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Abstract

The platoon of super soldiers the movie took great pains to introduce are all already dead. And that shocker is merely the appetizer. Zemo ushers out the main course with the quiet professionalism of a seasoned maître d’: “I have a delightful Cabernet that pairs wonderfully with betrayal”.</p><p id="64e0">It could probably be argued that Thanos doesn’t even get to the snap if Zemo doesn’t first break-up the Avengers. Which is kinda like saying Zemo effectively beat them twice. 2–0 against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is pretty damn impressive considering he’s just a normal dude with some highly specialized training, motivated by something as elemental as grief.</p><p id="8638">My family and I are working our way through the MCU again and recently rewatched <i>Civil War</i>. I’d seen the movie probably 4–5 times already and have the major movements – and many smaller ones – committed to memory. So I was a bit surprised to rediscover a moment I’d previously overlooked or forgotten.</p><p id="bcb5">Early in the film, Zemo tracks down a former Hydra colonel hiding in America. Zemo implores the Colonel to just tell him what he wants to know and thereby avoid a lot of unnecessary bloodshed.</p><blockquote id="1166"><p>Zemo: Hydra deserves its place on the ash heap. So your death would not bother me. But I’d have to use this book… and other bloodier methods to find what I need. I don’t look forward to that. You’d only be dying for… your pride.</p></blockquote><p id="925d">It’s something we’ve seen a million times – the bad guy promises leniency and then reneges as soon as he gets what he wants. The Colonel chooses to take his secrets to a watery grave, so we don’t really know what Zemo would’ve done, but I believe he would’ve let the man live. He just wants the mission report for a December in 1991, and would prefer to avoid unnecessary bloodiness to get it. Does that sound like any supervillain you’ve ever seen?</p><p id="29b9">Zemo later <i>apologizes</i> to T’Challa because he hadn’t wanted to kill his father. It had merely been an unfortunate bit of collateral damage. A necessary evil. And you believe that he is actually remorseful. Again, this is not how a bad guy normally behaves in these movies. Where is the monologuing? Why hasn’t he a mustache to twirl?</p><p id="ad7a"><i>The Falcon and the Winter Soldie</i>r is a great show, but it really comes to life when Zemo enters the story. He’s the same solemn, determined character we knew before, only now he’s proclaiming the virtues of Marvin Gaye and enjoying Turkish Delight (and, yes, dancing). And he’s literally a Baron, complete with a manservant and a private jet and an absolutely boss coat.</p><p id="cd44">I spent the entire show waiting for the shoe to drop, expecting Zemo to turn on them at the worst time. It’s cliché, but sometimes genre fare has a hard time rising above its base instincts. But he never does, despite a few juicy opportunities. He even saves the heroes on at least one occasion.</p><p id="defb">Near the end of the show, Zemo tells Bucky that he’s decided not to kill him. It is a simple statement, uninflated by boast or bravado. We scoff at the suggestion – <i>as if Zemo. </i>Only later, in the waning moments of the story, do we realize Zemo wasn’t bullshitting. Somewhere along the way, he’d conspired with his butler to have all the super soldiers killed, save Bucky (and presumably Walker for some reason – though perhaps the plans were hatched before Walker took the serum).</p><p id="9fe6">The idea of a principled vi

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llain isn’t new (Magneto immediately comes to mind), but it feels fresh within the MCU. Loki, Killmonger, and Thanos have their moments but are ultimately let down by their zeal for violence. It becomes an end unto itself, largely to force a third act confrontation. In contrast, Zemo practices restraint nearly as often as he schemes.</p><p id="7233">Which is why I hope Marvel keeps Zemo operating in a gray area, one day friend, the next foe, always ambiguous and therefore surprising. Set him up as a quasi-Batman*: a vigilante bound by a rigid sense of justice, one willing to go to great lengths to further his goals. I mean hell – he’s already a wealthy playboy with anger issues and an ask-no-questions butler. He’s just missing all the cool toys.</p><p id="7f3f">There is a moment in <i>The Falcon and the Winter Soldier</i> where Zemo stands over a dozen vials of super soldier serum that have spilled onto the floor. He pauses briefly, as if he’s thinking about taking one himself, perhaps in order to even the odds. He is, after all, only a man in a world where gods often run amuck.</p><p id="f618">Instead he crushes the vials with gleeful gusto. He doesn’t need artificial buffs to beat anyone, Avengers included. And that’s why I love him.</p><p id="34bc">*I’d also love to see a Star Lord vs Zemo dance-off.</p><p id="b383"><i>Eric writes about pop culture <a href="https://ewpierce.medium.com/">here at Medium</a> and is 99% sure he’d take super soldier serum if given the chance. If you’d like to see what else he’s working on, check out <a href="http://eepurl.com/gGYaQz">his newsletter</a>.</i></p><p id="4eff">Related stories:</p><div id="f751" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/disney-is-the-future-of-the-mcu-b3bcdaf5da5b"> <div> <div> <h2>Disney+ is the Future of the MCU</h2> <div><h3>The nuance of slow burn character development</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*D_R2dCZY9CJWgkMJnK5sHA.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="5998" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/disney-marvel-studios-have-been-mishandling-black-widow-for-years-490e341eaada"> <div> <div> <h2>Disney & Marvel Studios have been Mishandling Black Widow for Years</h2> <div><h3>At this point it doesn’t really matter when they release the film</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*fE3VAwIXYPa0J7LxqyI1jA.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><div id="aa58" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/5-thoughts-after-watching-the-loki-trailer-9de9636f3ae9"> <div> <div> <h2>5 Thoughts After Watching the ‘Loki’ Trailer</h2> <div><h3>Burdened with glorious purpose</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*bkK0nyKXgTJjMkAcYJX2KA.jpeg)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

FanFare

I’m Conflicted About My Feelings For a Supervillain

Zemo has done deplorable things but I kinda love him anyway

Zemo masked, at last (if briefly). Image: Marvel Studios

I was taken by Helmut Zemo long before he danced his way into our hearts. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier merely solidified my feelings. Turns out, underneath that coolly competent exterior we first saw in Civil War, Zemo has a quirky personality. And he’s funny? And charming? I don’t trust him but I really want to hang out with him.

After a long line of tyrants and one-movie-wonders, Zemo is like a cold beer on a hot day: refreshing, yes, but also kinda intoxicating. He’s a man of conviction holding to a strict moral code. Yeah, he’s definitely a Bad Guy who has no qualms murdering innocent people to further his agenda. And yet, he brings something to the MCU it is sorely lacking: unpredictability. (Also: dancing.)

Much has been made about the ‘MCU formula’, which is just shorthand for the movies’ tendency to repeat the same story milestones. This is not just a Marvel problem though – it’s inherent in all comic book movies, which adhere to the same base rule: the good guys always win. This is an unavoidable tenet of the genre, even more inevitable than Thanos with a fistful of Infinity Stones. The good guys may get knocked down. Occasionally someone will die. But, in the end, good prevails.

Lord Dark Helmet believed evil would always triumph because good is dumb, but he underestimated our appetite for happy endings.

There is a reason the first two-thirds of a superhero flick is usually the best part. The hero is in jeopardy. Evil is ascendant. Almost anything could happen. But once we cross the final threshold that presages the climatic fight, all the narrative tension goes farting out of the balloon. We know the good guy will beat the bad guy because that’s what these movies are. Escapist wish fulfilment.

That sounds horribly dismissive, but be assured true believer — I really am one of you. I wept multiple times during Avengers: Endgame because this stuff moves me. But it is because of those deep feelings that I’m often left wanting something more, something different. How is it that almost all of the MCU films — 23 and counting — end with the good guy punching just a little better than the bad guy? Yes yes — comic book movie. But I live for those precious few films that deviate from the script or surprise me in some way.

Black Panther is an amazing film but the climax mostly fizzles out because we know T’Challa will defeat Killmonger (seriously though who names these characters). The fight isn’t even all that interesting, sadly. Same with Iron Man and Winter Soldier and Spider-Man. Great movies all, ones whose best parts come far before the end.

Civil War isn’t the best MCU movie, but it is the most surprising. Not in that the Avengers ultimately turn on themselves — the title quite literally spells that out — but rather in how they get there. Everything seems to be hurtling toward another ho-hum climax where the heroes pile-drive evil, but when Cap and Iron Man arrive in Siberia, there’s nobody to fight! The platoon of super soldiers the movie took great pains to introduce are all already dead. And that shocker is merely the appetizer. Zemo ushers out the main course with the quiet professionalism of a seasoned maître d’: “I have a delightful Cabernet that pairs wonderfully with betrayal”.

It could probably be argued that Thanos doesn’t even get to the snap if Zemo doesn’t first break-up the Avengers. Which is kinda like saying Zemo effectively beat them twice. 2–0 against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is pretty damn impressive considering he’s just a normal dude with some highly specialized training, motivated by something as elemental as grief.

My family and I are working our way through the MCU again and recently rewatched Civil War. I’d seen the movie probably 4–5 times already and have the major movements – and many smaller ones – committed to memory. So I was a bit surprised to rediscover a moment I’d previously overlooked or forgotten.

Early in the film, Zemo tracks down a former Hydra colonel hiding in America. Zemo implores the Colonel to just tell him what he wants to know and thereby avoid a lot of unnecessary bloodshed.

Zemo: Hydra deserves its place on the ash heap. So your death would not bother me. But I’d have to use this book… and other bloodier methods to find what I need. I don’t look forward to that. You’d only be dying for… your pride.

It’s something we’ve seen a million times – the bad guy promises leniency and then reneges as soon as he gets what he wants. The Colonel chooses to take his secrets to a watery grave, so we don’t really know what Zemo would’ve done, but I believe he would’ve let the man live. He just wants the mission report for a December in 1991, and would prefer to avoid unnecessary bloodiness to get it. Does that sound like any supervillain you’ve ever seen?

Zemo later apologizes to T’Challa because he hadn’t wanted to kill his father. It had merely been an unfortunate bit of collateral damage. A necessary evil. And you believe that he is actually remorseful. Again, this is not how a bad guy normally behaves in these movies. Where is the monologuing? Why hasn’t he a mustache to twirl?

The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is a great show, but it really comes to life when Zemo enters the story. He’s the same solemn, determined character we knew before, only now he’s proclaiming the virtues of Marvin Gaye and enjoying Turkish Delight (and, yes, dancing). And he’s literally a Baron, complete with a manservant and a private jet and an absolutely boss coat.

I spent the entire show waiting for the shoe to drop, expecting Zemo to turn on them at the worst time. It’s cliché, but sometimes genre fare has a hard time rising above its base instincts. But he never does, despite a few juicy opportunities. He even saves the heroes on at least one occasion.

Near the end of the show, Zemo tells Bucky that he’s decided not to kill him. It is a simple statement, uninflated by boast or bravado. We scoff at the suggestion – as if Zemo. Only later, in the waning moments of the story, do we realize Zemo wasn’t bullshitting. Somewhere along the way, he’d conspired with his butler to have all the super soldiers killed, save Bucky (and presumably Walker for some reason – though perhaps the plans were hatched before Walker took the serum).

The idea of a principled villain isn’t new (Magneto immediately comes to mind), but it feels fresh within the MCU. Loki, Killmonger, and Thanos have their moments but are ultimately let down by their zeal for violence. It becomes an end unto itself, largely to force a third act confrontation. In contrast, Zemo practices restraint nearly as often as he schemes.

Which is why I hope Marvel keeps Zemo operating in a gray area, one day friend, the next foe, always ambiguous and therefore surprising. Set him up as a quasi-Batman*: a vigilante bound by a rigid sense of justice, one willing to go to great lengths to further his goals. I mean hell – he’s already a wealthy playboy with anger issues and an ask-no-questions butler. He’s just missing all the cool toys.

There is a moment in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier where Zemo stands over a dozen vials of super soldier serum that have spilled onto the floor. He pauses briefly, as if he’s thinking about taking one himself, perhaps in order to even the odds. He is, after all, only a man in a world where gods often run amuck.

Instead he crushes the vials with gleeful gusto. He doesn’t need artificial buffs to beat anyone, Avengers included. And that’s why I love him.

*I’d also love to see a Star Lord vs Zemo dance-off.

Eric writes about pop culture here at Medium and is 99% sure he’d take super soldier serum if given the chance. If you’d like to see what else he’s working on, check out his newsletter.