Ever since Daniel Bruhl was announced as a villain in Captain America: Civil War, people have been wondering just who in the heck he’d be playing. Making the mystery even more tantalizing is the fact that Variety claims he’d also be the primary villain in Doctor Strange. Then there are the rumblings of other rogues in the movie, which suggest that Frank Grillo’s Crossbones would be the main villain. 

So, what gives?

At times like these, I sure wish I was a comic book guy (as opposed to a comic book movie guy). But a look at what others are speculating leads me down a couple of paths regarding who Bruhl could be playing. 

The most obvious choice would be Baron Mordo, since everyone and their mother says that Mordo is the main antagonist in Doctor Strange. But, as Devin Faraci of Bad Ass Digest points out, Mordo would be an odd fit in a Captain America movie. He’s very supernatural; very much tied exclusively to The Sorceror Supreme; and he’s not the kind of character that fits into the espionage/political themes that Cap 3 will likely be exploring. Faraci points out that Variety may have just connected the wrong dots. Maybe he is playing a villainous Baron, and Variety- having heard that Mordo would be the villain in Strange assumed it was Mordo- but what if it’s not Mordo at all. What if it’s Baron Zemo?

Zemo would be a Baron that makes much more sense in the context of a Captain America movie. The creative think tank behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe has all ready demonstrated that they’ve had Zemo on the brain, since Red Skull’s plot in Captain America: The First Avenger was basically a repurposed Zemo story. Zemo was a sadistic scientiest for the Nazi party who created all kinds of weapons of mass destruction for Hitler, including a massive death ray that he would eventually turn on Germany itself. Bruhl has all ready demonstrated that he doesn’t mind playing unglamorous roles, as he did the in vastly-underrated Rush, so working under a mask likely wouldn’t bother him.

We all ready know, thanks to both Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes- aka The Winter Soldier- that these movies aren’t afraid to say that there’s science technology in place that could preserve and enhance a World War II-era character to the point where they’d be fit and ready for action in the present day. There were also rumors that we’d get some sort of WWII sequences in the next Cap movie, which could serve as an origin for the character. 

Something else I could see happening, and this is my own speculation, is that he’s Red Skull’s son or grandson who’s been secretly keeping Johann Shmidt’s mission going and comes out of hiding now that HYDRA has been revealed to the world. After all, who’s been helping HYDRA keep The Winter Soldier alive all these years? He could call himself Zemo, and sort of merge the Skull and Zemo ideologies. 

Another possibility is that Bruhl is playing Mordo, but that his character will be nothing more than a glorified cameo in Civil War meant to whet the appetite for his appearance in Doctor Strange. 

But don’t let me hog all the speculation fun. What do you think? Who would cast Bruhl as? What makes the most sense?

SOURCE: Bad Ass Digest