As Doctor Doom takes over the Marvel Universe, the former Winter Solider (and current 'Revolution') Thunderbolts are trying to bring him down from the shadows.

Captain America has long been nicknamed 'the Sentinel of Liberty' by Marvel, and now Bucky Barnes has his own title.

In a preview of Thunderbolts: Doomstrike #4 - by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Tommaso Bianchi, Yen Nitro and Joe Sabino - Doctor Doom prepares to torture Bucky, crowing that Captain America has already submitted to his regime.

As part of his mocking, Doctor Doom its he knows it will take a lot of pain to break Bucky, nicknaming him "the wild stallion of freedom." It's as close to a compliment as Doctor Doom ever gets, and Bucky confirms that he won't be bowing down anytime soon, reminding Doom that, "I'm not Steve Rogers." While Bucky loves and trusts Steve as a mentor, he's always been a far darker hero, with far fewer restrictions on what he's willing to do to oppose threats to freedom like Doom.

bucky barnes' winter soldier on a backdrop of all thunderbolts heroes, plus the thunderbolts logo of a lightning bolt 2
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Bucky Barnes Is Marvel's Wild Stallion of Freedom

Even Doctor Doom Knows Bucky Is More Hardcore Than Captain America

Bucky Barnes tells Sal Romero that he takes Nazi ears.

Bucky Barnes has been around since 1941, originally depicted as Captain America's teen sidekick. When he returned as Winter Soldier in 2005, Marvel retconned his past, revealing that fans had only seen the public propaganda version of Bucky. In fact, he had been trained in black ops, sneaking behind enemy lines with a knife and piano wire while Captain America faced tanks with his unbreakable shield. While Bucky was quickly stripped of his Winter Soldier brainwashing, he's remained one of Marvel's darker heroes, covering himself in blood if it will make the world a better place.

Bucky Barnes' thunderbolts including black widow and white widow-1

Doctor Doom perfectly calls this out by calling Bucky "the wild stallion of freedom." While Steve Rogers has pushed back against the government many times, he's ultimately defined by the symbolism attached to his hero identity. Cap would rather die than betray the values he believes he's meant to represent, while Bucky would rather burn the world down than let someone like Doom win. That's true of the entire Thunderbolts roster Bucky has assembled, with Black Widow, U.S.Agent and Sharon Carter's Destroyer all having a long history of lethal tactics.

Captain America has long been nicknamed 'the Sentinel of Liberty' by Marvel, and now fans know that Bucky Barnes' Revolution is 'the Wild Stallion of Freedom' - a hero who demands freedom at any cost, no matter how much he or the other Thunderbolts have to suffer, or which lines they need to cross.

Thunderbolts: Doomstrike #4 is coming May 14 from Marvel Comics.