Real Name: James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes
Species: Human (Cyborg)
Country of Origin: U.S.A.
Joined the Team In: New Avengers #48
Who/What Is He: Oh, you know who Bucky is! He’s Captain America’s sidekick -- that guy who played Carter Baizen in Gossip Girl and then sort of randomly fell off a cliff and “died” (wink, wink) near the end of Captain America: The First Avenger.
Everybody knows he’s coming back as the brainwashed Soviet cyborg assassin, Winter Soldier, for Captain America 2; heck, director Joe Johnston already implied as much himself. Might he be un-brainwashed by the end of Cap 2, and thus all-set to join the Avengers Initiative come Avengers 2?
Why We Want Him: Bucky Barnes is one of the few comic book characters to die and then be resurrected successfully (well, not the second time, in the awful crossover Fear Itself, which was just a fake-out for the purposes of artificial drama). As Winter Soldier, he’s a darker character than Steve Rogers, having lived a messed-up life as a brainwashed assassin before being reminded of his former self. And though it’s very unlikely Cap will ever die in these Marvel movies, Bucky was incredibly well-received as the grittier, pistol-wielding Captain America II.