Helmut Zemo (Marvel Cinematic Universe)


 *  NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Baron Zemo from the Marvel Cinematic film series. The mainstream version can be found here: Baron Zemo II. 

"Mission Report: December 16th, 1991."

- Zemo's most famous line.

Helmut Zemo, often using the alias Herr Müller, is a recurring antagonist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, serving as the main antagonist of the 2016 Marvel film Captain America: Civil War, as a cameo antagonist in the 2018 film Black Panther, and will return presumably as the main antagonist in the 2020 Disney+ series Falcon & Winter Soldier.

He is a former soldier-turned-terrorist mastermind who is bent on destroying the Avengers to avenge his family's demise. As he knew that he would not be able to battle them head-on, he devised a scheme to manipulate the Avengers into fighting and defeating each other.

He was portrayed by Daniel Brühl, who also portrayed Fredrick Zoller in Inglorious Basterds.

Origins
Helmut Zemo was born on June 16, 1978, in Novi Grad, the capital city of Sokovia. He is a former official in the Sokovian Armed Forces and in an elite military unit EKO Scorpion, who lived a happy life with his father, wife, and son in Sokovia. Unfortunately, his happiness was cut short when the evil android Ultron and his army of sentinels destroyed Sokovia, which tragically cost the lives of Zemo's family. Though Ultron and his army were defeated and destroyed by the Avengers, Zemo angrily blames the Avengers for causing his family's demise (since they were the ones responsible for the creation of Ultron, despite the fact that they have no malicious intentions of doing so), and vowed to destroy the team at all costs.

However, Zemo knew that he would not be able to fight them personally as people more powerful than he had tried that and failed, so he devised a plan to corrupt the Avengers into turning against each other. After Black Widow released multiple encrypted HYDRA files following the death of Alexander Pierce and the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA, Zemo spent all his time trying to decode them. He eventually learned about a secret facility in Russia which HYDRA created the Winter Soldier and how they used trigger words which would ensure his complete obedience. From the files that Black Widow released, Zemo found out where the leader of the Winter Soldier facility lived.

Captain America: Civil War
At the beginning of the movie following the deaths of Crossbones and several of his mercenaries, Zemo drives to the home of the former HYDRA agent Vasily Karpov, deliberately crashing his own car into Karpov's car. Acting as if it was an accident, Zemo rings at Karpov's door claiming that he wants to peacefully settle the matter. However, once Karpov opens the door, Zemo knocks him out and hangs him upside down over a sink which slowly fills with water. While the water rises, Zemo smashes a wall in the agent's house in with a sledgehammer. In a secret storage, he finds a book which contains the trigger words to activate the Winter Soldier. With the book, he returns to the HYDRA agent and asks for the location of the facility. However, Karpov refuses to talk and ends up being drowned to death by Zemo.

As the next step of his master plan, Zemo bombs the UN meeting in Vienna, resulting in the deaths of the Wakadan king T'Chaka and several others. He then proceeds to frame the Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes for the bombing, causing T'Chaka's son Prince T'Challa (the Black Panther) to personally hunt down Bucky to avenge his father's death. This was coincided when the signing was put into place for the Sokovia Accords, a framework that would place the Avengers under government oversight, causing a friction between two factions of the Avengers; one led by Steve Rogers against the accords, and the other led by Tony Stark supporting the accords.

Barnes, as well as Rogers and Sam Wilson, are arrested by a special task force and brought to a Secret Service Office in Berlin, in accordance to Zemo's plans. Zemo, who had previously killed a psychiatrist who was supposed to make a psychiatric evaluation on Barnes, takes the man's place and triggers Barnes with the HYDRA keywords. Barnes is forced to reveal to Zemo the location of the HYDRA base, which is located in Siberia. To escape the building, Zemo sets up an E.M.P. bomb near the relay power station, causing a power outage in Berlin that allows Zemo to release Barnes, who attacks Rogers and Wilson while Zemo escapes heading to Siberia.

Rogers eventually manages to free Barnes from the trigger word's influence, but Zemo has already escaped and headed for Siberia, revealing that the HYDRA base contains five more Winter Soldiers. Following the battle between two factions of the Avengers (one led by Rogers and the other led by Stark), Natasha Romanoff learns of the truth that Zemo was the true culprit behind the bombings and lets Rogers and Barnes escape to Siberia. She then informs Stark, who heads over to Siberia with Rogers and Barnes after striking a truce while the rest of Rogers' team is apprehended and confined in an underwater prison called the Raft run by the U.S. Secretary of State Thunderbolt Ross.

At the HYDRA base in Siberia, Zemo has located the facility and found the five other Winter Soldiers who are still in cryo-sleep. Barnes, Rogers, and Stark arrive as well, believing that Zemo intends to unleash the Winter Soldiers on the world. However, they are surprised to see that Zemo had killed all the Winter Soldiers. Zemo, who has bunkered himself in a safe room, confesses that his intent to use the Winter Soldiers and the Vienna bombings were nothing but ruses to lure the Avengers to turn against each other in revenge for his family's demise. He proceeds to enact the final part of his plan by playing exclusive security footage of Stark's parents being murdered by Barnes when he was being brainwashed by HYDRA in 1991. Enraged that Rogers kept this from him, Stark turns on Barnes, forcing Rogers to fight him to save his friend's life. The battle ends in a stalemate with Rogers disabling Stark's armor after Stark blasts off Barnes' robotic arm. Following the aftermath of the battle, Rogers escapes with Barnes, leaving his shield (which was made by Stark's late father) behind, accepting that he no longer deserves it.

Witnessing the beginning of the battle and satisfied by the outcome, Zemo heads to the surface, where he is confronted by T'Challa, who has followed the trio behind the shadows and now knows the truth behind his father's death. However, having learned about Zemo's loss of his family and seeing what the pursuit of vengeance has turned him into, T'Challa decides to spare Zemo, who apologizes for killing T'Chaka, assuring it was nothing personal against him. After deleting the last voicemail of his late wife from his phone, Zemo declares his work to be done and prepares to commit suicide to join his dead family by shooting himself in the head with a pistol. However, T'Challa stops him from doing so, explaining that the living isn't done with him yet. T'Challa delivers him to the U.S. government agent Everett Ross, who arrests Zemo for his crimes.

In the end, Zemo is incarcerated in a prison in Berlin as punishment for his crimes against the Avengers. Despite his imprisonment, Zemo reminds Ross that he still has succeeded in his plan to tear apart the Avengers, as many of the members (including Rogers) are now in total disarray and left the team in shame, something which Ross realized in horror. Although the dismantling of the Avengers was seemingly permanent, Stark was able to get over the fact that what happened to his parents wasn't Barnes' fault as he received an apology letter from Rogers, who promises that the team will reunite when the time to act occurs the most. Understanding the point, Stark deliberately allows Rogers to free his captive team from the Raft, assuring that he will be there when they need him the most.

Black Panther
Zemo is only seen in a picture during a news report detailing the death of T'Chaka, an event watched by T'Challa as he is returning back to Wakanda to be crowned as the new King. This event led T'Challa to develop an insecurity about being a true king of Wakanda, though he overcomes it after foiling Erik Killmonger of his plan to sell vibranium weapons throughout the world.

Personality
"Vengeance has consumed you."

- T'Challa after learning about Zemo's loss of his family because of the Avengers. Zemo was a vengeful man filled with anger and hate towards the Avengers because of their battle against Ultron in Sokovia that tragically cost the lives of his family. As such, he was determined to make them suffer to bring "justice" for his family's demise. He was also proven to be extremely intelligent, as he knew first-hand that he couldn't defeat the Avengers by force and instead relied on a strategy to tear them apart on the inside.

Despite his relentless attempts to destroy the Avengers, Zemo's humanity was not entirely lost. This was shown when he interrogated the HYDRA agent, he said he would have to use violent means to get him to speak, even though he doesn't approve in doing this. He even sincerely apologized to T'Challa for killing his father by opening up his tragedy, which made T'Challa (who previously desired to kill Zemo to avenge his father) realize the desire of vengeance has consumed Zemo for the worst. As such, T'Challa decides to spare Zemo, not wanting to stoop to his level.

In the end, after succeeding in his goal, Zemo attempted to commit suicide as he feels that he has nothing else to live for, though T'Challa stopped him and turned him over to the authorities.

Abilities
"I knew I could not kill them. More powerful men than me have tried. But, if I could get them to kill each other…"

- Zemo confessing that he would use strategy rather than brute strength to take down the Avengers


 * Exceptional Intelligence: Zemo is an extremely sophisticated, genius and wise individual, smart enough to outsmart his enemies. He had possibly gained his exceptional intelligence from his father's education and from his days as a military man.
 * Master Tactician: Zemo, as the former intelligence officer and commander of the elite Sokovian paramilitary tactical unit EKO Skorpion, is a brilliant tactician, being able to mastermind a series of events in order to get his revenge against the Avengers for their role in the destruction of Sokovia and the death of his family. He was also smart enough to know that he has no hopes of killing the Avengers, even if he had raised an army. So then, Zemo decided that it would instead be better to manipulate them into destroying themselves, which he successfully does.
 * Multilingual: Zemo can speak his own native Sokovian, English, Russian and German.
 * Master Strategist: Zemo is a sophisticated man so he knew when to go against the Avengers and against his enemies in the exact right time.
 * Master Manipulator: Zemo's best and most famous ability is that he is a master manipulator, knowing how to manipulate people (especially his enemies) into whatever his plan is.
 * Intimidation and Interrogation: Zemo is a highly devious and cunning individual, knowing how to use intimidating behaviour at the right time in order to interrogate enemies. For example, when he had arrived at Cleveland in order to find the Winter Soldier's code words book, he had made a car accident with his car with Vasily Karpov's car ,only to make him fall to his hands so he would be able to interrogate the latter.
 * Torture Skills and Military Training: Zemo was once a military man, and thus he had gained a very big set of skills from the military knowing how to use them for his own good and knew how to torture his enemies. For example, he had tied upside down Karpov in his bath before killing him by drowning and even used the mission report of Bucky Barnes from December 16, 1991, the day in which he killed Tony Stark's parents, and used it to torture Tony Stark.
 * Psychological Warfare: Zemo is a master in psychological warfare, knowing how to use this ability to manipulate or torment enemies.
 * Master of Disguises: In a deleted scene of the film, when Dr. Broussard arrived, it was seen that Zemo approached him before killing him. Then, he had worn his clothes and his glasses and impersonated to him in order to approach Bucky Barnes and to reactivate him as the Winter Soldier for his own actions. In the Vienna bombing, he had worn clothes which made him similar to Bucky.

Equipment

 * Unlimited Resources: He had recruited so many resources so no one will ever know what his actions truly are. For example, he had killed a psychiatrist named Dr. Theo Broussard in order to approach Barnes, as he went to a hotel room to hide this incident and make sure that no one will suspect him, and he even used money he gained when he arrived at Cleveland in order to buy an electromagnetic bomb as well as another bomb.
 * Smith & Wesson 6906: When he had succeeded in his plan, Zemo had used this gun in a suicide attempt after causing Iron Man and Captain America to brutally attack each other, believing that there was no reason to escape and live. However, T'Challa quickly snatched the firearm from Zemo's hands and apprehended him.
 * AK-103: In his military days, Zemo used this assault rifle during a military operation with EKO Scorpion.
 * Winter Soldier's Book: Zemo stole this booklet from a house in Cleveland, Ohio after torturing and killing Vasily Karpov, the house's sole resident. The book contains several "trigger words" that Zemo used to activate the Winter Soldier's HYDRA-created thought patterns while the Winter Soldier was in custody in Berlin.
 * Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb: Zemo had used this electromagnetic bomb in order to shut down every single digital or electric system when he was at the meeting with Barnes while he impersonated into Dr. Broussard.
 * IED (Improvised Explosive Device): Zemo had used this bomb in order to cause a massively powerful destructive explosion which caused mass destruction at the Vienna-based UN building, and caused the deaths of thousands of people including T'Chaka, T'Challa's father.

Quotes
"HYDRA deserves its place on the ash heap, so your death would not bother me. But I have to use this book and other bloodier methods to get what I need. I'm not looking forward to that. You'd only be dying for your pride."

- Zemo to Karpov, speaking about HYDRA.

"When S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, Natasha Romanoff released HYDRA files to the public. Most of it was encrypted. Not easy to decipher. But I have patience and experience. A man can do anything if he has those."

- Zemo to Karpov, about he managed to find him.

"My father lived outside the city, and I thought we would be safe there. My son was excited. He could see the Iron Man from the car window. I told my wife, "Don't worry. They're fighting in the city. We're miles from harm." And the dust cleared, and the screaming stopped. It took me two days until I found their bodies. My father still holding my wife and son in his arms... And the Avengers? They went home. I knew I couldn't kill them. More powerful men than me have tried. But if I could get them to kill each other…"

- Zemo explaining his backstory and the reason for his hatred of the Avengers.

"Sokovia was a failed state long before you blew it to hell. No. I'm here because I made a promise."

- Zemo discuss his vendetta against the Avengers before Capt. America.

"I'm sorry about your father. He seemed a good man, with a dutiful son."

- Zemo recounts his sad confession about the loss of T'Challa.

"An empire toppled by its enemies can rise again, but one which crumbles from within... that's dead. Forever."

- Helmut Zemo.

"Tell that to the dead."

- Zemo to T'Challa, before attempting suicide and before T'Challa stops him.

"Did it?"

- Zemo's last words when he reminds Everett Ross that his goal is accomplished while imprisoned for his crimes.

Family

 * Father †
 * Wife †
 * Carl † - Son

Allies

 * Sokovian Armed Forces - Former Allies
 * EKO Scorpion - Former Subordinates

Enemies

 * The Avengers
 * Steve Rogers/Captain America
 * Tony Stark/Iron Man
 * Sam Wilson/Falcon
 * James Rhodes/War Machine
 * Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
 * Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
 * Clint Barton/Hawkeye
 * The Vision
 * Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier - Former Thrall
 * T'Chaka † - Victim
 * T'Challa/Black Panther - Captor
 * Everett Ross
 * Theo Broussard † - Victim
 * HYDRA
 * Vasily Karpov † - Victim
 * Winter Soldiers † - Victims
 * Ultron † - Family Killer
 * Ultron Sentinels † - City Destroyers

Trivia

 * The actor, Daniel Bruhl, was in the movie the Fifth Estate with Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays as Doctor Strange, and Anthony Mackie, who plays as the Falcon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
 * Despite his name, this version of Helmut Zemo bears little to no resemblance to his classic depiction from the comics, not aesthetically or personality-wise, aside from his cunning and intelligence. While concept art reveals that he was intended at one point to actually wear his iconic purple mask, his depiction in the film was to bring a unique take on the character to fit the film's themes.
 * In the comics, he was German and an agent of HYDRA.
 * Brühl, who was cast due to his German accent, did not feel the role was a stereotype, saying, "It's not a guy who's mean and sinister, but he's actually very clever - a very smart guy who does everything out of a very understandable reason and motivation." He also stated that Zemo may also appear in future MCU films, with Moore adding that, while Zemo has a purpose in this film, it is more to set up a future film.
 * Zemo is considered to the Avengers's greatest enemy to date, surpassed only by Thanos.
 * He is also appearing as the main antagonist of the animated parody HISHE: Captain America Civil War.
 * Zemo is one of the five villains of the MCU to actually succeed in his plans, as he managed to drive the Avengers apart to avenge his family's demise. The other four are Loki Laufeyson (who has managed to take control of Asgard for himself in Thor: The Dark World), Surtur (who has managed to destroy Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok), Ghost (who has managed to obtain quantum energy to cure herself from a fatal disease in Ant-Man and the Wasp), and Thanos (who has managed to collect the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of the universe's populace in Avengers: Infinity War).
 * Zemo's premise is remarkably similar to Punisher's portrayal in the story Punisher Kills the Marvel Universe. A man wrongly blaming superheroes for the deaths of his family as collateral damage in a superhuman battle, and seeking to destroy them via careful planning. Also like Punisher in that story, Zemo is successful in his efforts, is of a military background, and ultimately attempts suicide. The difference being that Zemo attempted it because he had nothing left to live for upon succeeding in his mission and also failed to commit suicide, whereas Punisher did so out of guilt and succeeded.

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Helmut Zemo (Marvel Cinematic Universe)