Davis Fred Davis Jr., created by Roy Thomas and Don Heck, first appeared in Marvel Premiere #30 (1976, Marvel Comics) as a young character asked to temporarily impersonate Bucky in 1942. Starting with What If? #4 (1977) by Steven Englehart and Sal Buscema, it was said that Fred Davis assumed the Bucky identity following the apparent death of Bucky Barnes. Since Stan Lee and Jack Kirby established in 1964 that Barnes seemingly died in 1945, Fred Davis was used to retroactively explain the young hero's appearances in comics published between 1945 and 1948, as well as the series All-Winners Comics. In Fred's introduction story, he is a teenage batboy for the New York Yankees, a few years younger than the heroic Bucky Barnes. In 1942, the heroic team known as the Invaders is hypnotized by the villain Red Skull, Bucky escapes. The young hero encounters Jeff Mace, the masked adventurer called Patriot, and together they join with other heroes to create a new team called Liberty Legion. The Red Skull then sends his hypnotized Invaders against the Liberty Legion. During this adventure, Bucky hides his true movements and plans by asking Fred Davis to temporarily wear his costume and impersonate him. The Invaders are freed from hypnotic control and return to the European Theatre with Bucky, while the Liberty Legion remains as the "home front" team in the U.S. From that point on, both teams aid each other whenever necessary. Fred Davis then resumes his normal life, thrilled to have been able to help America's superheroes. Barely over two years later, Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers are seemingly killed. President Harry Truman fears the death of Captain America and his young friend will be a blow to American morale. He asks William Naslund, the hero known as Spirit of '76, to assume the Captain America identity. Fred Davis is contacted as well and asked to operate as the new Bucky. Only other superheroes and a few people who have worked personally with Bucky realize that Davis cannot be the same person and is a few years younger. As Bucky, Davis works alongside Naslund and both join the post-WW II superhero team called the All-Winners Squad. When Naslund is killed in 1946, the Captain America identity passes to Jeff Mace, whom Davis met when he first impersonated Bucky. Davis continues to assists Mace as Bucky, fighting criminals and spies. In 1948,