- "When S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, Black Widow released HYDRA files to the public, millions of pages, much of it encrypted. Not easy to decipher, but I have experience and patience. A man can do anything if he has those."
- ―Helmut Zemo[src]
Baron Helmut Zemo was a Sokovian colonel who lost his family during Ultron's attack upon Sokovia. Over the course of the following year, Zemo became obsessed with getting revenge on the Avengers, who indirectly killed his family. Knowing that he wasn't strong enough to combat the Avengers physically, he developed a plan to dissolve the Avengers and make them fight each other. His campaign included conducting a terrorist attack on the United Nations in Vienna while disguised as Bucky Barnes, an attack which killed T'Chaka, the king of Wakanda. His actions caused the Avengers Civil War, in which Iron Man led the manhunt for Barnes and leading to the revelation that Barnes had been responsible for his parents' murder. With the Avengers in a ruin, Zemo tried to shoot himself, but was captured by Black Panther and given to Joint Counter Terrorist Centre for his imprisonment.
Eight years later, Zemo was broken out of prison by Barnes, to aid him and Sam Wilson in tracking down the Flag Smashers. Zemo agreed as he intended to put an end to super soldiers for good. Zemo took Wilson and Barnes to Madripoor, where Zemo met and killed Wilfred Nagel, the creator of the new serum. When Zemo found all of the Flag Smashers in Latvia, he destroyed all but one of their remaining serum vials. Zemo was then involved in the clash between John Walker and the Dora Milaje, as they both intended to take him into custody, during which Zemo quietly escaped. Zemo visited the Sokovian Memorial where he made amends with Barnes, before being handed to the Dora Milaje to continue his sentence within the Raft. Even while imprisoned, Zemo got what he wanted as he had his butler, Oeznik, assassinate the remaining Flag Smashers.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Zemo was born in an aristocratic family with links to the criminal underworld of Madripoor, from which he inherited the title of Baron. His family also had a collection of antique automobiles over generations. In childhood, he visited and admired a building in Latvia.
In his adult life, Zemo commanded the Sokovian covert kill squad, EKO Scorpion and made a family, in spite of his job, marrying a woman and having a son, Carl Zemo. They lived a happy life in Novi Grad, while he stayed close with his own father outside the city. His son developed a fascination with the Avengers, especially Iron Man.
During the Battle of Sokovia between Ultron and the Avengers, Zemo and his squad was called to defend Sokovia, while he sent his family to his father for safety. But, ultimately, his entire family became casualties of the battle, with him finding their corpses after two days. After this, with Ultron's defeat, Zemo pinned the blame of his family's demise on the Avengers, becoming hateful of them for their apparent carelessness of the deaths left in their wake, promising to have them destroy each other.
Captain America: Civil War[]
Zemo was former Sokovian military leader who led a covert kill squad. During the Battle of Sokovia, he and his team were called to action, and with the loss of his entire family in the conflict, he promised revenge upon the Avengers for their destructive influence, intending to split them apart from within via manipulation. Zemo began his plan by tracking down Vasily Karpov, a former head of the Winter Soldier Program, in hiding after HYDRA's eradication. After discovering his location, Zemo faked a car crash to enter his house, as he could not break in. Zemo came to his door to be invited to discuss the matter privately, than with cops. Zemo instantly attacked Karpov after he opened up, before tying him upside down above his sink, with a running tap. Zemo then smashed through the walls of a cellar in the former HYDRA member's home, uncovering the Winter Soldier book within his files, while introducing himself to Karpov politely, demanding information on the mission details of the Starks' death in 1991, which Karpov refused to answer.
In the face of Karpov's defiance, Zemo turned off the tap and made it clear that he was not loyal to HYDRA and he would not stop before getting the information for exacting his revenge. With Karpov's refusal to cooperate, Zemo left the tap running and departed with his new belongings. leaving him to drown as he gave the HYDRA salute. With the obtained information, Zemo set a bombing of the UN, which killed the Wakandan monarch, King T'Chaka, and pinned the blame on Bucky Barnes, the ex-Winter Soldier, which occurred simultaneously with growing tensions between the Avengers' co-leaders over the Sokovia Accords.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier[]
"The Star-Spangled Man"[]
To be added
"Power Broker"[]
To be added
"The Whole World Is Watching"[]
To be added
"Truth"[]
To be added
"One World, One People"[]
Imprisoned in the Raft, Zemo orchestrates the deaths of the Super Soldier Serum-enhanced members of the Flag Smashers by his butler Oeznik. Hearing a news report on the events, Zemo is pleased and lays back on his cot reading a book.
Character traits[]
Although Zemo was a member of a death squad of the Sokovian Armed Forces, he was a good-hearted individual, as he loved his family very much, however, after his entire family was indirectly killed in the battle between the Avengers and Ultron, despite the fact that Ultron was responsible for his family's death, he blamed the Avengers just as much as the former, Zemo's anger and hatred towards the Avengers, consumed him to the point where he became vengeful, ruthless and slightly unstable.
However, despite Zemo's relentless attempts at trying to destroy the Avengers, he is ultimately not without a conscience, he tries to use more peaceful means to get what he wants, as he first tried to interrogate a HYDRA officer, for the location of the other Winter Soldiers (to kill them as they were a threat to the entire world and to play security video from 1991, which revealed Bucky as the assassin who murdered Tony's parents) if Zemo doesn't get what he needs he would resort to more violent means, although he doesn't enjoy using these said means.
Zemo sincerely apologized to T'Challa for accidentally killing his father T'Chaka, this proves that he has guilt, shame and remorse for his actions, ultimately Zemo's goal was to never kill the Avengers, as he stated to T'Challa that more powerful individuals than himself have tried and failed, as his goal was to have the Avengers disbanded, which he ultimately succeeded at; he knew the moment that he revealed to Tony Stark that Bucky Barnes was responsible for his parents death, Tony would tried to kill him (regardless of the fact that he was under the influence of HYDRA's brainwashing at the time and was not in control of his actions) as he was aware of the latter's arrogance and massive ego, as he use it against him, he also knew that Steve Rogers, who is a far more moral, just and honorable individual then Tony, would not allow him to kill an innocent man; as this attempt on Bucky's life, not only ended their friendship, but the Avengers as well.
After Zemo avenged his family's death, having little else to live for, he attempts to commit suicide, only to be stopped by T'Challa, he also kept a voice message of his late wife on his phone as one of the last connections from his former life that he held onto, which he often played over. Yet after he was content with his revenge and was about to commit suicide, he deleted the message.
Powers and Abilities[]
Abilities[]
- Expert Acrobat: Due to Zemo's training from the military, he is a highly skilled in all kinds of acrobatics and gymnastics.
- Master Tactician: As the former intelligence officer and commander of the elite Sokovian paramilitary tactical unit EKO Scorpion, Zemo is a highly skilled tactician; he was 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 intelligent enough to manipulate the Avengers into destroying themselves, which he succeeded in doing, with Iron Man and Captain America starting the Avengers Civil War, and the organization comes out fractured. Although he had the option of releasing the other brainwashed Winter Soldiers from their sleep at the HYDRA Siberian Facility, he deemed that releasing the assassins would result in the Avengers joining forces to fight Zemo, instead of their division. Zemo, along with Thanos, was the only other tactician that had succeeded in defeating the Avengers.
- Master Computer Hacker: Zemo is a highly skilled computer hacker; after Natasha Romanoff had released all of S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA's files on the internet, he was able to hack and decrypt the files pertaining to the Winter Soldier Program.
- Expert Engineer: Zemo was able to build an EMP bomb that was able to take out Berlin's power plant.
- Skilled Thief: Zemo is skilled in the art of the art of thief; was able to pickpocket Bucky Barnes' list and escape from Walker's handcuffs relatively easily.
- Multilingualism: As a native Sokovian, Zemo speaks that language fluently, in addition English, German and Russian.
- Expert Hand-To-Hand Combatant/Martial Artist: Due to Zemo's training from the military, he is a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist; his combat style is comprised of boxing, jujitsu, krav maga and karate. He was able to take down Vasily Karpov relatively easily. While escaping from prison, he subdued a guard and took down several mercenaries in Madripoor with little to no effort at all.
- Expert Marksman: Due to Zemo's training from the military, he is a highly skilled marksman; he was able to kill the Winter Soldiers with a single shot to the head for each one. He killed Wilfred Nagel with a single round, shot and killed several mercenaries in a close quarters fight, and shot a gas tank to make it explode. He also shot Karli Morgenthau, though she survived and escaped due to her enhanced biology.
Equipment[]
- Mask: Zemo carried a purple balaclava mask after his escape from prison. most notably wearing it during the ambush at the Madripoor Shipyard.
- Smith and Wesson 6906: Zemo took this weapon up to Siberia while he was preparing an ambush on the Avengers, killing the Winter Soldiers with it, before successfully manipulating Iron Man into attacking Captain America and the Winter Soldier, in retaliation for the assassination of Stark's own parents at the hands of the Winter Soldier. With his personal mission finally completed, Zemo had gone back outside of the facility to listen to his wife's final voice message for the last time, and attempted to use this gun to commit suicide. However, Black Panther then prevented Zemo from shooting himself, in order to make Zemo face his justice for all of his crimes.
- CZ P-10: Having managed to find this gun hidden inside of his lab, Zemo had used this handgun to shoot and kill Wilfred Nagel, and had later used it to great effect during the shipyard ambush, shooting a gas tank to explode and took out multiple mercenaries with it. He later used it to shoot Karli Morgenthau, as he found her attempting to escape the GRC Camp, forcing her to hide from Zemo's gunshots, and dropping her vials of the Super Soldier Serum, which Zemo proceeded to destroy.
- Steyr M9-A1: While being attacked by bounty hunters in Buccaneer Bay, Zemo had managed to disarm a mercenary of his pistol and used it to kill another, before then shooting and killing the mercenary who he took it from.
Relationships[]
- Unnamed father; deceased.
- Unnamed wife; deceased.
- Carl Zemo - Son; deceased.
- Avengers
- Steve Rogers/Captain America - Enemy.
- Tony Stark/Iron Man - Enemy; deceased.
- Natalia Romanoff/Black Widow - Enemy; deceased.
- Vision - Enemy; deceased.
- Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch - Enemy; deceased.
- Clint Barton/Hawkeye - Enemy.
- Sam Wilson/Falcon - Enemy turned ally.
- Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier - Pawn and enemy turned ally.
- T'Challa/Black Panther - Enemy.
- Everett Ross - Enemy.
- Sharon Carter - Enemy turned ally.
- Vasily Karpov - Victim; deceased.
- T'Chaka - Accidental victim; deceased.
- Theo Broussard - Victim; deceased.
- Winter Soldier Program - Victims; deceased.
- Selby - Ally turned enemy; deceased.
- Wilfred Nagel - Enemy and victim; deceased.
Appearances/Actors[]
- Marvel Cinematic Universe (2 films)
- Captain America: Civil War (First appearance) - Daniel Brühl
- Black Panther (Mentioned only)
- Marvel Cinematic Universe (1 TV series)
- The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - Daniel Brühl
Behind the scenes[]
To be added
Trivia[]
- In the comics, Baron Helmut Zemo is a German nobleman in a long line of Zemo's stretching far back in history.
- In the comics, Zemo is traditionally seen wearing an iconic purple mask.
- In the comics, James Barnes is assumed dead after pursuing the first Baron Heinrich Zemo as opposed to Arnim Zola. Much like the film; Heinrich's son Helmet Zemo later outs Barnes as the Winter Soldier to the press, sparking debate over whether Barnes is accountable for his actions under his brainwashing or if he was an unwilling victim/patsy.