Efforts to fix the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s villain problem go back to Captain America: Civil War. While there was a lot more attention given to Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Killmonger in Black Panther, Zemo is an underrated villain with great motivations and a killer twist on an overused trope.

For most of Civil War, Zemo seems like the stepping stone to the real villains: the other Winter Soldiers. He frames Bucky for the UN bombing, all the while hinting that he’s going to do even more damage by releasing all the other Winter Soldiers. Instead it’s revealed at the end of the movie that he’s killed them, and his real intention was to wreak havoc on the Avengers in revenge for losing his family in Sokovia from the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The problem with Marvel villains up until Phase 3 is that they tended to be pretty flat characters without great motivations. There were some good villains and interesting twists (see Hydra or The Mandarin/Trevor), but there were a few too many boring villains seeming to want to destroy everything just because - like Malekith and Ronan. Zemo similarly seemed like he was going for destruction with no real reason with the Winter Soldiers. Most of the movie was spent setting up that idea, but all he actually wanted was revenge for losing his family. It’s a very human motivation to have - much more than being a dark elf who wants to plunge the universe into darkness for unclear reasons.

Civil War’s twist also works because it’s such a strong twist backing up his motivations. Zemo clearly doesn’t care about the other Winter Soldiers. When Tony, Steve, and Bucky confront him in the old Soviet base, they’re all already dead. Zemo really doesn’t want the power of having those soldiers under his control. After setting up that threat for the whole movie, it’s just gone.

This makes the ending of Captain America: Civil War really about the characters first and foremost. Where many MCU movies would have turned into a huge action scene here, that already happened earlier in the movie. There’s still a fight, but it’s on a small scale. Zemo picked at the conflict that was already dormant with the Avengers and brought it to the forefront. Add in the personal element of Bucky having killed Tony Stark’s parents as the Winter Soldier, and you have the perfect setup for a real, raw fight between Iron Man, Captain America, and the Winter Soldier.

Despite all of this, many fans don’t remember Zemo as being one of the better MCU villains. Zemo even survives the end of the movie, with Black Panther stopping him from shooting himself and escaping from facing justice. This left the door open for his future appearance in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, where he will be the main antagonist. It’s the second chance in the spotlight such an underrated villain deserves, and the chance for everyone, especially Bucky, to get payback for what Zemo did to them.

Next: Falcon & Winter Soldier Theory: What Zemo’s Villain Plan Really Is

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