Falcon & Winter Soldier: What Zemo’s Plan To Defeat Karli Was

Warning: SPOILERS for The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 5 - "Truth".

Baron Helmut Zemo (Daniel Brühl) was taken into custody in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 5, leaving fans to wonder what his plan was to stop the Flag-Smashers and Karli Morgenthau (Erin Kellyman). Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) helped Zemo break out of a German prison and relied on his Hydra expertise to track the variant of the Super-Soldier Serum developed in Madripoor.

Zemo was on borrowed time because the Dora Milaje was after him. Wakanda will never forgive Zemo for assassinating King T'Chaka (John Kani) during Captain America: Civil War. Zemo expounded eloquently to Sam and Bucky about his hatred for superhumans and his belief that the pursuit of such power is a road to becoming a "supremacist". In Zemo's mind, the Flag-Smashers and even the Avengers can be equated with the Nazis. Zemo also insisted that "super soldiers must not be allowed to exist," although he seems to have made an exception for Bucky (at least as long as Bucky was useful to him). But had Zemo eluded the Dora Milaje and remained at large, what would his plan to stop the Flag-Smashers have been?

When Barnes confronted Zemo in Sokovia before he turned the Baron over to the Dora Milaje, Zemo reiterated that Karli "has been radicalized beyond salvation... But [Bucky], you were literally programmed to kill. James, do what needs to be done." This was a last, desperate attempt by Zemo to persuade Bucky to execute Morgenthau and her Flag-Smashers, just as he manipulated the Winter Soldier during Civil War and during their sojourn to Madripoor in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 3. Zemo may have realized the futility of this cause since he could see that Bucky was no longer the Winter Soldier, even if he'll never truly be free of his decades as an assassin – he still needs to make amends with many people, and he is still haunted by nightmares about his actions while under Hydra control. Still, Zemo hopes there's enough Winter Soldier left in Bucky that he will kill Morgenthau anyway. Barnes is Zemo's only shot to get the outcome he desires.

Karli as the Flag Smasher in the Falcon and the Winter Soldier

In Captain America: Civil War, Zemo had a year to prepare and execute an elaborate plot to destroy the Avengers as revenge for the death of his Sokovian family after the fallout from the heroes' actions in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Zemo framed the Winter Soldier and took advantage of the schism between the Avengers over the signing of the Sokovia Accords to succeed in his master plan. But in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Zemo had to make it up as he went along with Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes breathing down his neck and the Dora Milaje also stalking him.

Instead, the Baron focused on destroying every trace of the current Super-Soldier Serum variant and he killed its creator, Dr. Wilfred Nagel (Olli Haaskivi) in Madripoor, seizing opportunities as they arose – or as he could create them. When Wilson, Barnes, and Zemo caught up to the Flag-Smashers in Latvia, Zemo simply tried to kill Karli himself and he destroyed almost every vial of Super-Soldier Serum before Captain America John Walker (Wyatt Russell) stopped him. Zemo had to be content with making sure no future super soldiers were created and he tried to cajole Bucky into killing Karli and the Flag-Smashers.

In the end, Zemo may have had no greater plan beyond "Karli Morgenthau must die" and he had no time to implement anything more specific or targeted. If Zemo had ample resources to put a detailed plan into motion, he could have manipulated events so that the super soldiers all destroyed each other while he remained a free man. This would certainly have been the ideal outcome for Zemo. Now, with the Dora Milaje taking him to The Raft, the best Baron Zemo can hope for is The Falcon and the Winter Soldier ending with Bucky Barnes as the only super soldier left standing.

Next: Where The Wakandans Took Zemo And How It Sets Up The Thunderbolts