On February 7th, as part of Super Bowl LV, a new television spot was released to market Marvel Studios’ upcoming series, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. Although the spot itself only announced that a second trailer for the series had been released, this second trailer offered fans a lot to obsess over. As well as giving extended looks at the return of Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp) and the new paramilitary force the ‘Flag-Smashers’, the trailer also revealed the series’ main antagonist for the first time on screen: Captain America: Civil War (2016) baddy, Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl).
Now sporting his iconic purple mask from the comics, in the trailer, Zemo is seen looking at a memorial to those killed in Sokovia during Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), before resolving that he “had no intention to leave [his] work unfinished”. The work in question? Defeating the Avengers. Indeed, Zemo instigated multiple conflicts in Civil War (such a killing Black Panther’s father and revealing that Bucky Barnes killed Tony Stark’s parents), with the express goal of ‘destroying’ the Avengers (metaphorically – he wanted them to be arguing so much they could no longer work together).
Wildest of all, his plan worked; following Civil War, the Avengers ‘broke-up’ leading to their scattered presence at the start of Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and therefore perhaps allowing Thanos’ plan to succeed. Nevertheless, at the end of Civil War, Zemo is apprehended by Black Panther, being told he will be punished for the crimes he committed. In fact, the last audiences saw of this Sokovian strategist was in custody, placed in the same box-like prison Bucky Barnes was initially kept in, gloating that his plan didn’t ‘fail.’
So, with the character seemingly at-large in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, viewers are now a little confused: how did this ultra-dangerous, highly competent criminal get out of prison? Considering he killed a head of state (Black Panther’s father, the King of Wakanda) and countless other civilians, it’s not like the CIA and UN are going to let him out for good behavior – he must’ve orchestrated an escape plan of some sort. Whilst not to say Zemo isn’t conniving enough to brainstorm a plan to elude his captors, the actual way he escaped from prison may be far simpler: the snap.
Since the Hulk snapped back half of all life in the universe in Avengers: Endgame (following Thanos snapping them out of existence in Infinity War), the MCU has done very little to explore the societal ramifications of this sudden reappearance of 3.5 billion people. Initially, it looked as though Spider-Man: Far From Home was positioned to explore this theme, but all that really amounted to was Peter Parker having a new love rival for MJ. Instead, audiences got their first glance at the chaos of the ‘return’ in Episode 4 of Wandavision.
Breaking away from the central narrative, the episode explores how Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) ended up in Wanda’s paranormal Westview, and it begins in a shocking way. Rambeau jolts awake next to an empty hospital bed, exiting the room to find the wider building in chaos: doctors running around hectically, patients and patrons screaming for help, and mechanical beeps filling the void. Turns out, Rambeau was part of the 50% that got snapped, and she returned to the same location she was last in 5 years or so before; next to her dying mother in the hospital. However, the rest of the world kept going, and had no clue their departed counterparts would be suddenly returning to where they once were (of course not – it’s not like the Avengers gave anyone a heads-up). Judging from the chaos of this short hospital scene alone, it looks like society was wildly unprepared for this grand ‘return’.
So, imagine what it is like for prisons. If half the prisoner population suddenly vanished, it’s not like the guards kept their cells locked on the off chance they would suddenly return; they would likely leave them unlocked and unobserved. Moreover, given the massively reduced population size, there would probably be fewer prisoners in jail, so fewer cells occupied and fewer guards ensuring they’re locked up. So, say Zemo got snapped and then snapped-back five years later, he would return to an unlocked, unguarded prison cell – escaping his confines would likely be ultra-easy.
Although simplistic, this is a very convincing argument for how Zemo ‘escaped’. The MCU has shown in the past that it’s eager to create as much world-building centred around the pivotal snap as possible, so they would probably be enthusiastic to shape Zemo’s prison-break around it. Nevertheless, even if this wasn’t the case, fans don’t have long to wait to find out how the Sokovian mastermind actually did dupe the guards.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is set to be released on March 19, on Disney Plus.
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