10 Iconic Comic Book Moments Erased By Stupid Retcons

8. Bucky Blows Up

When Captain America returned to the modern era in the pages of The Avengers, it was revealed that on his last mission, the one in which he fell into the icy waters that preserved him for decades, was also the final mission of his partner, Bucky. James Buchanan Barnes was Cap€™s loyal sidekick during WW2, and Stan Lee wrote that Bucky was destroyed by the rocket launched by Baron Zemo. For the longest time, the rule was that only two people stay dead in comics: Spider-Man€™s Uncle Ben and Bucky. But when Ed Brubaker took over the writing duties of Captain America, all that changed. Brubaker created a new foe for Captain America, a Cold War Soviet assassin known as the Winter Soldier. By the end of the €œOut of Time€ story-arc that introduced the Winter Soldier, Brubaker broke one of the cardinal rules at Marvel by revealing that the Winter Soldier was none other than Bucky himself. He survived the explosion and was taken by the Soviets. They brainwashed him, gave him a cybernetic arm, and used him as an assassin, returning him to suspended animation when they were done with him. This may diminish the impact of those initial stories when Cap returned (the death of Bucky was hugely influential on his character). But overall, the Winter Soldier story-arc and the further development of Bucky as something more than just a plucky teen sidekick has been met with both fan and critical acclaim. So much so that it served as inspiration for the latest Captain America movie.