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Buck Barnes (Earth-717) from What If Captain America Vol 1 1 002

Colonel Buck "Bucky" Barnes

Buck "Bucky" Barnes was a Union Colonel of the Redlegs Regiment during the American Civil War. He was noted for his charming charisma. One of his subordinates was morally-devoted soldier Stephen Rogers. However, Barnes revealed himself to be a cruel and heartless leader in which he allowed his men to loot and pillage civilians in Osceola, Missouri without any mercy, which his callous actions appalled Rogers. This awoke Captain Rogers to the fact that "Johnny Reb" was not the sole enemy, and that there were Union soldiers committing just as bad, if not worse, misdeeds than Confederate soldiers. Barnes later finds Stephen rescuing three children and orders him to kill them. However, Rogers disobeyed and Barnes mortally shot him. Before Barnes could kill him he was scarred in the face by an eagle which allows Rogers to escape.

After learning that Rogers was still alive, Barnes came to where Rogers is who was being cared for by the Third Indian Home Guard to kill him. As he barged in, Barnes witnessed Rogers' transformation and his face was burned away, leaving only a skull as it symbolically reveals his true self. Enraged, he ordered the Redlegs to fire on all non-Redlegs, not caring that he was killing soldiers from his own army.

Barnes and the Redlegs were subsequently defeated and subdued by a power-enhanced Rogers, who then calls himself as Captain America. This Captain America alters history in that he manages to ruin the Ku Klux Klan in its infancy period, as well as foiling the assassination plot against President Lincoln, allowing the President to live through his second term. When word gets out that Captain America was endowed with Indian magic, this inspires many Americans to study Indian lore, helping to turn the tide of public opinion in favor of tribal appeals and thwarting the Indian Wars in this timeline. Barnes was captured and subsequently imprisoned for the remainder of the war. But Barnes, naming himself as the White Skull, escaped in the postwar period and rounded up the frail remains of the Ku Klux Klan to create his own racist terrorist group, the White Skulls, and continued his conflict with Captain America again and again. The negative effects of this timeline is that the White Skulls continued on into the 20th Century, committing even worse brutalities than the KKK.

By the modern present, White Skull's descendants continue to terrorize America and battle Stephen Rogers' heroic descendant, General America.

Attributes

Powers

None known, his skull appearance is more of a scar and did not seem to grant him any superpowers

Abilities

Inspirational leader, Horsemanship, Jailbreaking

Weaknesses

Overestimates his own skills

Paraphernalia

Weapons

Rifles

Transportation

Horses

Trivia

  • Ironically, although Barnes is a white supremacist, he gave a speech prior to one attack on a Confederate unit imploring the Redlegs to punish the Confederates for allowing slavery. Barnes may likely have not believed his own pep talk, however, using it more to inspire the Redlegs. He was likely more motivated by his hatred for Southerners more than the issue of slavery.
  • The White Skull's origin is strongly akin to that of Skeletor from Masters of the Universe. A main difference is in appearance. Skeletor is a floating skeleton with no skin whatsoever, where Buck Barnes kept his skin on all other parts of his body, and his eye sockets retained the eyes.

See Also

Links and References

References

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