Baron Zemo’s plan in Falcon and the Winter Soldier could be linked to Red Skull’s role in the comic book version of the story. At this point, it’s become clear that Disney+’s first MCU show is borrowing a major plot point from the pages of Captain America. In 1987, U.S. Agent replaced Steve Rogers as Captain America, and that’s the direction the MCU will take with Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

Falcon (Anthony Mackie) is Steve Rogers’ handpicked successor, but that doesn’t seem to matter that much to the U.S. government, who apparently have their own ideas about who should receive the mantle of “Captain America”. Fan theories postulated that U.S. Agent aka John Walker (Wyatt Russell) would take up the shield and title instead, and set photos and the Disney+ Super Bowl TV spot have confirmed this to be the case. What hasn’t been confirmed, however, is where Baron Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) fits into all of this. Zemo, who hasn’t been seen since Captain America: Civil War, will be back for Falcon and the Winter Soldier with his iconic purple mask.

Set photos of Zemo interacting with Falcon, Bucky (Sebastian Stan), and Sharon Carter (Emily Van Camp), but seemingly not engaging in direct conflict with them, have led to speculation that Zemo isn’t the villain of Falcon and the Winter Soldier. So what is Zemo trying to accomplish? The comic book version of the U.S. Agent story could answer this question. In the comics, Red Skull takes control of a cloned body of Steve Rogers and infiltrates the government. Red Skull secretly orchestrates the selection of Walker as the next Captain America, and engineers the deaths of Walker’s parents. Red Skull succeeds in forcing Walker into a mental breakdown.

Red Skull pushes Walker until he goes over the edge and kills members of the hate group that murdered his parents. He then tricks Walker into thinking that Steve Rogers himself is the true mastermind, while at the same time exposing Walker as a cold-blooded killer to Steve. Red Skull, one of the greatest schemers in Marvel Comics, manages to expertly pull the strings of both heroes. Walker blames Steve for every bad thing that’s happened to him recently, whereas Steve feels that Walker has destroyed what it means to be Captain America. Red Skull manipulates them into fighting each other, and after defeating Walker, Steve finds Red Skull and stops him.

This feels like just the sort of thing that could happen in Falcon and the Winter Soldier, but since the MCU’s Red Skull is currently off-world, another character would have to fill this role, and who better to do it than Captain America’s second biggest villain in the comics? After all, the MCU’s Zemo has already proven himself capable of masterminding such an evil plot. Look at how his actions tore apart the Avengers in Captain America: Civil War. All things considered, it’s not hard to imagine Baron Zemo  orchestrating a similar scheme and tricking U.S. Agent into fighting Falcon and Winter Soldier. If so, it will be interesting to see if the three heroes are able to figure out Zemo’s plan before he repeats the damage he caused in Civil War.

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