If Bucky Barnes Dies In Avengers: Doomsday, It Will Be Marvel's Biggest Waste

Published Sep 4, 2026, 8:30 AM EDT

Molly Freeman is ScreenRant's Senior Editor - Superheroes, and one of ScreenRant's Rotten Tomatoes-approved critics. She oversees the content operation of ScreenRant's Superheroes vertical, covering Marvel and DC movie and television releases while managing a dedicated team of passionate writers and editors. Molly has been at ScreenRant since May 2014, working across many teams—including news, features, interviews, social media and reviews—before launching the Superheroes vertical in 2023.

Previously, Molly served as a TV writer at Bustle, and a writer, editor and podcast host at BreakThru Radio. She's had entertainment and pop culture essays published on HelloGiggles and Femsplain, and her expertise has led to appearances on podcasts like Total Geekall.

This year, for the first time in seven years, Marvel Studios is set to release a new Avengers movie: Avengers: Doomsday. The film will assemble dozens of heroes from across the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and among all the characters confirmed to appear in Avengers: Doomsday, Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) is one of them. However, there seems to be a great deal of speculation that the former Winter Soldier will die, which would be a major waste.

The MCU's Bucky Barnes debuted 15 years ago in Captain America: The First Avenger, and has become one of the longest standing characters in the entire franchise. Even when Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans retired as Tony Stark/Iron Man and Steve Rogers/Captain America, respectively, Stan's Bucky continued on. Since appearing in Avengers: Endgame, Bucky has co-starred in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and Thunderbolts*.

In fact, the Thunderbolts* post-credits scene revealed that he's a key leader on the New Avengers team, alongside Yelena (Florence Pugh). After a stint as a villain, then time spent as a recovering soldier, Bucky has finally reclaimed the role of a hero as the MCU heads into its next big battle in Avengers: Doomsday. Bucky has proven to be a mainstay of the MCU, but there's worry that his Marvel stint will come to an end this year.

It seems like every new Marvel appearance for Bucky Barnes brings speculation about his death along with it, and Avengers: Doomsday is no different. Whether it's because Stan wants to move on from Marvel, or Marvel has run out of ideas for what to do with Bucky, there's plenty of theory and speculation that Bucky could be one of the MCU characters to die in Avengers: Doomsday. However, if that happens, it will be a huge missed opportunity.

Bucky Barnes Has Plenty More Story Left To Tell In The MCU

In truth, it does seem like Marvel hasn't known what to do with Bucky Barnes' story ever since Steve Rogers retired, which makes sense because his story was so tied to Steve's. And it's only gotten worse in the character's recent appearances, like Thunderbolts*, where he goes from congressman to vigilante to Avenger. I still don't understand why Bucky would ever become a congressman, and that's a huge part of the problem.

Marvel has such a fantastic character in Bucky Barnes. He's a war veteran, an amputee, a victim of brainwashing, a kid from the 1940s stuck in modern day, a man who's been left behind by everyone who cared about him. Most, if not all, of these aspects of Bucky's character haven't been explored fully—and that's to say nothing of potential prequel stories.

During his time as the Winter Soldier, he crossed paths with Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson); he killed JFK; he went on plenty of other missions for Hydra. There could even be a story to tell in Hydra having to brainwash Bucky, and how long he resisted their conditioning. So much of Bucky's story remains unexplored, and it would be devastating for the character to die before even scratching the surface of what makes Stan's character so great.

Bucky Barnes Deserves A Better Ending Than Death

Bucky Barnes has already died twice in the MCU, to end his arc by having him die a third time is both unnecessarily cruel to audiences who love Stan's character, and plain bad storytelling. There's no catharsis in killing a character that has died, been brainwashed and beaten down so many times. Unlike Tony Stark, whose death showed the development of his character, Bucky's death wouldn't serve any real purpose. More likely, it would only serve another character's story, which is a terrible death for such a longstanding character.

If Marvel is going to conclude Bucky's story in either Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, he should get an ending other than death. Whether that's retiring to the past like Steve Rogers or simply riding off into the sunset to live out the rest of his life in modern day, doesn't matter, as long as Bucky finally finds peace.

However, it would still be a major waste, since there's plenty more story to explore with Bucky after Avengers: Doomsday. Maybe one day we'll finally get the Bucky Barnes movie or TV show we deserve.

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  Victor von Doom

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  Reed Richards / Mr. Fantastic

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  Thor

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  Vanessa Kirby

  Sue Storm / Invisible Woman