Sebastian Stan Celebrates 10 Years of Bucky Barnes in the MCU

Sebastian Stan is celebrating his 10-year anniversary of playing Bucky Barnes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Stan made his MCU debut as James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes back in Captain America’s first solo outing in 2011, subtitled The First Avenger. First presented as Steve Rogers’ childhood best friend, the two fought side-by-side during World War II before Bucky meets his untimely demise. Rather unsurprisingly, Stan returned as the titular antagonist in the 2014 sequel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

As an enhanced brainwashed assassin working for HYDRA, Barnes committed many atrocities over the years, including the murder of Tony Stark’s parents. After playing an adversarial role, Bucky returns to the role of Rogers’ best friend and plays an integral part in his story and the MCU at large, making appearances in team-up films Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Endgame, as well as other heroes’ solo outings like Ant-Man and Black Panther. Stan’s most recent reprisal of his once-in-a-lifetime role came in the Disney+ spinoff series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Now, Stan is celebrating 10 years of portraying Bucky Barnes in the MCU, as Captain America: The First Avenger released a decade ago to this day, July 19. In an Instagram story, Stan says to call his role as Bucky “the journey of a lifetime would be an understatement.” The actor also thanked fans for all their “love and support” over the past decade. Check out Stan’s post below:

Looking towards the future, Stan’s next portrayal of Bucky Barnes will be in Marvel’s next series on Disney+, What If…?, an animated series that will explore alternate-reality scenarios in the MCU, meaning that Bucky likely never became the Winter Soldier. Based on the trailers, it appears Bucky will also be taking on a zombified Steve Rogers. Other Captain America-centric storylines set to play out in the upcoming series include Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) taking the super-soldier serum instead of Rogers to become Captain Carter.

Stan does not have any confirmed appearances beyond What If…?, but Bucky will likely continue to play a pivotal role in the MCU. With Steve Rogers’ Captain America gone, Falcon and the Winter Soldier has set Bucky up for a role as Captain America’s sidekick in future films starring Anthony Mackie as the titular hero. Now that a whole decade has passed, one thing is clear: Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes has been a pivotal player in the MCU, and another 10 years seems likely.