Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Sam
Wilson/Falcon (Anthony Mackie) - "Sam grew up in a tough Harlem neighborhood.
His father, a minister, had been killed trying to stop a fight. Sam did his
best to try and do the right thing, but when his mother was killed by a mugger
two years later, Sam's grief and anger consumed him. His grief and anger
consumed his personality, eventually led him down a criminal path. The
once-respected community volunteer took on the name of "Snap" Wilson,
becoming a racketeer while working for the mob.
After
an assignment in Rio de Janeiro, Sam's plane crashed in a remote Caribbean
island where the Red Skull and his henchmen, the Exiles, were hiding out. The
Red Skull sought to use Wilson as a pawn against Captain America, who was
currently on the island searching for the villain. The Skull reasoned that
Wilson's idealism would appeal to the Captain enough to become his
crimefighting partner. Then, at some later date, the Skull could use Wilson
against his enemy. He used a Cosmic Cube to revert "Snap" into Sam
and give Sam the ability to telepathically communicate with birds, especially a
bird that Wilson had bought named Redwing. Sam helped Captain America defeat
the Skull and did indeed become his partner as the Falcon.
Returning
to New York, Wilson became one of Harlem's staunchest crimefighters and a
regular ally to Captain America. He became a social worker in his regular
identity, defending the streets of his hometown both in costume and out of it.
Wilson even adopted Captain America's identity for a brief time when Captain
America appeared to have been killed. As the Falcon, Wilson had been solely a
rooftop-swinging athlete until the Black Panther provided him with Wakandan
technology that enabled him to truly fly.
Wilson's
"Snap" identity remained submerged until some years later when he
recalled his criminal past while undergoing shock therapy at S.H.I.E.L.D.
headquarters. Once his former criminal associates learned of this, a bounty was
placed on his head. Wilson and Captain America fought off the attacks, however.
At a
later point, Wilson was offered membership to the premier superhero team
Avengers. However, he was uncomfortable that his presence was due largely to
the government's "affirmative action" policy, and he returned to his
social work almost immediately after some stern words with his fellow heroes.
Despite his feelings, he has helped the Avengers on occasion as a provisional
member.
Later
still, Wilson ran for a Congressional seat only to be confronted again with his
ignominious criminal history. Wilson almost relapsed into his "Snap"
personality during this identity crisis before coming to terms with his past.
Captain America underwent an identity crisis of his own when he was forced to
give up his superhero identity and forge a new one as simply the Captain. As
the Falcon, Wilson joined other allies of Captain America in a series of
adventures but worked to convince the Captain to reclaim his former identity.
Wilson
helped the Avengers in their fight against the entity Onslaught and seemingly
sacrificed himself to stop the menace. He was merely shunned to another
dimension, however, and was later restored with the rest of the Avengers and
their associates. He returned to his life as a social worker and part-time
adventurer, briefly stopping to aid the Avengers in re-organizing their team
after a brief period of disbanding.
When
the Avengers were granted a special diplomatic status by the United Nations,
they also established the Avengers Mansion as a unique and separate embassy
with Henry Gyrich as their ambassador and liaison. Wilson was asked to return
to active Avengers duty, in part so that he could keep tabs on Gyrich. (Gyrich
often had a dubious if not antagonistic relationship with the Avengers over the
years and was the one whose affirmative action stance "forced" Wilson
to join the team in the first place.) Wilson and Gyrich ultimately grew into a
respectful relationship and together helped uncover a plot by the Red Skull to
infiltrate the American government, which the Avengers defeated.
The
"Snap" personality has recently reemerged on a few occasions, but he
has remained a valued ally and hero."
Bucky
Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) - "As a young boy, James Buchanan
Barnes lost his father (a soldier during WWII), and was adopted by Camp Lehigh
as their mascot, and given the nickname "Bucky". It was here that he
learned the identity of Captain America. He underwent rigorous training and was
assigned to be Cap's sidekick, accompanying him on many adventures, and the two
often worked with the original Invaders. However, on a final mission against
Baron Zemo, Bucky and Cap hopped on an experimental drone plane in an attempt
to disarm a bomb. The bomb detonated, dropping Cap in the North Atlantic, where
he would later be found and thawed out by the Avengers. American forces never
found Bucky's body, and he was presumed dead. Unbeknownst to the Americans, he
was found and revived by Russian General Vasily Karpov.
When
Bucky awoke, he had no memory of his identity, which gave Karpov an opportunity
to reprogram Bucky as a Soviet assassin called the Winter Soldier. He was sent
all across the globe, committing political assassinations with huge effects on
the Cold War. However, his memory implantation caused mental instability, and
he was kept in stasis between missions to prevent rebellion.
Recently,
the Winter Soldier killed the Red Skull, and stole his Cosmic Cube for Karpov's
successor, former General Aleksander Lukin. In order to mess with Cap's mind,
Lukin also commanded the Winter Soldier to kill Jack Monroe and launch a major
terrorist attack on the city of Philadelphia, fueling the Cosmic Cube's power
in the process. However, when the Winter Soldier kidnapped S.H.I.E.L.D. agent
Sharon Carter, she told Captain America upon her rescue that she believed her
captor to be Bucky. Later, Nick Fury confirmed to Cap that the Winter Soldier
was indeed his former partner.
When
Lukin ordered the Winter Soldier to bury the Cosmic Cube in an underground
bunker, Cap, with help from the Falcon and Iron Man, tracked him down and
defeated him. After the battle, Cap used the Cosmic Cube to restore Bucky's
memories, but he then destroyed the Cube and disappeared. All but Captain America
believed him to be dead.
It
was recently revealed that the Winter Soldier was involved in helping Wolverine
escape from Weapon X, and was responsible for the loss of his wife and baby.
When
the Superhuman Registration Act was passed, S.H.I.E.L.D's Nick Fury recruited
Bucky for covert operations, so as to protect Captain America from government
forces. In the aftermath of the seeming death of Steve Rogers, Barnes became
the new Captain America. Rogers survived, but upon his return, he gave Barnes
his blessings to continue as Captain America on the Avengers while he accepted
a federal role as an administrator managing super-heroes."
Brock
Rumlow/Crossbones (Frank Grillo) - "Young Brock Rumlow led the Savage Crims gang
on New York's lower east side. After he brutalized fifteen year old Rachel
Leighton, two of her brothers assaulted Brock; the eldest brother was killed.
Rumlow fled, entering the Taskmaster's school for criminals, and within three
years became an instructor there under the name Bingo Brock. As a mercenary, he
enlisted with the communist Red Skull (Albert Malik) in Algeria, serving him as
"Frag" until he was sent to invade Arnim Zola's Switzerland chateau.
Ultimately the only team member to survive the assault, Rumlow there met and
impressed the Nazi Red Skull (Johann Shmidt); this Skull accepted Brock’s
services, code-naming him “Crossbones.”
Sent
to retrieve the five Bloodstone fragments, Crossbones shadowed Helmut Zemo’s
search for them. While Zemo battled Captain America, Crossbones knocked out
Captain America's pilot, John Jameson, and stole two fragments; when he got
near the other three, the five combined to re-animate Heinrich Zemo's corpse
under control of the alien Hellfire Helix. Unobserved, Crossbones destroyed the
Helix (worn on the corpse's forehead) with a crossbow bolt. Brock then
kidnapped Diamondback (whom he recognized as Rachel Leighton), using her as
bait to trap Captain America; but when the Skull learned of Crossbones'
involvement with the Captain, he ordered Crossbones to flee. Crossbones
recruited the Controller and Voice of Doom to serve the Skull, led the Skeleton
Crew against the Hellfire Club’s Selene, and, using psychic Tristam Micawber,
located the Skull after Magneto kidnapped him. He attempted assassinating the
Kingpin, was stopped by Typhoid Mary, and battled Bullseye when the Kingpin
retaliated. He led the Skeleton Crew when they were captured by the
Schutz-Heiliggruppe (Blitzkrieg, Hauptmann Deutschland, Zeitgeist); after Arnim
Zola rescued them, the Skull faked the assassination of himself, Mother Night,
and Crossbones. The Red Skull finally fired Crossbones for questioning the
Skull's decision to ally with the Viper.
Crossbones
headed east, working briefly in Chicago for druglord Marco Sanzionare against
Super Pro. In New York, Crossbones kidnapped and brainwashed Diamondback by
abusing her repeatedly and forcing her through a rigid combat training routine.
Forcing Diamondback to steal Captain America's super-soldier treated blood from
Avengers Mansion, Crossbones returned to the Skull. When the Skeleton Crew's
new leader, Cutthroat, plotted Crossbones’ murder, Mother Night warned Brock,
who slit Cutthroat's jugular. Diamondback escaped, summoning Captain America
and the Falcon to capture the Skull’s operatives; Crossbones was imprisoned,
but eventually convinced officials he was rehabilitating, partly by defeating
the terrorist cell "Fortress" when they invaded a Denver hospital.
Exploiting his jailors’ gullibility, Crossbones escaped, and was hired by Hydra
to bomb New York's embassy row alongside the Absorbing Man, but the pair was
stopped by Captain America. Betrayed by Hydra, Crossbones fled, wreaking
vengeance on his bosses. He was hired by New Son to assassinate Gambit, but
despite allying with Batroc and Zaran, was defeated by the combined efforts of
New Orleans' assassin's and thieves’ guilds; Crossbones was imprisoned in the
Raft until Electro's break-in freed him. The Skull promptly rehired him, and he
was aiding in re-powering a Cosmic Cube when Alexander Lukin’s Winter Soldier
assassinated the Red Skull and stole the Cube. Lukin anonymously blamed Captain
America for the Skull’s death, but Crossbones soon realized the truth and now
appears to be hunting Lukin."
Georges
Batroc/ Batroc The Leaper (Georges St-Pierre) - "Batroc trained himself in
savate while in the French Foreign Legion, and he later became a costumed
mercenary as the Leaper. Although originally working alone, he began and
continues to often recruit fellow rogues and criminals when a job may require
it, forming the so-called Batroc’s Brigade. His mercenary adventures often led
him into criminal activities, and thus he has clashed and continues to clash
with many superheroes and costumed crime fighters, notably Captain America. Batroc,
while not inherently villainous, is an egotist and often caricature of the
romantic ideal of a "thief."
He
once worked with an (as he called it) demon, actually a being from another
planet. With him, he fought against Captain America and Spider-Man.
Once,
Batroc came into conflict with Captain America when he believed he was dying
from the breakdown of the Super Soldier serum. Batroc, moved by the Captain's
sense of "honor," declared that he would concede defeat and grant
Cap's desire. Cap wished that just one of his former enemies would turn away
from his life of crime. Genuinely moved, Batroc declared he would do this.
However, Batroc soon returned to his mercenary/criminal activities."
Sharon
Carter/Agent 13 (Emily VanCamp) - "Inspired by stories about her Aunt Peggy's
adventures in the French Resistance alongside Captain America, Sharon Carter
joined the newly-formed espionage agency S.H.I.E.L.D. During an early mission
against Hydra, Sharon was attacked by the mercenary Batroc and aided by Captain
America. Initially knowing her only as Agent 13, Cap worked alongside Carter on
several subsequent missions against A.I.M., the Nazi Red Skull, and others; the
two soon became lovers, and Cap was also reunited with Peggy Carter, helping
her recover from mental despair. Eventually, Sharon was assigned as liaison to
the NYC police while investigating the terrorist organization called the
National Force. Supposedly affected by mind-influencing gas, Sharon infiltrated
the National Force, and when confronted by the National Guard, was apparently
incinerated by the self-destruct device in her uniform, leaving Cap to grieve
for her death.
However,
Sharon's death was a ruse by S.H.I.E.L.D., which sent her on a top-secret
mission; at its end, S.H.I.E.L.D. and its director, Nick Fury, erroneously
believed her dead. Abandoned in enemy territory, Sharon spent months imprisoned
in the dictatorship of Tap-Kwai. Finally escaping, she spent the next few years
as a mercenary, often forced into violent or degrading activity; Sharon's
experiences cost her much of her idealism, making her hard and bitter.
Infiltrating an organization known as the Kubekult, she learned that it planned
to resurrect Adolf Hitler via the Cosmic Cube, and Sharon became the unlikely
ally of the Red Skull, who opposed the cult for his own reasons. To aid them,
the Skull revived the temporarily comatose Captain America, who was stunned to
learn of Sharon's survival. Although Sharon, still scarred by her experiences,
attempted to keep her former lover at a distance, she continued to work
alongside Cap against such opponents as Nightmare and Count Nefaria. She also
rescued Nick Fury, believed dead, from a pocket dimension he had been trapped
in during a mission.
Initially
maintaining her freelance status, Sharon next served as S.H.I.E.L.D. Director
while Fury was on assignment. Following his return, she resumed her position as
S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, and she and Captain America fully reconciled and considered
renewing their romance. However, their relationship again became strained when
Cap learned of her reluctant involvement with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s anti-mutant
Contingency, and the couple again parted ways.
In
the aftermath of enactment of the Superhuman Registration Act and the
subsequent super-hero Civil War, Captain America surrendered, and was brought
to the Federal Courthouse in New York City to face his arraignment. Sharon
escorted the Captain, unaware that she had been brainwashed by Dr. Faustus who
had infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. posing as Carter's psychologist. In a plot
engineered by the Red Skull (secretly alive within the mind of ex-Soviet
general (Aleksander Lukin) with Faustus and mad scientist Arnim Zola Captain
America was shot first by a sniper, Crossbones, then subsequently by Sharon
several times at point blank amid the chaos. Oblivious to firing the gun,
Sharon accompanied Captain America to Mercy Hospital where he was pronouned
dead on arrival. At the hospital, the Red Skull's daughter, Sinthia, spoke the
keyword to release Faustus' hold making Sharon aware, to her horror, of what
she had been programmed to do."
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