Baron Helmut Zemo gets his purple mask from the comics in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier episode 3, but where does it come from? Daniel Brühl’s return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes several years after Zemo’s debut in Captain America: Civil War. The movie made Zemo responsible for splitting up the Avengers and destroying the remains of Hydra’s Winter Soldier Program. Zemo accomplished all of this through manipulation and planning, and his arrest by Black Panther left the door open for another MCU appearance.
The Falcon and The Winter Soldier didn’t wait too long before bringing Zemo into its super-soldier-fueled story. Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes set out to find their former nemesis at the end of episode 2, which confirmed that Zemo was still in prison after all these years. Bucky wants to seek out Zemo because of his knowledge about Hydra’s super-soldier program. This leads Bucky to help Zemo break out of prison in The Falcon and The Winter Soldier episode 3. When Zemo is free and preparing for their trip to Madripoor, he grabs the character’s iconic purple mask from the comics.
Zemo finds the purple mask in an unspecified hangar filled with his and his family’s belongings. There are multiple cars, weapons, clothing, and more littered throughout the location. One of these cars has the purple mask sitting on the seat. The Falcon and The Winter Soldier doesn’t spend any more time on the mask’s history and only shows Zemo wearing it once. However, the fact that Zemo takes it at all could be a sign that it is important to him. This could be because the mask originally belonged to his father, Baron Heinrich Zemo.
In the comics, Heinrich is the original Baron Zemo. The brilliant German scientist became a recurring villain for Captain America during World War II. His purple mask became permanently glued to Zemo’s face after some of his experimental Adhesive X covered his head while the mask was on. After Heinrich died trying to defeat Captain America, Helmut Zemo began wearing a mask to follow in his father’s footsteps and serve as a reminder of what the previous Baron Zemo accomplished.
The MCU could make a few changes to this origin to connect Zemo’s mask to his father. With the mask just laying in one of the Zemo family’s many vehicles, it could’ve been left there by Heinrich prior to his death at the Battle of Sokovia. Even though Heinrich Zemo never fought Captain America as far as audiences know in the MCU, the mask being tied to him could explain why Zemo wears it now. It can serve as another reminder of the people he lost due to superheroes and fuel his desire to rid the world of them. As long as Zemo’s purple mask continues to be seen, there’s a chance The Falcon and The Winter Soldier will directly spell out any history it has in the Zemo family.
Originally from https://screenrant.com/falcon-winter-soldier-zemo-mask-origin-comics/