While Steve Rogers is the name most people jump to when talking about Captain America, many others have donned the cowl in the character’s nearly 80-year history. Some of Steve’s closest allies have taken his place when he was unavailable. Two of the most popular folks to do this are Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes. Bucky’s run as Cap was controversial at the time, with Steve’s demise after the Civil War event but he has been a fan favorite since that 2007 Ed Brubaker run.

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Each character’s time as Cap has its own flavor and they all have their own strengths. Bucky Barnes was a very different Cap than Steve Rogers or Sam Wilson and while Bucky would be the first to say that no one compares to Steve, there were some things that he excelled at and he sometimes even managed to surpass the original.

10 Fighting a bear

It’s simple, really. Bucky Barnes went to a gulag after being put on trial for his activity as the Winter Soldier and was turned over to the Russians. In the gulag, for the amusement of the guards, Bucky fought a bear. Yes, he actually fought a bear.

While Steve Rogers has fought many a monster in his time, there’s something viscerally cool about fighting a bear in a Russian prison-—and winning—that should show Bucky as a shining example of American exceptionalism that Captain America can be.

9 Protecting the Avengers

This is a standard Captain America move, regardless of who is wearing the red, white, and blue. Bucky took a different approach to it, though, and while it wasn’t one that the New Avengers line-up took too kindly to, his thinking is fairly clear. If everyone is armed, everyone is better prepared.

Given that he had Carol Danvers, Peter Parker, and a few other heavy hitters on the line-up, maybe handing out handguns seems a little silly, but given his experience, it makes a certain amount of sense, especially with the non-powered members of the team.

8 Going for the kill shot

Steve Rogers has a habit of knocking the crap out of his rogues' gallery—Secret Empire excluded, obviously—but generally leaving them in one piece. Bucky took a decidedly different stance on his first trip out in the Captain America costume. He shot Sin and stabbed Crossbones right off the bat.

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Sure, Steve would hand them over the SHIELD to lock away—for a few days anyway—and call it a day, but Bucky tried to solve the long-term problem and put them down for at least a couple of weeks. This is arguably a better approach than what the character would usually do.

7 Trolling Hawkeye

When Steve Rogers took over officially as the head of the Avengers, Clint Barton was there to be a pain in his butt. That dynamic lasted for decades as the two men grew into their respective roles. But, when Bucky Barnes became Captain America, Hawkeye’s tradition of picking on, and being picked on by Cap reached new levels.

While the two men absolutely built a bond while on the New Avengers team together, there was always a competitive undercurrent that topped the one that Steve and Clint had throughout the Cap’s Kooky Quartet days. This drove both heroes on to perform better than ever before.

6 Going to therapy

While we see the MCU version of Captain America in a group therapy session after the infamous Snap, it’s not often addressed that the kind of trauma these characters go through leaves a mark. In the comics, Bucky is the one that steps up and addresses this, albeit not while carrying the mantle of Captain America.

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In the current run of the Winter Soldier, Bucky has learned that treating his mental health seriously makes him better at the job. Given Steve’s own history, it’s a lesson he could benefit from too.

5 Seeing the bigger picture sooner

Bucky’s time in the Captain America role was colored deeply by the fact that Steve was dead, but the mark Bucky left on the role was the constant questioning of his own worthiness in the role. This gave him a somewhat jaded but still heroic view of the job itself. When his past came out, and he was arrested, he faced trial and sentencing—although it was an obvious setup—without much of a fight.

Comparing that to Steve’s Registration Act objections and the lengths it took for Steve to see the damage his actions cost and it shows Bucky’s willingness to own his past and his mistakes on a level Steve hasn’t shown nearly as often.

4 Perspective on being Captain America

Bucky had a rough run in the tights and that experience has given him a unique perspective on what it means to be Captain America. His own questions of worthiness and ability shaped his hero persona, and after his time was up and others took up the Cap mantle, he was able to use that to help them find their own way. There are several conversations between Bucky and Sam about life in Steve’s shadow as Captain America and how they both felt like eventually, Steve would take it all back, because he is Captain America.

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Steve has never had to face those challenges, because he is seen as the one and only. That challenge for Bucky, however, gave him a clear view of how the world sees Captain America, and how that view changes when anyone but Steve is in the role.

3 Doing the dirty work

Sometimes, in defense of his country or the world, Captain America has to do some pretty nasty or ugly things. Bucky’s history is full of this kind of work, and since his run in the cowl, he’s gone back to that part of the job full time. Even during World War II, Bucky was better equipped to deal with the dark side than Steve was.

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Bucky Barnes is far more pragmatic about the violence that comes with the cowl, and he’s far more effective at it than Steve Rogers. This can sometimes make him a far more successful hero who can get the job done.

2 Finding a family

Both Steve and Bucky went through a major life shift when they came into the world properly after a long absence. And while both men eventually found support and friendship and love outside of the Captain America role, and within it, Bucky’s transition and acceptance of that support system went a lot smoother than Steve’s.

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While both Steve and Bucky brooded about their lot in life and all they’d lost, Bucky had Natasha, Sam, and the New Avengers to come back to, and he embraced that tight-knit group as they embraced him. Steve, while he absolutely had the same support, clung to his brooding just a little more stubbornly, and in the early days reacted rather inappropriately—asking Sharon Carter to marry him on the first date—to attempts to bring him around.

1 Dying for the greater good

Self-sacrifice is core to the Captain America brand. No one that’s donned the cowl has managed to avoid it, but Bucky took that necessity to its height during Fear Itself. While he was revived with the infinity serum, he did take a major beatdown from Sin in her Skadi form who ripped off his prosthetic arm and beat him with it.

This death opened the door to letting Bucky do what he does best—work behind the scenes—but it also gave those fighting against the Worthy and Cul Borson motivation to avenge him. Steve Rogers could not have done it better, and likely would not have gone with this plan on his own. In fact, Steve fought the idea of going underground after Secret Empire ended, despite the public image of him being so drastically changed during that event.

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