Merge:Baron Zemo

Baron Zemo is the name of two 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).

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. 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 breath 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 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.

Baron Helmut Zemo


Zemo was survived by his son, Helmut Zemo, 13th Baron Zemo, who followed in his father's footsteps as a supervillain. He first surfaced under the codename of The Phoenix (not to be confused with any other characters who have used this codename), 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.

Thunderbolts
See Main Article: 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, 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.

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 as yet 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. 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 began doing some time before, unknown to Iron Man.

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.