*Spoilers for Civil War and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.*
The Marvels and the Loki season 2 finale aren’t quite out yet, so I figured I might as well continue my informal tour through some of the most memorable MCU villains. When Zemo first shows up in Civil War, he really does something different than a lot of Marvel baddies, and it’s interesting to see how his plot comes together.
In many Marvel films, the villain has roughly similar powers/tech as the main hero. Iron suit against iron suit. Super soldier against super soldier. Sorcerer against sorcerer. But Zemo doesn’t have equivalent abilities to Cap, let alone all the other Avengers populating Civil War. In fact, he doesn’t have any enhanced abilities at all. So instead of mirroring the hero’s powers, Zemo ends up mirroring the theme of the movie. In a film that’s all about superhero collateral damage, in which the UN creates the Sokovia Accords to put a leash on enhanced individuals and the Avengers clash over the merits of that idea, it’s only fitting that the main villain is someone who lost everything during a previous movie’s climactic third act battle.
Zemo doesn’t have anything to do with the UN or the writing of the Accords, but he is from Sokovia, and during Age of Ultron, his family was killed. Not shot by Ultron robots—killed entirely by accident, amid the havoc caused by superpowered battles. This turns him against all enhanced folks, and if anything, I’d say he hates the heroes even more than the villains. Villains may be the ones actively trying to hurt/kill civilians, but I imagine Zemo finds it more despicable when the “good guys” inadvertently get people killed over the course of trying to help.
But again, Zemo has no powers himself. He knows that there’s no way he could defeat Captain America, Iron Man, or the Scarlet Witch. However, he has patience, resources, and meticulous planning. So he crafts a scheme that will lead the Avengers to destroy themselves. Yeah, it’s the sort of grand villain plan that requires an astounding number of things to go exactly as he predicts, anticipating every reaction every step of the way, and I’ll admit that it strains credulity—especially considering that I can’t imagine he knew about the Black Panther, a major wildcard who’s added to the mixed almost from the opening salvo.
As it shakes out, though, everything aligns according to Zemo’s plan. Disagreements over the Accords, combined with Steve’s drive to help Bucky at a time when he’s public enemy number one, brings the Avengers to blows, and Zemo’s orchestrated reveal that the Winter Soldier assassinated Tony’s parents destroys any chance at a peaceful resolution. None of the heroes kill one another, but their team is left fractured. Half of them are imprisoned on the Raft, and later sent on the run, and with the extreme fissure between Tony and Steve, the team’s de facto leaders have been driven apart.
Even as you can feel for Zemo in his grief over his anger, and even as his anger is understandable, there’s unsettling about the cold, methodical way he goes about enacting his scheme. He moves through the world like a man who’s lost his soul and has nothing left of himself, only this plan. I’m reminded of other stories about people who lose themselves to their quest for vengeance, like Sweeney Todd. Because achieving everything he sets out to do doesn’t bring Zemo any peace or satisfaction. Were it not for T’Challa stopping him (that wildcard again,) he would have died by suicide after seeing his goal come to fruition.
After seeing him in Civil War as a solitary figure, draped in a sort of mournful blankness, it’s a little jarring to see a very different Zemo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. When Bucky breaks him out of prison to help track down and stop the Flag Smashers, Zemo moves with more swagger and sass. We get more ostentatious displays of his wealth, and while he’s still dedicated to his anti-superpower stance, he’s much snarkier and more needling as he alternately helps Sam and Bucky and acts as a thorn in their side.
It’s never really explained why Zemo’s manner is so different here, other than the meta presumption of providing The Falcon and the Winter Soldier with an entertaining baddie. I find him a lot more interesting in Civil War, though, and I think he feels more cohesive as a character there.
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