Why Daniel Brühl’s Baron Zemo Isn’t in Thunderbolts* Revealed by Director
Jake Schreier, the director of Thunderbolts*, has revealed why Daniel Brühl’s Baron Zemo isn’t in the MCU feature. Notably, Baron Helmut Zemo was the founder of the Thunderbolts in the comics and served as its initial leader. Brühl has portrayed the character in two MCU projects: the movie Captain America: Civil War (2016) and the Disney+ superhero series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021).
Jake Schreier on why Baron Zemo wasn’t considered for Thunderbolts*
Schreier disclosed to Dexerto in a recent interview that Brühl’s Zemo was not part of any of the versions of the Thunderbolts* script he was given. “There was no version that I was presented with where that was ever true, from the first draft that I read,” he explained, adding, “There are like a few character shifts since then, but not so much, and Baron Zemo was not in there.”
The filmmaker further stated that he was aware that “some corners of the internet are not so happy about that.”
Zemo’s absence in the movie makes sense given how different the storyline and Thunderbolts roster appear to be from the comics, where initially the team was comprised of the erstwhile members of Masters of Evil, a villainous organization also led by Zemo. Following the apparent eradication of the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, the Thunderbolts pretended to be the new saviors of the world. Zemo began using the alias Citizen V, which, ironically, was the codename of a World War II superhero that his father killed.
Schreier stated in the aforementioned interview that Thunderbolts* was honoring the idea of “villains masquerading as heroes” from the comics, “but coming at it from a different angle.” In the movie, it appears that Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine is serving as the leader of the Thunderbolts instead of Zemo. The MCU has already established a personal connection between her and some of the members of the team.
The movie will debut in U.S. theaters on May 2, 2025.
Originally reported by Tamal Kundu on SuperHeroHype.
