In my last post I talked about how killing Bucky Barnes in the comic book cross over event Fear Itself was a bad move for Marvel. Since becoming Captain America in Ed Brubaker's highly acclaimed Cap series, Bucky has become one of Marvel's most interesting characters, which is why I'm convinced we haven't seen the last of the former Winter Soldier. If Marvel were to somehow bring Bucky back into comics during or after Fear Itself, how could it be done? Here are some of my theories.
1) It wasn't really him that got killed by the new Red Skull. Bucky has been known to work with former S.H.I.E.L.D director Nick Fury on multiple occasions, and comic book fans will know Fury has often used L.M.D's (life-model decoys). My main theory is that Bucky used an L.M.D to fake his own death, thus allowing him to clear his name and work in a black-ops role.
2) The God of Fear aka 'The Serpent' resurrects him. When Barnes was dying he muttered to The Black Widow that 'the Serpent is coming'. This suggests the Serpent may have plans to use Bucky as a weapon against Steve Rogers. Having Steve trying to protect himself from his former friend and sidekick would certainly add some emotion to what's so far been a pretty emotionless event. Would Steve have to kill Bucky even?
3) Valkyrie brings Barnes back from the dead. When Bucky supposedly died, the Asgardian demigoddess was standing near to him. One of Valkyrie's character features is that she creates a death glow when death is imminent. If Barnes was sent to Valhalla (the realm of the honoured dead), then perhaps he could somehow escape it. After all, many characters have entered Valhalla only to return shortly after.
So there are my theories for how Bucky survives. Once alive I predict he would probably star in his own series, as I doubt Marvel would want to include him in their main Captain America series in case it got too confusing for new fans who have just seen Captain America: The First Avenger. He would need to assume a new identity in order to keep the fact that he's alive secret. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say the role of U.S. Agent would be perfect for Bucky. It's not quite Captain America standard, but it allows Bucky to still serve his country and redeem himself. Plus, the current U.S. Agent John Walker is tied up guarding The Raft maximum-security prison.
The only problem is it would probably outsell the flagship Captain America series on a regular basis, which just illustrates how popular the character has become. That's me done for post on Bucky as there's plenty of film reviews to write up, but if you agree that we haven't seen the last of Bucky post your comments below and let me know how you would like to see him return.
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