A new report indicates Sebastian Stan’s Bucky Barnes will no longer be called the Winter Soldier. Instead he will now go by White Wolf.
Barnes’ new codename was hinted at in the post-credit scene from Black Panther. In the scene Shuri has taken Bucky out of his cryosleep and began deprogramming in the wilds of Wakanda. When Bucky wakes up, we hear the kids in the village begin chanting White Wolf. It appears this will be Barnes’ new codename.
If this report is true, it would be quite a drastic shift away from the original comic book source material.
White Wolf is actually a completely separate character. He’s adopted by King T’Chaka and raised in Wakanda after his parents died in a plane crash. He is eventually appointed to Wakanda’s secret police, the Hatut Zeraze when he receives the name White Wolf. The Hatut Zeraze’s methods were brutal and they were eventually disbanded following T’Chaka’s death. After T’Challa disbanded them, White Wolf and others from the Hatut Zeraze left Wakanda to become mercenaries.
It’s possible White Wolf will become a title like Black Panther and it can be passed to any number of characters. My colleague Dan previously speculated the children refer to Bucky as the White Wolf because he looks like the adopted brother of T’Challa.
I could actually see Barnes getting the codename White Wolf, only to have that codename challenged in a future Black Panther film down the road. It’s possible the original White Wolf might have been out on a mission for T’Chaka in deep cover and was completely unaware that his adopted father had been assassinated. He might return to Wakanda to find that not only has T’Challa ascended the throne, but there is also a usurper using his own title. It could be an interesting subplot and continue the sort of tribal rivalry we were introduced to in February’s Black Panther.
What do you think? How do you think Marvel will use the White Wolf title? Will we see the comic book version of White Wolf eventually or will Bucky Barnes be the official White Wolf?
Along with Bucky’s new codename we got a really good look at his new arm in an Entertainment Weekly magazine cover. It definitely appears to be made out of vibranium which will make Bucky even more powerful as Thanos comes calling to collect the Infinity Stones.
You can see the rest of the EW covers here.
Avengers: Infinity War comes to theaters on April 27, 2018.