Winter Soldier's New Superpower Officially Confirmed By Marvel
Ambrose Tardive is an editor on ScreenRant's Comics team. Over the past two years, he has developed into the internet's foremost authority on The Far Side. Outside of his work for ScreenRant, Ambrose works as an Adjunct English Instructor.
It is the end of one era for Marvel, and the beginning of another. The major turning point? A catastrophe that completely changes the landscape of the Marvel Universe. Fans knew this was coming, and braced themselves for it, but amidst the fallout, there was one huge curveball that no one expected. And it involves Bucky Barnes.
The Winter Soldier is being positioned as a pivotal figure in Marvel's future, and a key part of that involves an unexpected upgrade. Thanks to the powerful "Infinity Formula," Bucky has enhanced abilities akin to those granted to Captain American by the Super Soldier Serum. He operates at peak physical capacity for a human in terms of strength and conditioning. He is stronger, quicker, and heals faster than a baseline human. Now, though, Marvel has just leveled up one of those abilities to truly superhuman capacity, and maybe even beyond.
Marvel has just set up a big mystery surrounding Bucky Barnes, while also giving him his next mission, which is no less than saving the entire world. It will take time for the truth of his newly revealed superpower to be revealed, but whatever the truth is, it will be critical to the next phase of Marvel canon.
Warning! Massive spoilers for the finale of Avengers: Armageddon & what comes next.
Bucky Barnes Displays An Off-The-Charts Healing Factor As He Survives "Armageddon"
Avengers: Armageddon #4 delivered the moment everyone was waiting for. The moment that would change the Marvel Universe forever. It came in the form of a nuclear explosion, triggered by Red Hulk. Thousands of people were killed in the blast, including, seemingly, Bucky Barnes. Armageddon #5 deals with the aftermath, in which the geopolitical climate has turned against superpowered beings, akin to what it was like in Civil War.
Armageddon #5 ends with one final shocker: the Winter Soldier lives. But how? This isn't a "we never saw the body situation." In fact, the issue shows the burnt husk of Bucky's corpse lying in the snow nearly two full weeks after the explosion. Then, in the span of just two panels, he abruptly comes back to life and his body regenerates. Which means Bucky Barnes now has possibly the most powerful healing factor in Marvel canon. Or perhaps an even wilder superpower: reincarnation.
Bucky only has seconds to process that he's alive again before he's confronted by Nick Fury Sr., who has come to collect him, and recruit him. That is a major surprise in its own right, considering that his son, and current S*H*I*E*L*D director Nick Fury Jr., is leading the anti-superhero charge after the events of Armageddon. As it turns out, according to Marvel, this series was all prologue, setting up the next major conflict to envelop the Marvel Universe.
Marvel Reverses Course On Bucky's Death, Making His Survival A Central Mystery In 2027
In the lead-up to Avengers: Armageddon #5, Marvel announced the Immortal Soldiers one-shot, coming in January. That will be the next chapter of Bucky Barnes' and Nick Fury Sr.'s story. After Armageddon's finale, Marvel dropped more details about the title. Here's the synopsis for the issue:
ARMAGEDDON DIDN'T END THE WAR — IT STARTED ONE! Bucky Barnes tragically died during AVENGERS: ARMAGEDDON... and was mysteriously reborn by the end. How did he come back to life? What's Nick Fury Sr. got to do with it? Answers (and possibly more questions...) await in this dark, action-packed story from Chip Zdarsky and Christian Rosado!
Note that this frames Bucky's survival as a resurrection. It also suggests that Immortal Soldiers won't give readers all the pieces of the puzzle, but rather that this storyline, and the mystery of Bucky's new powers, will unfold throughout at least early 2027.
Way ahead of its release, Marvel promised that Armageddon would have lasting consequences. It also promised the series would have a body count, but aside from thousands of anonymous casualties, the reversal of the Winter Soldier's death means no major Marvel superheroes got taken out during the series. Still, for Bucky Barnes fans, his survival is a welcome relief, and the fact that he's being set up as an essential player for the coming year of Marvel stories is as exciting of an upgrade for him as his newfound ability to subvert death.
Avengers: Armageddon #5 is available now from Marvel Comics.
What do you think of Bucky's survival at the end of Armageddon, readers? Tell us below!
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