In the annals of villains that have squared off against the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there have been some fan-favorite villains who loom large in the average fan’s rogue’s gallery of favorites. Thanos the Universe Destroyer, Ego the Living Planet, Loki the God of Mischief-turned-Time Narc. But one of their antagonists has gone unappreciated… until today. A Reddit user posted an entry on the Marvel Studios subreddit praising Baron Helmut Zemo, the primary antagonist of Captain America: Civil War and the Disney Plus series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Zemo’s story in the MCU begins with the events of The Avengers: The Age of Ultron, in which the Earth’s Mightiest Heroes do battle with a giant robot in the fictional Eastern European country of Sokovia. Baron Zemo, a Sokovian nobleman, watched his family die in the battle and blamed the Avengers for their deaths and doing nothing to help the country that had been decimated in the fighting. As he said in an emotional speech:
“My father lived outside the city. 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.”
Reddit user blong217 outlined their appreciation for Baron Zemo:
And family tragedy aside, Baron Zemo was at his most relatably human when he was awkwardly just trying to fit in at a nightclub among the Cool Kids:
If anything, the 47-year-old Zemo has a lot of life left in him.