Baron Zemo
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Baron Zemo is the name of two fictional characters, both supervillains, in various Marvel Comics comic books, notably Captain America and the Avengers. The original Baron Zemo was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and was first seen in a flashback in The Avengers #4 (March 1964), though he did not actually appear in person and was not identified by name until The Avengers #6 (July 1964); the second first appeared in Captain America #168 (December 1973).
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[edit] Baron Heinrich Zemo
Dr. Heinrich Zemo, 12th Baron Zemo was one of the top scientists in the Nazi Party who fought Captain America and his allies during World War II. He once held the title of "Most Hated Man in Europe". Zemo dressed in a red costume with a hooded mask so that he would not be identified by an enemy of the Nazis.
Zemo created many weapons, including a death ray, a disintegration pistol that was a miniaturized version of his death ray, primitive androids, and the so-called "Adhesive X", an adhesive that could not be removed by any known process (only after the war, the adhesive-using villain called Paste-Pot Pete found a way to neutralize it).
While in battle with Captain America, a vial of Adhesive X was shattered onto his mask; the adhesive poured inside it and permanently attached the mask to his face. Although Zemo could still see through the eyeholes and hear, speak and breathe through the mask's thin fabric, he could no longer use his mouth to eat and had to be fed intravenously. Zemo was driven insane by this disfigurement.
Apparently the Nazis never considered simply destroying the mask; it has been conjectured that the adhesive made the fabric preternaturally resilient, or that Zemo simply chose to not risk damaging his face further.
No longer confined to science only, Zemo started to lead combat and espionage missions and was rivaled in these only by the Red Skull; the two quickly became rivals.
When it became apparent that the Nazis would lose the war, the Skull sent Zemo to London to steal an experimental airplane. At this point the plane would do them no good, but the Skull made sure this knowledge was leaked to Captain America and his young sidekick Bucky.
The Skull knew that no matter who won, one of his enemies would be out of his way, possibly even killed.
One of Zemo's androids knocked Bucky out, and Captain America was felled by Zemo's stun gun. They were tied to the plane, which was now booby-trapped to explode, and launched to their deaths. Captain America fell from the plane as it exploded, and Bucky was apparently killed. Captain America landed in the English Channel and was frozen in ice for decades until recovered by the recently-formed Avengers.
Zemo, now living in South America, learned of his enemy's return and renewed the rivalry. He formed the Masters of Evil to serve as a villainous counterpart to the Avengers; the other founding members included the Black Knight, the Melter and the Radioactive Man, and they were later joined by the Enchantress, and Wonder Man.
In his final battle with Captain America, the Captain's shield deflected a beam from Zemo's gun, which caused an avalanche that killed Zemo.
[edit] Baron Helmut Zemo
Zemo was survived by his son, Helmut J. Zemo, 13th Baron Zemo who was born in Leipzig, Germany. Helmut was originally an engineer until he became enraged when reading a report about the return of Captain America. Helmut would ultimately follow in his father's footsteps as a supervillain using his family's money and his own scientific know-how to recreate his fathers work. He first surfaced under the codename of The Phoenix (not to be confused with any other characters who have used this codename, such as Jean Grey and Rachel Summers), and was presumed deceased when he fell into a vat of boiling, specially-treated Adhesive X. As he had not been wearing his mask when he fell into the vat, his face was hideously scarred by the boiling Adhesive X. He resurfaced years later, first allied with Arnim Zola's mutates and later with the Red Skull and his allies. Most notably, he formed a new incarnation of the Masters of Evil, one which invaded the Avengers' Mansion and crippled Hercules and the Avengers' butler Edwin Jarvis. Zemo was again believed dead, though he eventually returned, now married to a woman named Heike who had once called herself Baroness Zemo and had claimed to be the reincarnation of Heinrich Zemo.
[edit] Thunderbolts
Zemo, having abandoned Heike to prison, organized a new team of Masters of Evil when the Avengers and Fantastic Four disappeared during the Onslaught crisis and were presumed dead. These Masters of Evil took false identities and called themselves the Thunderbolts. Leading them under the alias Citizen V (a twist of irony, as Heinrich Zemo had killed the original Citizen V during World War II) Zemo planned to have the Thunderbolts gain the world's trust in order to conquer it. The public took a liking to the team much quicker then Zemo or any of the other Thunderbolts expected and soon most of the team began to like being heroes.
When the missing heroes returned, Zemo had their true identities leaked, forcing them to flee with him into deep space to assist his plan to conquer the world through mind control. However, most of the Thunderbolts rebelled and foiled Zemo's plan. Zemo went into hiding and plotted revenge on his former teammates (who were trying to win back the public's trust by being true heroes). After another of Zemo's plans was foiled by Captain America and a new Citizen V (Dallas Riordan), Helmut was killed by the new Scourge of the Underworld, though his mind was transferred via bio-modem technology into the body of a comatose John Watkins III, grandson of the original Citizen V. Now in possession of Watkins' body, Zemo again played the role of Citizen V, this time as a member of the V-Battalion until the Thunderbolts' final battle with Graviton, in which, his consciousness was removed from Watkins' body and transferred in electronic form, into his ally Fixer's mechanical "tech-pack".
On the artificial world Counter-Earth - the same world to which the Avengers and Fantastic Four had previously vanished - the Thunderbolts encountered Zemo's counterpart in that world, Iron Cross. Fixer transferred Zemo's mind into his double's unmutilated body. Zemo then took up leadership of the Thunderbolts who were on Counter-Earth; when this group was reunited with their teammates who had remained on the normal Marvel Universe Earth, Hawkeye briefly resumed leadership but then left the team to return to the Avengers.
For a while Zemo remained the leader of the Thunderbolts. In 2004's "Avengers/Thunderbolts" limited series he attempted to take over the world again -- this time with the belief that he could save the world by taking it over. Zemo now seems to be motivated by a twisted altruism rather than his original selfish desires; he feels he has grown beyond his father in that regard. However, the Avengers foiled his scheme, his teammate Moonstone went berserk, Zemo's new body was blasted while he attempted to protect Captain America, and he left the team and went into hiding after obtaining Moonstone's twin alien gems, two artifacts of great power.
[edit] Civil War
More recently, Zemo has been manipulating the United States government, the New Thunderbolts, the Purple Man, the Squadron Sinister, and a host of other relatively obscure Marvel characters. His goals are unknown, but he is clearly still motivated by a desire to save the world by taking it over, or at least manipulating it towards what he perceives as a beneficial future. Zemo has also, apparently through trial and error, learned how to use the power of the moonstones in various ways, from simply generating raw energy, to transporting himself and others through time, space, and dimensions, to viewing possible future events through dimensional rifts — and, apparently, to repair his damaged face. He has also recruited members of both his original and subsequent incarnations of the Thunderbolts to his cause, as well as eventually bringing the current team of Thunderbolts around to joining him. The group currently resides in what Zemo calls his "Folding Castle", a structure that he has connected to various other places around the world by dimensional portals.
As a result of Civil War, Iron Man asked Zemo to begin recruiting villains to his cause...which Zemo had begun doing some time before, unknown to Iron Man. However, he met up with Captain America and informed him that he really had reformed. He showed the Captain his face, once again scarred, to remind him of his earlier sacrifice, and gave him a key that would allow him to escape from the super-human prison being constructed if Captain America would allow his Thunderbolts to fight the Squadron Sinister. He also gave the Captain all his old mementos, destroyed by Zemo in 'Avengers Under Siege', which he had gone back in time and rescued with the help of the Moonstones. Finally, the Captain agreed.
Zemo, always told as a child that he was superior, now believes his father's Nazi ideals to be untrue, and that the only way to become superior is through righteousness. After helping Captain America, he remarked to his father's portait that the man would be displeased with today's good deeds. Zemo -- once again wearing his unscarred face -- then revealed to Songbird that she was going to betray him and he was going to sacrifice himself in their upcoming battle with the Squadron Sinister. He told her that he would not die, but that he would become superior through his sacrifice..."by living forever."
Zemo has now revealed his true nature in Thunderbolts #108, where he saved the Wellspring of Power from the Grandmaster, who planned to use it for his own ends. Believing that all of his visions were subject to the flow of time, and that nothing was set in stone, Zemo defeated the Grandmaster, and boasted to his teammates that the power was now all his--and theirs. He insisted that he would use it to help the world, despite the consequences for doing so. Songbird, who had temporarily lost her powers during the final battle, was told by Zemo "...now is when your betrayal would have come." The vision of her betrayal turned out to be somewhat correct after all, though. Although she could not use her super-sound, Songbird used a simple opera note to crack the moonstones, sending Zemo into a whirlwind of cosmic time/space. In his final words before he was completely sucked into the vaccuum, he screamed out that he would never have hurt a world he worked so hard to save.
Im February of 2007, we will find out where he was taken when he disappeared into the vaccuum. In the mini-series Baron Zemo: Born Better, Zemo will find himself in Medieval Germany and will learn the truth about his beloved family tree--some of which he was not told as a child. The limited series will have the same creative team--Fabian Nicieza and Tom Grummet.
[edit] Other versions
The Avataars: Covenant of the Shield miniseries, set in a sword and sorcery version of the Marvel Universe, features Dreadlord, an alternate version of Zemo, as its main villain. Dreadlord was previously Zymo of Z'axis, a general who fought in the Worldwar. When Z'axis lost the war, Zymo adopted a new identity - and swore that he would not remove his hood until Z'axis triumphed once again.
[edit] Appearances in other media
[edit] Animation
Baron Heinrich Zemo appeared in several episodes of the Captain America portion of The Marvel Superheroes Show, both alone and as part of the Masters of Evil.
Both Barons Zemo were featured in an episode of Fox Kids Avengers animated series. The elder Zemo appeared in a flashback to Avengers #15, while Helmut Zemo led the Masters of Evil against the Earth's Mightiest Heroes. His costume, though very similar to his comic outfit, reflected the futuristic style of the series.
[edit] External links
- Dr. Heinrich Zemo, 12th Baron Zemo on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
- Helmut Zemo, 13th Baron Zemo on the Marvel Universe Character Bio Wiki
- Dr. Heinrich Zemo, 12th Baron Zemo at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
- Harbin Zemo, 1st Baron Zemo at the Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe
Categories: Captain America villains | Fictional evil scientists | Thunderbolts villains | Marvel Comics villains | Masters of Evil members | Fictional barons and baronesses | Fictional Germans | Fictional Nazis | Fictional geniuses | Fictional characters with the power to manipulate light | Fictional doctors | Supervillains without aliases
