This scene here is really all I need to convince you he's an utter sociopath. All those worlds Surtur waid laste to upon gaining his freedom? Zemo's fault for basically granting it just to save his own skin, and when Amora calls him out he simply doesn't care.
| “ | Captain America: What do you want? The war is over. After all these years, is revenge on me really that important to you? Zemo: Yes. But now, Captain, I've been promised the world, and you will live just long enough to see me have it. |
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| ~ Literally the very definition of "evil is petty". |
My second Avengers: EMH proposal. If you didn't read the first one a few days ago...well, here ya go. I don't think I need to explain the work this time around.
Who's Zemo and what does he do?[]
Baron Heinrich Zemo was one of the leaders of HYDRA during World War II. During this time period, he tried to use the acidic Virus X against the Allies, but was stopped when Captain America came to his castle in Italy and splashed the virus all over his face and body. Because of this incident, Zemo now needs constant radiation treatments from Arnim Zola in order to merely slow down the virus. Sometime afterwards, both Zemo and Zola were arrested and sent to prison, but eventually managed to break out when Loki shut down the power grid in the present day.
Soon upon discovering Captain America's survival as the Avengers thawed him out of the ice, Zemo meets back up with Zola and orchestrates a plan to finally get revenge for what happened to his body, having the creature Doughboy attack the Statue of Liberty and its dozens of occupants to distract the Avengers while he tries to kill a defenseless Captain America and Wasp in the Avengers Mansion. After the plan fails, Zemo meets Amora the Enchantress and Skurge the Executioner back at him and Zola's hideout, thus beginning to form the Masters of Evil. Over the next few episodes, Zemo and Enchantress meet Abomination, Crimson Dynamo and Wonder Man, the latter of whom is basically forced to work for them since Amora's magic is literally the only thing keeping his ionic form from destroying him for good. In the titular Masters of Evil episode, Zemo and his team begin systematically kidnapping the Avengers one at a time, planning to kill them all in front of Captain America so he can then live just long enough to see him conquer the world. Fortunately, Ant-Man, Hawkeye and Black Panther free their comrades from the villains' custody and force them to retreat from the Avengers Mansion.
In the 3-part finale of season 1, we see the Masters of Evil now have three new members: Chemistro, Living Laser, and Grey Gargoyle. While retrieving nine powerful stones from Nornheim, Grey Gargoyle turns Queen Karnilla into stone, and then the Enchantress orders the Executioner to murder him once he outlives his usefulness. Afterwards, the Masters of Evil go to seven different locations on Earth and use the stones to summon an army of deities from all across the Nine Realms so they can take over the world (which the Red Skull also attempted in World War II). All seven current Avengers go to one location and thus fight at least one Master each; to be specific, Wasp fights Abomination (Ant-Man later comes to save her life even though he just recently left the team out of pacifism), Iron Man fights Living Laser, Captain America fights Crimson Dynamo, Hawkeye fights Chemisto, Black Panther fights Wonder Man, Hulk fights Executioner, and Thor fights Zemo and Enchantress. Amidst the worldwide battle, Zemo betrays the Enchantress by putting a mind-control collar around her neck while Thor is restrained by her magic, telling her to make sure the summoned armies are under his control when they arrive, while he tries to execute Thor with his sword. Thankfully, Thor breaks free and the Avengers manage to defeat all Masters of Evil and destroy the Norn Stones in the nick of time, saving the world.
While the Avengers were gone, Zemo stole and used the last Norn Stone (which was connected to Muspelheim) to protect herself from the Enchantress' magic, who then proceeds to hunt him and his teammates down for betraying him, turning Chemistro into a gold statue as well as freezing Living Laser in place during combat. In order to buy himself more time to reach the Avengers (who just recently returned home to Earth) for protection, Zemo callously watches Enchantress kill Arnim Zola and then sends Crimson Dynamo to confront her in his place.
| “ | Iron Man: You sent Dynamo to die? Zemo: That's what a team is for, yes? |
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It says a lot when even Crimson Dynamo's archenemy is disgusted by Zemo's callous mistreatment of him here. Anyway, while some Avengers go to save Dynamo from a valiant death, others stay behind at the mansion and orchestrate a plan to lure Amora inside and use a dampening field machine to effectively "turn off" her magic. When Enchantress corners Zemo, he uses the last Norn Stone as a shield. We see earlier in the episode that Surtur killed a shitload of dwarves upon being released from Muspelheim, and it's basically Zemo's fault for toying with magic once again. And how does he respond when directly called out on it? Like this:
| “ | Enchantress: Your life was forfeit the moment you betrayed me, Zemo. But what you do now, you jeopardize all the Nine Realms! By using the last Norn Stone, you risk breaking down the walls to Muspelheim itself. Even Loki dared not use it. Zemo: This stone can protect me from your magic. That's all that matters. |
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As soon as Iron Man activates his machine, Zemo betrays and tries to murder the Avengers after he promised surrender. Amidst the battle, Zemo tries to kill a powerless Amora with his sword, but Wonder Man stops him from doing so and then destroys the Norn Stone with his bare hands, teleporting both himself and Amora away. Afterwards, Zemo, Abomination, Dynamo and Executioner are all sent to Prison 42 in the Negative Zone, meaning the Masters of Evil are now pretty much done. Zemo has a cameo in one more episode, offering to help fight Annihilus' bugs, but Captain America refuses to let him out of his cell, stating that he'd rather face a million bugs in front of him than risk one of his daggers in his back. "Oh do not tease me with such beautiful imagery, Captain!"
Mitigating factors[]
None to speak of whatsoever. His teammates in the Masters of Evil are clearly just pawns meant to serve his own ends, especially since he blackmails Wonder Man into working for him with (likely fake) promises of a cure and even sends Arnim Zola and Crimson Dynamo to die in his place when the Enchantress starts hunting him down for betraying him. He's such a notorious backstabber overall that Captain America wouldn't even let him out of his cell to help fight Annihilus in "Assault on 42".
Heinous standard[]
He just makes it in this regard, at least in my opinion. Other worldwide threats and would-be conquerers like Loki, Surtur, Ultron, Kang and Veranke are literal gods, robots and aliens with badass superpowers and massive armies at their disposal, while Zemo's just a regular human with limited resources and he does as much as damage as he can with them. Throughout his appearances, he attempts chemical warfare against the Allies in World War II (judging from what said chemicals did to his face this would not have been pretty), attacks the Statue of Liberty, betrays the Enchantress so he can then lead an army of enslaved Asgardian forces to conquer Earth all by himself, and last but not least throws the entire universe under the freaking bus. The aforesaid Bad Boss tendencies are also a nice little touch of cruelty, not to mention his sadistic undying hatred of Captain America.
Final verdict[]
A sadistic, disloyal, arrogant and all-around scummy human being whose selfishness borders on cowardice. I say yes.