Winter Soldier (Marvel Film Universe)

Theatrical release poster

***Winter Soldier*** is a science fiction espionage action thriller film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. A sequel/spin-off to *Strikeforce* (2024), it is the nineteenth entry in the Marvel Film Universe. Directed by Chad Stahelski, it stars Taylor Kitsch in the title role as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, alongside Samuel L. Jackson, Ali Larter, Woody Harrelson, and Olga Kurylenko. In the film, set six months after the events of *Strikeforce*, Bucky Barnes who is haunted by murderous past as a assassin attempts to redeem himself by taking a perilous mission from former S.H.I.E.LD. commander Nick Fury.

Development on the film began in 2023 during the filming of *Strikeforce*. Stahelski was hired that same year due to his work on the *John Wick* series. Similar to those films, Stahelski prioritized authentic stunts and worked closely with the actors to ensure his vison. The film's action focuswa on highly-choreographed, long single takes to convey action, eschewing the rapid cuts and closeup shots of contemporary action films. The film's story takes inspiration from the 2012 *Winter Soldier* series, specifically issues #15-19. Principal photography began in Croatia in April 2024, with other filming locations including Los Angeles, Washington, and Russia.

*Winter Soldier* was released theatrically on May 2, 2025 to positve reviews, praising its action sequences, direction, cast, and visual style. The film was also a commercial success, grossing over $540 million on a $90 million budget, making it one of the highest-grossing films of 2025.

## Plot

In 2020, Bucky Barnes visits Natasha Romanoff, who is under care at a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility in California. While there, he is approached by Maria Hill who informs him that S.H.I.E.LD. director Nick Fury will be resigning. She expresses sympathy and tells Barnes that he is not at fault for someone using Natasha against him. Barnes, unable to cope with his guilt over Natasha's current position, tells Hill that he is resigning as well; hoping to leave behind a life of violence. Four years later, Barnes finds himself in a drunken stupor in a Croatian bar where a rowdy patron causes a bar fight that results in Barnes singlehandedly killing all of the hostile patrons with his bare hands. Shortly after, he is greeted by Nick Fury who admonishes him for "playing the victim" and leaving Natasha at S.H.I.E.L.D. alone. Barnes admits to Fury that he is liability and tells him that the kid Captain America trained is gone. Fury tells Barnes that if he is looking for peace, it begins with a man named Joe Robards. Barnes then accepts the job Fury is offering.

In New York, Barnes assembles atop a building with a sniper rifle where he surveys his target: Joe Robards, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent that has been under deep cover within HYDRA for the last 30 years. Robards arrives at a HYDRA-ran casino where he begins a rampage, killing HYDRA agents in a blind rage. Barnes recognizes that Robards has deliberately blown his cover over his despondency over the death of his handler and lover Gina Autry, whom Barnes killed 30 years prior in Latveria. Barnes then storms the casino to rescue the suicidal agent, using his abilities to fend off HYDRA. He saves an apprehensive Robards who then collapses from intoxication. Taking him back to an old safe house, Barnes reminisces on the murder of Gina Autry, remembering how he was ordered to stop the extraction of KGB scientist Linus Tarsov. Robards then awakens, expressing dismay at Fury for sending Barnes after him before attempting to leave. In a desperate attempt to stop him, Barnes tells him that the mission will help him find Autry's killer, concealing that it was him. Barnes further conceals his finding from the operations file for the extraction which never mentioned Tarsov's daughter Tesla who taken by the men who established the Red Room to train Black Widows. The two then decide to follow the trail of a man named Father Hammer.

In Maine, Maria Hill visits Nick Fury, who is "enjoying" retirement. She asks him if they can trust Barnes to find a terrorist under the codename "Electric Ghost" who caused a classified Steranko class satellite to vanish. Fury admits that what Barnes needed was a mission and he gave it to him. Elsewhere on an island near the coast of France, Barnes and Robards follow the trail of Father Hammer to a dilapidated school where the former is discovered by the guards who appear to be children. Barnes hastily surrenders and is led to their leader before being forced to fight their enforcer, a mutant named Murder Mouth. Barnes defeats Murder Mouth after a grueling fight but hesitates to execute him upon remembering his past as an assassin before interrogating the children's leader for the location of Father Hammer. The leader reveals that Father Hammer was killed by the Electric Ghost whom Barnes realizes Telsa Tarsova, remembering that she was there the night he killed Gina Autry and Linus Tarsov.

Traveling to A.I.M.'s Data Hub in Russia, Barnes and Robards mount an assault with the latter expressing no fear of death in hopes of being reunited with Autry. Fighting through the facility, Barnes makes his way to the central computer where he contacts Fury to berate him on using him but the latter reveals that he conscripted Barnes because of his connection to Tarsova before revealing she has been coordinating cyberattacks with the satellite she commandeered. Barnes asks Fury if he intended for him to kill Robards when he brought him the mission. Suddenly, Robards emerges, carrying the corpse of MODOK. claiming to have all the information they need. Still motivated by finding Autry's killer, Robards helps Barnes calibrate the teleporter to Tesla's satellite, urging him to make it count. Meanwhile aboard S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Helicarrier, Maria Hill is contacted by Fury who informs her that Barnes is on track to neutralize Electric Ghost. With this information, Hill decides to dispatch Natasha Romanoff to Russia to complete the mission if Barnes fails, to which Romanoff accepts with no hesitation.

Aboard the satellite, Barnes faces off with several mercenaries, battling them in zero gravity. After brutally killing them, Barnes enters the satellite where he is plagued with flashbacks of Autry and Tarsov's murder. Struggling to focus, he finds Telsa Tarsova who uses nanites to immobilize him through his bionic arm. She wounds him with pistol, dismissing him as a mercenary before recognizing him as the man who killed her father. To his surprise, she shows mercy and instead explains that his actions have created the woman she was meant to be, adding that Father Hammer's cruelty showed her the "true world". She reveals that when the Red Room was destroyed, Father Hammer began selling the children to foreign governments as assassins, to Barnes' horror. Barnes tells her that she doesn't have punish the world for his mistakes but Telsa scoffs at him, unveiling her "Tarsova Tesseract", an unstable atom bomb. Barnes tells her that he is willing to die before he lets her become a monster, telling her that it isn't too late and he won't give up on her. In anger, she begins to beat the wounded Barnes but he never fights back. The Tesseract becomes unstable and Barnes tells Tesla that his bionic arm is rigged to a signal for teleportation and urges her to come with him, start over. She seems to acquiesce and takes his hand, causing the two to teleport somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean as the satellite explodes. Barnes loses Electric Ghost in the ocean and is pulled from the water by Natasha, to his surprise. She ushers him aboard a Quinjet where they rekindle their relationship instantly.

Sometime later, Barnes and Romanoff are off the grid in Barcelona where they are visited by Robards. Robards explains that he used Gina's death as an excuse to become what he always was, implying he always knew that Barnes killed Autry. He seemingly forgive him and departs, leaving Barnes and Romanoff staring off into the sunset which is interrupted by Romanoff recieving a call from Hill, informing her of an emergency involving the Avengers which prompts her to ask Barnes to join her.

## Cast

* Taylor Kitsch as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier
* Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
* Ali Larter as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
* Woody Harrelson as Joe Robards
* Olga Kurylenko as Telsa Tarasova/Electric Ghost
* Maggie Grace as Gina Autry
* Lizzy Caplan as Maria Hill