Captain America #132
The Fearful Secret of Bucky Barnes!
With the capture of Baron Strucker, the press has learned that Bucky Barnes is apparently alive and well.[1] The revelation is captured by the press, which Captain America and Bucky use to announce that they are going to continue their crime-fighting partnership. Watching this news coverage is the Falcon who is disappointed to see Bucky is back, as he had hoped that he can Captain America would form a crime fighting duo of their own. Also watching this are Nick Fury and his agents of SHIELD. Sharon Carter is relieved to hear that Steve is safe and hopes that the return of Bucky will help Cap get over the survivors guilt he has had for years.[2]
However, everything is not as it seems, as the sudden “resurrection” of Bucky Barnes is actually the work of Advanced Idea Mechanics. Watching the news, AIM’s leader MODOK gloats over how he has deceived everyone into thinking Bucky is still alive. In reality, he had been manipulating recent events up to this point. He sent his operatives to inflame the violence at a nearby college, hoping to draw out Captain America. Seeing Baron Strucker — as the Hood — also trying to manipulate events had MODOK initiate an even deeper manipulation. Monitoring Strucker’s plots to find someone who is the spitting image of Bucky, MODOK then challenged Doctor Doom to create an android based on Cap’s wartime partner. Doom followed through and the android was then placed at the gym where Strucker eventually found it.
Now with Captain America’s guard down, MODOK then sends commands to the android to attack the Star-Spangled Avenger. Forcing Cap to wipe out on his motorcycle, the android impostor begins attacking the confused hero. Unwilling to fight back against the person he believe is his old friend, Captain America is powerless against the android’s onslaught. However, when MODOK orders “Bucky” to try and dash Captain America with a large bolder the automation begins to resist. Ultimately, the conflict between its artificial personality and MODOK’s command come to such a conflict that the android self-destructs rather than kill Captain America. Seeing the truth, Captain America is horrified by how easily he was manipulated. Still, he considers how even a replica couldn’t bring itself to harm him and believes that his former partner reached out from the past and helped him when he needed it the most.
Recurring Characters
Captain America, AIM (MODOK), Falcon, SHIELD (Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, Sharon Carter, Jasper Sitwell), (in flashback) Batroc’s Brigade (Batroc the Leaper, Whirlwind, Porcupine), Doctor Doom
Continuity Notes
There is a lot of going on here on the first page. Let’s break it down:
The man everyone thinks if Baron Strucker is actually a robot created by the Machinesmith, as revealed in Captain America #247.
At the time of this story, the real Baron Strucker was dead having been killed by the Death Spore Virus in Strange Tales #158. He will not be resurrected until much later in Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD (vol. 3) #21.
Also at the time of this story, everyone believes that the real Bucky Barnes died in 1945, as detailed in Avengers #4.
Although the “Bucky” in this story is yet another robot, the real Bucky did survive the War and was transformed by the Russians into an assassin called the Winter Soldier. Cap will not learn this until much later in Captain America (vol. 5) #14.
At the time of this story, Steve had cut ties with SHIELD over two incidents: Sharon breaking her promise to leave active duty in Captain America #124 and Fury accusing Cap of being a traitor in order to flush out the real mole within SHIELD in Captain America #127.
Topical References
The cover to this story has Bucky saying that he had been waiting 20 years to kill Captain America. This should be considered a topical reference as it denotes the passage of time between World War II and when this comic was published. Per the Sliding Timescale, the gap between the War and the start of the Modern Age will continue to grow with time.
Likewise, any suggestion that Bucky could have lived a normal life between 1945 and this story and still be in his relative youth are equally impossible in the face of the Sliding Timescale. Marvel doesn’t provide an official explanation. I provide a speculative explanation in the index of last issue.
This story also has a lot of dated technology: from the cameras used by the members of the press, to the Falcon watching the news on a small black-and-white CRT television with an antenna.
Nick Fury makes reference to the Dear Abby letter column. This is topical since it is a real world publication.
