No longer will Bucky Barnes be known as the Winter Soldier; for Avengers: Infinity War, Marvel’s hardboiled anti-hero will be operating under a new title entirely: White Wolf.
In accordance with early rumors, Entertainment Weekly’s Infinity War blowout has all but confirmed that Bucky Barnes and the White Wolf are one and the same, and after spending an extended period of time housed up in Wakanda’s rehabilitation center – under the watchful eye of Shuri, no less – Sebastian Stan’s Avenger is prepped and ready for combat.
As EW notes, his “rehabilitated assassin now goes by White Wolf [and] it’s intriguing to see a man whose memories were scrambled, wiped, and rebuilt paired with Pom Klementieff’s alien mind-reader.” That’s in reference to the outlet’s stunning magazine covers (there are 15 in total), which show a number of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes standing side by side – like, for instance, Mantis and Barnes.
22 heroes. Six Infinity Stones. One Mad Titan. And one White Wolf, it seems. For those unfamiliar with Marvel Comics, Black Panther’s story originally featured a foster brother for T’Challa. His name? Hunter, who was adopted by King T’Chaka and raised as a white foreigner among the people of Wakanda.
That character grew into a bona fide patriot, and took charge of the nation’s Hatut Zeraze (War Dogs), a secret police and special forces that was briefly referenced in the Black Panther movie – Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia was said to be a member. Granted, there isn’t exactly a definitive link between Hunter and Barnes, but perhaps the latter is about to put his martial skills to the test? We’ll find out very soon indeed.
The Winter Soldier is dead; long live the White Wolf. And he’ll be back and better than ever when Avengers: Infinity War roars into theaters on April 27th.