The Falcon and the Winter Soldier revealed Bucky Barnes has a list and one of the names on there, Rostov, has deep ties to Black Widow. It’s a nice surprise that furthers the ties between the characters. After being dusted by Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, Bucky’s life was on pause for five years until he returned alongside half of the world’s population in Avengers: Endgame. Six months later, Bucky is attempting to make amends for the actions he took while brainwashed and working with HYDRA, a deadly and powerful organization intent on world domination.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s first episode sees Bucky still working on fixing the damage he’d caused during his time as the Winter Soldier. He’s also been dealing with his trauma and PTSD, visiting a therapist to talk through his feelings (something Bucky is deeply reluctant to do). While the premiere sets up the primary conflict for the show — the Flag-Smashers, the introduction to John Walker’s Captain America, and more — Bucky is far more concerned with atoning for his sins and trying to make it up to the people he’d hurt in his years working with HYDRA. The list of names serves as an example of that.
At the top of Bucky’s list is someone by the name of “A. Rostov.” In Marvel comics, there are two characters who have the last name Rostov: Andre Rostov (aka, Red Barbarian) and Andrei Rostov (aka, Agamemnon). Yes, the names are very similar. While it’s unclear if either of these characters will appear in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, both Rostovs actually have deep connections not only to Bucky, but to Black Widow as well.
Andre Rostov was a Communist general who was renowned for his use of violence. Anyone who dared to cross him would have been met with brutality. Rostov, who was more publicly known as Red Barbarian, also commanded a group of spies. He once tasked his spy network to find and steal weapons plans from Stark Industries, though they weren’t successful and faced a savage beating because of it. The same thing happened when another agent, known as the Actor, a talented impersonator, promised to retrieve the same plans and failed. The Actor wound up being shot by Red Barbarian. The point is, anyone who got on Red Barbarian’s bad side or made him angry suffered the consequences.
As for his ties to Bucky and Black Widow, Red Barbarian has crossed paths with both. While he was missing for a while, Rostov resurfaced as Bucky’s warden after the Winter Soldier was found guilty of killing Russian civilians and sentenced to the gulag for his crimes. While Bucky was locked up, Rostov was quite cruel in his treatment and forced him to fight other prisoners. As it turns out, the Winter Soldier hadn’t killed two Russian civilians, after all, but two of Rostov’s own KGB agents. This explains why Rostov was so terrible to Bucky (more so than others, at least). While he fought the other prisoners, many of them were villains who wanted to kill Bucky, the Winter Soldier forms alliances with a few. He is ultimately rescued by none other than Natasha Romanoff, who discovered the Russians’ secret plans to imprison Bucky under false pretenses and she is able to successfully free him from the gulag. Andre Rostov eventually dies in the 2012 comic Winter Soldier: The Long Winter at the hands of a sniper, whom many suspect is the Winter Soldier.
So far, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier has yet to expand upon which Rostov is on Bucky’s list, but Andrei Rostov/Agamemnon may be the more interesting of the two Rostovs when it comes to his connection to Black Widow. In fact, Andrei is far more tied to Natasha than Bucky actually is. He was her college boyfriend before she went on to become Black Widow. He was considered a pretty good guy, too. However, Andrei became a revolutionary and joined forces with the Sword of Judgement, a criminal organization that made plans to set off an underwater bomb that would have destroyed the entire U.S. East Coast. Andrei became known as Agamemnon and it was during his time with the Sword of Judgement that he crossed paths with Black Widow once more, only this time they were long past the point of being lovers and were now on opposing sides.
She fought alongside S.H.I.E.L.D. and Fantastic Four's The Thing to bring Agamemnon and the criminal group down and their mission proved successful. Andrei Rostov only appeared a few times throughout Marvel comics and doesn’t really have any ties to Bucky Barnes, obviously most closely associated with Black Widow. In that vein, it’s doubtful that he is the A. Rostov on the list in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. It’s unclear how Bucky’s list will continue to factor into the Disney+ series, but it’s always possible there will be flashbacks to the Winter Soldier’s time in the gulag, which could reveal what Andre Rostov did to him and why Bucky’s trying to make amends.
Conversely, the inclusion of the Rostov name could be nothing more than a Marvel Easter egg meant for fans to spot. After all, it’s unlikely the series, which only has six episodes in total, will have time to get into the nitty gritty details of Bucky’s past. But, the Rostov connection more importantly links Black Widow to Bucky’s past. The name on Bucky’s list in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier could offer a nice tie-in to Black Widow, which will see Natasha return to Russia and potentially cross paths with either one of the Rostovs. Again, it's not likely the film will necessarily connect the two Marvel Cinematic Universe properties, but the Rostov name at least points fans in the direction of the comics and hints there is a whole lot more to Bucky's time as the Winter Soldier (and interactions with Black Widow) than may meet the eye.
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