Bucky Barnes is best known for his time as Winter Solider, as well as his stints as Captain America over the years – yet it was during his brief tenure under the codename "Revolution" that many fans thought Bucky could have a genuinely fresh start within the Marvel Universe, and despite it having fallen out of favor, this actually remains the hero's most fitting moniker.

Being renamed Revolution should have been a major shift for the character, but Marvel never really invested in making this a distinct new chapter for the hero; so, while fans reacted positively to the name change, the publisher itself didn't ever seem that enthralled with it, and eventually Bucky reverted to his Winter Soldier alter-ego.

Nevertheless, Bucky's Revolution codename should not be forgotten – especially considering that nothing is ever truly "over" when it comes to Marvel Comics, meaning it could make a comeback at some point in the character's comic book future.

The Revolution Identity Didn't Change Bucky Barnes' Status Quo – But It Should have

Not Nearly A Big Enough Deal

Hoping to combat the secret Illuminati cabal called the Outer Circle, Bucky ed the group and took on the name of the Revolution, hoping to bring them down from the inside. After all his other identity changes, one would think that another new identity would mark another new era for the character, but that just didn't happen. By all s, this was just a fairly confusing and convoluted spy story, which didn't do anything significant for Bucky's character. The series it debuted in also didn't last more than thirteen issues, and Bucky quickly returned to his previous status quo.

Bucky has every reason to want to lead a revolution against corrupt offices of power, such as evil governments.

After this storyline ended, Bucky returned to what he was doing before, which is a shame, because the Revolution title held a lot of potential. Bucky was a character who was taken by a foreign malicious government and brainwashed. Bucky has every reason to want to lead a revolution against corrupt offices of power, such as evil governments. Yet the character wasn't taken in that direction for some reason, which is pretty surprising. It would have been a perfect fit with his past, but Marvel seemingly didn't seem to want to rock the boat by totally reinventing the hero.

Bucky Could Have Done A Lot More With His "Revolution" Identity & Fans Know It

Marvel Just Wasn't Willing To Go All The Way

Not every new superhero identity always works out. There was a time when DC's Tim Drake simply went by the name Drake. It wasn't a good change, and it didn't last. Not all new names can be winners. But the tragedy of the Revolution nickname was that it really could have been something special for Bucky Barnes' character; instead, it was just an identity he took to infiltrate a secret organization that he wanted to bring down. It wasn't very interesting, and being a secret assassin is something Bucky has already been doing for the past several decades.

A character getting a new identity should be the opportunity to explore new storylines with that character, giving them a new purpose or a direction. Instead, Revolution was just an identity Bucky had while he rehashed the same spy story he'd been involved with a dozen times before. Marvel even had the opportunity to change his name in the MCU, as Bucky should want nothing to do with the Winter Soldier title there, but they haven't done that either. Unfortunately, for all the great alternate identities that Bucky Barnes has had over the years, the Revolution isn't one of them.

Unlike His "Revolution" Era, Bucky's Time As Captain America Was A Major Change

A True New Direction For The Hero

Nearly every other time Bucky has gone through an identity change, it has been a major shift for his character. Originally, his name was just Bucky, and he served as Captain America's kid sidekick. He was one of the first sidekicks in comics and helped tone down the brutal setting of World War II. Then, decades later, when he took on the identity of the Winter Soldier, everything changed. He became significantly darker and was an antagonist for the first couple of stories he was involved in. Bucky would eventually shake off his brainwashing and become a hero again, though.

While he maintained the Winter Soldier identity for a while after becoming a hero, Bucky eventually became Captain America in his biggest overhaul. This was an appropriately major shift in the character, which helped to revitalize him as a contemporary Marvel fan-favorite; as Captain America, he had to earn the respect of both the government and the public so he could keep operating in the light as an actual superhero, instead of sticking to the shadows as the Winter Soldier. With all these changes in mind, one would think another identity change would mark a new era for Bucky Barnes.