Captain America: Civil War - 30 Easter Eggs & References You Must See
17. Se7en
Despite his name, it turns out that Zemo actually has more in common with a David Fincher villain than a comic book one.
When it ultimately turns out he has set up an elaborate plot to turn the Avengers against themselves using emotion and vengeance as his weapons, you can see where the Russos used their professed Se7en influence.
In this case, the CCTV footage of Bucky killing the Starks (an assassination that was actually heavily hinted at in The Winter Soldier) works as John Doe's "what's in the box" moment. It's also similarly tense.
The directors admitted that Fincher's film played a key role in their film-making process:
"The movies weve been referencing a lot on this one are Se7en, weirdly. We like smashing genres into each other, so if you can find something thats really idiosyncratic in respect to superhero genre and you can smoosh it into it you usually wind up with something fresh and different. Se7en, Fargo, just as far as were not making comparisons in terms of quality were just talking influences, The Godfather, because thats a sprawling film with a lot of characters that tells very intricate stories. Each character has an arc."