveria. The Thunderbolts engage in a massive battle with Red Skull’s army, with Doom on their tail for bringing their war into his borders. Bucky and the Red Skull faced each other and Bucky reveals his real plan in distracting the Red Skull long enough for Doom to arrive and the Latverian ruler vaporizes the fascist villain, but the Thunderbolts escape through a pocket dimension.

Doom promises that their action will have consequences for using him as a pawn in their revolution and the series leaves readers with the team deciding to stay together and continue the revolution to free the world from the powerful people who seek to control it. While the Thunderbolt’s mission was successful, revolutions often come at a cost and Doom would soon come to collect.

The Thunderbolts Inspired Doom

The Revolution put Doom in power

The Thunderbolts took down Red Skull using Doom, and the Latverian ruler became inspired by their actions. After saving the world in Blood Hunt and becoming the Sorcerer Supreme, the currently ongoing One World Under Doom (by Ryan North, R.B. Silva, David Curiel, and Travis Lanham) event sees Doom become the new ruler of the world.

In the Thunderbolts tie-in Doomstrike (by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Tommaso Bianchi, Yen Nitro, and Joe Sabino), Doom tries to recruit Bucky and the Thunderbolts to his side, and thanks the Revolution for inspiring him to take action to finally change things.

No matter what name Barnes will take after the events of Doomstrike, the character’s time as The Revolution finally took him out of the shadow of his past. His new name and mission also gave him agency over his life for the first time.

Fans of the MCU may recognize some parallels between Bucky’s journey in the comics and where the character is currently in the films, which could translate over into the new Thunderbolts* film coming May 2nd, 2025.

How The Revolution Could Influence Thunderbolts*

Bucky’s current role in the MCU mirrors that of the Revolution

After Captain America: Civil War, Bucky was taken to Wakanda to help him fully break free of the Winter Soldier’s mind control. This process was successful, and Bucky was named the White Wolf by Ayo. The 2018 series Falcon and the Winter Soldier saw Bucky attempting to come to terms with his past as he goes through therapy and tries to make amends to the people he hurt. The series finale sees Bucky fully step into his new role as a hero, which leads to where viewers will find him in Thunderbolts*.

With Fontaine as the current director of the CIA and owner of Avengers Tower, it’s clear that she has been secretly planning the assembling of the Thunderbolts for some time. Bucky shedding the Winter Soldier mantle and being forced back into the fight shares many parallels to his transition into The Revolution.

It’s clear that Val has bigger plans than just bringing these characters together, and given her status in the government, this could be the MCU’s version of Bucky’s revolution to dismantle the oppressive powers that have filled the void left by the dismantling of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers. Bucky’s position in Congress could also loosely be adapting his time as a member of the Outer Circle, attempting to bring down these structures from within just as he did with the Century Game.

While not following the same story, these core themes of Bucky embracing his past to become a new version of himself fit perfectly into the character’s current journey in the films and could influence his trajectory moving forward past Thunderbolts*. The 2023 Thunderbolts four-issue miniseries (by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Geraldo Borges and Joe Sabino), in which Bucky leads the team as the Revolution, also includes many of the same characters as the film, making the themes presented in the series even more likely to be adapted for the MCU Thunderbolts*.

“}]] Bucky Barnes has finally shed his mantle as the Winter Soldier in the comics, which could parallel Bucky’s ongoing MCU journey in Thunderbolts*.  Read More