Summary
While the Marvel Cinematic Universe is in a neutral place at the moment, one star fromThe Falcon and the Winter Soldieron Disney+ believes that their return to the popular franchise is imminent, despite no confirmed plans from Marvel Studios.
One of the highlights ofThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s run on DIsney+ was the more down-to-earth tone it took compared to what the mainline MCU had to offer prior. This was instrumental in helping the characters stand out, and few stood out as much as Daniel Brühl’s Baron Zemo, whosereturn was teased in the promos forThe Falcon and the Winter Soldierafter his incarceration at the end ofCaptain America: Civil War.The miniseries showed a really interesting dynamic between Zemo and the heroes of the show and further escalated his standing within the MCU fandom.
Now that it’s widely accepted thatZemo is an underrated villain inFalcon And The Winter Soldierandstill manages to see himself as the hero of the story he’s playing a role in, the next port of call is a potential return to the MCU for the character and the actor behind him has some thoughts on the chances of this happening. Speaking toScreenrantabout his most recent project Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, Brühl discussed his thoughts on a potential return, noting that the character was certainly still alive and expressing great confidence he’ll be back on the screen soon. At least soon enough for his own tastes, as he also discusses his own patience and a recent project with some interesting parallels to the MCU.
It’s fine for me, I can wait. [Laughs] I’m a very patient man. No, I’m not, but it’s funny, because in the meantime, I just wrapped on a show that’s called The Franchise, where it’s actually a satire about the superhero universe, so it was fun to switch sides, so to say. But knowing Marvel, they have a lot of sense of humor, so they will probably find it as funny as I did. And who knows, I mean, I’m still not dead, I’m very confident that I’ll be back.
While Brühl’s comments are endearing, it seems counterintuitive that Zemo won’t be rejoining the MCU inThunderebolts,an upcoming film about a morally grey superteam that theCaptain Americaantagonist has led for more than one stint in the comic books. Furthermore, his inclusion anda potential R-rating forThunderboltsa laDeadpool & Wolverinecould be the key to really letting fans see what the character is made of. For all its scope the MCU is severely lacking in characters that have the ability to get fans feeling conflicted in the same way that Killmonger managed to do for a short while. Brühl’s portrayal already shows signs of that sort of potential, and his omission from theThunderboltslineup is a serious missed opportunity.
There’s still a lot for MCU fans to discover about Zemoand a return to the franchise sooner rather than later would be a great way to get some of that characterization in before his shine fades. Whether or not this plays out positively and if it will be inThunderboltsor some other future project remains to be seen.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldieris available for streaming on Disney+.
