Helmut Zemo

* Baron Zemo
* Citizen V
* Old

**Baron Helmut Zemo** is a recurring antagonist in *Avengers Assemble*.

He is the main antagonist of the *Masters of Evil/Thunderbolts* arc of Season 3: *Ultron Revolution* and a minor antagonist in Season 4: *Secret Wars*.

He was a German nobleman and scientist, former leader and current member of Hydra and the former leader of the Masters of Evil/Thunderbolts. He is an enemy of Captain America and the Avengers.

## Physical Appearance

### As Baron Helmut Zemo

In *Ultron Revoltuion*, before taking the Super Soldier Serum, he appeared as an old bald German man wearing a great hat, a gray coat over his steel gray suit and black shades over his eyes. He also carried a cane with a retractable blade at the end and a Hydra symbol at the head. After injecting himself with the Super Soldier Serum, he was turned young again and muscular. He then still wears his steel grey suit with grey linings on it, a black belt with a silver buckle and pouches on it, black shoulder holsters with gun pouches, yellow gloves and boots with black lines on them and a regal purple mask with lines on it with the outline of the eyes being black and the insides being white and a gold head band on the top. Despite carrying a sword around, no sheath is seen anywhere on him.

In *Secret Wars*, his gun pouches have moved from his black shoulder holsters to his black belt and he now wears his sword with a sheath on his back. After putting the Amulet of the Crocodile Spirit on, his entire body turns statue grey.

### As Citizen V

As Citizen V, after using the Inversion Stabilizer, he appears to wear a blue suit with a white mask that makes two short curving spikes at the head, with red armored shoulder/chest plate with a white V in the middle, red gauntlets the a white line on them, red boots, a red belt with a white V going around it and white stars on the sides of the shoulders.

## History

Baron Helmut Zemo was a nobleman and scientist, and son of Baron Heinrich Zemo, one of the original founders of HYDRA. He sought to carry on his father's legacy, and attempted recreate the Super Soldier Serum to create an army of super soldiers. Zemo attempted to formulate his own version of the serum, but it was imperfect, leading his test subjects to turn into hulking abominations. Thus, Helmut resolved to find his father's perfect serum to achieve his goals.

To achieve this goal, the now-elderly Zemo placed his father's old nemesis Captain America under a special state of hypnosis that forced him to relive his final days with Bucky during the war against Hydra. Zemo followed Captain America to Castle Zemo in order to find his father's version of the super soldier serum, but was briefly interrupted by Iron Man and Black Widow. Injecting the two Hydra soldiers flanking him with his crude serum, he followed Captain America to his father's laboratory, where he injected himself with the super soldier serum and rejuvenating himself, by giving him a younger more powerful form. He took the other remaining vial of the serum for his own use. Donning a hood reminiscent yet different from his father's, Zemo fought the other two Avengers, easily able to handle them due to his enhancements. However, Captain America broke out of Zemo's mental control thanks to Bucky materializing himself as Cap's conscience telling him that the events playing out in his mind weren't the ones that actually occurred. Captain America joined the fight and was evenly matched with Zemo until the baron fired his pistols at the walls of Castle Zemo, causing it and the cliff side they fought on to crumble. Zemo leapt after the serum that fell out of his suit, with Captain America in hot pursuit. As both super-soldiers fell, Cap quickly grabbed Zemo's hand, but Zemo refused his help to pull him up, stating he wanted to maintain his father's legacy, forcing Cap to release his grip. Zemo fell into the rocky waters, but Iron Man's scans showed that he had disappeared.

Zemo later resurfaces as the superhero **Citizen V**, helping the Avengers defeat Growing Man. Originally, his plan was teaming up with the Masters of Evil, and disguising them as a new superhero team called the Thunderbolts. However, when their secret was exposed, the Avengers and Masters were left to die in a collapsing warehouse while Zemo as Citizen V gained public sympathy from their deaths. However, the Avengers and the Thunderbolts, now genuinely reformed, exposed his true identity to the city, foiling his plan. Initiating a backup plan, Zemo unleashed a supercharged Ulysses Klaw against them, while he escaped.

After obtaining leftover time travel technology from Kang the Conqueror, Zemo constructed a time portal to make contact his father, **Heinrich Zemo**, the original Baron Zemo. He eventually was able to bring his father from the 40s during World War II to the present day, just as Captain America, Falcon and Black Widow arrived. Heinrich resolves to strand the three Avengers in his own time period, forcing them into the portal. During the fight between the Avengers and the Zemos, Heinrich started to see Helmut as a disappointment enough to use the time machine to bring forward a Zemo from the year 2099. After Helmut got trapped under some debris, his own father declined to help him. After being freed from the debris from Captain America, Helmut worked with Captain America to send Heinrich back to 1943 which also erases Zemo 2099's existence. As Helmut had cooperated with Captain America, he won't be sent to the Vault. Baron Zemo next appears in Avengers: Secret Wars. Zemo has a confrontation with Black Panther and Ant-Man while obtaining a Wakandan relic hidden away by T'Chaka and Heinrich. Despite being empowered by the hidden relic (to the point of insanity), he is defeated by the two members of the New Avengers.

## Powers and abilities

#### **Powers**

**Artificially Enhanced Physiology:** After injecting himself with his father's version of the Super Soldier Serum, Zemo gained superhuman physical abilities on par with Captain America.

* **Enhanced Strength:** His raw physical strength is considerable able to fend off Iron Man and Captain America in direct combat.
* **Enhanced Speed:**
* **Enhanced Stamina:**
* **Enhanced Agility:** He is highly agile and evasive, able to effectively dodge and maneuver against multiple enemies with impressive acrobatics.
* **Enhanced Durability:**
* **Enhanced Endurance:** Zemo is highly resilient, able to take a direct hit from Iron Man's tasers and fight on unhindered, likely showing a considerably advanced stamina.
* **Enhanced Reflexes:**
* **Enhanced Longevity:**
* **Accelerated Healing:** The rapid healing capacities Zemo gained are quite remarkable, as it was able to rejuvenate him to his physical prime in both health and appearance, likewise slowing his aging process, to border immortality. It also allows him to heal much faster and efficiently than a peak-human specimen and gave him an immunity to illness.

#### **Abilities**

* **Swordsmanship:** He is a remarkable swordsman, able to use a blade with lethal accuracy and strength.
* **Genius-Level Intelligence:** Zemo possesses a genius-level intellect. He was capable of creating a variant of the Super-Soldier Serum, which was capable of turning human beings into Hulk-sized abominations with superhuman physical attributes. He is also a master of ancient hypnosis techniques, which are even able to bypass Captain America's indomitable willpower.
* **Military Protocols:** Zemo is a highly skilled military tactician. He also had an extensive knowledge of Captain America's fighting styles and tactics. He is able to lead his Militia back in World War II and the modern world from behind the scenes. Under his leadership, he even managed to transform the relatively incompetent Masters of Evil into skilled warriors, on parallel levels with the Avengers.
* **Marksmanship:** He has shown a remarkable proficiency with his signature dual firearms.
* **Hand-to-Hand Combat:** Zemo has advanced training in various martial arts. He displays his advanced combat skills while fighting Iron Man, Black Widow and Captain America. He is able to overpower the Thunderbolts and the Avengers all on his own, solely based on skill and gadgetry.
* **Skilled Strategic:**

#### Former Powers

* **Vibranium Manipulation:** He gained the vibranium particles of Klaue to gain control over the vibranium particles itself.
	+ **Force-Field Generation:** he was able to create a force-field shielding him from the combined of the Avengers and the Thunderbolts.
	+ **Vibrational Energy Generation:** he is able to generate vibrational energy constructs. He can even power his sword with vibrational energy to enhance the potency of his power.

## Paraphernalia

#### **Weapons**

* **Sword**
* **Laser Blasters**

## Appearances

### Avengers Assemble

#### Comics

##### **Marvel Universe Avengers: Ultron Revolution**

* Marvel Universe Avengers: Ultron Revolution #3
* Marvel Universe Avengers: Ultron Revolution #5
* Marvel Universe Avengers: Ultron Revolution #6
* Marvel Universe Avengers: Ultron Revolution #7

## Trivia

* Zemo was a member, and the leader, of the super villain team, the Masters of Evil. Both Heinrich and Helmut Zemo led several iterations of the Masters in comics and other media.
* Zemo's role possibly reflects his role in *Captain America: Civil War*, which the third season adapts to tie-in. However, his *Civil War* counterpart was confirmed to not be wearing the purple hood in his first appearance. Unlike Zemo in the series, his movie counterpart is not a member of HYDRA.
* In the comics, Zemo's father Heinrich developed a serum called Adhesive X, an extreme form of superglue (as noted by Black Widow) which after accidental exposure became the reason Heinrich never took off his hood. Later on in his life, Helmut was exposed to the serum as well, disfiguring him, though it doesn't appear to be the in-show reason for why they never showed his full face after his rejuvenation and empowerment.