Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #5In the latest issue of Marvel Comics’ Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty, the Winter Soldier receives a significant retcon that massively affects the entire scope of his life. While Bucky Barnes was corrupted and brainwashed by the Russians to become the assassin known as the Winter Soldier, he’s been working for years to redeem the darkness that was thrust upon him. However, this new issue reveals that Bucky was a pawn long before he was turned into a brutal assassin with a cybernetic arm.
Previously in Sentinel of Liberty from Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and Carmen Carnero, the massive shadow organization known as the Outer Circle has been discovered by Captain America. Commanding the two Inner Circles that obey and the Star which represents Rogers’ Super-Soldier, Captain America’s shield darkly symbolizes the game board for their Century Game, its five leaders controlling every aspect of society with connections to every major organization both good and bad.
However, Bucky Barnes has been doing some investigating of his own, learning that he and four other agents were designated by the Outer Circle as Starpoints, assassins who would help shape the world according to their secret design. Joining Captain America in his attack against the Outer Circle in the new Sentinel of Liberty #5, Bucky soon comes face to face with one of the leaders known as the Revolution. While Captain America tries to get Bucky to stand down, the Winter Soldier reveals the Outer Circle’s true role in his life (before he became one of the world’s deadliest assassins).
Bucky Barnes Was A Pawn Long Before the Winter Soldier
According to Bucky, he was selected by the Outer Circle to become a Starpoint ever since he was a child, manipulating his life to get him close to Captain America while ensuring he’d become the Winter Soldier, allowing him to continue serving their cause without ever knowing his true masters until recently. Tragically, this new retcon of Bucky’s origins means he never had a true chance to escape a life of darkness, his every move and circumstance having been chosen for him.
Seeking lethal justice for the ones responsible for all his darkness, there’s very little that Captain America can do to stop Bucky from killing the Revolution and starting a revolution of his own. Case in point, the Winter Soldier shoots Steve so that the bullet passes through the Super-Soldier and kills the dark leader by the issue’s end. As such, it stands to reason that the Winter Soldier intends to go to war with the Outer Circle’s four remaining leaders in the issues to come. Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #5 is on sale now.
