#ecoterrorist bucky barnes

[magnetothemagnificent]

Character design for (comics) Bucky in an AU where he and Steve survive WW2. Shortly after the war, Bucky is severely injured while he and Steve were guarding what they thought was regular army surplus on passage back to the United States. In reality, they were guarding volatile chemical weapons, and Bucky ended up losing his left arm and most of his vocal cords due to the chemical burns in an accident. Steve dropped him as a partner, insisting that it was too dangerous for him to continue as his sidekick. They remain friends, if a little distant.

Bucky canonically has always wanted to be a forest ranger and has had an interest in the environment, so he goes to university and learns about the extensive environmental damage chemical and nuclear weapons have been doing to the environment. He also becomes disillusioned with how the world is still gearing up for war even after he almost died fighting for peace. He ends up deciding to take matters into his own hand, and starts sabotaging nuclear and chemical weapons testing and manufacturing around the world, regardless of their "side" in the Cold War. Steve doesn't agree with his methods, but he's aware of his secret identity and will patch him up if he gets injured while loudly voicing his disapproval, and of course he would never rat him out.

The Silent Spring's costume design is inspired by a bald eagle, both as a nod to Bucky's past as the highly patriotic Captain America's sidekick, as well as a reference to the bald eagles which were on the brink of extinction due to DDT. His codename, of course, is a reference to the book "Silent Spring", which opened many people's eyes to the state of environmental damage. It's also a reference to both his silence due to his damaged vocal cords, and a nod to his main continuity identity of the "Winter Soldier". And, of course, his mission of sabotaging Cold War efforts is a mirror to the Winter Soldier's mission of accelerating it.

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