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
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.

THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN AMERICA

Bucky takes out the vehicle transporting Steve's shield and goes to get it out, but the person inside kicks him in the face. As he backs away, the person gets out of the car and he realizes that it's the Black Widow. Bucky says she didn't know she was working for Shield, but thought she'd be a lot older by now. She's says no luck and asks why he wants the Shield and who he's working for. He tells her that he doesn't work for anyone, and that he's here for a friend. Nat realizes that they weren't rumors and he was Bucky. She tells him to leave, since she doesn't want to hurt him, he tells her that he was about to say the same and the two fight. As they fights, Bucky thinks about he was the one to train her in the Red Room, and how she used to make him feel human before they were punished for it. He's able to go get the upper hand and knock her out, before leaving with Steve's shield.

Marvel Cinematic Universe
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.

Captain America
ISSUE #27
 * Bucky considers fighting Natalia a punishment.
 * Nat thinks back to her and Bucky's time in the red room as lovers.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

 * Natasha tells Steve that she'd encountered the Winter Soldier once before, and he'd shot 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.

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

- Bucky, Captain America & Bucky #624

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

- Natasha to Steve about Bucky. "(In Russian) She's mine."

- Bucky about Natasha.

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. "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. Pretty tough job."

- Sebastian Stan. "Selfishly, I would love the BuckyNat situation."

- Sebastian Stan. "[…]It was during this period that he (Bucky) met Natasha Romanoff, whom he helped train in combat while she was undergoing espionage training at the Red Room Academy, where the Russians promoted the Black Widow Ops Program and the corresponding male project, the Wolf Spider Ops Program. They fell in love and James often snuck out into her sleeping quarters just so he could see her."

- Marvel Comics. "Natasha Romanoff and Bucky Barnes have a history as long as war, companions since the Widow's earliest days in the Red Room when both were trapped in service to the wrong side. It's one of the greatest- and most tragic- love stories in the Marvel universe."

- Article on Bucky and Natasha. "I don’t usually do the pro photo ops (unless it’s @therealstanlee!) but I made an exception for @imsebastianstan at @wizardworld. I asked for a #buckynat look, I guess Bucky feels pretty intensely about Natasha 😉"

- the.queen.bee.cosplay on Instagram. "Bucky Barnes & Natasha had a healthy relationship, only ending due to her death during secret empire."

- CBR about Bucky and Natasha. "The Winter Soldier had a whole backstory with Black Widow, I don't care what anyone says."

- Sebastian Stan at Wizard World. "Bucky Barnes' love interests are few and far between in both the MCU and the comic book pages. One of the few serious relationships that Bucky built outside of the MCU was with his love interest Natasha Romanoff. The two had a fascinating partnership, as Barnes was initially her trainer in the Red Room. Despite it being off and on several times, their relationship lasted years in the comics and is commonly considered one of Marvel's best couples."

- Screenrant on Winter Widow. "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 reptuation 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. The relationship between The Winter Soldier and Black Widow dates all the way back to the Cold War in the Soviet Union where Bucky was actually Natasha’s trainer (in the comics, Natasha was born in 1928 and injected with the super serum) in the Red Room. During this time, Bucky was merely "Soldier" and was brought to the Red Room to train students and turn them hopefully, into Black Widow's. It is here that Natasha, who went by Natalia at the time, and Bucky formed a romance and showed each other that they were more than weapons for a country and realized that they were able to live free lives. Evidentially they got caught and were both punished. It depends on the versions how and when it happens. In some stories, they work in the field together as partners (which is where their relationship grows) and some, it doesn’t. But once they get captured, in different versions, one of them gets brainwashed. In the Red Room, both Natasha and Bucky were brainwashed countless times and Natahsa was implanted false memories to guarntee her loyalty to the Red Room and USSR. 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 Solider 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. The story of Natasha and Bucky has slowly been introduced in the MCU. An example is that Natasha is the only character that knows about the Winter Soldier in CAWS. She knows who he is, he’s moves, how to out smart him as if she did this before. It is common for the Red Room/Hydra to test their brainwashing by putting them up against each other. When one knew who the other was and the other had no idea and saw them as a target. She warns Steve about who he is and that he’s a hopeless cause. Showing us that there is a history between these two characters that we didn’t see. And the only form of communication Natasha and Bucky have in the MCU is her begging him to remember her. And at the end of the film, we learn that Bucky has a thing for redheads. So, will this relationship ever make it into the MCU? It’s hard to tell. Again, we don’t know what lies ahead in Phase Four and who will or not be involved. Not to mention that there was zero interaction between these two characters in Infinity War. The choice is up to the Russo Brother’s (who directed Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captian America: Civil War, Infinity War, and Avengers 4) made are extremely subtle (and includes a LOT of deleted scenes that pertain to these two characters) and if they do introduce this couple, it would be the slowest burn/buildup a cinematic couple would ever have. But one must remember we are dealing with characters who physically can’t remember their past. After all the different incarnations these characters have had in the last 40 years, brainwashing and false memories have always played an integral part in their story. But even if Natasha is the one to remember everything in the MCU (as opposed to to Bucky remembering in the Brubaker stories which Kevin Feigue has said is influential in the MCU), she could also be (and probably is) conditioned to not being able to remember the whole truth. This could be a reason the audience doesn’t know a lot about Natasha, becuase she’s an unreliable source. She’s simply incapable of remembering. Her body forbids it, (after decades of brainwashing and false memories) she only remembers what the Red Room wants to remember. But then again, Avengers 4 is around the corner and who knows what’s going to happen there. The future for the MCU is a big mystery for us. What we do know is that we are getting a Black Widow solo movie in 2020 but sources say it will be a prequel to Iron Man 2. This could mean we could see what actually happened in the Red Room (a clear narrative, no brainwashing) and her journey to becoming a member of SHIELD. Could The Winter Soldier appear in the Black Widow movie? Possibly. It would make sense and is a totally possibility. But Marvel is keeping their lips sealed when it comes to this film so we don’t know who is involved in the film besides Scarlett Johansson. So, only time will tell if we will ever see what happened between these Soviet Slugs and if they will ever come back to each other on the big screen. As for me, I personally hope they find their way back to each other becuase, these two have suffered enough."

- Lauren Lamagna about Winter Widow.

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.

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.

On AO3, Winter Widow is the second most written ship for Natasha and the fourth most written for Bucky.

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

TUMBLR

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.
 * Sebastian Stan is a BuckyNat shipper and has expressed numerous times how he wants Bucky to marry Natasha.

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