Winter Widow

"A long time ago, Natalia Romanova made me remember what it was to feel human."

- Bucky, Captain America #27

Winter Widow is the het ship between Natasha Romanoff and Bucky Barnes from the Marvel and Marvel Cinematic Universe fandoms.

Earth-616
"I’m going to find Natasha, just like I always have. Never even realized how lost I was without her. But I always was. Just some lost soldier who forgot he ever had a home. Until she gave me one."

- Bucky.

While under the control of the Soviets, Bucky helped train Natasha at the Red Room Academy, and they fell in love. He often snuck into her room sleeping quarters to see her. Their relationship began to break down his Winter Soldier programming. As a result, they were forcibly separated from each other, and Bucky was put back into cryostasis.

Fifty years later, they were reunited and rekindled their romance. Eventually Natasha was captured and her memories were altered. Bucky is able to rescue her and retrieve her old memories, but the ones of their relationship were erased.

Comic Storyline's
There are many variations of Natasha's training in the Red Room with Bucky. In some stories, they work in the field together as partners (which is where their relationship grows) and some, it doesn’t. In the most common variations, Bucky trains Natasha in the Red Room. At first, Natasha gets raised in the Red Room as a Black Widow, and in the late 1950's she meets one of her trainers, the Winter Soldier.It was here that Natasha, (who went by Natalia at the time) and Bucky formed a beautiful and deep relationship. They showed each other that they were more than just weapons for a country, and realized that they were able to live free lives. There was nothing shallow or forced about their romance, and Bucky told Steve that Natasha had touched something inside him beneath all the programming, making him feel human again. Evidentially they got caught and were both punished. There are many variations how, but once they got captured, one of them gets their memories erased. In most common stories, it is Bucky who gets ripped away from Natasha and has his entire relationship with her wiped away. At some point, Natasha gets recruited by Hawkeye, who helps her break her psychological conditioning at the time, and joins SHIELD. "The story of Black Widow and the Winter Soldier is a tragic one. It revolves around two people who were taken at vulnerable times in their lives and were unwillingly sculpted into villians. Their lives (especially Natasha’s) revolved around lying, deception, brainwashing, and false memories. As soon as these two try to get the other person to remember who they are and what they mean to each other, they are taken away again. A character is forced to watch the person they love not know who they are as their entire past is washed away by the people who created them. Throughout a majority of their stories, they are constantly trying to gain independence, will, and freedom and only the other can relate to the horror that’s been their lives."

Brubaker's Winter Soldier (2013) 014
During an earthquake that shook San Fransisco, Leo Novokov was awoken. A Russian sleeper agent, he was awoken from his stasis with no recollection of where he was or what mission he was on. Slowly he began looking for clues, secret messages hidden in daily newspapers from his handler but instead he found that his long dead comrade, the Winter Solider, was now a celebrated American hero. Jealous of James’ new life, Novokov begins hunting him down, starting with anyone with a known association to him. With SHIELD aware of his activities, James and Natasha begin to follow his breadcrumbs of dead bodies. They find that Novokov has also kidnapped a defected Russian scientist, Professor Rodchenko, whose one job within Department X was to reprogram Russian agents, to turn them into what ever soldier the they needed them to be. As Natasha and James get closer to Novokov, he sets a trap – a trap to kidnap Natasha. Using Rodchenko, Novokov reprograms Natasha into her former soviet self – ballerina Natalia Romanova. With Novokov, planning to set off a bomb somewhere in Manhattan, James goes off the radar to track him down personally. Tracking them down, he confronts them: two against one. The amount of love Bucky and Natasha have for each other was shown when the great, abiding heartbreak of Bucky's life happened because he refused to hurt Natasha. Towards the end of Ed Brubaker's Winter Soldier, Natasha was taken and had her memories of James permanently wiped. When he rescues her, she breaks his heart when she has no memory of him or their deep love for one another. While it would be painful, her memories of him and their life together could have been restored, just as Steve once did for him. However, Bucky refused to do that to the love of his life. The reason they understood each other better than anyone else was because of their shared traumatic past of having their minds tampered with over and over again. Out of respect for her and his unwillingness to ever put her through that again, to violate her mind, even if it was for a good reason, he instead chose to let Natasha continue on without him, and said to Steve that she'd be better off without him. No matter how much it broke him.

Captain America's Assination
In the comics, Bucky and Natasha were separated for 50 years after their time together in the Red Room ended and they were forced apart. Years later, after Steve Rogers was assassinated and Bucky Barnes took up the mantle of Captain America, he struggled with the weight of responsibility, feeling that he wasn't a worthy successor due to his past as a killer. But Natasha helped Bucky find himself again and make him feel human once more like she always has, and the two rekindled their romance.

In the first chapter, after Bucky comes home, Natasha is there alongside all their friends celebrating his birthday. She takes Bucky's hand and leads him towards the cake. In the later chapters, when Natasha asks Bucky if he remembers their time together, he said that he remembered everything about their time in the Red Room, and she was the only good thing in all of it. Before she leaves, Natasha kisses Bucky to tell him that she hasn't forgotten either. Bucky smiles as she leaves. In these comics, they continued to work together, tracking down and neutralizing sleeper agents from the Red Room and Hydra. They remained together until Natasha's untimely death at the Hydra-controlled Steve Rogers' hands during the Secret Empire event.

Natasha Barnes
"Bucky was my husband. And I will avenge him."

- Natasha about James.

In the 1872 comics (which is an alternate universe in the Wild West), Natasha and Bucky were revealed to be married. However, after Bucky's assasination ordered by Wilson Fisk, Natasha becomes a widow who eventually makes a plan to avenge her husband. She works alongside Red Wolf to take Fisk down and uncover the death of her husband. While she worked with Red Wolf, Natasha told him that she and Bucky didn't meet at church. She said that while he worked on his side of the law, she worked on hers. When Red Wolf and Natasha (alongside Bruce Banner) make a plan on how to kill Fisk, Natasha decides that she will put a bullet in his eye. At the end, she avenges Bucky and saves the town alongside Bruce, Tony Stark and Red Wolf.

Marvel Cinematic Universe
"I know how much Barnes means to you. I really do."

- Natasha to Steve.

The Winter Soldier attacked and shot Natasha while she was escorting a nuclear engineer out of Iran. She searched for him after the incident, but found nothing. Five years later, she fought against the Winter Soldier in Washington D.C, alongside Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson. He shot her a second time. She fought the Winter Soldier a third time two years later at the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre Building in Berlin. As he strangled her, she asked him to recognize her.

In Civil War, Natasha recruits Black Panther to Stark's team, hoping this will keep Black Panther accountable and prevent him from killing the Winter Soldier. When T'Challa tries to kill Bucky, Natasha stops him and gives him enough time to escape.

"I said I'd help you find him. Not catch him. There's a difference."

- Natasha to T'Challa about Bucky.

Black Widow 2021
When Natasha talks to Alexei and Melina, they reveal information about Hydra's scientists and the Winter Soldier project. When Yelena hears the words "Winter Soldier" she looks at Natasha who looks back at her with a sad expression.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

 * Natasha tells Steve that she'd encountered the Winter Soldier once before, and he'd shot her.
 * As he's hunting her down, Bucky says in Russian about Natasha: "Она y меня." which means "I have her."

Captain America: Civil War

 * Natasha and Bucky fight while he's under brainwashing. She asks him if he could recognize her.
 * Bucky takes Natasha's gun in Siberia. He keeps it, as seen in Avengers: Infinity War, and tells Rocket Racoon that it's not for sale.

Comics

 * Bucky tells Natasha he remembers everything in the Red Room, and she was the only good thing in all of it.
 * In some variations of the comics, Instead of Bucky training Natasha in the Red Room, they're partners who train the Black Widow's together.
 * In the Captain America (2005) #50 comics, Natasha throws Bucky a birthday party and bakes him a cake.
 * Bucky considers fighting Natalia a punishment.
 * Nat thinks back to her and Bucky's time in the red room as lovers.
 * Bucky says that no one could ever understand him but Natasha.
 * Natasha calls Bucky by his full name (James Buchanan Barnes) as she tells him she loves him.
 * Bucky says that he was a soldier with no home, until Natasha gave him one.
 * Natasha calls Bucky "Darling" and "Sweetheart" as nicknames.
 * In Captain America & Bucky: The Life of Bucky Barnes by Ed Brubaker, Bucky brings Natasha to meet his sister, Becca in an Alzheimer’s home feat. Becca tells Natasha that she seems like a good woman and asks him to take care of her brother.
 * When Bucky wakes up in the infirmary after "dying" Natasha kisses his (metal) hand.
 * Bucky and Natasha both have motorcyles in various comics, and ride with each other.
 * Natasha once called Bucky "мили мой" which stands for "my dear."

MCU
"Going after him is a dead end. I know. I’ve tried."

- Natasha to Steve about Bucky.

"(In Russian) I have her."

- Bucky about Natasha.

Comics
"I might have put a bullet in my brain to quiet the ghosts... if not for Natasha..."

- Bucky, Captain America & Bucky #624

"I was their secret weapon in the Cold War...or at least I was one of them. The Black Widow was another. Something about her touched what was left of my humanity. Buried under all that programming."

- Bucky, Captain America & Bucky #624

"Shhh.. I've got you."

- Bucky holding Natasha.

"I think I love you, James Buchanan Barnes."

- Natasha to Bucky.

"What matters is that we LOVED and LIVED."

- Natasha about her and Bucky.

"Never even realized how lost I was without her. But I always was. Just some lost soldier who forgot he ever had a home… until she gave me one."

- Bucky in THE WINTER SOLDIER (2012)

"I try to imagine my life without her, and all I see is pain, and heartbreak. But at least I'll be the only one feeling it. I take solace in that thought… and hold on to it for as long as I can. But it won’t be long enough."

- Bucky about Natasha.

"Natasha, please. It’s me, Bucky… it’s James."

- Bucky when he sees Natasha again-- after her memories of him are wiped.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry.. NO!"

- Bucky as he holds a "dying" Natasha in his arms.

"No-- NO! Do something, damn it! He's DYING, Nick... He's... I'm watching him die.. I just got him back.. It's not fair.."

- Nat about Bucky as he "dies."

"You think she belongs to anyone? Then you’re as foolish as the others."

- Bucky about Natasha in Captain America #624.

"The kid Steve remembers never even existed. No one’s ever been able to see that. No one but Natasha."

- Bucky about how Natasha understands him.

"You shot at Natasha. That was your last act on earth, pal."

- Bucky in Black Widow (2014)

"Man, do I love my girlfriend."

- Bucky about Natasha.

"I could use some moral support, James. Because what I'm going to do is this... find everyone I love. --You included, don't argue and don't ask-- ..see they're protected."

- Natasha to Bucky.

"I'm a soldier, so I can sleep through practically anything, almost at will. but I haven't slept since Natasha was taken."

- Bucky to Steve. "If this is what I have to do to get Natasha back .. or to keep her alive... if Leo wants me to be the old Winter Soldier again.. then I'll do it."

- Bucky when Leo takes Natasha. "Like I said, she always amazes me."

- James "Buchanan" Barnes.

"Anything for you, James. As always."

- Natalia "Alianovna" Romanova.

Behind the Scenes
"Don't beat around the bush. It's the one where he takes over for Cap and sleeps with Natasha, right? And then he's dating Natasha- come on, you wanna kiss Scarlett."

- The Russo brothers on Sebastian Stan's favorite Bucky Arc.

"But I wouldn't mind a little Black Widow/Winter Soldier story happening."

- Sebastian Stan.

"There's a comic book story line where Black Widow falls in love with Bucky. Have you all read that?"

- Sebastian Stan as the crowd cheers.

"It's why she says, "Don't you recognize me?" she's still thinking about him [Bucky]."

- Sebastian Stan on Natasha. "Backstory of the Winter Soldier here, I think something that came out maybe was that we wanted to give her a.. was that in the original draft, that she had history with him? I know it's from the books, clearly. In the books they had a much more intimate history than what we portray in the films, but this sort of ghost story spec ops character, the bogey-man of the Winter Soldier... It's a great coming from Scarlett. Such a great actress that really lends a lot of credence and weight to his backstory."

- Joe Russo on Natasha and Bucky. "They fight beautifully together."

- Anthony Russo about Bucky and Natasha.

"No matter what I do I keep ending up in between Black Widow's legs. It's a.. pretty tough job."

- Sebastian Stan.

"If I had to pick one? Selfishly I probably would love the BuckyNat situation only because I’m a huge fan of time periods and stuff and the idea of going back in time… and in some of the way that story came to be is very interesting to me… And also because I feel like in the “Captain America - The Winter Soldier” movie we didn’t explore enough, like, some of him in that particular way that I think that would be done for her… So, I always go with that."

- Sebastian Stan.

"Cause- you gotta remember this whole time period- and he does have a story with Black Widow, I don't care what anybody says."

- Sebastian Stan.

"No matter how many times we've fought, he always ends up in between my legs."

- Scarlett Johansson on Bucky. "Did you know they are a couple?"

- Scarlett Johansson on Bucky and Natasha (Winter Soldier: Behind The Scenes) "Hey, listen, I could talk about the Black Widow all you want! That’s an amazing story line I would love for that to happen."

- Sebastian Stan on Bucky and Natasha's romance.

Media
"So unshakeable is their respect for one another in the comics that the great, abiding heartbreak of Bucky's life happened because he refused to hurt Natasha. Toward the end of Ed Brubaker's Winter Soldier run, Natasha is taken and has her memories of Bucky — or, as she always called him, James — permanently wiped. When he rescues her, she breaks his heart, just as he did Steve's years ago, when she has no memory of him or their deep love for one another. While painful, her memories of him and their life together could have been restored, just as Steve Rogers once did for him. Except Bucky refused to do that to the love of his life. The one reason they understood each other as no one else could have was their shared traumatic past of being brainwashed and having their minds tampered with over and over again. Out of respect for her and his unwillingness to ever put her through that sort of horror again, to violate her mind, even if it was for the best of reasons, he instead chose to let Natasha continue on without her memories of him, no matter how it broke him - and it did."

- Screenrant on Winter Widow. "Romance storylines in comics have a history of being hit and miss. The epic love stories are few and far between. But in Natasha and Bucky, Marvel has a couple of characters that are special because their whole is greater than the sum of their parts. Their power sets aren’t revolutionary, and their background makes them morally unqualified for a great deal of team leadership or individual spotlight. On their own, they rarely rise above interesting supporting characters, leading compelling solo missions under harsh conditions; great for off-genre one-shots. Once they’re paired together, however, fans get a hero twice as powerful and more passionate than Captain America, and probably with more enemies."

- Screenrant on Bucky and Natasha. "Bucky Barnes & Natasha had a healthy relationship, only ending due to her death during Secret Empire. Following the assassination of Steve Rogers during Marvel's Civil War, it was Natasha who rekindled her relationship with a no-longer-brainwashed Bucky Barnes, and who convinced Bucky to take up the mantle of Captain America. The two continued to work together, tracking down and neutralizing sleeper agents from the Red Room and Hydra. They remained together until Natasha's untimely death at the Hydra-controlled Steve Rogers's hands during the Secret Empire event."

- CBR. "As we head into the final installment of the MCU’s phase three with Captain Marvel and Avengers 4, and head into the unknown that is phase four, I think it is time to introduce the MCU audience to the story of Black Widow: Natasha Romanoff and The Winter Soldier: James “Bucky” Barnes. Most of you know these characters are two of Captain America’s most loyal teammates and are always on his side (when Bucky knows who he is at least) but, who were they before they met Captain America? Some of you may have already noticed a few similarities between the two characters. They are both Russian (Natasha is actually Russian and Bucky was found by Russians at the end of Captain America: The First Avenger) and earned their reputation by working for the same side (Natasha worked for the Red Room and KGB in Russia and Bucky became the Winter Soldier for Hydra). They have a similar fighting style and Natasha seems to know a lot about who Bucky was, hence being the audience and Steve’s way into the story in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Which brings me to the question: What is their history? Do they even have a history? After a few months of research, the answer is a simple: yes. But to my surprise, these two have a much deeper history than I expected to find. As usual with comics, there are several incarnations of comic book stories with these characters. So it really depends on the volume you read (or look up). But in most of the comics that include both Black Widow and the Winter Soldier, they share a romantic bond. It’s a strong relationship, a deep relationship, and after reading some comics myself, a beautiful relationship."

- Lauren Lamagna's research on Winter Widow. "Since its introduction, the Red Room, which is the training ground for Natasha and Bucky, has not be explored much. We at least know that Department X ran the facility and the Black Widow and Winter Soldier programs, designed to produce masses of spies and soldiers. It is believed in the Red Room, that any kind of romantic involvement could compromise a mission, and therefore, trainees were taught to refrain from it. As it turned out, Natasha and Bucky could not stop desiring each other, and it was a love that was cultivated by mutual distress. Well, they had it smooth at first until the Red Room discovered, but as they say, love conquers all. These lovebirds always found their way back to each other."

- CBR on Natasha and Bucky. "One of Natasha's strongest relationships was with Bucky Barnes."

- Bustle on Natasha's romantic relationships.

Fanon
As the ship is comic-canon, many fans would like it to be in the MCU as well. Otherwise, fans like the ship because of their involvement in the Red Room, as well as the way their personalities interact. Natasha is portrayed as stoic and Bucky is portrayed as a man not to be crossed. Winter Widow is Natasha's third most popular ship, and Bucky's second most popular. Being comic-canon, it is the most popular ship in the Marvel comics.

Many fans speculate about one of Natasha's lines in Civil War. She and Bucky fight against each other while he is in Winter Soldier mode. As he is strangling her, she says to him, "You could at least recognize me." Fans usually interpret this to mean that Bucky helped train Natasha in the Red Room as he did in the comics. Fans who have also read the comics make posts on why the ship is amazingly written, and had Natasha not have her memories erased, her and Bucky would've been together for the long haul.

Some fans who don't like Winter Widow often use their age gap in the comics as an argument on why it's "problematic." In Avengers: Endgame, Natasha was 39 and Bucky was somewhere in his late-thirties, and chronologically 102. In the comics however, Natasha was born in 1928 and Bucky was born in 1925. Technically speaking, Bucky is three years older than her. However, Bucky died and was brought back to life when he was nineteen (almost twenty) and was put into cryofreeze a bit after that for nine years. When Nat and Bucky first met and started dating in 1956 (Source: Black Widow: Deadly Origin), Natasha had lived all of those years and was thus either 27-28 while Bucky was either 21-22 (physically) and chronologically 28. Fans argue that while there is an age gap between them, they are both consenting adults. In some other versions, they're both roughly around the same age. Bucky’s a little bit older, but both have gained long life and durability from their super serum doses.

Fans still hope for the ship to become canon in the MCU to this day. With Sebastian Stan saying that he'd love to play Bucky again after TFATW and would love to be with Black Widow, many fans think that because the MCU opened up the Multiverse now, Bucky and Natasha still have a chance together. One of the biggest fan-theories surrounding the ship in the MCU is that Yelena and Bucky will perhaps meet each other sometime soon, and Yelena helps him remember Natasha.

Winter Widow is the second most written ship for Natasha, and the fourth most written for Bucky. In the Marvel (Works) tag it is the number one most popular written ship. It is Natasha's third most popular ship and Bucky's second most popular.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Bucky/Natasha (Avengers Movies) tag on FanFiction.net
 * Bucky/Natasha (Marvel Comics) tag on FanFiction.net
 * Bucky/Natasha (Avengers Cartoon) tag on FanFiction.net
 * Bucky/Natasha (Avengers Cartoon) tag on FanFiction.net

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TWITTER

Trivia

 * Natasha is one of the few people to call Bucky by his first name, James.
 * On Earth-555326 Natasha's son is named after Bucky.
 * One of The Mary Sue writers, Rachel Leishman, wrote an article on why she thinks Natasha and Bucky should be together in the MCU. Sebastian Stan responded to her article on Instagram with positivity.
 * During MCMCON Sebastian said that the person he wanted to see Bucky in a relationship with was Natasha.
 * Sebastian hugged a fan who was wearing a "BuckyNat Rise!!" T-shirt during CCXP2018.
 * Sebastian signed a BuckyNat fanart with "We Will Do This" when a fan asked him if BuckyNat was going to make it into the MCU.
 * Jen Soska and Sylvia Soska also known as The Soska Sisters who work together as film directors, producers, and screenwriters, asked who they wanted to see Natasha end up with. They agreed with a BuckyNat fan, that Bucky and Natasha's love was indeed eternal.
 * Sebastian Stan agreed agreed with a fan after they had said that if someone searched up "Power Couple" in a dictionary, Natasha and Bucky would show up.
 * Through the comics (and from the creators) of the Winter Soldier and Black Widow, It was said that Clint could never understand Natasha as much as Bucky. And that Steve could never understand Bucky more than Natasha.
 * Chris Samnee, one of the Black Widow comic artists and creators, is a BuckyNat supporter and has drawn the couple multiple times.
 * Through official source, Natasha is referred to as the love of Bucky's life.
 * Sebastian Stan is a BuckyNat shipper and has expressed numerous times how he wants Bucky to marry Natasha. Scarlett Johansson also supports the pairing.

Variations

 * Cap Quartet refers to the ship between Steve Rogers, Sam Wilson, Bucky and Natasha
 * StuckyNat refers to the ship between Steve Rogers, Bucky, and Natasha
 * WinterIronWidow refers to the ship between Tony Stark, Bucky and Natasha
 * WinterWidowHawk refers to the ship between Clint Barton, Bucky and Natasha