The Falcon and the Winter Soldier showrunner Malcolm Spellman says that the show’s presumed big bad, Baron Zemo, thinks he’s the hero
Baron Zemo thinks he’s the hero, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier dropped a new trailer during the Super Bowl with some tantalizing new hints at the world Sam and Bucky are fighting in. And while we still don’t have a total grasp of the full scope of the story or what our heroes are up against in this post-Captain America world, we got glimpses of new characters, a new (possible) hate group, and a good look at a classic villain’s iconic ski mask.
But who the hell are all these people? Well, we know some for sure, and we have some interesting ideas on the others.
Zemo made his debut in Captain America: Civil War as a former Sokovian special forces operative who lost his family during the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Because of this, he wants revenge against the Avengers and uses Barnes as a catalyst for the conflict between Captain American and Iron Man. The last we saw of Zemo, he had been captured by Black Panther and turned over to the international Joint Counter Terrorist Centre (affiliated with the CIA). It would appear Zemo has either escaped custody or is a free man in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, wearing a comics-accurate purple mask and causing trouble for our heroes.
Now, let’s break down who The Falcon and The Winter Soldier villains might be…
Daniel Bruhl is returning to the role he played in Captain America: Civil War for this TV series, and he’s finally getting a little more color than his bland, generic military bad guy look from that movie. He’s playing Helmut Zemo, the former Sokovian special forces soldier with a grudge against the Avengers growing from his family’s death during the battle with Ultron. You’ll remember that in Civil War, he tried to frame Bucky for T’Chaka’s death and tried to rip the Avengers apart from the inside by revealing Bucky’s role in the death of Tony Stark’s parents.
In addition to revenge, Zemo is very much motivated by the Sokovia Accords’ genesis: a lack of superhero oversight. With the planet and its various governments spun out of wack post-Blip, it’s possible that Zemo escaped custody. Wilson and Barnes will reportedly face-off against Flag-Smasher, the leader (or at least the muscle) of an anti-nationalist organization known as ULTIMATUM. Given Zemo’s history of manipulation, he could be secretly controlling ULTIMATUM.
IS THAT SIN?
The woman with red hair putting on the ULTIMATUM mask bears a faint resemblance to a pedigreed Marvel villain: Red Skull’s daughter, Sin.
U.S. Agent
Wyatt Russell is playing John Walker, known to Marvel fans as the U.S. Agent. It’s perhaps a little less likely that Russell is purely a villain in this series, but he does have a complicated history. Notably, when he first came on the scene he was very much a villain, in his guise as the ultra-nationalist SuperPatriot. Expect the MCU version of John Walker to give the character plenty of nuances, and don’t be the least bit surprised if he sticks around in some fashion, whether as an anti-hero or something more.
