‘Captain America 3’ Cast: The Winter Soldier Will Become Marvel’s Next Major Hero! Spin-off Movie In The Works For Sebastian Stan Or Is He Next Cap?

Is Sebastian Stan the next Marvel movie star to headline his own solo film? All clues point to the affirmative. The only questions are when it will happen and the title. Is it "The Winter Soldier" or "Captain America 4?"

Pop culture critic website What Culture recently named The Winter Soldier as one of the coolest characters Marvel has introduced. He works so effectively as a ruthless villain, yet when we are introduced to his backstory, viewers reacted with genuine sympathy.

From What Culture: "Everyone loves a sympathetic villain; it's the mark of a well-rounded antagonist that viewers can feel sorry for him or her at some point. With the Winter Soldier, you almost find yourself feeling sorrier for poor, brainwashed Bucky Barnes than you ever do Steve Rogers. Having your body preserved and experimented upon, your mind wiped, your memories stolen, your name erased, and then being used as an assassination tool for decades sure beats being stood up by Tony Stark on New Year's Eve, at the very least."

There is definitely something about The Winter Soldier that sets him apart from the other villains. The excellent direction of the film has obviously built into the mystique, but his quiet efficiency and ruthlessness made him escape the annoying monologues that have become par for the course for most villains.

How can Marvel present his transition from a villain to a possible hero-even taking on the mantle of probably the most immaculate hero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

This is where the excellent writing proved an advantage. The door is wide open for character development: "This layered quality of the Winter Soldier's character is what makes him so open to character development; any single one of the aspects of his multifaceted character and arc can be used to further his character growth, a luxury quite a few MCU villains, in their two-dimensionality, cannot afford."

The Winter Soldier rescued Cap from drowning, but he also walked away. In his next appearance, he could still be a villain, a lost soul trying to find himself or he may already be retracing his heroic roots. Any one of these scenarios is feasible. Will he eventually take the Captain America role-we are getting ahead of ourselves but he will definitely get a solo film down the line.

We're going to see more of the Winter Soldier on May 6, 2016 when Captain America 3 is released. For most people, that's a good thing.