Arnim Zola

**Arnim Zola** is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.

He was the son of a nobleman that wanted Zola to become strong through physical means though Arnim believed in science. In time, he came to inherit the family's ancestral castle that resided in Switzerland. (Captain America v7 #3) From beneath the floor, he found a cast-iron box that contained papers that came from the near east during the time of the Crusades. The information contained ancient notes regarding genetics long before the official discovery of DNA. As a result, Arnim Zola came to be regarded as one of the first genetic engineers of the modern age. Initially, he only made microscopic organisms but over time and with experience he began developing larger creatures some of which he had to put down when they became too destructive. (Captain America v1 #209) Around the early 20th century, the Austrian was a student under the great Polish geneticist **Wladyslav Shinsky**. In 1928, he and his mentor attended a genetics conference with he among the attendees being Jonathan Drew, Herbert Edgar Wyndham and Noah Black. (X-Factor Annual v1 #3) By 1929, he was involved in secret genetics experiments that he conducted at his ancestral home in Switzerland where he fused the body of a woman with her dog. (Captain America v7 #3) He was involved with a woman named **Mary** who would not give him children and accidently discovered Arnim's hidden laboratory whereupon she attempted to leave him. She departed in the family car with him seemingly allowing her to leave but then shot the tires out with her dying in the crash with her body being pulled from the wreckage. (Captain America v7 #4)

In 1946, he was operating in the Netherlands where he was tasked with creating a biological doomsday weapon designed to turn the forces of the Allies into Axis weapons. This led to the creation of a contagious disease that transformed people into monstrous creatures that turned against their friends. Tests were made against the inhabitants of a town with Zola’s operations being protected by the superpowered Uberkommandos. The Invaders later struck at this base where they battled the Nazi superhumans. A team managed to infiltrate the castle where they badly injured Zola though the Nazi scientist was recovered by his comrades. His body was then taken to a hidden facility where his consciousness was then transferred into a cybernetic body. (Invaders Now! v1 #2)

### Present Day

At Rio De Muerte, he dad dispatched his creation the **Man-Fish** with the task of hunting for some test subjects. (Captain America v1 #208)

From his Swiss Alps home, he came to resurrect the Red Skull by using the stored personality of Schmitt and placing them in a new clone body. This body though was derived from Captain America due to Zola obtaining skin samples of the supersoldier. As a result, Schmitt awoke in a body that resembled Steve Rogers and actually contained the Super-Soldier Formula within it making him a physical equal to his foe. He had offered his friend his old mask but Schmitt claimed that he had no need for it as he decided to change tactics. Instead of being a foreign invader, he decided to use his handsome features to his advantage and operate as an American businessman where he looked to subvert the country from within. (Captain America v1 #350)

He was present when Schmidt's mind was given to a new clone body that had the Super-Soldier Serum within it. At the time, a group of assassins were looking to infiltrate Castle Zola and kill the Red Skull. These attackers triggered defensive systems and alerted Zola who from the surveillance room watched as Doughboy was dispatched to deal with the intruders. The protoplasmic being was easily able to deal with the human attackers with Zola taking them alive in order to be interrogated on their employer. The Red Skull personally oversaw the interrogation where he killed several of the assassins who claimed that another Red Skull had sent them on the mission. Arnim cautioned against killing the last survivor who still showed fighting spirit and who Schmidt wanted to test his cloned body against in unarmed combat. Despite impressive strength, the assassin was defeated but the Red Skull noted his ability and offered him a place as his right hand man. The man accepted and was given a new codename where he was called Crossbones and sent to undergo training in various skills. (Captain America v1 #383)

Zola has continued with his experiments at various locations around the globe, although his crimes against humanity had brought him to conflict with different self-proclaimed heroes, including Captain America many times and Deadpool. When fighting Deadpool, Zola created proto-husks of dead villains using their DNA; many of these were destroyed by Deadpool, except for four Gwen Stacy clones. (Deadpool v3 #0)

Zola later reunited with the Red Skull and criminal psychiatrist Doctor Faustus. He was instrumental in a plan to capture and brainwash S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter and manipulate her into assassinating Captain America. (Captain America v5 #25) Following Captain America's death, Zola took great interest when he discovered that Carter was pregnant with Cap's child. During her imprisonment at the Red Skull's lair at the Kronas, Zola subjected her to many experiments. It is believed that Sharon Carter miscarried her child while prisoner, but this remains unverified. Carter escaped and avenged herself against the Red Skull by fatally shooting him in the chest. Arnim Zola downloaded the Skull's essence into a robotic body similar to his own. (Captain America v5 #42)

After M-Day, the event saw the mass depowering of the X-Gene that deprived millions of Mutants of their powers. Looking to undo the Decimation, the Beast consulted numerous scientific minds in the superhuman community. At first, he attempted heroes but after failing in that endeavour he decided to seek the best minds among supervillains with Zola being among their number. However, only a few looked to aid him in his quest to undo the effects of M-Day. (Uncanny X-Men v1 #488)

During the Dark Reign, Zola came to be located by Norman Osborn who had become the current director of H.A.M.M.E.R. that was a peacekeeping organization. He came to be informed that Captain America was locked in space and time on the date of his supposed death. Doom's machine was meant to bring him back for an unknown purpose but because of Sharon, he has become unstuck in time, causing him to relive the events of World War II. (Captain America v1 #600)

### Dimension Z

Inside his dimension, he developed a daughter and a son for himself with him spending years in designing them. To improve them, he sought the Super-Soldier Serum and had Captain America abducted to extract it from him. However, he escaped and he took the son from his test tube believing him a captive and unaware of the boy's background. Zola was enraged as he believed that Captain America had killed his son and sent his Mutate hordes to re-acquire him after Rogers escaped outside the city. (Captain America v7 #1) In the following decade, Captain America came to raise Zola's son as his own who he named Ian Rogers. (Captain America v7 #2) The two came to ally with the peaceful Phrox, and eventually led a rebellion to stop Zola's forces, now commanded by Zola's daughter, Jet Black. To combat them, Arnim deployed one of his creations namely **Captain Zolandia** was a mutated clone of Captain America, he had his memories and tried to kill both Cap as well as Ian. (Captain America v7 #7) Ian was later captured by Zola, and brainwashed to accept Zola as his father again, but eventually broke out of his control, only to be shot by Sharon Carter. Eventually, Carter sacrificed herself to destroy Zola and his fortress, allowing Cap and a now reformed Jet to escape back to Earth. (Captain America v7 #10)

For years afterwards, Arnim began developing his forces and bred an army of mutates with the intention of invading Earth as an act of revenge. (Captain America v7 #23) He was in contact with the Red Skull over their respective plans for the planet. Zola then opened the portals allowing his mutates to assault New York City. (Captain America v7 #22) Hordes of mutants alongside the genetically engineered **Unvengers** fought against the heroes in New York City. (Captain America v7 #23) He faced pressure from the Red Skull to detonate a bomb to wipe out everyone in the city though Arnim intended to reclaim his daughter first. Jet then arrived to confront him with Zola stating that all her actions had been the result of his planning and that this would end with her returning to him. He was then attacked by Falcon who recovered Jet with Arnim battling the pair on the streets below. A further attempt to take Jet back with him was stopped again by Sam Wilson with Arnim learning that his daughter was involved in a relationship with the Falcon. This led to Zola attempting to kill the hero and in the fight his antennae was destroyed but this activated his bomb that threatened to kill everyone (Captain America v7 #24) This was only stopped when Falcon took the bomb into low orbit and barely survived the resultant explosion due to his Vibranium wings absorbing much of the blast. Arnim once again attempted to convince his daughter to re-join him but she refused and went to embrace the Falcon. However, Sharon Carter accused Jet of being a spy with the Avengers looking to restrain her. This resulted in her fleeing and returning to her fathers side as the tower returned the pair back to Dimension Z. (Captain America v7 #25)

Within Dimension Z, he was approached by Madame Hydra Sinclair where he incapacitated her bodyguards Black Ant and Taskmaster. She offered Zola the chance to re-write reality and ensure his own long life in exchange for him joining the new High Council of Hydra. (Captain America: Steve Rogers v1 #14) As a member of the High Council, he was there when Steve Rogers became the new head of Hydra after killing the Red Skull. (Captain America: Steve Rogers v1 #15) When Hydra took over the United States, he ruled the country along with the other members of the High Council. (Secret Empire v1 #1) He later accompanied a group of Hydra soldiers to a base of Doctor Octopus who defeated the troopers with this being a test by Zola to determine his worthiness to become part of the upcoming Secret Empire. (Amazing Spider-Man v4 #25) It was later revealed that Arnim Zola was behind the A.I. Virus that is controlling Vision to be a part of Hydra's Avengers. As the Hydra Helicarriers attack the hideout of the Underground, Arnim Zola mentions that their attacks will not bring down their defenses. Captain America states that they will unleash their secret weapon. Arnim Zola tells Captain America that their subject in the vault is awake but disoriented and that the procedure they did on him is temporary as his condition will degrade quickly. After brushing off Arnim Zola's concerns, Captain America states that they only need their subject for a short time to bring the Underground down. When the vault opens, it is revealed that the person they are talking about that is a somehow-revived Bruce Banner. (Secret Empire v1 #5)

Zola with his Hydra forces later broke into the headquarters of Otto Octavius where they attempted to redraft him into their efforts though he refused. This saw Zola dispatch a bio-duplicate of the Gorgon to deal with Doctor Octopus who managed to defeat his foes. Though his base was shielded, he dropped this temporarily so Zola's consciousness could leave his destroyed body and be given a warning that Doctor Octopus would never serve Hydra again. (Superior Octopus v1 #1) Afterwards, he was operating on Earth where he captured all manner of mystical creatures of Asgard during the recent invasion of the planet. By this point, the nation of Krakoa had been established which meant that Mutant specimens were scarce for his research. Thus, he looked to acquire such specimens with Primus by his side in achieving this goal from one of his hidden bases in North Dakota. At this time, the Juggernaut who was working for Damage Control was deployed to investigate the matter but was captured by Primus. (Juggernaut v3 #4) Damage Control filtered the grains of Quicksand's body that contained Zola's mind-controlling isotope, and Juggernaut made Zola use what remains of Quicksand to help her reconstitute herself. Quicksand was about to kill Zola, but she was convinced to stand down by Juggernaut, who wanted her help in changing how superhuman prisoners were treated. (Juggernaut v3 #5)

## Overview

### Personality and attributes

He held the view that science held the key to everlasting human perfection. (Captain America v7 #3) To him, his world was his laboratory and the field of bio-chemistry. He longed desired to learn the secret of life itself and became dedicated in its study. (Captain America v1 #209) Those that fell into his clutches were transformed as part of his experiments where he considered making them into works of genetic art. (Captain America v1 #210)

It was said that the Zola's were master planners and that direct abrupt attack was not something considered in their war plans. Such actions were only done so as part of a deeper game though Arnim was known to indulge in emotions such as revenge. (Captain America v7 #23) Zola had said that he never apologised for yearning for power. (Juggernaut v3 #4) He came to learn that the ends justify the means and it was said that his association with the Red Skull made him a ruthless dreamer. (Captain America v1 #210)

S.H.I.E.L.D. files on him remarked that he was a loner who operated as a bio-chemist and considered a pioneer in the new science of genetic engineering. Zola himself believed that biological technology was the solution and would replace the more cumbersome machines of modern man. (Captain America v1 #210)

His closest ally and benefactor for his operations was the Red Skull who had funded Zola's experiments. (Captain America v1 #210)

Arnim had said that the only thing he wanted was a family and to be loved with him giving to his children everything in return. (Captain America v7 #6) He considered Jet to be his perfect child. (Captain America v7 #24) Despite his ruthless nature, he claimed that he did genuinely love his children. He even acknowledged this as being a weakness that cost him a victory as he desired them to survive. (Captain America v7 #25)

### Powers and abilities

Arnim was responsible for creating the **Zola consciousness virus** that implanted his genetic material in another living being where it formed in their bodies and attempted to take over the host that became an extension of Zola himself. (Captain America v7 #4)

As a genetic engineer, he devised experiments in the creation of man-made life. He was even able to create younger bodies for himself with the brain being housed in a more protected location. (Captain America v1 #209) Women breeders were taken to be used as bio clay to produce more Mutates. (Captain America v7 #5)

Among his creations included:

* **Man-Fish** : a bipedal red-skinned amphibious being who had razor-sharp teeth, steel like sinews and had incredible strength. (Captain America v1 #208)
* **Doughboy** : a bizarre gelatinous being who floated through the air and whose body was malleable allowing him to shapeshift to an incredible degree. He could cause his substance to engulf others into his form, turn himself into an organic capsule and fashion furniture within his body for occupants inside. (Captain America v1 #209) Within his being was the code that could produce any creature that Zola desired allowing him to form more specialised entities for set tasks such as tracking. (Captain America v1 #210)
* **Primus** : a more humanoid being that had many of the characteristics of Doughboy though was more intelligent and independent. Primus could harden his body like stone and he had incredible strength. (Captain America v1 #209)
* **Protoids** : former people that were mangled through Zola’s genetic process. (Thunderbolts v1 #43) This transformed them into yellow skinned shapeshifting mindless mutates. (Captain America v1 #276)
* **Corpse Corps** : consisting of Proto-Husks grown from DNA samples taken from the deceased that recreated the person in a full formed state unlike a clone who took years to develop even with cellular acceleration. Fully created functional artificial life could be made from single strands of DNA. (Deadpool v1 #0)
* **Unvengers** : a powerful group of hyper-mutates that were bred from genetic material from the Avengers. (Captain America v7 #23)

Zola later bred the **Captains of Zolandia** that were a number of mutated clones of Captain America who were negatively charged with Gamma Rays. (Captain America v7 #5)

He was considered the master of all his creations with them being forced to respond to his summons. (America v1 #208) The body he had created meant that he could control his experiments through thought alone. Zola's powerful brainwaves were transmitted as signals from the transmitter on his head. (Captain America v1 #209) Through a mental bolt, he could sent a command to his creations who then enacted his will. (Captain America v1 #209) Zola controlled his mutates with his mind with his creations being directionless and harmless if separated from his telepathic connection. (Captain America v7 #5)

His creations could be used to form a **tele-sight** that absorbed thought-waves and converted them into visual and audio-images allowing him to converse with anyone on the planet. This system did not require any wires or equipment with the energy provided by his creation itself. (Captain America v1 #210) He came to develop a contagious viral weapon that changed people on a molecular level. It shut down the conscious thoughts of an infected person where it stimulated the pain and aggression centers of the brain. Thus, it made the hosts into weapons who turned against their comrades and spread the infection to others. (Invaders Now! v1 #2)

His talent was such hat he managed to create a clone body of Steve Rogers that included the Super-Soldier Formula within it. (Captain America v1 #350)

Arnim had an ancestral home that was **Castle Zola** which also served as his laboratory. (Captain America v1 #210) It had been built by his ancestors centuries ago where it stood deep within the mountains of Switzerland. (Captain America v1 #209)

He later had a city constructed for himself in Dimension Z which he referred to as **Zolandia**. (Captain America v7 #1)

## Notes

* Arnim Zola was created by Jack Kirby where he made his first appearance in Captain America v1 #208 (April, 1977).
* Writer Rick Remender on his Captain America run said in an interview, *"To me, Zola is equal parts the twisted evil of Joffrey from ‘Game of Thrones’ and the cold amoral brilliance of Hanz Landa from ‘Inglorious Basterds.’ I like his motives a lot because he’s incredibly villainous, but he’s just one of these guys who is fixated on something. In his case, he’s the Bio-Fanatic. He has this unquenchable thirst for knowledge and feels like he should be free to experiment on whomever and how ever he desires... Zola has served the Red Skull and his quest to destroy Cap, but for him it’s always been about earning the time to do what he wants. That way, he can go off and do his ugly mischievous bio-engineering and create whatever crazy things his twisted mind can come up with. Getting rid of Captain America has always been something that’s a necessity to get to that point, but it’s not the case now. I think to address the nature of Zola and Steve’s relationship directly spoils our first two issues. It’s a big reveal."*

## Alternate Versions

* In Hail Hydra v1 (2015), a version of Arnim Zola resided on Battleworld where he lived as the Baron of the **Hydra Empire** realm. The mainstream Nomad survived the collapse of the Multiverse through the Infinite Elevator where he landed in this realm and attempted to survive. In this realm, Arnim Zola also had a son that went by his original name of Leopold Zola and served as **Captain Hydra** in Hydra's Avengers. Upon learning of Nomad, Zola wanted him captured so he could study his body and replicate his regeneration capabilities.

## In other media

### Television

* In The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, Arnim Zola appeared as an antagonist in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Grant Moninger. He made a brief appearance as an in-mate at the Big House as shown in episode "The Man in the Ant-Hill" with him breaking out of prison in "Outbreak". In "Some Assembly Required", it was shown that he had helped stall the effects of Virus X on Baron Zemo and aided his old ally in an attack against Captain America by sending Doughboy after the Avengers.
* In Ultimate Spider-Man, Arnim Zola appeared as an antagonist in the animated television series in the episode "S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy" where he was voiced by actor Mark Hamill. Zola was shown to had operated during World War II where he was a member of HYDRA and an enemy of both Captain America and the Whizzer. At some point, he was defeated and his body disassembled where it was kept in the Triskelion. This became the source of a signal that was detected by Iron Spider Amadeus Cho who accidently left the cell open allowing for Zola's body to activate. He later tricked Cho into bringing him his ESP Box allowing him to reassemble his body. After escaping, he established a laboratory on the lowest level of the Triskelion where he began breeding a Synthezoid army where he battled Spider-Man, Iron Spider, Agent Venom, Power Man and Whizzer. Whizzer told the young heroes to target the ESP Box causing Zola to lose control of his Synthezoid army and causing the laboratory to explode thus defeating the HYDRA scientist. Though defeated, Zola was not killed in the explosion but returned in "Attack of the Synthezoids" where he was shown to had built another laboratory in the Triskelion in secret. Once more, he began creating Synthezoids that he used to replace the various heroes and staff at the S.H.I.E.L.D. base.
* In Avengers Assemble, Arnim Zola appeared as an antagonist in the animated television series where he was once again voiced by actor Mark Hamill.
* In Agent Carter, the Zola from the Captain America movie made an appearance as part of the shared Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was once again played by actor Toby Jones and appeared in the episode "Valediction". It was shown that in 1944 he was within an American prison cell when Leviathan agent Johann Fennhoff was left in the same cell. Zola commented that despite their imprisonment that their shared cell offered them new opportunities and gave him a paper to write on as the Scientific Strategic Reserve placed a lock around his mouth to prevent him from influencing anyone through his hypnotic suggestions.
* In Spider-Man, Arnim Zola appeared as an antagonist in the 2017 animated television series episode "Spider-Island Part 2" where he was voiced again by actor Mark Hamill. He was shown as being the heads of one of the factions of Hydra and had dispatched Crossbones to acquire a Vibranium encryption key that led to a reserve of the precious metal which he intended to use to create a series of advanced weapons for his forces.
* In Marvel Future Avengers, Arnim Zola appeared in the anime television series where he was voiced by Japanese actor Volcano Ota in Japanese and actor Kirk Thornton in the English dub.
* In What If...?, Arnim Zola appeared in the setting of the animated television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was voiced again by actor Toby Jones.

### Films

* In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Arnim Zola made a number of appearances in the shared setting:
	+ In Captain America: The First Avenger, Arnim Zola made his first appearance in a supporting role in the live-action film where he was played by actor Toby Jones. He was shown as a Swiss scientist during World War II where he joined HYDRA and served as Johann Schmidt chief science officer. In 1942, the Red Skull managed to uncover the Tesseract with Zola studying its power to create weapons after HYDRA split from Nazi Germany. On November 1943, he would escape HYDRA's base in Austria when Dr. Abraham Erskine's super-soldier Captain America assaulted the facility. Afterwards, he was present on a train convoy that was attacked by the Allied forces where he was captured and taken by the Strategic Scientific Reserve where he offered to reveal many of his technological secrets to them.
	+ In Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the character makes a minor appearance during the movie. Its stated that he was one of many Nazi HYDRA scientists who defected to S.H.I.E.L.D. This proved to be a long term strategy by these agents where they sought to corrupt the nascent agency into serving them with a secretive HYDRA cabal stirring conflicts with the ultimate goal of world domination. In that time, Zola was diagnosed with a terminal disease and as a result he used his advanced intellect to turn his mind into an artificial intelligence. It was through Arnim Zola's genius that he created the **Zola Algorithm** that became the basis for intelligence gathering using digital records. With this code, S.H.I.E.L.D. and thus the HYDRA cabal were able to determine the action's of people through their past digital records such as bank statements as well as other such records. His artificial intelligence survived within the databanks of a secret early S.H.I.E.L.D. installation located beneath Camp Lehigh. By the modern age, the Zola intelligence was present on a flash drive that came into possession of Nick Fury and eventually Steve Rogers. Unaware of what was on the drive, Rogers traced the clues to the Camp where Natasha Romanov attached it into a port activating the ancient databanks where Arnim Zola revealed the events following his capture. He also explained that he was simply distracting Rogers in order to allow the HYDRA cabal to destroy Captain America and Black Widow when a missile was launched at the underground bunker thus destroying it. Alexander Pierce commented that this incident cost him Zola as the artificial intelligence was destroyed with the secret installation.

### Video games

* In Captain America: Super Soldier, Arnim Zola appeared as an antagonist in the video game tie-in to the live-action film where he was voiced by actor André Sogliuzzo.
* In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, Arnim Zola appeared in the story setting in the Facebook video game.
* In Marvel: War of Heroes, Arnim Zola appeared on a playable card named **Bio-Fanatic Zola** in the video game.
* In Marvel: Future Revolution, Arnim Zola appeared as a boss level antagonist in the setting of the mobile video game.

## Appearances

* *Captain America v1*: (1977)
* *Deadpool v1*:
* *Captain America v7*:
* *Captain America: Steve Rogers v1*:
* *Juggernaut v3*: (2020)