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Sebastian Stan Cast as Captain America's WWII Sidekick Bucky

by Ethan Anderton
April 1, 2010

By now we all know that Chris Evans is suiting up as The First Avenger: Captain America, but that didn't mean it was the end of the road for one of the other actors on the shortlist to play the red, white and blue clad hero as Deadline & Heat Vision (both claiming an "exclusive" again) report that Sebastian Stan has signed on to play Bucky Barnes, the loyal sidekick to Captain America. Stan is best known for his role on "Gossip Girl," but most recently appeared as an asshole villainous ski patrolman of sorts in Hot Tub Time Machine and has just recently finished shooting a role in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan, so he's no slouch.

In the simplest terms, Bucky is to Captain America what Robin is to Batman (his sidekick and friend, in a sense). Here's a breakdown of Bucky's origin and most likely a good hint at how he might develop in this:

After losing his father, a soldier, at a young age during World War II, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes was adopted as the mascot for Camp Lehigh and nicknamed "Bucky." There he stumbled upon the secret identity of Captain America and quickly became Cap's sidekick, undergoing rigorous training. Bucky certainly got his hands dirty, doing all the brutal jobs that needed to be done. He'd sneak into enemy territory undetected, swiftly clearing a path for the U.S. soldiers and Captain America to come in and clean house.

Later in Marvel's comic book mythology, Bucky would become The Winter Soldier after (spoilers ahead) being brought back from the dead, not to mention that he eventually becomes Captain America after Steve Rogers' death, which just happened in 2008. No word on just how much of Bucky's story will come through in The First Avenger: Captain America, but his inclusion at least means he'll presumably have somewhat of a significant impact on the film and its hero. I'm looking forward to seeing what Stan can do in this role next to Evans. Anyone else excited about Bucky's inclusion? Do you approve of this casting choice?

Explore tags: Casting, Movie News, Opinions

Xerxex

do people even like Bucky? Cause I hated Robin with a passion.
People's Champ

Who cares who they get for the role, hopefully Bucky takes a bullet in the head.
Sam

Surprise, surprise ... Captain (Ta ..da da da! ) America's gets cheesier and cheesier by the day. This is going to rank right up there with the cheesiest episodes of The A-Team and Buck Rodgers - I pity the fools LOL
Cletus

What a dorky picture. Even Bernadine doesn't wants to go to see this moving picture show. Hyuuk!
DRM

Bucky is a necessary part of the Cap mythos, because it's Bucky's death that leads to Cap getting frozen, and is Cap's last memory after being re-awakened in the present. It was the dramatic hook that Stan Lee gave Cap in order to integrate him into the modern Marvel era. And for the record, while Bucky is a side-kick similar to Robin, he himself is pretty different. Remember, Batman and Robin are superheroes, Captain America and Bucky are U.S. Soldiers who later become super-heroes. Bucky is Robin with a machine gun. ---
Ben1275

Does anyone know if Marvel has confirmed any of these casting decisions? And if they are definite, how come Marvel is keeping Cap casting news so hush-hush?
Tim

I hope Chris Evans doesn't mess this up. All it will take is one crappy actor to screw up they Avengers movie
http://www.bleepinggeek.com Pete the Geek

I'm with #6 - All these blogs keep saying they have the exclusive, but then no one who's actually involved with the movie ever confirms it. Either way, I hope this news is true. I think Sebastian Stan would make a great sweaty fratboy Bucky to Evan's smarmy jock Captain America. Now all we need is a super hot "actress" (acting ability not required) to be eye candy while stuff goes a-splodey and Cap and Bucky exchange cheesy self-mocking banter back and forth and this might just be as good as the 1990 version was.
Jake the snake

It's good that they are following continuity.
DEADPOOL 72

i don't know which one is worse bucky or robin they both suck balls.
luishungry

why are you guys bashing the idea of bucky and sidekicks alike? the marvel universe if filled with deep side characters with amazing stories to be told, so why limit themselves to just mainstream characters? while one can argue that Hollywood is just trying to make a quick buck, i'm confident that Marvel will do this movie justice.
jeffrey

why don't i care anything about this project?
jomba joose

BOOOooooooo.....
slopshoe smith

gee wilikers...are they going to have the word balloons that say "POW", "BANG", "KRUNCH" too???? golly gee, I just cant wait to see this...
dedmanjogging

ROTFLMAO. Looks like most of you have already got a grip on the fact that this money swirling down the drian. Be sure to bring a big bag of nacho chips 'cause you're gonna need it with all that CHEESE! oh, BTW, its BAM, ZAP & POW.
Xerxex

#11 Robin. That's why. Well it won't be Evans wh ruins this, it will be the director and screenwriter. Unless this is gonna be like Saving Private Ryan and Bucky is like Horvath or Riben it won't succeed.
Jake the snake

I agree. If it comes out looking like saving private Ryan then we should be in for a treat.
Gangrenous Khan

When I had a vision of what the ideal Captain America movie will be like, I imagined a movie that was gritty, serious, dark, but with a strong patriotic current (a serious film like the dark knight was). It would be something like an R-rated film of Captain avenging dead soldiers in his platoon by merely just kicking ass.... And when more details came out about this movie getting made, i could tell (as i predicted) this would be nothing like i wanted it to be... Looks like it will have to be rebooted again 5 years from now..... (please do movies right the FIRST time hollywood....)
Ollie

Does anyone here now anything about the history of Cap? They have already stated that The Invaders (look it up if ya don't know) are gonna be a part. As they should be, cause it's in the original stories. And Bucky was part of that. I do hope they don't go Campy with this like many but Bucky was part of the storyline and should be in the story. Please try not to gripe about staying true to the Captain America story in one breath and wondering why Bucky is in it in the next. Besides if the really do the Invaders thing in it as hinted, Im wondering who they'll get for Namor.
Fred

#19 ... The answer is yes and unless you're a 10 year old stuck in the 1940's no one really cares.
zubzwank

#18- I loved the Dark Knight and Watchmen comics, graphic novels, whatever. But they, and their subsequent deteriorating imitations (most of early Image comics) gave a whole generation of superhero fans like yourself the impression that every superhero story has to be "dark" and "grim and gritty." Not so, mon ami. Many heroes are not dark characters. Superman is the Man of Steel, as in shiny and stainless, Green Lantern is a light, Captain America is the Sentinel of Liberty, Liberty itself being symbolized by a torch. Not all heroes have to be "dark." (sigh). I've said this before...
Harry

To #21 - Eeeeeeewwwwww!
ollie

#20, I'm just saying I do not understand wanting an origin story but not wanting them to go by Caps origin. I do not like them taking liberties with the "canons" of a character. Otherwise you end up with something like "Superman Returns" and hopefully no one wants that.
jomba joose

I'm sorry, the whole Bucky 'thing" seems dated. Same category as "Aqualad," "speedy" "superboy" "kid Flash" & "Captain Marvel jr". Which is better Nolan Batman, Schumacher's Batman & Robin (w/ Alicia Silverstone dawing the suit with no training). Sorry I had to go there to speak my mind. In the back of my mind i see Cap' headed this way. ...At Least just Call him "Buchanan"