Falcon & The Winter Soldier: 10 Biggest Problems

10. Zemo's Presence Was Pointless

the Falcon and the winter soldier
Marvel Studios

Since Zemo (Daniel Bruhl) is one of the finest MCU villains to date, it was exciting to hear he'd be returning for this series but honestly, the writers shouldn't have bothered.

Zemo is nigh-on inessential to the series. Fine, he gets Sam and Bucky a few leads and thus moves the plot along, but wasn't there a better way to do this?

To take a great character and make him nothing more than a plot-device to get characters from A to B just felt very insulting.

In episode 5 he gets recaptured by some Wakandan soldiers - who also felt shoehorned in - and from prison, orchestrates an assassination of some Flag Smashers (the group which are the main antagonist of the series) in episode six, but that felt superfluous as well.

By the show's end, it really feels like Zemo didn't do anything of any weight, and if you took him out of the story, it wouldn't change all that much. All in all, this series completely wasted a terrific villain.

Still, the memes of him dancing were good, so that's something.

Contributor

Film Studies graduate, aspiring screenwriter and all-around nerd who, despite being a pretentious cinephile who loves art-house movies, also loves modern blockbusters and would rather watch superhero movies than classic Hollywood films. Once met Tommy Wiseau.