Heinrich Zemo

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Baron Zemo in Avengers Classic v1 #6.

Heinrich Zemo is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.

Contents

Biography

Heinrich Zemo was a male human born at his family castle in Bavaria at the start of the 20th century. (Captain America: The Medusa Effect v1 #1)

During World War I, he came to serve in the German army where like many of his countrymen he felt betrayed when the civilian government in Berlin surrendered to the Allied Powers. In the chaotic years afterwards, he became one of the early supporters of Adolf Hitler and a member of the Nazi's Brown Shirts. During these years, the Fuhrer encouraged his followers to be fruitful and multiply in order to provide soldiers for the Fatherland. Thus, Heinrich Zemo came to marry and became a father. (Captain America: The Medusa Effect v1 #1)

In 1933, the baron showed an interest in applied technology brought to him from the United States where he conferred with a number of prominent scientists that included the Serbian-born Nikola Tesla. By 1939, Colonel Zemo was rewarded the highest scientific honours by the Third Reich. In early 1942, he had developed a 'death ray' that was to be a secret terror weapon for use against the allies with this attracting the attention of the Howling Commandos who attacked his Bavarian castle to destroy the machine. To survive, he fled the scene and triggered remote explosives that caused his death rays to deal widespread destruction to the surrounding area. This led to the Americans dropping leaflets that highlighted Heinrich Zemo being responsible for the damage to the nearby towns leading to him being despised by his own people. Such was the loathing by his people that he became the most hated man in Europe whereby the Fuhrer had no use for him out in the open and to operate he had to do so behind a mask. (Captain America: The Medusa Effect v1 #1) Baron Zemo came to serve as a high ranking scientist for Adolf Hitler where he went about creating new weapons for the Nazi regime. This involved testing on live subjects with Abraham Erskine often protesting at his actions though these were ignored by Hitler. (Thunderbolts Presents Zemo Born Better v1 #4)

Heinrich in this time often told his son that they would rebuild in secret where they would relaunch an attack to reclaim their lost territory. (Thunderbolts Presents Zemo Born Better v1 #4)

For years, he paid his pilot gold to fly over a perilous route in order to give Zemo his supplies. (Avengers v1 #6)

He approached Simon Williams and offered to give the man incredible power with him accepting the offer. This saw Baron Zemo bombard his body with ionic rays that transformed him into a superhuman being he dubbed the Wonder Man. However, Zemo had created a failsafe to ensure Simon's compliance as the transformation was fatal for Williams unless he regularly took an antidote to stave off its effects. This was designed to ensure that the Wonder Man did not turn against Zemo and forced him to serve in the Masters of Evil as they planned to attack the Avengers. (Avengers v1 #9)

After his death, his pilot decided to take over the identity of Baron Zemo after sometime had passed and learnt of his former employers secrets. (Captain America v1 #100)

Overview

Personality and attributes

He was noted for being the Twelfth in the Barony to hold the title of Baron Zemo. (Thunderbolts Presents Zemo Born Better v1 #4)

As a child, Zemo was remembered as being both lonely and moody. (Captain America: The Medusa Effect v1 #1)

He was said to had been a brilliant scientist who was a Nazi, a madman and a fool. Heinrich was said to had loved the sound of his own voice. (Thunderbolts Presents Zemo Born Better v1 #4) As Hitler's greatest scientist, he was so hated even by his own people which was one of the reasons he wore a hood to conceal his identity. (Avengers v1 #6)

His father was Herman Zemo who had participated in World War I. Heinrich was noted to ha glamorised the Great War to his son and his own father's role in it. (Thunderbolts Presents Zemo Born Better v1 #3)

One of his ancestors from the 15th century was Harbin Zemo who was a minor administrator of a village where for his courage he fought off invaders to his settlement. This attracted the attention of the emperor who elevated him to the ranks of the nobility. (Avengers/Thunderbolts v1 #1)

Powers and abilities

A noted scientist, it was said that Heinrich Zemo was an engineer who was a century ahead of his time. (Thunderbolts Presents Zemo Born Better v1 #4)

Among his creations included:

  • Adhesive X : an adhesive so strong that nothing could tear it apart. (Avengers v1 #6)
  • Destructon : a bipedal robot created to the ultimate bodyguard where it was a powerful foe. (Captain America v1 #100)
  • Medusa Cannon : a new version of the death ray that was based on the principles of Nikola Tesla's teleforce principle. (Captain America: The Medusa Effect v1 #1)

Notes

  • The Heinrich Zemo Baron Zemo was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby where he made his first appearance in a flashback in The Avengers v1 #4 (March, 1964) before fully appearing in The Avengers v1 #6 (July, 1964).
  • In The Avengers and The Thunderbolts (1999), Zemo's pilot was named as Franz Gruber served Heinrich as a loyal assistant for many years.

Alternate Versions

In other media

Television

  • In The Avengers: United They Stand, the older Baron Zemo was briefly shown in the animated television series in the episode "Command Decision". It was shown that he was an enemy of Captain America where he attempted to flee from the hero with his son. Upon being confronted by Captain America, he shot wildly which triggered an avalanche causing the rocks to fall on him and kill Zemo. His son witnessed his fathers death and assumed his mantle as the new Baron Zemo who was determined to get his revenge on Captain America who he blamed for his parent's demise.
  • In Avengers Assemble, Heinrich Zemo appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Danny Jacobs. In the episode "Sneakers", it was shown that during World War II he invaded Wakanda in order to acquire the Amulet of the Crocodile Spirit located underneath the royal palace leading to a battle with King T'Chaka. However, the Crocodile Spirit was overwhelming him leading to Zemo along with T'Chaka working together to seal it as a Wakandan along with an outsider working together could do so.

Films

  • In Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow, Baron Zemo made a brief cameo appearance in a flashback sequence in the animated film where he was shown as being one of the many enemies that were defeated by the Avengers.

Video games

  • In Captain America: Super Soldier, Baron Zemo was referenced in the video-game tie-in to the live-action film where he was voiced by actor Steven Blum.

Appearances

  • Avengers v1: (1964)
  • Captain America v1:
  • Captain America: The Medusa Effect v1: (1994)
  • Avengers/Thunderbolts v1:
  • Thunderbolts Presents Zemo Born Better v1:

External Links

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