After the rumor was confirmed that Baron Zemo will in fact be the main villain in the much anticipated Captain America 3, we thought it wise to let you guys know who exactly Zemo is. We’re not too familiar with him as well, but reading up on the Baron is always a good thing. Know thy enemy they say.
Who Is Zemo – The Main Villain In Captain America 3?
Origin
We need to mention a few things about Zemo’s father, Heinrich:
Heinrich became a leading scientist and special agent in Hitler’s Nazi regime, inventing an early laser beam (his “death ray”), the super-durable Adhesive X, the age-retarding Compound X, and more. While his loving family worshipped him, Heinrich quickly became one of the most despised enemies of the Allied powers, and was also widely disgraced in his own country after a defeat by America’s Howling Commandos. Hated and feared both at home and abroad, Heinrich began wearing a hooded disguise almost constantly; he also began going mad, especially after his hood was permanently glued to his head by Adhesive X during a battle with the Allied super-agent Captain America. As Heinrich grew more unstable, he became abusive toward his family. Hilda died helping Captain America thwart Zemo’s Medusa Effect scheme, but Helmut remained loyal, helping his father battle the Captain and the hero’s young partner Bucky Barnes.
Helmut, Heinrich’s son was thus the thirteenth in the line of the Zemo Barony. When his father Heinrich died in battle with Captain America, Helmut Zemo sought revenge. After battlling Captain America and the Falcon as Phoenix, Helmut fell into a vat of Adhesive X and which seriously disfigured his face. He would return years later and assumed the family identity as his birthright.
Starting off as a generic revenge-seeking “villain-of-the-week”, Helmut Zemo went on to become one of Captain America and the Avengers’ greatest foes in the 1980s. It was however in the 1990s that his greatest plan came to fruition when he had his team, the Masters of Evil, masquerade as heroes, and so the Thunderbolts were born. Eventually this plan failed because the Masters of Evil started to enjoy being heroes and actively tried to achieve redemption.
Allies and Enemies
Zemo allies himself with the Red Skull and the Sisters of Sin in a bid to once again destroy Captain America. Baron Zemo’s first crowning glory game when he assembled a group of Masters of Evil and led them on an assault on Avengers Mansion. The Masters of Evil severely beat both Hercules and Jarvis, as well as destroy the mansion. The siege climaxes in hand-to-hand combat between Captain America and Zemo, which ends when Cap reveals to Zemo that his father’s death was his own fault, and Helmut Zemo falls from the roof of Avengers Mansion.
Powers and Abilities
Zemo gets most of his powers from moonstones. The moonstones grant a multitude of abilities such as energy/gravity/light manipulation, phasing, flight and more. Even without his moonstones Helmut is a genius leader and scientist. He is very skilled in hand to hand combat as well as being a very accomplished swordsman. Zemo is an Olympic-level marksman with firearms. He is very skilled in field tactics and even turning the tide of every debate that he is involved into his favor.
Please pardon the intrusion, my name is Baron Zemo and I’ll only take a moment of your time. I can imagine what you all must be thinking. I know how this looks. The dastardly villain seizes control of the global communication network. Pops up on screens across the globe. Threatening some unspeakable act of violence. Holding the world hostage from afar. But rest assured, that’s not what this is. There is no Death Star. No Alderaan for me to blow up. Lord Vader I am not. You see, I didn’t hack into your communications network… I hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s. An international military organization with more wealth and weapons at their disposal than half the nations on Earth combined… Can track your cellphone G.P.S. and use it to burn a hole through your skull from space. And yet somehow they’ve convinced you all to be scared of me. S.H.I.E.L.D. monitors your telephone calls. What you watch on television. S.H.I.E.L.D. reads your emails and catalogues your late-night internet searches. Big brother is alive and well. He wears a white eagle on his chest, drives a flying aircraft carrier and keeps Earth’s mightiest heroes in his back pocket. We’ve given these people far too much power over our lives for far too long. I say it’s time we take the power back. I can cut big brother off at his knees with the press of a button. The question is, should I do it? That’s the choice I leave to you. But before you decide, ask yourself one question… who is the real villain here?
— Baron Helmut Zemo
