Baron Zemo’s alternate introduction in Captain America: Civil War is released online and it would’ve made him a much scarier villain. Played by Daniel Brühl in Joe and Anthony Russo’s second MCU film, the antagonist masterfully schemed a ploy to drive the Avengers apart. This set up the stage for Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) arrival and eventual win in Avengers: Infinity War.

After their successful MCU debut with 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Russo brothers, alongside writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, were tasked to wrap up Steve Rogers’ (Chris Evans) trilogy with Civil War. Unlike its predecessors, however, the threequel featured a bigger cast with bigger ramifications in the franchise. Often dubbed as an Avengers-light film, it focused on Captain America and Tony Stark/Iron Man’s (Robert Downey Jr.) opposing principles with regard to the Sokovia Accords. However, their conflict became much more personal when it was revealed that a H.Y.D.R.A.-brainwashed Bucky (Sebastian Stan) was behind the death of Howard and Maria Stark. The whole ploy was masterminded by Zemo who wanted to revenge against the Avengers for the death of his family in the battle in Sokovia.

Now, a different version of Zemo’s Civil War introduction made its way online for fans to see. In this scrapped version, he attends an auction of various historical items, including the red book which has the hypnotizing set of words that puts Bucky back to his Winter Soldier mindset. Things go awry for other auctioneers when instead of simply participating, Zemo opted to kill them by unleashing poisonous gas. The clip was included in the Infinity Saga box set and was shared on Flash Marvel’s official YouTube account, watch it below:

Unlike most MCU villains, Zemo survived the events of Civil War thanks to T’Challa’s (Chadwick Boseman) decision to let the justice system take care of him. The last time fans saw, him, he was in captivity with Everett Ross (Martin Freeman) overseeing his capture. However, a lot of things has happened since then which includes Thanos’ deadly snap and his eventual defeat in Avengers: Endgame. Based on his return in Disney+’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it appears he’s able to get out prison and is ready to wreak havoc again. It’s unclear how Zemo factors in the upcoming Marvel Studios’ show considering that he successfully enacted his original plan, which frankly makes his return more interesting.

Starting Captain America: Civil War with this Zemo introduction would’ve better establish how skillful he was in enacting his plan. Some questioned how the villain was able to execute this elaborate plan without anyone catching up to him until the very end. It also didn’t seem like he had any cohorts with the crime. The filmmakers explained that they scrapped the scene altogether because it didn’t cleanly lead to the start of the movie. But they could’ve simply used this as its cold open before the Marvel Studios logo and credits rolled and it would’ve worked fine.

More: Marvel’s Captain America Replacement Is Smart (But Wrong)

Source: Marvel Studios (via Flash Marvel)

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