14 best and worst retcons in comic book history

Winter Soldier (Bucky wasn’t dead)

There used to be a group of comic book characters that fans believed should stay dead. Those characters were Thomas and Martha Wayne, Gwen Stacy, and Bucky Barnes. All of their deaths helped make the lead characters around them better. This is why it was shocking when Bucky Barnes came back decades later.

Bucky didn’t die on the rocket. He ended up being found and brainwashed, given a metal arm, and used as an assassin. Whenever he was needed, his captors would take him out of cryogenic hibernation and send him on missions. Once it was over, he was put back to sleep. That’s how he became the urban legend called the Winter Soldier.

Comic book retcon rating: Perfect

It wasn’t just Captain America that was helped by this retcon. The Winter Soldier’s arrival had an impact on Wolverine as well. This is where we find out that Bucky isn’t the nice and “Gee willikers” character we thought he was. Bucky first met Logan during World War II. We saw that he was a sneaky killer that didn’t take orders from just Captain America. Some of them weren’t things Cap was supposed to know about.

Later in life, in Wolverine: Origins & Endings, we find out that Bucky killed Wolverine’s wife. This leads to Daken being taken from her dead body and raised by Romulus. A crucial time in both Logan and Daken’s relationship.