41 Greatest Moments In The Marvel Cinematic Universe

30. Captain America: The First Avenger – Cap loses Bucky (just not like in the comics)

If we’ve learned anything from the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, it’s that Marvel does not do adaptations. The company certainly adheres to the spirit of the source material and incorporates elements from specific stories into its screenplays, but even some of the most iconic moments from the page don’t turn out exactly the same way on the screen.

Examples of this are numerous, but maybe none as prominent as the apparent death of Bucky. In the comics, Steve Rogers’ partner and best friend is with him until the final confrontation with Baron Zemo aboard an experimental plane, seemingly dying when he fails to keep it from exploding.

In The First Avenger, Cap loses his buddy even earlier in the grand scheme of things, with Barnes plummeting off a train after they manage to capture Arnim Zola. The circumstances and the villain are different, but it’s still a powerful scene, one made no less heartwrenching by the fact that it plays out differently from what longtime fans might have been expecting.

Not only that, but it still accomplished the same overall goal, which was to take Bucky off the board in a way that everyone thinks he’s dead, while still allowing his fate to be the same; namely, to be brainwashed into becoming the Winter Soldier. Different? Yes. Effective? No doubt.

(Write-up by Nick Tylwalk, Bam Smack Pow editor)

Next: No. 29: This is going to be different ...