You’d be forgiven for losing sight of all of the many Marvel heroes (and villains!) that make up Avengers: Infinity War.
On paper, Joe and Anthony Russo’s Earth-shaking event movie is set to feature around 22 mainline characters, as they come together to form an almighty super-team and, ultimately, ward off the impending apocalypse. That figure also includes the likes of T’Challa, Shuri, and Danai Gurira’s fearless Okoye, along with the old guard of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye (!) and the God of Thunder himself, Thor.
But if there’s one person that you may have forgotten about, it’s poor old Bucky Barnes, as played by Sebastian Stan. After all, ever since the end of Captain America: Civil War, he’s been housed up in Wakanda, laying low as Shuri works on re-wiring his brain to rid him of all the terrible things HYDRA did to his mind. At the end of Black Panther though, we see that the young genius has been successful, meaning the former Winter Soldier will be back to help his fellow Avengers in Infinity War.
According to Stan, however, Bucky’s not officially one of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes just yet. When asked how he fits in with the rest of the titular team, the actor said:
“I would say at this point he’s just trying to find his alliances again. He’s finally just got a break, you know? He’s finally been embraced in a whole new world and being looked after — sort of developing trust with people.
There’s obviously a huge thing coming, a huge threat coming requiring his help so he wants to gain that trust and maintain it. So, he’s just along for the ride right now.”
Apart from mostly being paired with the Falcon instead of Cap, another big change for Bucky in Infinity War will, of course, be that he’s got himself a new codename. In his aforementioned Black Panther cameo, Wakandan children called him White Wolf, which evidence has since suggested will be used more prominently in this movie.
It makes sense that he would leave his Winter Soldier identity behind now, too, given that he’s no longer a HYDRA stooge. Not only that, but the change of name also comes with a replacement cybernetic arm, which we’ll get to see in action when Avengers: Infinity War hits cinemas on April 27th.
