Marita Zemo

Main Counterpart

*Adoptive*:

* Kerstin Forsberg (1991)
* Ivar Forsberg (1991)
* Heike Zemo (since 2000) †

**Marita Ines Zemo** is the first official child and the adopted daughter of Heike and Helmut Zemo, being the latter's biological niece.

She met Helmut and his family when she was 10, and since both of her parents were long dead and her grandmother (who also happened to be Zemo's mother) didn't want to have anything to do with the kid, Rita's uncle and his wife adopted her. They lived happily as a family, and Rita was more than excited when her "Mama" gave birth to a healthy baby boy six years later.

However, things couldn't remain so good forever. In 2015, Rita's family was killed during the Battle of Sokovia. Her "Papa" wasn't around, and the young woman herself couldn't do anything to help. Over time, she realized she couldn't have saved them anyway, but it didn't erase her hatred towards the Avengers.

## Biography

### Family Reunion

When Marita was 10, she heard one of the workers at the orphanage talking about her documents. The woman mentioned that Rita actually had a living grandmother, who couldn't (or didn't want to) take the girl to her family. A few days later, the brunette managed to sneak into the woman's office and find her grandmother's name. With the help of older kids, she also found the address and decided to visit her grandmother as soon as possible.

She got the opportunity in a few weeks, when their class had a trip to the local museum. The girl asked one of her friends to get her a plane ticket, and although it wasn't totally legal, she flew all the way from Sweden to Sokovia. No one seemed to care why a child was traveling on her own, and Rita only received one question about that during the whole flight. Luckily, the old lady believed that she was visiting her grandparents, and her mom and dad just couldn't accompany her because of their work. A few hours later, she was already in Sokovia, and after wandering around the city, she managed to find the right place.

Unfortunately, the woman she was looking to meet didn't live there anymore. However, her son still resided in that mansion, and he actually agreed to help the girl to find her if she really needed to do that. Traveling around the city turned out to be much easier with an adult, and soon Rita and Helmut, who didn't seem to be happy about meeting his own mother, arrived at Ivana's house. Unlike the image Marita built in her head, the older woman didn't express any joy after meeting her. Besides, she even stated that she doesn't want the girl in her life - in fact, she never did - and asked both of them to leave her place. The brunette obeyed, feeling betrayed one more time in her not-so-long life, and returned to Zemo's residence. She asked Helmut to contact her caregiver, fully prepared to return back to Sweden and forget about this awkward incident that completely broke her heart. However, Helmut's wife insisted that she spend the night at their house, so that they could decide what to do next later.

In the morning, Marita was still feeling terrible, but Heike did her best to cheer her up. She really liked this woman, and when she subtly explained that they were family (through Helmut, who was Rita's uncle and Heike's husband) and would never abandon her like Ivana did, Rita couldn't be happier. The young woman suggested that Rita could stay in their house, officially becoming *their kid*. And while the brunette couldn't make herself believe that, her uncle and even his father assured the girl that it was the right thing to do.