‘Civil War’ Concept Art Shows a Masked Baron Zemo

The comic book version of Baron Zemo looks quite different from the way he’s portrayed in Captain America: Civil War — most notably, the character is typically seen wearing a purple hood, which was permanently fused to his face following an unfortunate run-in with an experimental adhesive. But Daniel Bruhl’s version of Zemo in Civil War is depicted without the hood, or any real resemblance to his comic book counterpart, for that matter. Although that choice was probably for the best, unused concept art shows what Bruhl might have looked like if Joe and Anthony Russo had remained more faithful to the source material.

The MCU fan page on Facebook found this unused design, which appears to have been created by Andy Park, a concept artist who frequently works with Marvel:

The image shows Baron Zemo wearing his signature purplish-pink hood with a matching shirt, while the rest of his costume follows the utilitarian military-style design of the comic book character. While the version of Zemo that ultimately ended up in Civil War looks far more civilian, Bruhl’s costume maintains a bit of that utilitarian feel.

Honestly, Zemo is one of the best — if not the best — Marvel movie villain so far, and that’s thanks in no small part to the Russos’ decision to humanize him. By contrast, Red Skull wasn’t as effective in the first Captain America movie because he looked like he had been ripped straight from the pages of the comic books; that design sort of tipped the scales into cartoonish territory.

If Zemo had that hooded costume in Civil War, it might have been overkill in a film that’s already packed with fantastical characters and costumes and super-powers.

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