This shocking reveal from 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier still hasn’t been addressed in the 11 years since, but we still can’t believe it’s true. Many consider The Winter Soldier to be one of the strongest projects in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, helped by the return of the titular Winter Soldier himself, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes. The Phase 2 flick featured a wild reveal regarding Bucky Barnes’ history, however, that changed his influence on the MCU for good, but has become confusing after his return in 2025’s Thunderbolts*.
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Sebastian Stan joined the MCU in 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger as Steve Rogers’ (Chris Evans) childhood best friend and his close ally during his time as Captain America. Bucky seemingly lost his life after falling from a train on a mission, but he was found by HYDRA and transformed into the brainwashed super-soldier, the Winter Soldier. He operated as HYDRA’s elite warrior for decades before reuniting with Rogers in 2014, and pulled off some shocking and terrifying feats during this mostly-unseen period.
Bucky Barnes Killed JFK As the Winter Soldier
Some of the Winter Soldier’s most shocking activities were explored in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, including him killing anyone who posed a threat to HYDRA or the Soviet Union. The Winter Soldier aided HYDRA in the 1950s during the Korean War, where he went toe-to-toe with Isaiah Bradley (Carl Lumbly), who he was actually unable to kill. He spent the next several decades enacting assassinations of scientific minds and political figures who posed a danger to HYDRA, including Howard and Maria Stark in 1991, an unnamed target at the Hotel Inessa, and, shockingly, President John F. Kennedy.
While we’ve never actually seen this play out on-screen, Arnim Zola’s (Toby Jones) retelling of major historical events affected by HYDRA featured a quick cut of the Winter Soldier aiming his weapon. Many theorized for some time that this depicted the Winter Soldier assassinating JFK, the 35th President of the United States who was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald on November 22, 1963. Sebastian Stan himself confirmed this in a video shared by MCU Wiki, in which he stressed Steve Rogers’ capacity for friendship even in the face of this heinous act.
Bucky Barnes isn’t the first superpowered character in a Marvel project to be revealed to have actually been the cause of JFK’s death. 2014’s X-Men: Days of Future Past revealed that Erik Lehnsherr’s Magneto (Michael Fassbender) was imprisoned in the Pentagon for accidentally assassinating JFK while actually trying to save him. In Marvel Comics’ Ultimate Universe, it was the Red Skull who killed JFK, while it was Midas in the New Ultimate Marvel Universe who carried out the act. It’s wild that the assassination was pulled off by the Winter Soldier in the MCU, however, especially after 2025’s Thunderbolts*.
Bucky’s Thunderbolts* Story Makes No Sense Because of His Past
While Sebastian Stan has confirmed these theories himself, there has been no mention of the Winter Soldier actually having killed JFK on-screen in the MCU, though it has been heavily implied. The idea that this is true is even more shocking after Thunderbolts*, which paid off a comment from Captain America: Brave New World by revealing that Bucky Barnes had become an elected Congressman. How the former elite HYDRA soldier and assassin of an American president could be elected into office is unknown, but perhaps this simply isn’t public knowledge.
Sebastian Stan and Thunderbolts* director Jake Schreier – who is also leading the MCU’s X-Men reboot – have noted that, after Thunderbolts*, Bucky Barnes’ political career is practically done. This is due to the fact that Bucky, along with Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), and Ava Starr (Hannah John-Kamen), became a member of the New Avengers at the end of Thunderbolts*. An established superhero career makes more sense for Bucky than Congress, and this transition means the fact he assassinated JFK now matters less.
Ever since he reunited with Steve Rogers in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes has been doing the work to redeem himself from his actions as the Winter Soldier. He has broken free of his conditioning – thanks to the Wakandans – and has become a bona fide hero in the MCU’s Phase 5, even going so far as to save New York from the Void (Lewis Pullman). However, he surely still battles with his experiences over the years, and the assassination of JFK must weight especially heavy on him, given its impact on the United States and the world.
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