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The Winter Soldier has finally uncovered the scattered pieces of his mysterious past, although he still has to figure out they all fit together.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Devil’s Reign: Winter Soldier #1 by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Nico Leon, Felipe Sobreiro, and VC’s Joe Caramagna, available now from Marvel.
When Wilson Fisk lost the knowledge of the identity of Daredevil that he had worked so hard to attain, it culminated in him declaring open war on the superheroes of New York City. Losing his leverage over Daredevil may have sent the former Kingpin of Crime over the edge, but things are about to get even worse. Fisk might not realize it yet, but another hero has just stolen everything he knew about them as well. It isn’t surprising that Wilson Fisk was hoarding more of the Winter Soldier’s secrets, but the fact that the hero is still chasing the mystery of his own origin after all these years absolutely is.
Bucky Barnes, aka the Winter Soldier, narrowly survived a close-up encounter with an enraged (and sleepwalking) Wilson Fisk in the pages of Devil’s Reign: Winter Soldier #1. After breaking into Fisk’s home and making his way into the former Kingpin’s vault, Bucky only barely escaped with his life, as well as what he had come for. Of all of Fisk’s riches, Bucky was willing to risk everything for little more than a few invaluable pieces of paper. Or more specifically, a file containing the complete history of the life that was forced upon him.
2004’s Captain America #5 by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting famously introduced the world to the Winter Soldier for the very first time. The former sidekick of Captain America had seemingly been killed in action decades prior in the same explosion that left Cap himself frozen in ice. Rather than being lost to the elements, however, Bucky was picked up by a Russian submarine and quickly subjected to torturous experiments that reshaped him into the perfect programmable assassin. Over the years, Bucky has been the triggerman behind countless killings, from high profile political assassinations to the cold-blooded murders of people on almost every side of nearly each major conflict. Thankfully, Steve Rogers was able to restore Bucky’s stolen memories during 2006’s Captain America #14 by Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting, giving him the chance to forge his own path as both the Winter Soldier and Captain America. Yet somehow, in all that time and with so many adventures under his belt, Bucky is still hunting for any definitive answer regarding what happened to him.
Bucky is fully aware of his time spent helping to train Natasha Romanoff in combat during their time spent together in the Red Room, just as he knows various other bits and pieces of his life as the Winter Soldier. Unfortunately, that is all that he has ever been able to acquire in his years-long search for the truth. Now that Bucky has Fisk’s file on him, all of that is quickly changing. Bucky doesn’t know who actually compiled the file, but within it is every mission and every target he has ever taken on. Effectively, the Winter Soldier now has a clear roadmap through his past, one that should lead him back to where his life started over under someone else’s control.
Bucky has already promised to put an end to the life of whoever was behind the file itself, pointing towards a long journey ahead of him. Hopefully, unraveling his secret history as the Winter Soldier really will bring Bucky face-to-face with the person behind his painful transformation, assuming they are still alive for him to find. If not, this will still be the beginning of a trek towards the most closure that the Winter Soldier could possibly ask for.
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