MCU Just Confirmed What It Would Take For Bucky To Get Cap’s Shield

Marvel’s mind-bending What If…? has officially confirmed what it would take for Sargeant Bucky Barnes to actually get his hands on Captain America’s iconic shield. Although Barnes, also known as The Winter Soldier, has managed to seize the vibranium armor before – sometimes even by force – it’s never been certain how he might inherit it naturally. However, thanks to the alternate realities outlined in the hit show, audiences now have a definitive answer.

In episode 5 of What If…? the world is overrun by a zombie virus, brought back from the Quantum Realm by Hank Pym. Eventually, the entire planet appears to succumb to the plague, save for a few notable survivors, including many of the Avengers. In a desperate bid to find a cure, the last remaining heroes – including Peter Parker, Hope van Dyne and Bucky Barnes himself – rally together to fight off the zombie hordes, using the Vision’s Mind Stone as a way to ward off the attackers.

Over the course of the action, many of the MCU’s most powerful characters fall prey to the virus. These include the likes of Iron Man, Ant-Man and Captain America. Although Captain America retains his shield as a zombie, it is eventually taken out of his hands by the still-human Bucky Barnes. Considering that Falcon has also at this stage been turned, the episode makes it explicitly clear that Barnes is actually the third in line to inherit the shield – the first time that this order of succession has been so clearly identified – and that he would only get it if both Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson were to die.

Although Captain America’s close relationship with Bucky Barnes has never been in doubt, the wider MCU has always been clear that he is not the natural successor to Steve Rogers’ alter-ego. At the end of Avengers: Endgame, for instance, an elderly Captain America poignantly hands over his shield to Sam Wilson, bypassing Barnes altogether. Together with the fact that he only receives the shield after the deaths of both Wilson and Rogers in What If…?, this proves that Barnes has a specific place in the pecking order.

Given his close friendship with Steve Rogers, it might seem slightly surprising that Barnes is only third in line to the shield. However, events in the wider MCU suggest that there is a very good reason why he isn’t trusted to take up the Captain America mantle. Considering his former programming as a Hydra assassin and the ability of antagonists such as Helmut Zemo to reactivate his brainwashed Winter Soldier personality, it’s possible that Rogers recognizes how potentially dangerous it would be to let his old friend have the shield full-time. This in turn suggests that, though Barnes has proved himself an invaluable player in the fight against earth’s enemies, he is still not as trustworthy as Sam Wilson. By highlighting what it takes for Barnes to get the shield, What If…? has also proved that it requires more than friendship to take over from a hero in the MCU.