Captain America: Civil War - 30 Easter Eggs & References You Must See

18. The Zemo Misdirection

Despite some initial misgivings about Helmut Zemo (shorn of his Baron title for Civil War), Daniel Bruhl's new villain was perfect for the balance. His personal story of vengeance perfectly mirrored larger themes - not least Tony Stark's family tragedy and the Sokovia hangover - and he wasn't too much of a pantomime distraction to the meat of the narrative.

Crucially, the film played up to expectations that Zemo was more like his comic book counterpart. The repeated allusions to him wanting to see the "empire fall" and the assumption that he was looking to take over the world fit with the image of Zemo on the page as a Red Skull stand-in. Even when he learned of the Winter Soldier project it seemed Zemo was looking to gain himself a super-villain group - but that bit of foreshadowing to his Masters Of Evil team proved to be cunning misdirection as he was revealed to be a more traditional victim turned villain.

Though there's no physical similarities between he and the comic version, he did sort of wear a mask, when he posed as Bucky in Vienna, but that's not exactly what comic fans would have expected. And maybe he will evolve for forthcoming films when Thanos goes looking for recruits?