The Winter Soldier has been a ground-breaking story arc for both the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the Marvel 616 Universe, which is the main universe for Marvel comics. This is a spoiler full comparison between the two universes.

 

Warning: do not read if you haven’t watched the newest movie.

 

In both storylines, the mysterious Winter Soldier is under the control of Captain America’s enemy, Hydra. He is also revealed to be Cap’s brainwashed best friend, James Buchanan Barnes, or “Bucky.”

 

In the Winter Soldier movie, the focus was on the conflict between Cap’s black-and-white ideals and the shades of gray of SHIELD (the spy organization of which Nick Fury heads). The movie was a lot better than the comic book, in the way it showed how isolated Captain America (played by Chris Evans) is from the rest of the world. The movie, however, didn’t do a good job of showing the creation of the Winter Soldier from the near-dead Bucky.

 

The comic book arc (Captain America Vol. 5 Issue #8, 9 and 11-14) did a better job of introducing the Winter Soldier and showing both the chase after the Winter Soldier (with guest appearances from Iron Man and the Falcon) and the removal of Bucky’s brainwashing.

 

If you’re looking for a story with a lot of self-mocking humor, the new Captain America is the way to go. For a little darker and more haunted story, look for the Winter Soldier arc.