What happened to Bucky Barnes after the drone aircraft explosion?

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Chris Evans as Captain America stands in costume holding his shield, with an American flag and sunlight in the background. — Captain America Chris Evans as the title character in *Captain America: The First Avenger* (2011), directed by Joe Johnston.

In the original story set during the final days of World War II, Bucky Barnes was presumed missing after a drone aircraft he and Steve Rogers were attempting to defuse exploded over the North Atlantic.1

However, a later storyline revealed that Bucky survived the explosion, though he lost an arm in the process. His unconscious body was recovered by the Soviets, who replaced his missing limb with a bionic arm and brainwashed him into becoming an assassin known as the Winter Soldier. Between his missions, he was kept in suspended animation, which allowed him to remain in his early 20s despite the passage of time.1