USAToday.com — It wasn’t long ago that most of the explosions in Sebastian Stan’s on-screen life were of the sort caused by catty teen girls on New York City’s Upper East Side.

The stage-trained actor has left the TV soap-opera drama of Gossip Girl behind. Now, he’s armed with a cool costume, heavy weaponry, an abundance of psychological issues and, well, a metal arm as the complicated antagonist of Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Drawing from a Marvel Comics story line, Stan’s Winter Soldier character is actually Bucky Barnes, the best friend and former partner of Captain America (Chris Evans) from World War II.

Like Cap, Bucky was thought to be killed in the line of duty. But instead of being encased in ice for 70 years like his buddy, Bucky was brainwashed and turned into an assassin who now works for Hydra. His mission: Eliminate Cap, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and pretty much anyone who gets in Hydra’s way.

“Bucky had to essentially become like part machine,” says Stan, who reprises the role from 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger.

While the Winter Soldier is essentially a new character, the actor revisited some aspects of Bucky he established in the first movie for continuity’s sake — which are important when Cap and his new foe figure out their connection in the heat of battle.

“Those are some meaty scenes, because it is a meaty concept,” Evans says. “Waking up 70 years later is heavy enough, and then seeing someone you thought was dead — that’s big. And he’s evil!” Continue reading