Bucky Barnes Life Story

The new Captain America

After escaping from Faustus and being captured by , Barnes learns from Executive Director that Steve Rogers had left Stark a letter asking Stark to watch over Barnes and that the Captain America mantle should continue. Stark suggests that Barnes become the new Captain America. Barnes agrees to become the new Captain America only if Stark has telepaths eliminate any potential subliminal commands and guarantees him complete autonomy. As the autonomy arrangement is illegal under the , Stark keeps his support of the new Captain America secret. Barnes's new Captain America costume is laced with adamantium, and he carries a pistol and a combat knife. Barnes' first major adventure as the new Captain America has him, Falcon, Carter and S.H.I.E.L.D. fighting against the original Red Skull and Dr. Faustus who have revived the in a plot to secure one of their pawns attaining the U.S. presidency. Barnes and his allies succeed in aborting the Skull's plans, and Barnes saves the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates from assassination, winning public applause. The adventure ends with Barnes accepting himself and addressing himself now as Captain America. He also begins a friendship with Black Widow.

A still-teenaged Barnes is transported from 1941 and appears in the 2008 Avengers/Invaders miniseries alongside his fellow Invaders when a incident takes them from a battlefield to the present-day , where they encounter both the and . At the conclusion of Avengers/Invaders #4, while attempting to break out of the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, which he believes to be a German base, Barnes encounters his future self dressed as Captain America. During this meeting, the future Barnes attempts to change his history by telling his past self to abandon the plane that he was seemingly killed trying to disarm, without ever telling his younger self his true identity. Barnes decides to let his life turn out the way it should after witnessing the devastating risks involved in changing history.

During the storyline, after most of the other heroes have fallen as the continues, Captain America is seen watching defend a group of civilians in . Later, after a brief confrontation with Thor, he joins the other group of heroes (the , the , the , the , and his , , and the group) in battle against an army of Super-Skrulls led by Queen herself.

Following the Secret Invasion storyline, Captain America discovers that the remains of Jim Hammond, the , have been recovered and studied by the . The body was stolen by Professor Zhang Chin who used the Torch to create a virus to exterminate half the Earth's population. Teaming up with Namor, they stop Chin and make sure that Hammond receives a proper burial.

In the aftermath of Secret Invasion, Captain America joins the and offers his home as a base of operations. He later participates in the search for and ' child, Danielle. He was considered a possible team leader but turned it down because he did not have the proper team experience.

In the storyline, Barnes finds out from Sharon that she did not really kill Steve Rogers. As explained by to , Rogers was trapped in a fixed position of time and space. But since Sharon ruined the machine that was supposed to bring him back, Steve was reliving his own past. Barnes and Black Widow attempt to steal the device from but are captured. Osborn sends the Black Widow back to Sharon with an ultimatum: either she turns herself in, as Osborn had implicated her as Rogers' second shooter, or he'll kill Barnes. Barnes is then sent into the custody of the who tell him that he'll be inducted into their group once Rogers is brought back. However, Barnes is secretly freed by and then rescued by the . Barnes then teams up with , , the Falcon, , and the to save Sharon. The group intercepts the Red Skull's ship beside the and attacks. The Red Skull has already taken over Steve's body, and Barnes attacks him. The two battle while Hank saves Sharon and the others battle and a squad of . shoots Barnes in the shoulders, giving the Skull the opportunity to take Captain America's shield. He pins Barnes to the ground and cuts off his cybernetic hand with the shield. However, inside Steve's mind, Steve prepares to kill the Red Skull to keep him from doing any more evil in his name. Realizing its peril, the Red Skull's consciousness returns to its own robotic body. As the robotic Skull attempts to flee, Sharon shoots him, causing the Skull's body to become giant-sized. Steve, back in control of himself, leads an attack. The Vision uses the Skull's ship's weapons to destroy the Skull.[]

Leading up to the storyline, Bucky Barnes is shown still as Captain America talking with Steve Rogers in a dark body suit and standing next to him. But Rogers is back in costume and seen alongside Barnes still in his own Captain America costume. The two are helping restore Tony Stark's mind by using the shield as a conduit for Thor's lightning. In the second issue, Barnes is alongside Steve's team of heroes. Barnes (still in his Captain America suit) pulls Rogers aside just before they are about to leave for . Barnes tells Rogers that they should "skip the argument" and insists that Rogers use Captain America's shield. Rogers takes the shield, and Barnes is shown with a large gun in his hands, ready for the fight ahead. In the following issue, Barnes is shown fighting alongside Rogers with both wearing their respective Captain America uniforms in Asgard. After the events of Siege, Rogers returns the shield to Barnes and retires his uniform, leaving Barnes as the only Captain America.

Barnes is a member of the main Avengers team formed in the aftermath of the Siege storyline. Barnes is then put on trial for the crimes he committed as the Winter Soldier. He is found not guilty in an American court, but Russian officials take him away, having convicted him of crimes against the state and claiming that he had gone rogue and killed two civilians. But as Sharon Carter and Black Widow discover, Barnes' victims were connected to Russia's Department X's Red Room division. Barnes escapes imprisonment with the help of Black Widow and returns to the United States, however it is decided he is too tainted by events to be allowed to continue as Captain America.