Who is the villain of Captain America: Civil War?
We look at the history of Zemo, one of Cap’s greatest foes.
But lets not forget the villainy set to make thisCivil Wareven hotter.
Joining the returning Crossbones will be Baron Zemo, one of the greatest villains Captain America has ever faced.
Because thats what Zemo does, he changes things.
And no wise ass, his real name wasnt Elmer Zemo- it was Heinrich!
He was Hitlers lead scientist and invented horrific weaponry for the Third Reich.
At this time, Zemo invented Adhesive X, a powerful glue that was impossible to break.
It really isnt easy to glue a mask to your face, but there you go.
More on that in a bit.
And indeed, Cap and Bucky fell into the trap.
Zemo captured Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes and tied them to the plane which was rigged to explode.
Not bad for a goose stepper who once was taken down by glue.
to get to check that Captain America stayed dead this time, Zemo united the first Masters of Evil.
The first Masters of Evil consisted of the original villainous Black Knight, the Melter, and Radioactive Man.
Anyway, Zemo further added to the Marvel Universe when he created the future Avenger known as Wonder Man.
But Williams turned on Zemo and sacrificed his life to save the team.
Thats quite a resume.
There, Zemo and the Masters of Evil were waiting and ambushed Cap (Avengers#15).
During the battle, Cap used his shield to deflect the sun into Zemos eyes.
Zemo fired his pistol blindly, striking a mountain and causing a rockslide.
And like his father, Zemo junior would soon bring about seismic changes to the Marvel Universe.
Helmut was indeed his fathers son.
Helmut, a brilliant engineer, believed strongly in Hitlers ideal of a master race.
So yeah, the second Zemo was a xenophobic (Zemophobic?)
For all future generations of the Zemo clan- stay out of the crafts aisle, kay?
All kidding aside, Zemo was Phoenix no more.
Instead, he now followed in the footsteps of his father- and a legacy of evil was reborn.
Not Doctor Doom, not Magneto, not the Mandarin, and not his father.
Soon, Baron Helmut Zero would get a hairs breadth away from utterly destroying the Avengers.
As we covered, the elder Baron Zemo founded the Masters of Evil.
Hercules got the same treatment and the Avengers were shattered.
The Avengers were pretty darn powerful at the time, but they fell like dominos against Zemos assembled team.
In 1997, Marvel did a thing calledHeroes Reborn.
To fill that void, Marvel created the Thunderbolts, a team of new heroes that were quite colorful.
Fans scratched their heads at this new team, as the squad was also kind of generic.
Fandom exploded andThunderboltsbecame an instant hit.
But soon, Zemo also began to see things differently and began to see the appeal of heroism.
It makes for a brilliant companion piece toThunderboltsand could probably be found in many 50 cent bins at conventions.
Standoff
We end things with the just completedAvengers Standoffby Nick Spencer and Mark Bagley.
It was an idyllic place that catered to the incarceration and numbed happiness of the worlds greatest evil doers.
Or it was, until a group of villains broke SHIELDs control and rioted.
And of course, it was Baron Zemo who first shattered SHIELDs illusion and rebelled.
Zemo and the Thunderbolts escaped and the T-Bolts will join with the Winter Soldier in a newThunderboltstitle.
