Baron Zemo is a great MCU villain in ‘Falcon and the Winter Soldier’

Many of the suffer not from a lack of design or general interest, but a lack of screen time. It makes sense that superhero movies would focus on their titular heroes, but four phases into the MCU and we still only have a handful of villains who make sense beyond having an inexplicably evil or greedy agenda and going out in a blaze of CGI glory. With the expansion of the MCU into Disney+’s streaming television series, the franchise has an opportunity to correct their villain problem. And by the looks of Baron Helmut Zemo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, that correction is already a priority.

In Captain America: Civil War, Zemo is a Sokovian survivor who hatches a Machiavellian plan to sow discord and distrust among the Avengers. Even though his information and planning is what tears the Avengers apart, the real action in that movie is how they react to Zemo’s machinations. His motivations are simple — Zemo believes enhanced individuals upset the geopolitical power balance and that’s terrible. But his presence in the franchise beyond “guy with a bone to pick with superpeople” wasn’t particularly strong, which is strange because of the massive impact his scheme had on the MCU’s plot as a whole.

In just one episode, Zemo went from being the least memorable part of Civil War to a shockingly likable character who fits the profile of the Avengers’ greatest unsung enemy to a T.

With the exception of Loki attacking New York and Thanos snapping, very few Marvel villains’ plans have affected the world of the MCU beyond their individual movies. Zemo is another one of those exceptions, as well as being the only Marvel villain who won his fight against the Avengers in the long term. He may have survived his suicide attempt at the end of Civil War and ended up in jail, but Zemo’s plan to fracture the relationships that held Earth’s mightiest heroes together was a roaring success. The shadow Zemo cast was much larger than the single movie he was in: He destroyed the Avengers to the point that the full roster of heroes never fought together again after he intervened. But he finally gets his due in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. 

In just one episode, Zemo went from the least memorable part of Civil War to a shockingly likable character who fits the profile of the Avengers’ greatest unsung enemy to a T. Some of his characteristics, like his natural politeness and seething hatred for supers, are recognizable, but almost everything else we learn about Zemo here is new. He’s cultured, funny, a little bit woke, and generous with his vast royal resources. He’s a die-hard fashionista who dresses up with the boys for their trip to the hottest club in crime town. Zemo likes fast cars, Marvin Gaye, cold champagne, and breaking it down on the dance floor, which is an improvement on the list of things we knew he liked before, including euthanasia and his dead wife. 

This partial humanization of Zemo brings him into another category of Marvel villainy that almost always works — seeing what the villain is like from their own perspective. Most Marvel baddies have a moment when they explain themselves or their evil plan, but few of them get more than a few moments dedicated to what they’re like when they’re not doing evil stuff. Thanos’ post-snap retirement solidified his self-righteous surety, Loki not only got oodles of screen time after his big villainous arc ended but will have his own Disney+ series this summer, and Killmonger just had immaculate vibes. Villains are better when they are actual characters and Zemo’s reintroduction in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier brings him closer to that status. 

Recall that Zemo’s ultimate agenda is to rid the world of super-soldiers entirely. He’s going along with Sam and Bucky’s plan because he knows they’ll lead him to more serum (and people) to destroy, but he says himself that his work is not done until the Winter Soldier program is eliminated. Zemo’s final target is and always has been Bucky, and it’s sheer luck that he and Old Steve. It’s better for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier if the inevitable Bucky vs. Zemo showdown is one between two established and understandable characters as opposed to a fan favorite and a forgettable Phase 3 mastermind, and much better if the show ends with Zemo getting his butt shipped off to Wakanda to face further justice for his crimes. He’s going to love the Golden City. Shame he won’t be able to go to any of the clubs.

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is streaming on Disney+.