Soon, Helmut Zemo will return to plague the lives of Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe television series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier. The character previously appeared in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, where he served as an antagonist not just to Steve Rogers, but the Avengers as a whole. While he didn't have any superpowers of his own, Zemo proved a cunning enemy, as he eventually managed to divide the Avengers. However, while at first Zemo's plan appeared to involve an entire army of Winter Soldiers, the villain surprised -- well, everyone -- when he killed them rather than unleashing them on the Avengers. Still, there's a good reason that Zemo chose to kill those Winter Soldiers.

In Civil War, Zemo's plan may have appeared complicated at first, but it was actually pretty straightforward. The villain started by going through the Hydra files that were released online by Black Widow in 2014's Captain America: The Winter Soldier to find an old Hydra operative who had the means to control the Winter Soldier. From the outside, it was decided, thanks in large part to Bucky Barnes' knowledge of the Winter Soldier program, that Zemo's plan was to use this book to locate a facility where other Winter Soldiers were kept cryogenically frozen, waiting to be woken up and turned into a murderous army.

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Zemo in Captain America: Civil War
Marvel's Captain America: Civil War..Zemo (Daniel Brühl)..Photo Credit: Zade Rosenthal..© Marvel 2016

However, when Iron Man, Captain America and Bucky caught up with Zemo at the facility, they found that, instead of waking up the Winter Soldiers, Zemo had killed them all. What he was really after was a videotape that showed that it was Bucky who had killed Tony Stark's parents, a revelation that lead to a fight between Iron Man and Captain America.

There are actually two reasons why Zemo opted to kill the Winter Soldiers. First, it's important to note Zemo's entire motivation for going after the Avengers. In the battle of Sokovia, which took place in 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, Helmut Zemo lost his entire family -- his wife, his son and even his father died while Earth's Mightiest Heroes battled Ultron. Because of this heartbreaking loss, Helmut developed a vendetta against all superheroes, and super-powered beings in general. He took the Winter Soldiers out, in part, to make sure they would never be woken and used again.

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Winter Soldiers Based On Soviet Super Soldiers

But that's not the only reason Zemo eliminated the other Winter Soldiers. His primary goal was always to dismantle the Avengers from within, to have them fall to in-fighting. The villain himself explained that more powerful people had tried and failed to defeat the Avengers. What he wanted was not to physically beat them, but to rip them apart from the inside. Zemo used the knowledge that it was Bucky who killed Tony Stark's parents to break the team apart -- and it worked. At the end of Civil War, the Avengers were no more, which arguably led to their later loss in the battle against Thanos.

Before Thanos ever collected the Infinity Stones, Zemo had been successful in defeating the Avengers -- and he did it without any powers. But if he had awakened the Winter Soldiers and turned them into his own weapons, then he would have given the Avengers a reason to put their differences aside and fight side-by-side once more.

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Zemo in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier

Helmut Zemo is not be the most powerful villain in the MCU. He doesn't have superpowers or cosmic gems to help him fight the Avengers. And yet, he was single-handedly responsible for defeating the team by accepting his limits and playing to his strengths. He is a brilliant tactician, and a cold, cruel and efficient soldier. Without him, there might have never even been a Snap. Zemo is extremely dangerous, and there's no telling what kind of havoc he will unleash next in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.

Directed by Kari Skogland, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier stars Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Emily VanCamp, Wyatt Russell, Noah Mills, Carl Lumbly and Daniel Brühl. The series premieres March 19 on Disney+.

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