The following article contains spoilers regarding Baron Zemo in episode three of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
Over the past week, Daniel Bruhl's Baron Zemo has become a viral meme. The evil villain started trending on social media after episode three, “Power Broker,” of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier released last Friday. But, it wasn’t for him donning the iconic Zemo mask from the comics, and was instead for his dance moves inside a Madripoor nightclub.
While the clip in the episode is quite short and fans would miss Bruhl’s dance if they blinked, the actor revealed that it was initially a much longer scene that had been deleted. Fans immediately started a #ReleaseTheZemoCut campaign on social media and it seems like Marvel has heard their pleas, with the 30-second scene now officially released by the entertainment company. But, that’s not all. They seemed to be aware of the popularity of the dance sequence and released an hour-long loop of Zemo partying at the club.
Fans saw Bruhl's Baron Zemo return in last week’s episode of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier when Bucky manages to break him out of prison. The murderous character, who happens to be rich, is then seen working alongside the heroes in tracking down the super-soldier serum. As the three arrive on the fictional island of Madripoor, where they plan to infiltrate a nightclub to get information on the serum, Zemo decides to bust some moves. Having been locked away for years, it was probably exhilarating being at a party.
In previous interviews, Bruhl revealed that the dance scene was not planned and the moment was completely “improvised.” When he saw the dancing crowd, it seemed like the right thing to do was to participate, “let off some steam and show his moves.” What made it better for him was seeing the reaction of his co-stars, Anthony Mackie and Sebastian Stan. While he was convinced that the scene would get cut from the episode, Bruhl was thrilled to see the fans’ reaction and the short-lived #ReleaseTheZemoCut campaign, which has now achieved its goal.
After first appearing in Captain America: Civil War as the main villain, it is established that Zemo is looking to tear apart the Avengers. In an attack led by Ultron in Sokovia, Zemo’s family is killed, but he blames the Avengers for his loss and goes on to reactivate Bucky’s Winter Soldier programming for revenge.
Finally being arrested for all his crimes, Zemo is locked up in a containment cell in Germany, which is where fans first see him in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. It remains to be seen how far his journey with Sam and Bucky will go.
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is now available on Disney Plus.
Source: Marvel Entertainment/Twitter