When he was last seen in the Disney Plus streaming series The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, Helmut Zemo seemed primed to make an appearance in Marvel Studios Thunderbolts. Given the character founded the group in the pages of Marvel Comics, ending up in the Raft seemed the perfect way to leave Zemo in the position to lead a group of ragtag characters on a mission for thr U.S. government. However, as details about Thunderbolts began to trickle out, it became clear that Daniel Bruhl‘s fan-favorite bad guy was not a part of the ensemble cast, much to the disbelief of MCU fans.
Recently, Wyatt Russell–who will star in the film as the MCU’s newest super soldier, U.S. Agent–confirmed that Zemo was not in any of the drafts of the scripts he had read for the film, which seemed to put a nail in the coffin of fans’ hopes. Now, in an interview with Screen Rant, Bruhl addressed Zemo’s MCU future.
“I mean, they haven’t killed me yet…,” said Bruhl of Zemo. “[Right] now I’m doing a series, which is called The Franchise,” he continued, referencing the superhero satire series he’s currently filming for HBO, “but if there are people who have a lot of sense of humor, then it’s Marvel and it’s Kevin Feige. I’m very happy to shoot something about the franchise world and with a comical approach.” Clearly, Bruhl isn’t concerned that Marvel Studios One Above All will take the satirical series too seriously and cut Zemo out of future plans…but are there any at the moment? Bruhl took the long road to answer that question.
“But I guess it was nice with that Zemo guy because he was so surprising and different. Also, the second time around,” said the actor in reference to the character’s role in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, “I was invited to explore the sense of humor in that character, which I relish and enjoy so much. So again, it was a surprise, I was invited to surprise the people.” And his take on Zemo in the streaming series did surprise the audience and they responded in a very positive way which, in part, has led to the hopes he’d show back up in Thunderbolts; however, Bruhl revealed that is not in the cards, though he hopes to return to the role someday.
So I guess that if he shows up again, you really need to carefully think what is this crazy little guy up to this time around? So if the right opportunity would come, I wouldn’t say no, obviously. But for now, I’m into other things that I’m very happy with because that might have collided. I think they’re shooting [Thunderbolts] right now, so the destiny and fate always. I strongly believe in that. You just follow the path that you are offered to follow.
Daniel Bruhl revealing Zemo will not be in Thunderbolts
Given the derivation from the source material, it seems logical that Zemo won’t be leading this team of Thunderbolts; however, given the rotating nature of the roster of the team in the comics and the character’s in-universe resourcefulness, it seems possible that Bruhl may find his way to his rightful role as team leader down the road.
Source: Screen Rant
