FILE 4: BARON ZEMO

Chapter One: The Nazis

Heinrich, the twelfth Baron of Zemo, was born in Castle Zemo, Bavaria in the year 1900AD. We know nothing of his parents and little of his childhood, which according to a wartime American propaganda film entitled "News On the March: Baron Zemo The Man in the Crimson Mask", was a lonely one. Perhaps because of his moodiness and solitude as a child, Zemo studied hard and became adept in several fields of science. Then, in 1914 the Great War started. Baron Zemo was fourteen years old at that time, but as soon as he was able he joined the army. After the war ended during his eighteenth year, Heinrich felt betrayed by the Government when they eventually surrendered. Some time afterwards, Heinrich joined the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or National Socialist German Workers' Party, which was founded in 1919. We do not know what fuelled Zemo's desire to join the Nazi party, a group which even at that time was openly anti-Semitic and talked of an "Aryan race", but he not only joined the Party, he flourished within it, quickly attracting the attention of the Party's eventual leader, Adolf Hitler. He became one of the Nazis' infamous Brown Shirts. It was during this time that Zemo met and fell in love with the woman who would become Baroness Hilda Zemo and the mother of his son, Helmut.

Whatever Zemo's faults, he does at least seem to have been a good husband and father; later, both Hilda and Helmut would assert this, and as we shall see, Hilda would never really stop loving him despite what was to come. Helmut in particular would describe a kind and loving parent, whom he would look up to for most of his life. At this time in his life, Heinrich seems to have been at his happiest, with the love and support of a devoted family behind him, and a job he loved - labouring away at finding ways to apply his considerable scientific knowledge in order to serve his country and, more importantly, the Nazis. Helmut must have been a particular source of pride at that time, since the blond-haired and blue-eyed lad was a very image of the Aryan ideal that Heinrich, who had grey-black hair, had come to embrace. Then, in 1933, Adolf Hitler rose to power. At that time, Heinrich had travelled to America to pursue his interest in applied technologies and was working with one Dr. Nikola Tesla. Tesla was older than Zemo by decades and had a long and respected career behind him. He had invented alternating current, but in addition he had invented less well-known technologies, such as his electromagnetic oscillator, with which he had accidentally caused a minor earthquake in 1898, radio-controlled robot ships and sub-marines, and his grand folly, the Wardenclyffe Tower on Long Island, which had been designed to transmit radio waves across the Atlantic. Its funding had been exhausted and the project abandoned. When Zemo joined him, he was working on so-called "teleforce rays", which would be able to project what he described as a "Chinese Wall" above cities, thus protecting them from aeroplane attacks, since it would be able to melt them in the air at a distance of 250 miles. Zemo would work closely with Tesla on this project.

In 1939, Adolf Hitler annexed Poland and the Second World War began. By now, Zemo had returned to Germany where he was working for Hitler to develop weapons that might grant the Nazis the victory they sought. By now Zemo, who was still a member of the military, had reached the rank of Colonel and the Fuhrer additionally awarded him the highest scientific honours offered by the Third Reich. With the War underway, Heinrich returned to Zemo Castle in America and continued his work for Hitler. By 1942, Zemo's work was starting to bear fruit. He had almost completed the prototype of one of the two weapons for which he would become infamous for inventing. Learning of this, the Allied Forces would send in a renowned squadron of crack troops to capture or destroy this weapon - and Baron Zemo - before the work was finished. The subsequent encounter would set in motion a chain of events that would change Zemo's life forever, and it is here that our story really begins...

Chapter Two: Fury

The weapon that Zemo now set about creating for the Reich would become known as a "Death Ray". It was a focused laser beam and was years ahead of its time, and it is a testament to Zemo's intellect that he was able to invent it in 1942. Whether the secret of its design had come from Nikola Tesla or whether it was Zemo's own invention is unclear, but either way it was Heinrich who made it work. Soon, rumours of its existence began to reach the allied forces. The Baron had known that this might happen and had prepared for it - a crack squad of Nazi storm troopers protected his castle, but more than that, it was protected by a barrage of traps that he had devised himself. This was a prudent precaution to take, since the allies quickly decided that whatever Doctor Zemo's secret terror weapon was, it must be captured or destroyed before it was completed. They sent one of their most celebrated commando squads into Bavaria to carry out this task. This squad was Sgt. Fury's Howling Commandos.

Sergeant Nicholas "Nick" Fury was a hard-bitten man from Brooklyn, who had a reputation as something of a maverick. He had led the Howlers on several missions so far during the war, and they had all been successful, although a recent mission had cost the life of young Howler Junior Juniper. Despite his gruff exterior, Fury was a good leader and loyal to his men. The Howlers consisted of Gabriel "Gabe" Jones, a trumpeter who had studied under Louis Armstrong in his native New York. He was the only black member of the group and had been assigned to a unit consisting otherwise of white members due his exceptional bravery, despite this being almost unheard of at the time. The next Howler was Irishman Dum-Dum Dugan, a former soldier for the English and a one-time circus strongman. Dugan was fiercely loyal to his friends in the unit and was never to be found without his bowler hat and a cigar. His red walrus moustache completed the pciture. Also in the unit were Kentucky-born Robert "Reb" Ralston, Brooklyn Jew Isadore "Izzy" Cohen, and Italian-American Dino Manelli. Finally, just before being sent to Bavaria, they had been joined by eccentric Englishman Percival "Percy" Pinkerton, whose beret, spectacles and umbrella (which he routinely carried into battle) gave him a deservedly foppish air; nevertheless, he was a skilled fighter and a brave soldier. This unit was thus selected to go into Germany and kidnap Doctor Heinrich Zemo.

After an eventful journey travelling from their station in England, the Howlers finally arrived at Castle Zemo. Their strategy for getting past the guard on duty at the raised drawbridge was a simple one; Percy wandered up to the sentry, swinging his umbrella around in a jaunty fashion, much to the amazement of the young Nazi. Percy greeted the man with feigned surprise, announcing that the British had won some time ago and that Germany had surrendered. The guard was surprised at this, but could think of no other reason why an Englishman would casually stroll up to a Nazi stronghold. He was still puzzling it over when Percy hooked the handle of his umbrella around the guard's gun and flipped the young man into the moat. The other Howlers quickly emerged from hiding and stormed the castle. The next stage of the plan was for Dugan to run at the castle alone firing a pair of machine guns. As Fury had predicted, this caused the guards inside to lower the drawbridge and emerge in pursuit of the now-fleeing Dum-Dum. Dugan then ducked out of sight behind a wall, and as the Nazis went past, he sneaked back to his unit. The Howlers then raised the drawbridge, trapping the guards outside. At this point, Baron Zemo noticed the group for the first time. His castle was filled with security cameras, which he could monitor form his laboratory. He was angry that his guards had been outsmarted, but he still had his personal guard and was unconcerned by the danger posed. He dispatched them to deal with Fury and his men. Then, to his astonishment, he watched as the seven men quickly overcame his soldiers. But despite his indignation, he was still unafraid; Castle Zemo was still riddled with traps, and although he considered himself to be above personally dealing with such rabble, he could always kill the intruders. After all, the prototype of his Death Ray was complete, and functioning perfectly...

Meanwhile, the Howlers were discovering some of Zemo's surprises. As they conducted a door-to-door search of the castle, Reb put his hand on a door-handle and received a powerful electric shock. Fortunately, his rubber-soled boots saved his life. Now that the Howlers had seen a demonstration of Zemo's genius, Heinrich decided to address them in person. Activating an intercom that would carry his voice throughout the Castle, the Baron informed the group that they had no chance of defeating him, and promised them a quick death if they surrendered. To his outrage, his offer was met a by a deafening blast of sound which short-circuited his intercom system and left his ears ringing. This was thanks to Gabe, who had blown his brass horn straight into one of the speakers as loudly as he could. Enraged, Heinrich triggered another trap, and the walls of the room in which the Howlers found themselves began to close in on them. Working quickly, the Howlers braced themselves against the walls in an attempt to slow them, whilst Izzy located the circuit-box controlling the mechanism. Desperately, he managed to find the right circuit and cut the wire, stopping the moving walls. Zemo soon discovered this, as the control panel in his lab exploded in flames. The Doctor was now shaking with rage and decided to finish the Howlers off in person. Seizing the Death Ray, he ran from his laboratory to intercept the Howlers. The weapon in question resembled a machine gun in appearance and fired a projected energy ray that could melt stone. This was demonstrated when Zemo reached the top of the main staircase of his Castle and fired a searing blast down the middle of the staircase at the Howling Commandos as they ran up to capture him. The laser cut through the stone like butter, and the Howlers were forced to leap aside. However, unfortunately for Zemo, they had been sent to capture this weapon and had devised a strategy for dealing with it. Before the Baron could fire again, Reb unleashed his lariat and snared the gun in Zemo's hands, yanking it free. Suddenly unarmed, Heinrich turned tail and fled.

As Baron Doctor Heinrich Zemo fled from the Howlers, he made a mistake, which would have long lasting consequences. One of his guards had escaped the earlier battle with Fury and his troops and as Zemo passed him, he promised to reward him if he saved Heinrich from the Howlers. As a Nazi, Zemo was expected to keep his promises once he had made them, but although the soldier held the Howlers at bay long enough for Zemo to reach his personal aeroplane, he was horrified to see the Baron starting to take off without him. Zemo had no qualms about discarding an inferior, but unfortunately, Fury and the Howlers witnessed this and it would soon come back to haunt him. For now however, he had other concerns. As he taxied towards the castle drawbridge, he used a remote control in his customised plane to lower the drawbridge, and he took off, fleeing from the castle. His next concern was stopping the Howlers from getting away with his prototype Death Ray. Down in the castle, Reb was holding the captured weapon gleefully, but to his surprise Fury suddenly ordered him to drop the prize and run. Surprised, Reb questioned this order, but with no time to waste Fury knocked it from his hands and led his men out of the Castle at a run. The reason became obvious when behind them, the Death Ray exploded in a colossal blast, destroying Castle Zemo. In the explosion, the energy released from the detonated weapon sent beams of destructive energy lancing throughout the surrounding countryside and devastated a nearby town. The guards still in the castle who had survived the Howlers' attack were killed instantly, including the luckless young soldier who had enabled Zemo to escape.

Baron Zemo had triggered the destruction of the Death Ray by remote control. Having seen him lower the drawbridge to his castle by remote control from his aeroplane, Fury had instinctively realised that he would probably have a means of destroying his weapon by similar means in order to stop it from falling into enemy hands. With Zemo gone, the Howlers' mission was over, and although they had failed to capture him, they had at least destroyed the Death Ray and Castle Zemo had been reduced to rubble. Wearily, they made their way back out of Germany and to England. Baron Zemo had survived and could recreate his Death Ray, but as he was about to learn, he had lost more than his Castle. Shortly after Fury made his report to his superior, Captain Sam Sawyer, an American B-7 bomber flew over the town that had been ruined by the destruction of Castle Zemo. It dropped not bombs, but leaflets. These recounted Fury's eyewitness account of Zemo sacrificing his own men and destroying the castle in order that he might escape. The leaflets were convincing; public anger about Zemo's actions grew throughout Germany and within a short time, the allies' propaganda campaign had made Zemo so utterly despised throughout the country that even Hitler would have nothing to do with him - at least, not openly...

Due to public sentiment, Zemo was forced to conceal his features behind a mask. The mask he donned was a crimson hood, featureless save for its vertical pinstripes and eyeholes. By wearing this mask, he hoped that eventually, the people would forget what he looked like and eventually, his treachery would be forgotten. He then continued to develop weapons for Hitler, and started to develop the weapon for which he would become infamous. This weapon was Adhesive X. Adhesive X was powerful glue that once set could not be broken apart or dissolved. The engineering applications would be limitless, but more than that, if large quantities of Adhesive X were dropped on armies, they would be permanently trapped and if they did not suffocate they would either starve to death or be killed by enemy troops whilst immobile. The Allies again learned of this development and again decided to send in a specialist to deal with it. But this time, they did not send Sergeant Fury, they sent the man who would soon become Zemo's most bitter and life-long adversary. Captain America was Steve Rodgers, a sickly young man who had been unable to sign-up to fight for his country due to ill health. Seeking to serve America in other ways, he volunteered to be a guinea pig in a super-soldier program, and was injected with a super-soldier serum developed by a Prof. Reinstein. The serum increased his physical prowess to the peak of human fitness. Donning a costume based on the colours of the American flag, he was given the name Captain America and became the first successful American super-soldier. He was also the last: Immediately after he received the serum, a Nazi spy assassinated Reinstein. Captain America, often assisted by his sidekick Bucky, real name James Buchanan Barnes, had been fighting the Axis powers throughout WWII. The Super-Soldier program had been set up to create an agent in response to the threat posed by the Red Skull, both as a mastermind and as an icon. The Skull was Hitler's lieutenant and was possibly the single most dangerous man in the entire Third Reich. Indeed, there were those who feared him more than Hitler, and as we shall see later, he would work hard to maintain his position. But for now, Captain America, apparently without Bucky on this occasion, was sent to Germany specifically to deal with the renewed threat of Baron Zemo.

We do not know the details of what happened next, but we know enough. Captain America found Zemo's hidden scientific installation, where the Doctor was monitoring a vat of Adhesive X. The encounter was brief - Captain America came in through a window in a shower of glass, his famous indestructible shield held before him. After challenging Zemo to surrender, he responded to the Baron's drawn gun by throwing his shield, which struck the vat of Adhesive X and shattered it. Zemo was standing next to it at the time. The glue saturated Zemo's crimson mask and permanently affixed it to his face. By the time the screaming Zemo's men arrived on the scene, Captain America was gone, and the Baron's appearance had been irrevocably changed. With the mask glued to his head, Zemo could not eat. He would spend the rest of the life getting the nutrients he needed by intravenous injection. He could see through the eye slits and the material was thin enough for him to be able to breathe, but he would never feel light or fresh air on his face again. Thus disfigured, he became increasingly revenge crazed and embittered. It was at this point that his family life began to suffer. He spent most of his time scheming his revenge against Captain America, and his hatred grew more and more. He took it out on his family, and after several months of verbal and physical abuse, he eventually abandoned them altogether, leaving young Helmut with long lasting emotional scars. Some time later, he would hear reports of the death of Hilda in a motorcar accident.

Despite his trauma at the fate that had befallen him, the permanently masked Zemo continued to work for the Reich, and soon work on a new weapon was approaching completion. This was based on the research that he had carried out with Nikola Tesla before the War had broken out and in fact Zemo had begun its construction nearly a decade earlier. It would be the ultimate weapon and would allow Hitler to make the "Fortress Europe" that he often spoke of totally impervious to attack from the air. By the end of 1942, Zemo had nearly completed work on the weapon at his new hidden base the Berlin Zoological Gardens, which the Reich had provided him with whilst Castle Zemo was being rebuilt. Before he could entirely finish his work however, he required information that only Tesla could provide. Thus, he despatched an agent to the USA to obtain that information, and this would result in a second encounter with Captain America...

Chapter 3: The Medusa Effect

Zemo's new weapon was the Medusa Cannon, and it had been ten years in the making. Although it was based on Tesla's teleforce wave technology, it was for the most part his own creation. It would be capable of knocking aeroplanes out of the sky as soon as they approached Europe, and was therefore a formidable addition to the Reich's arsenal. However, only one could be constructed, since many of the materials required could only be obtained once the Nazis had conquered Russia - Zemo had acquired sufficient resources to build a prototype, but it had not been easy, which was why it had taken a decade to construct. Heinrich did not consider this a problem however, since the Medusa Cannon should be powerful enough to sway the tide of the war in Hitler's favour. By 1942 it was finally almost ready, but Zemo needed a few secrets from Tesla that he had not been able to glean from him during their past acquaintance. These secrets, which pertained to the teleforce rays, would allow the Baron to add the finishing touches to his weapon. Consequently, Zemo dispatched an agent to Tesla's home in New York to obtain the information required. This agent was Master Man.

Master Man was Wilhelm "Willie" Lohmer, who despite his German ancestry had been born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and spoke German very poorly. He was the very image of an Aryan, tall, blond and muscular, and he had joined the Nazis some time before. He had received a German analogue of the Super-Soldier Serum that had transformed Steve Rogers into Captain America, but in his case it had given him vastly greater strength. Despite this, Captain America and Bucky had beaten him in the past and since that time his strength had dwindled, although it was still much greater than that of most men. Zemo knew that Tesla would keep his notebooks and other research at his home in New York and told Master Man exactly what he was looking for. He arrived at Nikola Tesla's home on January the 7th 1943 accompanied by two other Nazis and quickly began searching for Tesla's notes. And at that moment, Captain America and Bucky arrived. The FBI had been keeping Tesla under surveillance precisely because they believed that the information he possessed might make him a target for the Nazis. Despite this, Master Man and his companions still reached him, and Captain America and his young sidekick were despatched to deal with the intruders. They swiftly overcame the armed Nazi guards, but by the time they entered Tesla's bedroom, he was badly beaten and the room was ablaze. They had not realised who their enemy was, but on seeing the pair Master Man, who hated them almost as much as Baron Zemo did, attacked them. He floored them both, but did not remain to finish them off; he had the secrets that Zemo wanted and wisely decided to make a strategic withdrawal whilst he could. By the time Captain America and Bucky had recovered and extinguished the fire, he was long gone and Nikola Tesla was close to death. Before he died, the scientist managed to warn the pair that his invention could destroy aeroplanes at great distances and that Master Man had found and taken the secrets of how it worked. Then he died, leaving Captain America with a puzzle. The pieces of this puzzle soon fell into place, as Captain America learnt of Tesla's past association with Baron Heinrich Zemo.

By now, Zemo had become one of the most feared and despised men in the Reich, possibly for similar reasons to the Red Skull; his mask was iconic and distinguished him from his fellow Nazis. Because of this, the American media had put together a News On the March newsreel entitled "Baron Zemo The Man Behind the Crimson Mask", which told of Zemo's past. His encounter with Fury and the Howling Commandos, and his fateful first encounter with Captain America, were all re-enacted by actors, but despite the obvious opportunity for propaganda inherent in such a project, it seems to have been surprisingly accurate. Most importantly, at least for Captain America and Bucky, it recounted Zemo's days spent working with Tesla. It was not long before Captain America and his superiors realised that it was probably Tesla's teleforce rays that interested Zemo, and what this would mean for Hitler's "Fortress Europe". They had to find and stop Zemo at all costs. But although they knew that Zemo was in all probability in Germany, it was in fact to Spain that Captain America and Bucky now set out. They had discovered a letter from one Janice Dare in Tesla's room, which had warned Tesla of the danger that he was in. He had ignored it, but Captain America hoped that it would provide just the lead necessary to stop Zemo. He and Bucky travelled to the Ritz Hotel in Madrid, where the letter had been sent from, but it was at the Plaza de Toros that they eventually caught up with her. And when they finally met Janice Dare, Bucky was in for a surprise, as Captain America confirmed his suspicions and greeted her by her real name, Baroness Hilda Zemo.

We have seen how Zemo's pain and hatred affected his home life after his mask became forever affixed to his face. We have also seen how, after months of emotional and physical abuse, Zemo had abandoned his family, only to hear of his wife's death sometime later. In fact, Hilda still loved her husband, but had grown to truly despise that Nazis whom she blamed for his current predicament. It was they, not Captain America, who she held responsible for the accident that had sent Zemo over the edge into madness, and she was determined to do everything in her power to harm them. After Heinrich had abandoned her and Helmut, they had both been closely guarded, but one night she had managed to elude her guards just long enough to drive her car off the road and into and a river. She swam away, leaving the guards to believe that she had drowned, and that her body had been washed away. Before she had escaped, she had heard that Heinrich was building a new weapon for Hitler, and that it involved the work of Nikola Tesla. It was for this reason that she had written to him and tried to warn him of the danger. Now, she had another chance to help to disrupt the plans of the Nazis; she knew exactly where Heinrich was, and she would go with them on two conditions - firstly that Captain America must not kill Heinrich, and secondly that they try to get Helmut out of Berlin. Reluctantly, Captain America and Bucky both agreed.

The Baroness Hilda Zemo knew of her husband's hidden laboratory beneath the Berlin Zoological Gardens and now proceeded to lead Captain America and Bucky to it. Whilst Bucky remained on guard at the entrance to the Zoo, Captain America and Hilda crept into the laboratory. Unfortunately for the erstwhile pair however, Heinrich was expecting the two Americans, if not his wife, after Master Man had informed the Baron of his encounter with the heroes in Tesla's home. Zemo knew of Captain America's resourcefulness and had guessed that he would find his way to Berlin. So it was that, when Captain America led the way down into the laboratory complex and quietly approached the crimson-masked figure seated at a writing desk, he soon found that it was merely a mannequin. Seconds later powerful lights snapped on, revealing Baron Heinrich Zemo and Master Man standing on a raised platform, surrounded by armed guards. Heinrich was surprised to see his supposedly late wife, but not shaken. There was little point in dwelling on the circumstances of her survival when she had clearly betrayed him anyway; ignoring her plea to send Helmut out of Germany and away from the Nazis, he ordered Master Man to kill the pair of them. Despite Lohmer's strength however, Captain America managed to stun him, but before he could do anything else, one of Zemo's guards, acting on the Baron's orders, shot Captain America in the arm, sending him crashing to the floor. Master Man was furious. He considered the Captain his own prey and did not take kindly to Zemo ordering his men to shoot him. However, he did not dare attack the Baron himself, since this would provoke reprisals from the Nazi high command, and maybe perhaps even Hitler or the Red Skull, his right-hand man. Instead, he bore down on the unfortunate guard who had winged Captain America and viciously snapped his neck. Zemo was unimpressed with both this barbarous act and Master Man's subsequent threat of further violence if anyone else interfered with his vendetta against the American, but since the Baron still had need of Lohmer, he was allowed the matter to rest for the moment. With Hilda now also captive, he ordered them both to be taken away whilst he prepared the Medusa Effect for use. His wife and Captain America would be its first victims.

It is interesting at this point to once more visit the relationship between Heinrich and Hilda Zemo. We know that Hilda genuinely cared for Heinrich, even after he became the bitter and twisted monster who abused both her and Helmut. We also have later testimony from Helmut that his father was a kind and loving man prior to the accident that glued his mask to his face. There is no evidence of that here. Zemo's circumstances had truly wrought a change on him and even the unexpected sight of his "dead" wife had no visible effect on his cold exterior. Not only was he disinterested by the sight of her, he was willing to have her shot down for betraying him at a moment's notice. His only interests now were revenge against those who had wronged him, and furthering the cause of the Reich. The Heinrich Zemo whom Hilda had married was, in effect, dead, and we shall see further evidence of how callous he had become shortly.

Meanwhile, Bucky had fled the Zoo, having realised that something was wrong. He needed help if he was to aid his partner and Hilda, and he could think of only one person who might provide the assistance he required. That someone was Helmut, thirteenth Baron of Zemo. Hilda had told both Captain America and Bucky where Helmut was staying, and it was a simple matter for Barnes to locate it and gain entry unnoticed. Helmut was sleeping when Bucky found him, and as he woke him up he had to work fast to convince him not to cry out. Fortunately, Hilda had told Bucky and Captain America earlier that Helmut spoke English, and she had also told them some details of Helmut's life, which now helped Bucky to convince the younger Zemo that he knew his mother. He knew that Helmut had a dog named Schotzie that his father had insisted he call Rosenvelt instead, and that the last thing she had said to Helmut before her "death" was to love his father whatever Heinrich did. Helmut was soon convinced. Following Hilda supposed demise Heinrich had once more taken his son under his wing. Helmut had taken a fierce interest in his father's work, mainly because as Bucky soon realised, he was desperate for his father's love, which tended to be in short supply. In fact, the resourceful Helmut had gone so far as to find the location of Heinrich's secret laboratory out, by tricking his father's secretary into telling him. He had also persuaded her to cut a spare key so that he could one day surprise Heinrich with his resourcefulness. He agreed to help Bucky find his parents, and quickly donned his Hitler Youth uniform. This disturbed Bucky somewhat; he knew that most German children Helmut's age were members of the Hitlerjugend, but actually being confronted by the fact was unsettling non-the-less. Very soon, the pair of youngsters set out to Zemo's secret laboratory beneath the Zoo. Unfortunately for Bucky, he had sorely miscalculated where Helmut's loyalties lay...

In the main laboratory, Colonel Dr. Baron Zemo had just completed the final preparations for the first use of the Medusa cannon that night, when he expected an air raid on Berlin. To occupy himself until that occurred, he was examining Captain America's legendary shield. The shield was composed of an alloy of two alien metals, one unidentified and the second a metal that would become known as Vibranium. Both metals had fallen to Earth as asteroids and in the case of Vibranium, it had arrived in one massive lump that had formed the Sacred Mound in the African country of Wakanda. Vibranium had the capability of absorbing sound waves and therefore vibrations, and the second metal was indestructible. Thus, Captain America's shield was unique, and also indestructible. Zemo intended to keep it and examine it, but offered to give it to Master Man as a trophy once he had finished with it. This was to appease Lohmer who was growing increasingly disgruntled; he had hoped to kill Captain America, but the Baron had refused to allow this, since he was determined to kill him personally as payback for his disfigurement. Bucky and Helmut listened to this exchange from hiding. Luckily for Barnes, Zemo was speaking in English, since Master Man's German was atrocious. Focusing on what was being said, he paid little attention to Helmut. Zemo was explaining to Lohmer that he had completed the cannon whilst Master Man had been in New York, but that he had required Tesla's notes to make a few last minute adjustments. He was interrupted in mid-sentence by Bucky, who was unexpectedly propelled from hiding by Helmut. The guards soon captured Bucky. Heinrich was impressed by his son's efforts and as a reward he offered to let him be the first person to fire the Medusa Cannon. He also told him that Bucky had lied and that his mother was indeed dead. In doing so, he provided Helmut with the attention he desired and also ensured that his son would not listen to anything else the American's told him. He then began to complete his preparations for the evening ahead, and they now involved Bucky.

Elsewhere in the complex, Captain America had escaped. Despite his gunshot injury, he had managed to force the door to his cell open and had overcome the guards outside, but Hilda had been shot in the process. Wounded, she insisted that he leave her behind and go and stop Heinrich from using the Medusa Effect. She also asked that he try and save her son before he left Germany. Promising to return for her, he made his way back to Zemo's main laboratory. On reaching it, he was greeted by the unwelcome sight of the unconscious Bucky spread-eagled across the mouth of the cannon. However, he was enough of a tactician to know when to bide his time, and he waited for a few moments to gain an idea of what was transpiring. In doing so, he heard Heinrich explaining to his son that if he accidentally altered the angle of the barrel, it could have disastrous consequences... A rush of air and a thud: Master Man toppled from the metal catwalk on which he had been standing as Captain America's shield struck him full in the face and knocked him down hard. The Captain had retrieved it from the corner of the lab where Master Man had contemptuously tossed it earlier. With Master Man deeply unconscious, Zemo was left to fend for himself until his guards arrived. Pulling a gun from within his Colonel's uniform, he began to fire wildly in the direction of his enemy, and also as a consequence, in the direction of his son. The incredulous Captain America quickly pulled Helmut to safety behind his shield and listened in disgust as Heinrich announced that he would kill anyone to get to him. We have seen already his disregard for the life of Hilda; now it seems, even his son was disposable in the cause of vengeance.

On the cannon, Bucky had regained consciousness, and managed to untie his hands. He was just in time, since two things had now transpired. Firstly, due to being knocked during the fight, the Cannon was now nearly horizontal. Secondly, the traumatised Helmut Zemo, desperate to regain his father's favour in spite of having narrowly avoided being shot by him, had grabbed hold of the cannon's controls and was about to fire it at the Allied bombers which he now heard approaching through the open roof of the laboratory. As he struggled with his archenemy, Heinrich saw his son at the controls and yelled at him to fire it. Captain America, realising what would happen, tried to stop him, but to no avail. Just as Bucky leapt to safety, the Cannon fired and cut a swath of destruction through the complex and several blocks of Berlin. Immediately, the roof collapsed, showering the room in rubble and demolishing the Medusa Cannon. Heinrich was seething with fury. As his son leapt at Bucky with a knife, Captain America's young friend diverted Helmut's attack and pushed him out of the way of a huge block of rubble which knocked him out. Despite this, Heinrich still refused to bargain even for the life of his son and swore to see Captain America dead. As more falling rubble cut them off from the Baron, the two heroes turned away in contempt and, carrying Helmut, went to find Hilda. Behind them, the rest of the roof collapsed and the shattered remains of the Cannon exploded. By they time they returned to where Captain America had left her, Hilda Zemo was close to death. With her remaining strength, she asked Captain America "where is..?". Misunderstanding, he gestured to the unconsciousness Helmut, but with her last breath she corrected him. The final words of Baroness Hilda Zemo were "I was asking about...Heinrich".

Captain America and Bucky escaped the destruction of the laboratory complex and made there way to the surface. Once away from the burning remains of the Zoo, they put Helmut down, and regaining consciousness, the boy slipped away unnoticed. Wearied and depressed by the events, Captain America and Bucky made their way out of America and went home. We do not know exactly what happened to Helmut following these events, but he seems to have been placed in an adopted home either by his father or by the Nazi authorities. We shall see him again later, several years after the end of the War. Baron Heinrich Zemo escaped the destruction of his laboratory and immediately began work on another weapon for the Reich. This new weapon was Particle X and, perhaps inevitably, it would soon bring once more into conflict with Captain America and Bucky...

Chapter 4: Citizen V

Particle X was a wave-nullifying particle that Zemo had recently discovered. He had loaded it into a rocket and intended to disperse it into the air over London, thus jamming all radio and radar operation in Britain and effectively blinding the allied forces. From the now-rebuilt Castle Zemo, Baron Heinrich Zemo prepared his newest assault on the Allies in the name of the Third Reich. By now, Zemo had donned a costume that would become his traditional dress. This consisted of trousers and a tunic of a similar colour to his mask, with a fur trimmed colour, fur-trimmed black leather boots, yellow gauntlets and belt, and a gold circlet, which sat atop his hood around his brow. He would not generally wear this gaudy outfit whilst working for the Reich, but would wear it habitually on his own time. As he worked on preparing his rocket for launching, a battalion of Nazi troops protected his castle, lead by a stunning young woman whom he referred to as his "She-Wolf". Unfortunately for Zemo, she was not what she seemed.

Zemo's "She-Wolf" was actually Paulette Brazee, a member of Citizen V's V Battalion. Citizen V was Lieutenant John Watkins, a young Englishman who had adopted the guise of Citizen V in order to ferment disorder behind German lines. As Citizen V, he was a symbol to the people and had led several minor revolts against Nazi oppressors. His V Battalion was a small resistance cell dedicated to his cause, and Brazee had managed to infiltrate the German command infrastructure and get close to Zemo. She seems to have been assigned to him as a personal bodyguard, and he in turn seems to have taken something of a liking to the beautiful and feisty seeming-Nazi. Baron Zemo was expecting trouble from the Allies and was not at all surprised when his sworn enemy Captain America arrived at his castle with Bucky. However, whilst he still burned with the desire for revenge against Captain America, he was more immediately concerned with launching his missile. He watched the pair approach his fortified base from the battlements and looked on as his She-Wolf fired a salvo of bullets at the troublesome duo. She missed, but Heinrich was unconcerned; they would never penetrate his castle in time to stop the launch. Leaving his traitorous bodyguard to watch out for intruders, he returned to his laboratory, where his rocket and its control console were located. As soon as he was thus occupied, Paulette made her way down into the cellars of the Castle to meet Citizen V, Captain America, and Bucky.

Paulette had previously located a secret entrance to Zemo's new base via a tunnel from the moat to the cellars, and had sent word of it to Citizen V. He in turn had passed on the information to the Allies, who had sent Captain America and Bucky to stop Dr. Zemo. Soon, they were inside the Castle and Captain America and Bucky agreed to provide a distraction whilst Paulette and Citizen V went to stop Zemo, since Rogers felt that his new allies had earned the right to complete the mission. The distraction worked and Zemo's guards battled Captain America and Bucky in the courtyard whilst Citizen V made his way to the Baron's laboratory in one of the towers. The fight, which he watched from his window, distracted Zemo himself and thus Watkins was easily able to sneak into the laboratory whilst Zemo's back was turned. Interestingly, whilst Zemo was observing the battle, he says "not those two again!", suggesting a familiarity not only with Captain America, but also with Bucky. This suggest at least one other encounter between Zemo and Captain America after Heinrich's mask became forever glued to his face, but before the events described here. Regardless, the enraged Zemo was not at all happy to see his greatest enemy inside his fortress and turned away from the window to launch his rocket. The sight of Citizen V, standing by Zemo's missile with his gun drawn, greeted the Baron. Unfortunately for Watkins, he had seriously underestimated the Doctor, seemingly assuming that the scientist would not put up much of a fight. Zemo however was not only a doctor, he was also a Colonel with military experience, and even if he had not been, he was not a man who would willingly surrender:

"I am a Zemo - - - - and a Zemo acts!"

Diving to one side, he pulled his own gun and fired a shot directly at Citizen V's heart. To the Englishman's credit, he managed to avoid being killed, but the bullet wounded his shoulder and floored him.

With Citizen V down, Zemo was now ready to launch his missile. Just as he reached the controls however, a familiar shield came spinning through the air and thudded into the control panel with a resounding crash. Whirling around in shock he was greeted by the sight of his She-Wolf accompanying Captain America and Bucky and realised why he had lost this battle. Zemo's gambit with Particle X was now irretrievably ruined, and he knew it. As fire spread out form the shattered control console, the laboratory began to burn. As flames separated him from the heroes, Zemo swore that he would remember them all and exact his revenge. As they lost sight of him, Captain America, Bucky, Citizen V and Paulette Brazee were forced to flee from the tower, as more of Zemo's equipment caught alight and began to explode. They escaped, just as the tower erupted collapsed behind them. As they departed, glad to have destroyed Particle X, they were certain of one thing - Baron Heinrich Zemo had escaped, and would return to plague them once more.

Exactly how Zemo escaped is uncertain, but given that his castle was riddled with tunnels, it requires no great stretch of the imagination to accept that he did. Particle X was effectively lost, although he did have a second canister at his Amazon base. For now however, he was required to stay in Germany and devise further weapons for the Fuehrer. First however, he had a promise to keep - he had sworn to avenge his defeat and he had meant it. Captain America and Bucky would wait for another day, since his score with Captain America was by far the greater and Heinrich's revenge against must be savoured at length. Citizen and his V Battalion however were an annoyance to both Zemo and the Reich that the Baron would not tolerate. He decided to take action against them. Employing the same tactic that Citizen V had employed against him, he had one of his men infiltrate the V Battalion and lead them into a trap. The trap was sprung in Poznan, Poland, later on in 1943. The exact circumstances are unclear, but we do know that Citizen V's men were making a last stand against the squadron of Nazis who had attacked them when Zemo arrived in person in the back of a land rover. The sight of the gaudily clad Nazi attracted the attention of Citizen V, who ran at Zemo with his gun drawn. But once again, as in the castle, Zemo was swift to act. Firing first, he downed Citizen V a second time and on this occasion he finished the job. Baron Heinrich Zemo choked Lieutenant John Watkins, alias Citizen V, to death with his own hands.

The V Battalion fared no better. Zemo's agent had passed on photographs of all of them, along with their names. They were all hunted down and executed save for Paulette Brazee. Pregnant with Citizen V's child, she fled and escaped to England, where she gave birth to John Watkins' son. She continued to fight the Nazis for many years. But Baron Zemo knew none of this, and it no longer concerns us here. With this act of revenge complete, Zemo turned his attention back to other matters. Throughout the remainder of the War, Zemo's hatred for Captain America and his obsession with gaining revenge grew and grew, driving him to make ever more impressive scientific breakthroughs in his quest for vengeance. At around this time, he met Hitler's other main scientist, the insane geneticist Arnim Zola. Zola, also known as the Bio-Fanatic, was a Swiss geneticist who had discovered a means of transferring minds between bodies, thus allowing people to effectively survive death. He had used this on himself to place his mind in a very resilient android body, which lacked a head and thus gave him a particularly grotesque appearance, exacerbated by the fact that his face was shown constantly on a monitor screen built into his torso. Zola was undoubtedly a genius and Zemo agreed to work with him for a time, a collaboration that produced extremely powerful androids. After his collaboration with Zola ended, he then discovered a means of changing the size of these androids so that he could miniaturise them and carry them around unnoticed until they were required. As we shall see, these androids would make efficient weapons. In 1945, the War began to draw to a close and the Nazis were losing. Zemo knew this and began to consider ways to escape the coming defeat and travel to the South American fortress that he had been establishing for some time now. At some point after the encounter with Captain America that had affixed his mask to him, Zemo had travelled in secret to the Amazon and had subjugated a tribe of natives. Establishing a fiefdom, he had left Nazi soldiers loyal to him to oversee construction on a castle base, located in the middle of miles of rainforest, hidden from the outside world. Since that time, the fortress had been completed and Zemo had been sending equipment and supplies there, including a spare canister of Particle X. With the Allies starting to win the War, Zemo now needed an excuse to leave Germany and travel to this bolthole. Ironically, the Red Skull granted him the opportunity.

The Red Skull had begun to pay particular attention to the existence of Baron Heinrich Zemo over the last two years, as Zemo had started to take increasingly active roles in sabotage and terrorist missions, with considerable success. Such work fell under the jurisdiction of the Red Skull, who was not willing to countenance a rival. The Red Skull's other major problem was Captain America, who had been created in response to the threat he posed and had been a thorn in his side ever since. He now decided to solve one of these problems by pitting Zemo against Captain America. Either Zemo would kill their mutual enemy, or Captain America would capture the Baron. Either way, the Skull's problems would be halved. The Skull's plan was to send Zemo to England to capture an experimental Drone Plane built by the allies. He would then leak word of what Zemo was doing to the Allies, knowing that they would send Captain America and Bucky to stop him. Using his rank as Hitler's lieutenant, the Red skull put this plan into motion. Baron Zemo realised immediately that he was being set up, since the plane would clearly be of no use to the Nazis at this stage in the War. Nevertheless, it would give him an excuse to leave Germany and also another chance to kill his sworn enemy. Whilst Baron Zemo prepared for his departure, the Red Skull himself had a final wartime battle with Captain America in Berlin, which would leave him trapped in suspended animation for several decades. However, by the time Baron Zemo arrived in England, Captain America and Bucky had both returned there from Germany. The Skull's plan was going exactly as he had hoped and the Allies informed Captain America of Baron Zemo's intentions, and he and Bucky made their way to the hanger. The events that followed would make history.

Chapter 5: Bucky

Baron Zemo was already inside the aircraft hanger when Captain America and Bucky arrived. From a skylight they watched as Zemo first called out a challenge to them, and then fired his gun into the small box that he was carrying under his arm. Zemo knew that the pair must already be present, and since he had gone along with the Red Skull's obvious set-up in order to meet them in battle once more, he saw little point in pretending not to know that they must be hiding somewhere. As he fired the special gun into the box, the protoplasm prepared by Arnim Zola and himself was activated and in less than a second it had grown to form a hulking humanoid figure at least two metres in height. The red-and-silver behemoth towered over the Baron, awaiting further instructions. Heinrich was absolutely certain that his quarries were nearby, due to a feeling of foreboding that had come over him some minutes before, almost as though he were being watched. In fact, the truth was stranger than even he could imagine. Captain America and Bucky were still watching as Zemo prepared his android, but they were not the only ones. Also present, but currently invisible and intangible, were a group of observers from the future - one of whom was Captain America.

As we shall soon see, the events that were unfolding would be of great consequence to Captain America. The exact details of what is to transpire will unfold below, but suffice it to say that the group of travellers watching Baron Zemo had travelled back in time from near the end of the century to witness exactly what was going to happen. At that point in his life, Captain America was a member of a super-hero team called the Avengers, whom we shall learn more of later. Fellow Avengers Giant-Man (biochemist Henry Pym), the Black Panther (T'Chall, the King of Wakanda) and Hawkeye the Marksman (Clint Barton) accompanied Captain America on his journey. Another Avenger, the Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), had remained in her own time to watch over the time machine that the group had used to travel back to the 1940s and across space from the tiny Balkan country Latveria, which was where it was located. It was these phantom witnesses to his activities that Zemo had detected and it had sent a shiver of fear down his spine. Deciding that such feelings were for lesser men however, he had ignored it. He was in any case soon distracted as Captain America and Bucky came crashing through the skylight and launched themselves at Heinrich and his android. Reacting swiftly, Zemo fired his new compact version of his death-ray at Captain America, only to see the blast deflected by his shield. Rogers then turned his attention to the larger threat of the android whilst Bucky laid into the Baron. Furiously, Zemo knocked Bucky aside and then aimed his gun at the youngster, snarling his intent to slay him. Hearing this, Captain America turned aside from his own battle and hurled his shield, knocking the gun from Zemo's hand. The pair then their attention back to the android, whilst Zemo turned his attention to the drone plane and began to tamper with its mechanisms. Although Captain America noticed this development, he was too preoccupied with the robot to take it into account.

The battle continued. Suddenly realising that Zemo was still controlling the android, Captain America hurled his shield once more, striking Heinrich in the chest and knocking him down. Mistakenly believing him to be unconscious, he turned back to the robot. His shield had been thrown such that it had bounced, boomerang-like, back to his hand and he now deployed it again. Bucky had led the now-faltering robot into a patch of split engine oil, and Captain America's shield now struck the concrete floor in front of it, igniting this oil. The robot burst into flames. Perhaps lulled into a false sense of security by this, Bucky dropped his guard - and the undamaged android suddenly lashed out with its arm and rendered him insensate. As the last of the flames on its body died down, Captain America rushed forward to help Bucky, only to join him in temporary oblivion thanks to Zemo; feigning unconsciousness, he had retained control over his robot and now he rose top his feet and shot his old enemy in the back with a stun gun. Triumphant, he surveyed his fallen victims. Zemo was determined that this should be his final battle with Captain America and set about making the necessary preparations to finish of his enemies in a suitable manner. He dressed the pair in drab unmarked British army uniforms, which he found nearby, pulling them over the pair's gaudy costumes. We shall leave it to the Baron to explain this action:

"Because of him, my face is hidden forever beneath this adhesive mask! And, if I must live beneath this hated hood...he must die...in coarser, common clothes!" He then had his robot strap the pair to the experimental drone plane and prepared to launch it; when it arrived in Berlin after a swift journey across Europe, the Fuhrer would find the corpses of two of the Reich's greatest enemies still attached. Then, unexpectedly, fate played a most unusual hand.

The time-displaced Avengers had been watching everything that transpired and he future Captain America had been looking on in anguish, knowing what was to come. Meanwhile in the future, the Wasp had dozed off during her vigil and as she did so her hand brushed a control on the time machine. Suddenly, in England in 1945 the Avengers materialised fully. Zemo turned from the controls of the drone plane in surprise as another Captain America appeared accompanied by three other costume figures. Despite realising that it would be dangerous to try and alter the course of history, Captain America could not resist the temptation of trying to avert the coming tragedy and desperately lunged at the Baron. Heinrich was astonished by these events, but quickly leapt to the most obvious conclusion; there must be more than one Captain America. Nevertheless, however many Captains there where, they would not be enough to stop him. Drawing his ray gun, he fired into the box that contained the protoplasm that he and Zola had developed, and as the Avengers watched, a second android, identical to the first, grew rapidly into view. The two androids were soon battling the Avengers. Despite his eagerness to stop Heinrich Zemo, Captain America was left with no choice but to help his comrades against the two robots. Events were complicated further when a squadron of army troopers, alerted by the sounds of battle, rushed into the hanger and attempted to stop the fight. Whilst the Avengers were concerned about hurting the soldiers, the robots had no such compunctions and the four heroes were forced to try and stop them being injured in addition to defending themselves. By the time the Avengers finally damaged the androids beyond repair, fate had caught up with them once more and history began to play itself out. Captain America had no memory of the presence of his future self at the hanger, for the simple reason that his younger self, still tied to the drone plane, had remained unconscious. This fact remained unchanged, since the four Avengers suddenly began to fade once more into invisibility and intangibility. The future Captain America was resigned to this, but nonetheless he could not stand by without making one last attempt to change the course of events. He remembered waking up tied to the drone plane and finding his bonds suddenly weakened and broken. His younger self was indeed regaining consciousness and the vanishing Avenger now fulfilled his destiny and hurled his shield at the drone plane. By the time it reached it, it was virtually a phantom once more, but it retained just enough corporeality to sever the wartime Captain America's bonds. History had come full circle and the Avengers were consigned to the roles of observers once more. The future Captain America watched in torment as events played out exactly as he remembered.

Free of his bonds, Captain America freed Bucky and the duo ran to stop Zemo. They were a moment too late however, as the Baron activated the remote controls of the drone plane, which spluttered into life and began to taxi towards the runway. Although Zemo knew that the drone plane was of no use to the Reich in this late stage of the War, he also knew that if he managed to complete his mission he would have scored a psychological victory over Captain America. Whether the two heroes realised his true motivations or not, they were determined to cheat him of his victory; as soon as the drone plane began to move, they ran over to an army motorcycle and began to pursue the accelerating plane. They were too slow however, and the drone plane began to lift off. Captain America realised that they would have to go after it in another plane, but Bucky had other ideas; leaping from the back of the motorcycle, he seized hold of the drone plane and pulled himself on to it. Horrified, Captain America leapt after him and clung on by a handhold, all the time yelling to Bucky to jump free. The significance of Zemo's earlier tampering became clear, as he realised that the plane was probably booby-trapped. Bucky already knew this to be the case; crawling towards the front of the vehicle, he had located a bomb and was determined to defuse it. He was just in time to see the fuse trip, before the bomb exploded. James Buchanan Barnes, alias Bucky, died. The death of his young friend was the last thing Steve Rogers would see for over forty years. As the plane was ripped apart, he fell and plummeted downwards into the sea below. Stunned by the fall and the intense cold, he sank beneath the waves. Everyone would believe him to be dead, but a serendipitous side effect of the Super-Soldier Serum coursing through his body would allow him to survive the cold. Frozen in the depths, he would survive in suspended animation, and eventually become trapped in a block of ice floating in the Arctic sea.

This then, was the event that Captain America's future self had travelled back through time to witness. Haunted by the death of Bucky, he had wanted to be certain that his young friend was dead, so that he would not have to live with false hope. His worst fears confirmed, he and the Avengers returned to the future. Baron Zemo on the other hand, was delighted. His two greatest foes were apparently dead and whilst he now believed there to be multiple Captain Americas, he was at least certain that the one who had bedevilled him for so long was dead. However, he would have time enough to enjoy his victory later; right now, he had to leave the hanger, and the Untied Kingdom, whilst he still could. Near the bodies of his lifeless robots, the returning troops were gathering in curiosity. Determined that his technology not fall into enemy hands, Zemo aimed the gun that had given artificial life to his androids at the pair of fallen figures and fired at the once more. To the surprise of the soldiers, the two behemoths vanished. Quickly locating the source of the blast, the soldiers ran towards the hanger, but before they got there, Baron Zemo had boarded a waiting escape craft. This modified V-2 rocket took off before the eyes of the bewildered troops and Baron Heinrich Zemo, basking in the glory of his greatest victory, left England and set off back to Germany. And with the War drawing to a close, he now began to plan for the future.

Chapter 6: Helmut

World War II drew to a close and the Nazis were routed. In a bunker in Berlin, Adolf Hitler had a fateful encounter with American android super-hero the Human Torch and was killed. His consciousness however would survive, thanks to the science of Arnim Zola, and Hitler would return in a cloned body towards the end of the twentieth century, spreading hate and fear in America as the Hate-Monger. Whilst most of the other high-ranking Nazis would be brought to justice however, a significant number of key figures escaped. The Red Skull, as we have already mentioned, had been cast into suspended animation in another bunker in Berlin following exposure to an experimental gas. He would be recovered and revived by the scientific terrorist organisation AIM (an acronym of Advanced Idea Mechanics) shortly after the return of Hitler as the Hate-Monger, and whatever carnage he had wrought during the War would be as nothing compared to the threat he would pose in the last decade of the century [see file 7: The Red Skull]. AIM would arise from another terrorist organisation called Hydra, which was also the work of another Nazi War Criminal, one Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker, who had fallen from grace with Hitler some time ago and had been sent to the Far East by the Skull, where he would nurture Hydra into the most feared terrorist organisation on Earth. As for Zemo's former colleague Arnim Zola, he would disappear, going into hiding and continuing his work until he too came to public attention in the 1990s when he would work for the Red Skull on several occasions. Zemo now also disappeared, abandoning Germany and travelling to his secret fortress in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest.

The fortress had been built for several months by the time the War ended, and Zemo had already transported all of his equipment and belongings there. Heinrich's new fortress was built in the massive walls of a native temple. The huge stone pyramid had been a logical choice for the location of his new headquarters, since its thick walls were easily defensible and from the vantage point atop the structure, Zemo and his sentries could see for miles around over the tops of the trees. Over the years, he would have further changes made to the temple, so that the building at its apex slowly began to resemble Castle Zemo in Bavaria. The native tribe that Zemo and his men had subjugated were completely cowed and for the most part were entirely loyal to the Baron, worshipping him almost as a Demi-god. There were dissenters however who sought to be free of the tyrannical rule of the evil old Nazi, as we shall see shortly. Zemo would remain at his new base for the next four decades and whilst there he would continue his scientific research. Shortly after the War, he mastered the field of biochemistry and developed an agent that he called Compound X, which slowed the aging process and kept him young and vital, and he also began to study the martial arts, gradually becoming a master of karate. And all the time he continued trying to discover a solvent that could dissolve Adhesive X and allow him to be free of his mask, but always to no avail.

Zemo maintained control over his native subjects with the aid of an army of former Nazi soldiers, whose ranks he increased with mercenaries from all over the world. This army of men both hired and conquered were soon set to work on Zemo's most ambitious project, an artificial satellite bearing a series of huge mirrors that could convert solar energy into a powerful death-ray. This orbiting weapon, once complete, would enable him to conquer the world, thus achieving that which the Reich had not. However, cut off from the rest of the world as he was, work on this would be slow. It would take the best part of forty years to complete. Zemo's main contact with the outside world was a pilot who had been hired to fly supplies and materials necessary for Heinrich's work to the South American base from America. In addition to food and equipment, he also brought American newspapers and scientific journals, the latter of which Zemo searched constantly but fruitlessly for a clue to the dissolution of Adhesive X. Exactly how many such pilots he had over the four decades that he remained in isolation are unclear, but there must have been at least two. As far as we know, Heinrich remained in this self-imposed exile for the entire four decades, never once leaving and monitoring events in the outside world only through the newspapers brought to him by his pilots. Throughout this time, Zemo continued to be served by the subjugated native tribe and also by a succession of professional mercenaries whom he hired as guards and soldiers. One such guard was Erik Josten, an ex-military man who had been cashiered from service and had gone on to pursue a life of crime as a mercenary. When Dr. Zemo recruited him during the latter half of his forty-year period of isolation, he was on the run from Interpol who wanted him for smuggling. Glad of the life Zemo offered him, Josten devoted himself to the Baron's service utterly and became a loyal follower. Aside from these recruited mercenaries, Heinrich received few visitors. One day however, a visitor came to Zemo's base specifically to seek him out and talk with him. This visitor was Heinrich's son, Helmut.

Helmut Zemo had spent the years since his mother's death seemingly in foster care, apparently with no contact with his father. Despite Heinrich's willingness to kill him to get to Captain America during the gambit with the Medusa Effect, he still remembered the kind and loving father whom he had known during his early childhood, and he was keen to re-establish a relationship with his father. His foster mother had recently died, and on learning of this Heinrich had contacted his son, inviting him to his base in the jungle. The Baron knew that Helmut's foster mother had raised him with little knowledge of his true heritage and what it meant to be a Zemo, a superior whose destiny it was to rule over the lesser peoples of the world. He intended to rectify this by teaching Helmut his own philosophies and views and making him fit to hold the title of thirteenth Baron of Zemo. To Helmut, whose life had been relatively ordinary since his last meeting with his father and who currently held a job as an engineer with a minor firm, he was about to be introduced to ideas that would change his life forever...

Arriving at Heinrich's base, Helmut was treated as an honoured guest and was warmly welcomed by his father. Exactly how long he stayed there is unclear, but we know of one event that occurred during his stay, which would allow Heinrich the perfect opportunity to demonstrate how he ruled his men - ruthlessly and with swift, decisive action. At the time this event occurred, Helmut was reclining in a bath of Compound X with his father, who had decided to share it with his son so that Helmut too would remain young and vital for many years to come. Heinrich was teaching his son that it was his destiny as a Zemo to rule as one of the "fated Masters of the world" and that this was in fact his birthright. This fascist philosophy strangely enticed Helmut, who was slowly starting to appreciate the lure of power. Just then, Erik Josten rushed in on them with news that would allow Helmut to see his father in action - the native labourers, tired of Heinrich's dictatorial rule, were rebelling and attacking the temple in force. So great were their numbers that the mercenary guards were being forced to retreat. Ordering Josten to protect Helmut with his life, Heinrich quickly donned his customary purple and yellow garb and went to attend to the rebellion in person, whilst Helmut and Josten went to the parapets of the temple to watch. Helmut looked on from afar as his father launched into the fray and he was amazed. Heinrich, armed with a pistol, strode confidently to the front of his men and began to fight the natives in person and by hand, shooting down some but defeating others with his fists and feet. As he fearlessly fought off the rebels, his mercenaries, impressed by his calm, brutally efficient fighting prowess, regained their own courage and rallied around him. The Baron directed his men to encircle the rebels and divide them into small groups such that they were cut off from their leaders and unable to retreat. Soon, with Heinrich leading them, the army of hired men began to turn the tide of battle and the rebellion was soon falling apart.

From his vantage point with Josten, Helmut watched in fascination. As he remarked to Josten, he had always been interested in military history and strategy, but seeing his father in action was a sight he had been unprepared for. He was deeply impressed by his father's skill as a tactician, despite still finding it difficult to adjust to Heinrich's unashamedly fascist views. Keen for further insight into his father's mind, he asked Josten why he was so loyal to the Baron, and learned of how Erik had come to be there. The man's loyalty struck a chord with Helmut and he began to see his father not just as a superb tactician and commander in battle, but also as a leader of men who commanded respect in those who served him. All of these factors were having a heavy impression on Helmut, but more than that they were serving to remind him of what life had been like before Heinrich's fateful encounter with Captain America that had glued his mask to his head. In those days, Castle Zemo had been his home and he had enjoyed wealth and privilege; he had forgotten what that was like, and he was starting to wonder what it would be like to take whatever he wanted from those who had it simply because he could.

Soon enough, the rebellion was crushed. The majority of the natives were sent back to work, but the ringleaders needed to be made an example of. Summoning his son to his side, Heinrich now demonstrated how to deal with resistance. Asking Helmut how he would deal with the three bound men before him, Heinrich was unsurprised to hear him suggest that they be flogged; after all, he had not had the benefit of the proper upbringing befitting a Zemo. He explained to his son how, and why, these men must be dealt with:

"Hope, you must understand, is more powerful than most people can imagine. Granted, frustrated, crushed, it can control people - - or even countries - -so long as you control it. But hope flourishing outside your control - - that is truly dangerous. And that - - - - that must be dealt with. Unhesitatingly"

Zemo knew these three men. Whilst he considered them to be his inferiors, he had made it his business to know about all those who served him. He spoke to each of them about their families, making it clear that whilst they were beneath him, they were not beneath his notice. Then he drew his pistol and as Helmut looked on, he shot each of the men through the head. This was a turning point for Helmut Zemo; on seeing this he might have been horrified by his father's ruthlessness, but he was not. Rather, he finally understood the true power his father wielded - the power to rule. He was utterly intoxicated and in that moment he took his first step down a dark path, which in later years would consume him. But that is a story for another time and for now we take our leave of Helmut Zemo. Exactly how long he remained at his father's hidden stronghold in South America we do not know, but sooner or later he left and returned to the outside world. Heinrich had passed on his legacy.

With Helmut gone, Heinrich turned his attention back to his studies. For several more years he remained in isolation, and work on the orbiting death-ray satellite neared completion. Then one day, news reached him, which delivered a most unpleasant shock. Over the years since his last encounter with Captain America and Bucky, he had continued to hear reports of their activities. Thanks to his brief encounter with the time-displaced future Captain America, he believed that other men had taken up the mantles of both Captain America and Bucky and he was in fact correct, although this was not public knowledge. After his final battle with the originals, a hero known as the Spirit of '76 had taken up the costume of Captain America, accompanied by the second Bucky, one Fred Davis. After the death of the former Spirit of '76, a third man had taken on the name and costume. This man was Jeffery Mace, formerly the hero known as the Patriot, and he had joined Fred Davis. Finally, the pair had retired. Then in the 1950s, a man known only as Steven Rogers, who had adopted this name in honour of the original Captain America, became the fourth Captain America. He was accompanied by a new Bucky, real name Jack Monroe. This pair had been given the Super-Soldier Serum, but unlike the original Captain America they had not been given the necessary vita-ray treatment, a complementary therapy required at the time of administration of the serum in order to stabilise the effects of the drug. As a consequence, they had both become increasingly mentally unbalanced and had eventually been placed in suspended animation by the U.S Government. Already convinced that there were multiple Captain Americas, Zemo had little interest in these reports, since he believed that the duo that had so plagued him during the War were long dead. And then his latest pilot brought him newspapers from the outside world that reported that after four decades, the original Captain America had returned...

Chapter 7: The Masters of Evil

When Zemo's pilot made his annual trip to South America with the newspapers that reported the return of the original Captain America, he had no idea of the reaction that he would receive. Although the Baron had instilled the same loyalty in the man that he had inspired in Erik Josten (although in his case, mainly due to the gold that Dr. Zemo offered in exchange for the man's services), the pilot knew nothing of Heinrich's past, save that he was a Nazi War Criminal. He did not know how Zemo had come to wear his trademark hood, although he knew that it could not be removed, since he had standing orders to bring Zemo any scientific journals that might contain the key to dissolving Adhesive X. On this occasion, his aeroplane landed on the airstrip at Zemo's headquarters at the pre-arranged time, and the pilot disembarked with his box of journals and newspapers. Zemo then appeared and made his way towards the pilot in a manner designed to demonstrate his power and authority. The native's in Heinrich's sway carried Zemo to the airstrip on a chair supported by poles, and set him down at the edge of the runway. He then walked towards the pilot on the backs of a line of prostrate natives, acting every inch the arrogant monarch that he had become. With the pilot suitable awe-struck, Zemo then turned his attention first to the journals. Every year he had done this, and every year he had been disappointed. This year was no different:

"Bah! Even in the latest scientific journals which you bring me, there is still no known formula that can remove Adhesive X! Am I doomed to wear this accursed hood forever?!"

And this year of course, his disappointment was about to be further compounded - one of the newspapers he now glanced at contained a pictorial review of the now back-in-action Captain America. The full measure of shock and anger that now washed over Baron Zemo is difficult to comprehend, but after staring at the pages in disbelief for a few moments he suddenly responded with an outright display of rage, and jumped up and down on the newspapers in impotent fury. Then, overcome by the suddenly reawakened memories, he began to tell the pilot of his fateful encounter with Captain America and the accident that had forever affixed his mask to his face. The knowledge that Bucky had not returned also and was truly dead was little consolation - Captain America was by far the most dangerous of the pair, and it was he after all who had been responsible for dousing Zemo in Adhesive X. Snapping out of his reverie, he began to make rapid plans for finishing the job that he had begun long ago, and killing Captain America. We shall discuss these plans shortly, but first we must discuss the circumstances of Steve Rogers' revival.

As we have already noted, when the experimental drone-plane had exploded and killed Bucky, Captain America had fallen into the icy waters of the sea and had been cast into suspended animation by a freak reaction of his Super-Soldier Serum-enhanced metabolism with the intense cold. For decades he had remained in this suspended animation, eventually drifting into the Arctic Circle and becoming trapped in a block of ice. This block of ice had been retrieved and worshipped by an Inuit tribe, until the intervention of the Atlantean Prince Namor, also known as the Sub-Mariner. He had seized this block of ice in a fit of pique and had thrown it back into the sea, where it had drifted into the Gulf Stream. Carried into the Atlantic, it had finally been recovered by the Avengers. The Avengers were a recently formed team originally comprised of five so-called Super-Heroes. The first of these was Iron Man, in reality billionaire industrialist Anthony Stark, who had been kidnapped by Vietnamese Crime-Lord Wong-Chu sometime earlier. During this kidnapping, he had sustained a heart injury and with the aid of one Professor Yinsen, he had constructed a chest plate, which kept his heart beating. He and Yinsen had then built a suit of robotic armour into which the chest plate fitted, and he had become Iron Man for the first time. Having escaped Wong-Chu, he had returned to America, but had decided to pretend that Iron Man and Tony Stark were two separate people and had perpetrated the myth that Iron Man was Stark's bodyguard. Stark had then began a career as a Super-Hero as Iron Man, and was also the source of financial backing for the Avengers, and the owner of their New York Mansion base. The second Super-Hero (although less arguably so) was the Incredible Hulk. The Hulk was Dr. Bruce Banner, a genius in the field of nuclear physics, who had invented and built the first gamma-bomb for the US Military. During the countdown of the testing of this bomb, a young man named Rick Jones had driven onto the testing range for a bet and had been spotted by Banner. Unable to stop the countdown, Banner had run out onto the testing ground and had pushed Jones to safety in a ditch, but had been caught by the periphery of the blast. The effects of the gamma-irradiation had later made themselves manifest for the first time when he had transformed into the grey-skinned Hulk, a large, evil-tempered being who was arguably the strongest being on Earth. After Banner had undergone this transformation a few more times, the Hulk had become green-skinned and somewhat better tempered, but he was a dangerous and unpredictable creature. The third of the Super-Heroes who comprised the Avengers was Giant-Man. Giant-Man was an accomplished biochemist named Dr Henry Pym, who had discovered a new type of sub-atomic particle, which he had christened Pym Particles. These allowed people and matter to change in size and he had soon launched a crime-fighting career as the diminutive Ant-Man. He had been aided in this by hordes of real ants, with which he could communicate by means of a cybernetic helmet of his own design. After several months, he had learned how to enlarge himself and had become Giant-Man for the first time. His frequent companion and love interest was Janet Van Dyne, a.k.a. the Wasp, the fourth of the founding Avengers. She too could shrink thanks to Pym particles and could fly thanks to a set of artificial wings. She could also generate a bioelectric sting from devices on her wrists, which could stun an enemy. The final member of the Avengers was the Norse God of Thunder, Thor. The Norse Gods were a Pantheon of other-dimensional beings who had been worshipped in Norway as Gods, and who derived power from this worship. They were effectively magical beings and Thor was gifted with prodigious strength, which may or may not have equalled the Hulk's, and control over storms. He was also equipped with the enchanted hammer Mjolnir, which gave him this control over storms and which enabled him to fly. Furthermore, he was skilled in the use of Mjolnir as a weapon and was a mighty warrior. Currently, he was trapped on Earth, having been exiled from Asgard, the legendary home of the Norse Gods, for being too arrogant and wilful, and spent much of his time in the mortal form of Dr Donald Blake, in which he was trapped except when he struck Blake's walking cane on the ground; this prompted the cane to transform into Mjolnir and Blake into Thor.

This group of five heroes had joined together to combat Thor's archenemy and foster-brother, Loki the Norse God of Mischief. Following this, they had stayed together to face threats that alone they could not handle. However, the temperamental Hulk had soon left, believing that the other heroes did not trust him. It was almost immediately after his departure that they had found Captain America. As the ice thawed around him and his body temperature rose, Captain America began to awaken from his coma and, delirious, attacked the Avengers with his shield, crying out for Bucky. Finally, his memory of Bucky's death returned and he calmed down. The Avengers had quickly taken him into their ranks. And just as Zemo had not forgotten Captain America, he in turn had not forgotten Zemo. Even as Zemo was planning on finding him and killing him, he in turn determined to locate Zemo, if he still lived, and bring him to justice. As events transpired, Baron Zemo would be the one to make the first move. Zemo believed that he could defeat Captain America - after all, he had done so before - but he realised that he would need allies if he were to face the Avengers. The newspapers that his pilot had brought to him were filled with reports of battles of the individual Avengers with various so-called "Super-Villains", men and women with powers or equipment that made them more formidable than ordinary people, and which they used for criminal gain. Zemo now selected a few of these villains as candidates for membership in a group, which he intended to lead against the Avengers. He called this group the Masters of Evil. Zemo offered membership to one Super-Villain per member of the Avengers, save for the Wasp whom he did not consider to be a serious threat, and Captain America whom he would destroy personally. Each Super-Villain had battled one of the Avengers before, and Heinrich now intended that they should each succeed where they had previously failed and defeat their chosen enemy. However, Zemo did not make his offer of membership lightly; each villain he approached had been defeated in the past and so must "audition" for membership so that he could be certain that he had made the correct choice. We do not know how two of the three candidates proved themselves, but we do have details of the audition of Giant-Man's chosen enemy, the Black Knight.

The Black Knight was Professor Nathan Garrett, an English scientist who had moved to America to teach, but who had secretly been leaking American secrets to Communist China, since he had sympathies with their ideologies and politics. Following his exposure by Henry Pym, he had devised the costume and scientifically created flying horse of the Black Knight and had launched a criminal career, first seeking revenge against Pym. This had brought him into conflict with Pym's alter ego Giant-Man, and also the Wasp. When Baron Zemo contacted the Black Knight with his offer of membership in the Masters of Evil, Garrett was only too eager to accept. He elected to demonstrate his skills by kidnapping the daughter of Archduke Emil Stragosz of Ksavia, who was currently visiting New York. This was a particularly significant visit from a political viewpoint, since it was the first time that a Ksavian ruler had left Ksavia since the Second World War. The Knight abducted Stragosz's daughter Elena by swooping down on the back of his horse and overcoming the Archduke and his retinue with a combination of gas and his paralyzer pistol. Garrett's men, who were waiting nearby with gas masks, then seized Elena and bundled her away. The Knight was almost undone by the wall-crawling hero Spider-Man, who had arrived on the scene in response to a news report. Spider-Man was awkward high school student Peter Parker, who had been bitten by an irradiated spider at a science demonstration and had gained the proportionate strength, speed and agility of the arachnid. He had briefly sought to use his powers for financial gain by creating the guise of Spider-Man and trying to start a career in television, but following the death of his beloved Uncle Ben at the hands of a burglar, whom he had previously allowed to escape from a crime scene, he had learned that with great power must come great responsibility, and he had used his powers to become a masked crime fighter. Unlike the Avengers however, Spider-Man was a shadow figure that seldom explained his actions to the public. As such, he was feared and mistrusted by many people, thanks largely to the efforts of Newspaper Publisher J. Jonah Jameson.

Spider-Man sought to stop the Knight with his webbing, a strong adhesive polymer that he had designed and which he could fire from mechanical shooters mounted on his wrists, which was strong enough to swing on and sticky enough to ensnare criminals. It dissolved after one hour, thus allowing the police to take felons into custody. His initial battle with the Black Knight was short-lived however, due to a personal tragedy that he became aware of in mid-fight. His school friend Sally Avril, who had recently given up an ill-advised career as the costumed heroine Bluebird, had been on her way to watch the fight between Spider-Man and Garrett in the car of her friend Jason Ionello. At her urging, Jason drove through a red light and was struck by another car. The crash killed Sally immediately. Seeing this, Spider-Man froze, and the Knight drove home his advantage and knocked him out with his stun ray. He then joined his men and carried her to the top floors of the Chrysler building, where he barricaded himself and his lackeys inside and held off the police helicopters with his array of weapons. He then contacted Baron Zemo to report his success. Heinrich was satisfied with the Knight's success, but as he spoke with Garrett over a communicator, he spotted Spider-Man entering the room. Garrett soon became aware of this as the webslinger attacked his men. Following Sally's funeral, Parker had set out to rescue the Princess, which he had already done. On learning that the Knight had only kidnapped her to impress some criminal Mastermind, he had become enraged by the senselessness of the situation, especially since it had indirectly resulted in Sally's death. Seeing that Garrett was in dire straits, Zemo ordered him to deal with Spider-Man and contact him again later, then broke contact and settled down to wait. Spider-Man soon defeated the fleeing Knight.

Despite this defeat, the Black Knight had sufficiently impressed Zemo to merit a place in the Masters of Evil. His crimson mask was after all, a constant reminder that the heroes could win from time to time. We do not know what trials Zemo's other two Masters of Evil endured, but soon enough his group was ready. The other two were Iron Man's old enemy the Melter, and Thor's old enemy the Radioactive Man. The Melter was Bruno Horgan, an ex-industrialist who had blamed Stark Enterprises for the failure of his business. Seeking revenge, he had made himself a weapon that could cause the molecular bonds within the metal of Iron Man's armour to resonate such that they broke, thus causing the armour to melt, and had attacked Stark Enterprises. Despite his weakness to Horgan's weapon, Iron Man had managed to defeat him. The Radioactive Man was Chinese scientist Dr. Chen Lu. Lu was an expert in the field of radiation research and had deliberately irradiated himself, thus becoming the green skinned, super-humanly strong Radioactive Man. The energy fields surrounding his radioactive body were sufficiently powerful to stop even Thor's mystical hammer Mjolnir, but like the Melter he had nevertheless been defeated. With his Masters of Evil assembled, Zemo now prepared to attack the Avengers. He had travelled to America in his custom-built heli-hovercraft, piloted by the same man who had piloted the aeroplane that had brought him his newspapers and journals in recent years. Rendezvousing with Garrett, Lu and Horgan, he outlined his plans. Heinrich wanted his Masters of Evil to lure the Avengers from their New York Mansion headquarters, which also served as Captain America's home at present, by attacking the city. His intention was to distract the various Avengers by dividing their forces, whilst he dealt with Captain America personally. He had improved the design of the Melter's gun so that it could now dissolve all forms of metal, but he did not intend to rely on his allies' resources and weapons alone. Instead, he provided them with canisters of Adhesive X.

Because there was no known solvent for Adhesive X, Zemo knew that if it were sprayed liberally across the city, it would cause widespread property damage and personal injury. It would effectively immobilise the affected areas of the city. To this end, he provided the Melter and the Radioactive Man with backpacks containing tanks of the glue, which had spray cannons attached, and he gave the Black Knight specialised tanks which he could attach to the harness of his flying horse and spray across the city. Soon, the three villains were moving through Manhattan, immobilising people, cars and animals with the sticky pink foam. Inevitably, it was not long before the Avengers heard of this and rushed to the rescue. However, the heroes were not prepared for what the sight that greeted them; the trapped public were screaming and panicking, unable to free themselves and three of their old enemies had clearly teamed up. They rushed into the fray, not realising just what they were facing. As Thor attacked the Radioactive Man, his old foe sprayed a blast of Adhesive X at him. Lu missed the Thunder God but struck Captain America and Giant-Man, sticking them fast to the pavement. Iron Man meanwhile was fighting a nerve-wracking battle with the Melter; thanks to Zemo's modifications to Horgun's weapons, his armour was once again vulnerable. He managed to take the Melter by surprise, but rather than following up on this he instead decided to free his trapped teammates. Using his repulsors, he cut a circle of tarmac surrounding Captain America and Giant-Man free, then attached this to the back of a truck and began to tow the pair to safety. Thor, who had been fighting the Radioactive Man and the Black Knight with only moderate success, and the Wasp, quickly joined them and the group made a strategic withdrawal.

Shortly after the Avengers departed, Baron Zemo's heli-hovercraft descended into the street. Anyone not glued in place had fled in terror and the streets were virtually deserted. His Masters of Evil had failed to capture the Avengers, but before he could vent spleen on the group, the Black Knight suggested that they had better find the heroes before they discovered a solvent that might be effective on Adhesive X. Zemo's anger quickly evaporated as the possibilities occurred to him. Whilst he was a scientific genius, he had failed to find such a solution, but although he was arrogant he knew that the Avengers' ingenuity and resourcefulness might just succeed where he had failed. If so, he could finally be free of his hood... He ordered his three associates to prepare for a second assault on the city, to draw the Avengers out of hiding once again.

Meanwhile, the Avengers had been desperately trying to free Pym and Rogers. Having tried everything they could think of, the elected to consult the one man they could think of who was an expert in adhesives, Paste-Pot Pete. His real name was Peter Petruski and he was a professional criminal who had clashed with the Fantastic Four's Human Torch sometime earlier. He was currently in prison, but the Wasp managed to negotiate a reduced sentence for him if he helped them. Petruski agreed, and offered them a canister of his own super-dissolver, which he had a hidden supply of in a warehouse. The Avengers seized this supply and sprayed it liberally over the trapped Captain America and Giant-Man. Petruski, who would later become more infamous as a founding member of the super-villain group the Frightful Four, had unknowingly created a universal solvent capable even of dissolving Zemo's greatest invention; the Adhesive X dissolved rapidly under the onslaught of the dissolver and the trapped Avengers were soon freed. They now began their next move, and they were helped by the fact that they now knew whom their true enemy was; Captain America had recognised Adhesive X and he remembered who had invented it. He was determined to bring Bucky's killer to justice. He now devised a plan that should allow the Avengers to bring the Masters of evil to their knees. Zemo's strategy had been to recruit super-villains who could fight their old enemies in the Avengers. Having learnt from their previous mistakes, Heinrich had reasoned that they would have a better chance of success the second time around. Now, Captain America came up with the idea of the Avengers' swapping enemies, so that the Masters would be fighting enemies whose weaknesses they would not know. This would not be a problem for the Avengers themselves, thanks to their close teamwork, which the Masters, who were effectively a group of hired mercenaries, would not have.

Meanwhile, Baron Zemo was overseeing the preparations for the second assault. His pilot was refilling the Masters' tanks with Adhesive X whilst Heinrich consulted Lu, Garrett and Horgun some distance away. The pilot had just started when he was quietly attacked and overcome by Rick Jones and his Teen Brigade. Jones was a friend of Captain America's who had become involved with the Avengers thanks to his association with the Hulk, whose creation he had inadvertently been instrumental in. Although the Hulk had left the Avengers, Rick had been unable to pass up the opportunity to befriend the legendary Captain America and he had remained with the team. His Teen Brigade was a group of ham radio buffs whom he organised and whom he now recruited to assist him. Captain America had asked Rick (who reminded him somewhat of Bucky) to gather his friends and locate the Masters of evil who he knew must be gathered near where their attack had occurred. Jones had soon located them in an abandoned warehouse, and whilst the four Super-Villains talked, he and his friends filled the Masters' canisters not with Adhesive X, but with Paste-Pot Pete's super-dissolver. Soon, the Black Knight, the Melter and the Radioactive Man ventured out into the streets once more, spraying their canisters across the city once more. The Black Knight was the first to notice that this second deluge was freeing the people trapped by their earlier attack, but before he or the other Masters could do anything about it, the Avengers attacked. Captain America's strategy worked perfectly. The Black Knight suddenly found himself facing Thor, and despite putting up an impressive fight, he was hopelessly outclassed. Iron Man and Giant-Man meanwhile had successfully defeated the Radioactive Man by wrapping him in lead foil and leaving him hanging from a lead-coated barrage balloon. Finally, Iron Man went after the Melter, refusing to allow Horgun to defeat him again; he tricked Bruno into firing his ray at a fire hydrant and then used is repulsors to deflect the powerful stream of water at the villain. With his weapon disabled by the water, the Melter was effectively powerless.

Whilst the Masters of Evil fought the Avengers, Baron Heinrich Zemo had located the Teen Brigade, just as they were tampering with his master cylinder of Adhesive X, which was marked by a black cross. He unleashed another weapon of his own invention - a hypno-ray built into the sceptre that he was carrying - and quickly mesmerised the group. Before they could answer his questions however, he was interrupted by something that he had not seen or felt for over forty years; Captain America's shield span across the room and struck him full in the chest, knocking the master cylinder from his hands. But it was not pain that Zemo felt in response to this, it was elation, as a battle four decades in the making began. As Captain America kicked Zemo's sceptre from his hand, he soon realised that Heinrich had learned much since their last encounter in England. His newfound prowess at karate had made him a formidable hand-to-hand combatant, and he now demonstrated this by slicing a metal dustbin in half with a blow from the edge of his hand. Despite this however, Captain America was still the better fighter and his hatred for Baron Zemo and his determination to avenge Bucky's death made him even more dangerous. He quickly got the upper hand and Zemo was pinned beneath his old nemesis. The Baron might well have lost then and there and faced trial for war crimes, were it not for the intervention of his pilot, who had freed himself from the bonds with which the Teen Brigade had restrained him. Pulling a gun, he aimed a shot at Captain America's head, but Rogers' reflexes allowed him to dodge a lethal wound. Nevertheless, the bullet grazed his skull. Thanking his pilot for this timely intervention, Zemo climbed aboard his Heli-Hovercraft, taking his x-marked master cylinder with him. Since Zemo knew that Adhesive X had glued Captain America to the road, his current freedom meant that the Avengers had indeed found a solution, and since their young friend had been caught tampering with his stock of Adhesive X, he deduced that it had been switched for a canister of the solvent. As Baron Heinrich Zemo boarded his craft, the other Avengers arrived and Giant-Man soon captured the pilot, whilst Iron Man broke the hypnotic trance holding the Brigadiers. With all of his allies captured, the Baron made his escape in his heli-hovercraft, determining to return for the Masters of Evil whenever they either escaped from police custody or made bail. After all, they had served him well and he still wanted to see Captain America, and now also the Avengers, dead. As the Avengers watched, Heinrich's ship took off and began to speed away towards the horizon. All of the heroes looked on glumly as the mastermind escaped, except Captain America. Oddly, he had a smile on his face...

Inside his vehicle, Zemo eagerly opened his master canister, desperate to finally be free of his mask. He was sure that Jones had switched it and that it must therefore contain the solution to Adhesive X. Unfortunately, for the Baron, this was exactly what Captain America had expected him to think. As the lid to the canister sprang open, Zemo discovered that it contained neither the solution to Adhesive X, nor Adhesive X itself; it contained tear gas. In extreme discomfort and with his eyes streaming, Baron Heinrich Zemo began the journey back to his hidden South American fortress. Once there, he began to plan his revenge anew...

Chapter 8: The Asgardians

However great Baron Zemo's hatred of Captain America and his desire for rage had been prior to his attack on the Avengers, it was now even greater. Angry at his defeat by the Avengers, frustrated at his failure to obtain the solution to Adhesive X, and humiliated by Captain America's trick with the tear gas canister, he was in an evil temper when he returned to his hidden fortress in the jungle. With his Masters of Evil in custody, the enraged Baron ordered his subjects to increase their tribute to him, so that he could hire mercenaries and equipment with which to crush his enemies. This tribute consisted of assorted treasure obtained by his captive tribe from wherever they could find it. Much of it was taken from ancient temples and shrines that littered the area, and Heinrich had accumulated a vast wealth of this treasure, which he kept in his Treasure Room. It was this source of wealth that had funded his experiments over the years, especially the vastly expensive orbital death-ray satellite that was still under construction. Zemo could undoubtedly devise a better plan for revenge than hiring large numbers of mercenaries, but ranting served to release his pent-up anger. Deciding to relax by examining the wealth in his Treasure Room, Zemo was considerably surprised when two translucent figures suddenly faded into view beside him. He quickly challenged the transparent figures, demanding to know who they were. They introduced themselves and Baron Zemo began his association with the Enchantress and the Executioner.

The Enchantress and the Executioner were, like Thor, from the other-dimensional domain of Asgard. The Enchantress's name was Amora and she had considerable magical powers, especially over men; in concert with her considerable beauty, these made her enormously seductive. Unlike Amora, the Executioner was not technically an Asgardian God, rather he was a giant from a neighbouring land in that dimension, although he was no more than two metres in height. His real name was Skurge and he was a powerful and ruthless warrior. He was besotted with Amora and thus utterly devoted to her, although his feelings were quite unrequited. He and the Enchantress had joined forces at the behest of Thor's malevolent foster brother Loki, the Norse God of Mischief, to defeat the Thunder God; they had failed and had been exiled to Earth by Odin, the absolute ruler of Asgard and father of Thor. Arriving on Earth, they had found themselves in New York City and immediately desired revenge against Thor. On seeing news of the Avengers' recent battle with the Masters of Evil in a newspaper called the Daily Record, the pair had realised that the escaped Baron Zemo would make a perfect ally if they were to take on the Avengers. Thanks to their Asgardian powers they had no difficulty in locating Heinrich and had thus sent projections of themselves to his hidden fortress half a world away, whilst their true forms remained in New York. After recovering from the shock of their sudden appearance and listening to their story, Zemo saw the possibilities in joining forces with the pair, especially since the Melter and the Radioactive Man were still in jail; the Black Knight apparently was not, but was presumably of little use alone.

Baron Zemo agreed to help the two Asgardians gain revenge on Thor if they helped him to destroy Captain America, and soon came up with a plan. Although the Baron was a scientific genius, magic was well outside his experience, but he quickly saw the possibilities. Soon, he and his new allies had forged a plan. This plan was simple; since Zemo had failed to defeat Captain America in New York, he would fight him on his own territory. The Enchantress and the Executioner would send him to the Baron whilst they dealt with Thor as they pleased and kept the Avengers occupied. Very soon, Skurge was wearing a mask provided by Zemo, and approached Captain America whilst he was unaccompanied by any save for Rick Jones. Introducing himself as Hans Grubervelt, former second-in-command to Dr. Zemo, the Executioner told Captain America where to find his old enemy. Without even taking the time to apprehend "Grubervelt", Captain America made his way swiftly to an airfield, chartered an aeroplane and set out for the jungles of South America and the coordinates provided by Skurge. Whilst this was occurring, Amora had located Thor and approached him; before he could shield himself from her spell she had enchanted him and made him drink a potion. This made him believe that his fellow Avengers were menaces to society whom only he could stop. Soon, Iron Man, Giant Man and the Wasp were locked in battle with their most powerful teammate.

Several hours after he had encountered "Grubervelt", Captain America descended by parachute towards the area of jungle containing Baron Heinrich Zemo's hidden fortress. As he slowly drifted down, the waiting Zemo watched in glee and launched his first weapon, a gas-filled missile. This missile struck the Star-Spangled Avenger full on, doing little physical damage but releasing its payload of gas. Reacting quickly, Captain America wrapped his parachute around him to protect himself from the cloud of vapour. Consequently, he also began to plummet ground wards out of the cloud of gas. With precision timing, he used his shield to break his fall safely and came to land in the jungle. Immediately, a group of Zemo's conquered tribesmen opened fire with machine guns, under orders from the Baron to capture Captain America's shield as a trophy. Heinrich was already grudgingly impressed that his old enemy had fared so well against the missile, and now looked on in amazement as he overcame the armed tribesmen with only his fists and his shield. But then as the Sentinel of Liberty vaulted over the remaining men using a handy branch, he came to land on a top of a concealed pit and fell into the waiting trap. Despite the fact that Zemo now had the perfect opportunity to kill Captain America, his ego would not allow the end to come so quickly - since the pit was very large and very deep he knew that the Avenger was trapped and so left him there whilst he planned a suitable means of execution. Unfortunately, for Heinrich, the Enchantress chose that exact moment to look in on events and take a hand herself. Amora was using a makeshift crystal ball to see how the Baron's battle was going and was amazed to see Captain America captured yet still alive. Worried that Zemo would inadvertently allow him the opportunity to escape, she sent a spell all the way from New York to collapse the walls of the pit and crush him. Unfortunately, as the pit collapsed Captain America used his shield to divert the falling blocks and by the time the rock fall had subsided it had provided him with a handy slope up which to climb to safety. Emerging from the trap, he continued his attack upon Zemo.

On seeing his foe at large once again, Heinrich ordered his men to bring his vibra-gun into play. Before they could fire it however, Captain America used a supple tree trunk to catapult his shield at those who were manning it and knocked them painfully unconscious. Zemo fell back, allowing his opponent to seize the vibra-gun. Captain America then fired it directly at Baron Zemo's fortress atop the ancient temple, reducing it to rubble and matchwood. With his home of forty years badly damaged, Heinrich was now realising that bringing Captain America to his hidden stronghold had been a dreadful mistake. Leaping aboard a sleek rocket-like aircraft, he made his mistake. Even as he took off however, Captain America leapt at the craft and slapped his shield against the side; thanks to a series of electro-magnets built by Tony Stark and currently mounted in his shield, it held fast and remained attached to his glove thanks to more magnets. Holding tightly to his shield, he prepared to weather the long and perilous journey to Zemo's final destination, New York City. Fortunately, Zenmo was flying at low level to avoid radar. He was seeking the aid of his two allies and as he approached the city the pair spotted him. They were lying low, since after hours of battle, Iron Man had managed to break Amora's hold over Thor and the Avengers were now united once more. Seeing an opportunity to slay the heroes, the Enchantress used a spell to seize control of Dr. Zemo's ship and guide it towards the Avengers. She also used her abilities to communicate with Zemo and explain her actions; the Baron saw the sense in the manoeuvre and prepared to fire his ship's massive Stun Gun at the team. Just as he had them in his sights, Captain America released his shield's magnetic grip on the hull and smashed the windscreen of the vessel with it. As he climbed inside and began to wrestle with the Baron, the Avengers saw the craft veer wildly out of control.

As the ship tumbled, the Enchantress seized control of it once more and guided it to a safe landing atop the building on which she and Skurge were standing. The Executioner seized Captain America in a powerful and pulled him away from the gasping Baron, whom the Avenger had nearly choked to death in an uncharacteristic show of rage. Squeezing a pressure point in Rogers' neck, Skurge rendered him unconscious and left him on the roof. He then joined the Enchantress in the ship, quickly assessed the controls, and took off whilst the breathless Zemo lay exhausted in a chair. The ship lifted into the air and set out to safety. But they had reckoned without Thor; as the ship flew off, the Thunder God began to whirl Mjolnir faster and faster. Using one of its abilities, he opened a space warp that swallowed the entire ship. As the Avengers looked on, Baron Zemo and his two new Masters of Evil vanished to an unknown location. Passing out of normal space, it became trapped between the sixth and seventh dimensions, where it hovered uselessly with Heinrich and his allies on board. And there they would remain, for several days...

Chapter 9: Wonder Man

After days spent trapped between dimensions, Baron Zemo's temper was fraying; since Asgardian magic had trapped them there he expected Asgardian magic to free them. Angrily commanding Amora to do something about their predicament, he came close to a savage beating from the enraged Executioner. Fortunately for Heinrich, the Enchantress saw value in their alliance and calmed Skurge down. She knew of a simple spell to free them from their current location but as an immortal she had seen no hurry to escape; now reminded of how impatient mortals could be, she cast the spell and after a short journey through further dimensions they arrived at Baron Zemo's jungle fortress. Although Captain America had damaged the buildings atop the ancient temple with the Baron's own vibra-gun, the temple itself and the extensive laboratories that it contained was undamaged. Returning to his old base, Heinrich showed his two new Masters of Evil his resources and began to make preparations for his next attempt to defeat the Avengers, one that he had been planning during their brief imprisonment on board his craft. He intended to use a new agent to infiltrate the Avengers, who would then betray the heroes and deliver them into his hands.

In addition to creating a mole, Zemo sought to create a pawn that could fight alongside him against the Avengers with devastating effect. He had defeated Captain America before and could do so again, and the combined power of the Enchantress and the Executioner should be able to overcome Iron Man, Giant-Man and the Wasp, but Thor was less easy to defeat; he was stronger than his team-mates, stronger than Skurge, and unlikely to fall for one of Amora's enchantments a second time. Fortunately, he had the means of creating an agent with strength and invulnerability to rival even that of the Thunder God. This means was ionic energy. During his four decades of self-imposed exile and in addition to his other projects, Dr Zemo had developed a method for imbuing a human with ionic energy, thus giving them enormous strength and near-invulnerability. Another Nazi scientist, one Professor Kenneth Sturdy, had assisted him in this work and together they had built a machine capable of delivering this payload of energy into a waiting subject. The device had not yet been tested, but it was now complete and all Zemo required was a suitable candidate. He found this in the form of Simon Williams.

Williams was a young American inventor who had been arrested for embezzlement after Tony Stark's patents had rendered his own worthless. He had apparently stolen in order to avoid bankruptcy, although the truth was in fact more complex and involved his older brother Eric, although the details do not concern us here. It is sufficient to know that he was soon in court to hear bail set and was considerable surprised when a stunning blonde woman offered to pay it. This was of course, the Enchantress. She and Skurge had been sent to New York by Baron Zemo to locate a suitable guinea pig and they had selected Williams after reading of his arrest in a newspaper. They soon convinced Williams that they could help him gain revenge on Stark, in addition to receiving money and power. Penniless and friendless, he agreed. He soon arrived in South America with the pair and met Baron Zemo. Soon, he was lying in Zemo's machine, naked except for a loincloth, and about to be bombarded with the "most potent, most powerful ionic rays ever assembled in one concentrated area". Heinrich had attuned the machine specifically to Williams' metabolism to achieve the maximum influx of energy and he now bathed Simon in the ionic rays. As the Asgardians watched, impressed, Williams' body increased in size as his muscle mass increased. By the time Zemo was finished he looked impressive enough, but more than that he was a powerhouse of ray energy. At the Baron's command, Skurge produced a snub-nosed revolver and fired it at Williams' chest at point-blank range; the bullet bounced off. More tests would follow, but first Simon needed clothes and a name suitable for a potential Avenger. Zemo had designed a green and red costume with a mask and ordering Williams to don it he dubbed him Wonder Man. Explaining that Wonder Man was to join the Avengers, Heinrich now ran him through more tests and as the trio watched, he ripped a huge tree from the ground with ease, smashed boulders with a single punch and even managed to disarm and overcome the Executioner. Finally, thanks to a series of miniature rockets built into his belt, he could also fly. But as impressed as Skurge and Amora were with Wonder Man's prowess, they were also concerned. He was too powerful for them to control should he ever turn against them, and had already proved that he could deal with the Executioner. Zemo however had allowed for this contingency however, as he now informed Wonder Man. The Baron had programmed his ionic machine such that the energy influx would have a deleterious effect on Simon Williams' body, effectively poisoning him. He would die unless he received a weekly injection of an antidote known only to Dr. Zemo. Suddenly, Wonder Man realised what he had committed himself to, but he realised also that if he valued his life he had no choice but to remain loyal to Zemo. Reluctantly, he waited to hear the details of the next phase of Zemo's plan.

Baron Zemo's plan was quite simple; he, Amora and Skurge would commit a robbery in New York large enough to attract the attention of the Avengers. When the group arrived and the inevitable battle began, Wonder Man would suddenly appear and attack the Masters, claiming to have an outstanding grudge against Zemo. This, the Baron predicted, would allow him to gain Captain America's trust. Days later, the Baron, the Enchantress and the Executioner were robbing a payroll in New York and sure enough, the Avengers swiftly arrived. Captain America in particular was more than glad of another opportunity to bring Zemo to justice. Whether Heinrich was aware of it we do not know, but thanks to four decades spent in suspended animation, Bucky's death had subjectively occurred mere weeks ago for Steve Rogers. Consequently, he had not finished grieving and was almost becoming unhinged with his desire to bring Dr. Zemo to justice - he had even started to hallucinate, seeing images of Heinrich which he had on at least one occasion attacked. After a short battle, Wonder Man burst onto the scene and attacked the two Asgardian villains, demanding his chance to deal with Zemo; as the Avengers looked on, he grabbed the Baron's ray gun and crushed it into scrap metal with one hand. Deciding that his pawn had put on enough of a show, Zemo triggered a small "fog bomb" and under the cover it provided, he escaped with Amora and Skurge. Wonder Man remained behind, with a concealed camera in his costume transmitting the subsequent events to Zemo.

Although all was going according to plan, Zemo's scheme suddenly almost failed when Captain America listened to Wonder Man's tale. Williams told the Avengers that he had been captured by the Baron and subjected to the experiments that had transformed him into Wonder Man. Captain America was suspicious however; whilst he knew that Zemo had the twisted genius required to achieve such a transformation, he also had sufficient intelligence to stop him from escaping. He questioned Simon about this, and the watching Zemo froze, suddenly realising that he could be watching his scheme disintegrate. Fortunately, the Enchantress thought swiftly and cast a spell from their location back to New York, from where they had now returned to the Amazon. Suddenly, the Avengers knew that Wonder Man needed an antidote to prevent him from dying and they leapt to the assumption that he had managed to escape from Zemo, but required their help to obtain the antidote. Seizing this opportunity, Williams agreed and Captain America warmly offered the Avengers aid in return for Wonder Man's assistance during the earlier battle. Zemo's plan was back on track, save for one more detail - the Avengers did not initially intend to battle the Masters of Evil for the antidote, instead they set about trying to find a cure for Williams' condition themselves. Since Hank Pym was a noted biochemist, he began by analysing Wonder Man's cell structure, which fortuitously for the Baron confirmed Williams' story - his cells were deteriorating at an alarming rate. However, he was quite smug in the knowledge that Zemo would give him the antidote to his condition, as soon as he completed the next phase of the plan. Whilst the other Avengers were out, he overpowered the Wasp and took her back with him to Baron Zemo's fortress in South America.

Neither Wonder Man nor the Wasp were happy with this development, the Wasp because she had been betrayed by somebody that the Avengers trusted and was now a prisoner of their most bitter enemy, and Wonder Man because he was chauvinistic and did not like the fact that he had kidnapped a woman. Zemo however was delighted and ordered Wonder Man to radio the Avengers and explain to them that the Baron had recaptured him and that the Wasp had been taken also. As soon as the message reached the Avengers, the heroes set out for Zemo's stronghold each in their own way; Captain America and Giant-Man chartered a jet, whilst Thor and Iron Man both flew under their own power. This latest battle between the Avengers and Zemo's group took place in a series of caves some miles from Zemo's fortress, which he had prepared especially as a battleground on which to face his enemies. Iron Man was the first to arrive, and was swiftly defeated; Zemo had prepared for him and had set up a huge electro-magnet which instantly restrained him. Just as the Iron-clad Avenger was thus captured however, a familiar shield smashed into the all besides Zemo and the Executioner - Captain America and Giant-Man had arrived. But whilst Captain America had immediately set out to look for his old enemy, Giant-Man had gone in search of the Wasp and he quickly discovered Wonder Man's treachery. Thor had already learned of this after being punched by Williams and trapped in a pit whilst off-balance. Thanks to his size however, Pym was a less easy target and put up a fight. Wonder Man managed to stun him, but not before the angry biochemist had smashed the controls of the magnet holding Iron Man. Stark's alter ego rejoined the fray only to join his comrades in defeat. By the time Baron Zemo joined Wonder Man, the Executioner had overcome Captain America and the Avengers were defeated.

Baron Heinrich Zemo had won his greatest victory since the death of Bucky. The Avengers were defeated and at his mercy, and they included his arch-nemesis. He would finally finish the job that he had begun in England over four decades earlier, and kill Captain America. Then even as he stood on the cusp of victory, it was snatched from his grasp. Heinrich approached the control panel of the ray machine that he had brought down into the caves, just as a huge boulder smashed it to pieces in front of him; Wonder Man had betrayed him. The enraged Baron watched as Williams pushed the rock covering the pit in which Thor was trapped aside, and allowed the Thunder God's mortal form to reach out and seize the handle of Mjolnir. The Avengers were soon free once more. Wonder Man had looked on as Baron Zemo had prepared to kill them, and he had remembered their sincere offer to help save his life. His betrayal of them to the Baron had been nagging at his conscience, and he had finally realised that whatever else he was, he could not be party to the murder of those who had tried to save him. In doing this, he had signed his own death warrant; Zemo's antidote would now be denied him and he knew that his time was nearly at an end. Meanwhile, the Masters of Evil were escaping. The Enchantress had created a mist to hide them from the Avengers and she had Zemo had fled towards one exit, whilst Skurge had made his way out through another, concealed tunnel. Ever the schemer, Heinrich hoped even now to triumph; as he and Amora fled, he told her to let the heroes follow them and as they passed down the tunnel he pulled a lever and collapsed the roof. Once more however, he failed; the Wasp had been flying after them unnoticed and had seen him reach for the lever. Flying back to her friends, she warned Giant-Man and he snatched Captain America and Thor back to safety. Zemo had failed to kill the Avengers once more, but again he had escaped.

Safe once more, the Avengers gathered around Wonder Man, who had collapsed on the ground and was apparently dying. When they asked him why he helped them, he explained that he wanted to do one noble thing in his life before he died. Then his eyes closed, and he slumped to the floor. In fact, he did not die, but rather he entered an "ionic coma" that was indistinguishable from death, as an unexpected side effect of the treatments to which he had been subjected. Believed dead, he was taken back to America and buried, his comatose form slowly metamorphosing as his powers changed. Years later, he would awaken and would make a life for himself as a hero, joining the ranks of the Avengers. But for now, he was another victim of the twelfth Baron of Zemo, for which Heinrich must answer. We can assume I think that the Avengers hunted for the Masters of Evil, but we know that they did not find them; presumably the trio hid whilst the heroes searched. Inevitably, the group returned to their New York Mansion, with even Captain America accepting the fact that his feud with the Baron would undoubtedly present them with another opportunity to bring the Nazi to justice in due time. With the Avengers gone, Skurge, Amora and Heinrich returned to the Baron's fortress to plan their next move. Soon, an opportunity would present itself in the form of a most unusual ally...

Chapter 10: Immortus

Despite his recent failure, Zemo was still determined to destroy the Avengers, and he still believed that joining forces with a powerful ally was the way to achieve this, even though his gambit with Wonder Man had failed. For days, he and his Asgardian allies considered their options, but before they could come up with a workable plan themselves, they were interrupted by the arrival in Heinrich's fortress of a regal, cloaked figure. He made contact with the group before he arrived by sending out a powerful mental probe to the Enchantress, which was too powerful for her to resist, despite Zemo's concern that it was an attack. Thus, the Executioner was on guard and ready when Immortus materialised in their prescence.

An in-depth history of the life of Immortus would be convoluted indeed and is beyond the scope of this biography. Suffice it to say that he was a former time-traveller who, whilst studying the mechanism of the time stream, had come to the attention of the Time-Keepers, three beings from the end of time who monitor and maintain the temporal pathways of reality. They gave Immortus custody of seventy centuries of history, including the twentieth century, over which he watched, whilst acting as the Time-Keepers' agent. The Space Phantoms, denizens of Limbo, the extra-temporal dimension in which he dwelt, aided him in his endeavours. They were lost souls, refugees from a myriad of worlds and eras who had managed to wander into limbo, where their personalities and memories of their previous lives were eroded and lost. They became ghosts, with the power to change their shape and replace the occupants of reality, switching place with them on contact whilst in the real world. As Lord of Limbo, Immortus was their absolute master. Recently, at least relative to Immortus' own timeline, he had been made aware of a concern of the Time-Keepers regarding humanity. They had foreseen a divergent timeline in which humans came to threaten the entire galaxy, and this timeline stemmed from the late twentieth century. Realising that the Avengers were the key to this future, they had ordered Immortus to destroy them, or they would force him to destroy humanity. Reluctant to destroy his own race, he decided to deal with the Avengers. Shortly after the Avengers had first banded together, he had dispatched one of his Space Phantoms to Earth to try and break up the group by displacing different members of the group into Limbo and impersonating them on Earth. However, they had discovered the Space Phantom's plan (although not his true agenda or history) and he had been forcibly expelled back to Limbo when he had tried to displace Thor; the Asgardians it seemed, were not so easily displaced. Now, Immortus had decided to take a direct hand in the destruction of the Avengers, and he intended to work through human agents. Thus, he had appeared to Baron Heinrich Zemo and the Masters of Evil.

Immortus arrogantly announced that he had been observing the Masters' battles with the Avengers and that he would join them in their vendetta, since he eventually intended to conquer this time period. Although this was not in fact true, he had guessed correctly that Zemo and his allies would find this easy to believe, and it thus provided him with a plausible motive for his actions. Heinrich immediately started to bristle with indignation at Immortus's air of superiority and ordered Skurge to teach him some respect. The Executioner gladly strode forwards to attack the Master of Limbo. The Enchantress had heard of Immortus, but clearly knew little of him, since she was as surprised as her allies by what happened next. As Skurge approached him, he vanished, announcing that he never lowered himself to indulge in physical combat. He was willing however, to send a champion to fight for him and as the astonished Executioner watched the massive form of Paul Bunyan materialised in front of him. Bunyan was a mythical figure and not a figure from history whom Immortus had snatched out of time, whatever he might want the Masters of Evil to think; unbeknownst to them, this Bunyan was a Space Phantom, which had assumed the shape required by its master. Despite "Bunyan's" size, the Executioner was a powerful warrior and had no fears about tackling his opponent. After a short battle in which neither combatant gained the upper hand, Zemo turned to Immortus, who had reappeared next to the Baron, and ordered him to call off his agent before the Baron's castle was wrecked by the conflict. He was satisfied that Immortus had demonstrated his power and agreed to talk to the Master of Limbo. Immortus agreed and "Bunyan" vanished back into Limbo. Baron Zemo had quickly realised that Immortus could be a powerful ally, whether he could be trusted or not. Thus, he demanded that Immortus now prove his loyalty to the Masters, since he claimed that he was seeking membership. He demanded that Immortus do this by destroying one of the Avengers; gleefully accepting this challenge, Immortus announced that he would do far more than this and would destroy all of them. He then vanished once more, to begin his task. As he did so, the glowering Executioner informed the Baron that he did not trust Immortus, but as Heinrich was quick to point out, neither did he. But if Immortus failed, they had lost nothing and if he succeeded, they stood to lose an enemy, and at no cost to themselves...

Immortus knew from his studies of the heroes that the way to trap the Avengers lay with Rick Jones. Jones desperately wanted to join Captain America as his sidekick, but the death of Bucky still haunted Rogers and he continuously refused. Immortus reasoned that Jones would leap at the chance to obtain super-powers, since it might improve his chances if Captain America thought that he had a better chance of survival in combat. Thus, he placed an advert in one of the Marvels Comics that Jones read. Marvels Comics produced comic book adaptations of real life super-hero battles and missions, especially those of the Fantastic Four, who they had a licensing agreement with, and also Captain America, who had been a national hero ever since the war. Jones soon spotted Immortus' advertisement, which offered Super Powers at low price and gave a New York address. The foolhardy youth soon arrived at this address, which Immortus had acquired for his purposes. Once there, a Space Phantom disguised as Attila the Hun seized him, and then he was transported to the Tower of London in the 18th Century, where he would remain until Immortus retrieved him. It did not take long for Captain America to realise that his young friend was missing, and after contacting the Teen Brigade he soon read the advert and arrived at Immortus temporary New York headquarters. The Master of Limbo was expecting him, and told Rogers that he been ordered to kidnap the boy by the other Avengers as a means of controlling Captain America; he would only release Jones when the other Avengers were brought to him, so that he could prove this. Normally, Captain America would have dismissed this story of betrayal out of hand, but I hypothesise that he could not bring himself to reject it for two reasons. Firstly, although he had fought alongside the Avengers for weeks against numerous threats, he had still only recently been revived from suspended animation and he was still getting to know the Avengers. More to the point however, we have seen how his feelings of guilt over Bucky's death were tormenting him, and as we have noted he had even seen and attacked hallucinations of Baron Zemo. With this fragile emotional state, it is perhaps unsurprising that he could believe Immortus's lies. He returned to Avengers Mansion and attacked his teammates in near panic, until they finally calmed him down and persuaded him to tell them what was wrong. Then they agreed to accompany him to Immortus's base and discover the truth.

With the Avengers now present, Immortus was ready to proceed. He explained that he had captured Jones as bait to get them here and that he would free him if they could defeat his champions, each brought from the past to fight for Immortus. Giant-Man, assisted by the Wasp, would fight Goliath, Iron Man would fight Merlin, and Thor would battle Hercules. Unbeknownst to the Avengers, these were not the real Goliath (who probably did not exist anyway), Merlin and Hercules, but three more Space Phantoms, including the one that they had faced shortly after they had first banded together. To Immortus's astonishment, his three minions were soon defeated and since he refused to accept defeat, he grabbed hold of Captain America and transported him to the same era and location as Jones. He promised the Star-Spangled Avenger that if he could rescue Rick, they would both be returned to their own time. Meanwhile, he reasoned, the Avengers would be demoralised by the loss of Captain America, making them easy prey for the Masters of Evil, who he was sure were watching the events in New York.

Immortus was correct; the Baron and his allies were indeed watching events unfolding on Zemo's equipment in South America. On seeing that Immortus had succeeded in breaking up the Avengers by the removal of one of their number, the Baron announced that they would now set out for New York to confront their enemies once more. They boarded the air craft in which they had been trapped between dimensions shortly after the Asgardians had joined Zemo, and which had now been repaired, and made their way to New York. Several hours later they arrived at Avengers Mansion, where the heroes had dejectedly regrouped following the disappearance of Immortus and Captain America, and smashed their way into the building. With the advantage of surprise also on their side, the Masters soon began to gain the upper hand. Whilst the Enchantress battled Pym and Van Dyne, the Executioner attacked Iron Man, leaving Zemo with Thor. Although the Thunder God's strength and battle prowess far outstripped those of Dr. Zemo, the Baron had come prepared. Recently, he had developed a new weapon, which he called liquid ore; sprayed from a gun just as Adhesive X had been, it solidified into unbreakable stone on contact with flesh, and Thor's hands were soon trapped. The Baron then took aim at Thor's face, relishing every moment of his victory and then once again he was undone by a familiar intrusion, as Captain America's shield span across the room and smashed his liquid ore gun to pieces. The Star-Spangled Avenger had succeeded in rescuing Rick from the 18th Century guards who had held him prisoner and Immortus had stuck to his word and brought them back to New York in the correct time period. Additionally, he had secretly been impressed by the Avengers' bravery and had decided to reconsider his approach to carrying out the Time-Keepers' wishes for the moment. On retrieving Captain America and Jones from the past, he returned to limbo to plan anew.

With the return of Captain America, the Avengers spirits were lifted and they began to fight with renewed vigour. Suddenly, the Masters of Evil found themselves losing. With defeat and capture almost certain, but utterly intolerable, the Enchantress decided to take drastic steps. Summoning up all of her considerable powers, she cast a powerful spell and made things exactly as they had been just before Immortus had contacted them. The spell worked and time rewound; thus the Avengers thus had no knowledge of their first of many encounters with Immortus. For the Masters of Evil, the memories of yet another defeat remained, even though it never happened; back in Zemo's fortress days earlier, Amora felt Immortus' mental probe for a second time as history began to repeat itself, but this time she was prepared and managed to break contact. Immortus, who of course knew what had transpired, allowed this to happen and aborted his meeting with the Masters. With regret, Baron Zemo realised just how close they had been to defeating the Avengers. Once more, they found themselves back in a position where they had to come up with a new plan of action. Soon enough, the Masters of Evil would engage in another attack on the Avengers, which would prove to be their last. But to prepare for this final assault would take several weeks, and in the meantime Baron Zemo decided to mastermind an attack on Captain America alone. He had specially prepared pawns trained and ready to attack the Sentinel of Liberty, and whilst Skurge and Amora relaxed and enjoyed his hospitality, he put these agents into play...

Chapter 11: The Assassins

Baron Zemo's "Army of Assassins" was a group of nine professional killers who had trained specially to combat the particular hand-to-hand fighting skills of Captain America. They had been training at Zemo's South American fortress for months, probably since Zemo's first encounter with the Avenger following his release from suspended animation. They were now almost ready to tackle the Sentinel of Liberty and as a final training exercise, Heinrich had the group fight another one of his men who had been trained to copy the moves of Captain America and who was dressed as the Captain. The nine assassins were equipped with an array of hand weapons designed by Zemo, including a gauntlet which ended in a solid iron block, and glove patches which released "Formula X", another of the Baron's inventions. Formula X was designed to render unconscious an opponent, since although Zemo's agents were called assassins, Heinrich's ego demanded that he kill Captain America personally; his agents were to defeat the Star-Spangled Avenger and bring him back to the Baron's fortress. Zemo decided to send his "army" into action against the real Captain America, when his sources informed him that Rogers was to give a public demonstration of his fighting skills without the Avengers present, at an exhibition in New York. He was to fight a group of men who would attack him and he would show of his skills by defeating them. Although these men were supposed to put up as good a fight as they were able, they would not of course be using lethal force. The Baron's assassins were instructed to replace these men capture Captain America. Since this would be done in public, Zemo would monitor the American television news channels, knowing that such an event would make headline news across the world. His assassins soon left for New York in an inconspicuous jet.

Captain America was only too pleased to put on the display in New York, since he felt that it would make people aware of the benefits of keeping fit. Rick Jones, who decided to wait for his friend in the locker room whilst he caught up on his homework, accompanied him to the display. Just as the staged fight was set to begin, Zemo's assassins fired a sleeping gas shell at the feet of the Captain America's opponents and donned the fallen men's' costumes. Initially, only four went out onto the stage. Although he was briefly surprised that he did not recognise his opponents, Captain America nevertheless began the demonstration and it despite the skill and ferocity of the men he battled, it was not until one of them tried to press the patch on his glove containing Formula X against Rogers' face that he realised that this battle was for real. Holding his breath, he went limp and thus allowed the assassins to believe that he had succumbed to Formula X; he then suddenly exploded into action and sent his four assailants flying. Realising that they had lost the advantage of surprise, three more of Zemo's men came out onto the stage, one of them wearing his iron glove. Confidently, this assassin moved forward, banging his metal fist repeatedly against Captain America's shield in an effort to shatter it. Clearly, Zemo had not warned him that the legendary shield was unbreakable, although this fact rapidly became clear to the attacker. Cursing, he tried to pin the Avenger down and yelled to his comrades to bring up more Formula X, so that they could defeat Captain America in the name of Zemo. This was a mistake; realising that his most hated enemy was behind the attack, Steve suddenly began to fight with even more determination. To the watching audience, who had been warned to expect an impressive fight, this must have been entertainment indeed.

Meanwhile, Rick Jones had finished his studying and had made his way to the stage, where he had immediately realised that the men attacking Captain America were not the scheduled fighters. Before he could act however, some of the assassins spotted him and moved forward to silence him. Despite their proficiency however, they were unprepared for Rick's knowledge of judo, which Rogers had been teaching him and, taken by surprise, allowed him to break free and elude them. He fled from the building to summon aid, and the assassins decided to let him go; by the time help arrived, they would already have overcome the Sentinel of Liberty. Unfortunately, their fellows had already been defeated and as they abandoned their pursuit of Rick, they immediately found themselves besieged in a corner by the spinning shield of their foe. Realsing that, against all odds, they were nearly beaten, they decided to use the last-resort weapon provided by Zemo, which was a "sub-miniature" missile fired from a tiny gun hidden in the belt of one o their number. He fired it, but Captain America's reflexes were quicker and he recalled his shield to his glove using the magnets that Stark had installed. The missile exploded harmlessly against it, and by the time Rick returned with the police, all of the assassins were either unconscious or too battered to offer further resistance. The audience were undoubtedly impressed. With the Army of Assassins defeated, one task remained. Captain America made contact with a major television news network and asked them for a favour. Realising that Captain America was a ratings puller, they agreed...

Sometime later, Baron Zemo was watching an American news channel when Captain America's face suddenly appeared on the screen. Talking straight to the camera, he addressed Zemo directly, knowing that the broadcast would reach him, and announced that his assassins had failed and that the Baron would have to face him man to man again sooner or later. Then he delivered the coup de grace:

"Now, while the world watches and listens, I call you a coward, Zemo! I say you are afraid to face your mortal enemy!"

It is difficult to imagine the full depths of rage that Heinrich felt in response to this; in addition to his multiple failures to defeat Captain America and the Avengers, he had now been humiliated before the whole of America and probably other parts of the world also. Furiously, he pulled his ray-gun and fired it into his monitor screen in and impotent gesture of rage. Captain America's intention had clearly been to goad the Baron into a final showdown and he would now get his wish. After weeks of avoiding direct conflict with the Avengers, it was time for a final battle. Assembling his largest roster of Masters of Evil to date, he would launch one last assault on the Avengers and as we shall see, it would result in a climactic confrontation with his greatest foe...

Chapter 12: Captain America

Goaded into action by Captain America's taunt, Baron Zemo quickly set about preparing another attack on the Avengers. The principle behind this attack was straightforward; he would obtain bait to lure Captain America to his South American fortress once more, where he would confront him and destroy him personally. To ensure that the other Avengers did not interfere, the Masters of Evil would challenge them in New York. But in order to ensure that Captain America did not simply help his fellows to defeat the Masters before he travelled to South America, Zemo had to ensure that he used bait that make Captain America come to him without delay. Immortus's earlier tactics had demonstrated that Rick Jones was an ideal lure. For the plan to work, it also depended on the Avengers needing to fight the Masters at just the right time. Thus, Zemo decided to have a group of his hired soldiers capture Jones whilst the Enchantress and the Executioner led the Avengers away without actually having contact with the boy. And because they would be outnumbered, he realised that he needed more than just the two Asgardians to aid him. He thus decided to have the pair release the Black Knight and the Melter from prison. Since the Masters of Evil were first formed, Garrett had made bail but had soon been tried and incarcerated. The Melter had stayed locked up ever since his capture and the two were now imprisoned together. The Radioactive Man however had been deported back to his native China and was thus too far away to make rescuing him worthwhile. With this plan established, Heinrich sent Amora and Skurge to New York, where they were to obtain the Black Knight's and the Melter's weapons, and Garrett's winged stallion. They were to set up a headquarters and await Zemo's communication via a communicator hidden inside a crystal ball, at which point they were to use their abilities to release their predecessors in the Masters of Evil.

Soon enough, Zemo was ready. Carried from his fortress to his airstrip by native litter-bearers, he watched as three mercenaries boarded the waiting jet plane equipped with an "attractor beam" which they were to use to snatch Jones from the streets of New York. Hours later, the jet arrived in the city and the mercenaries spotted their quarry outside Avengers Mansion. To Rick's surprise, he was suddenly hoisted into the air. The Avengers were quick to respond, since they were already in costume and gathered at the Mansion. This was because Captain America had earlier spotted the Enchantress and the Executioner as the pair had caught a taxi back to their lushly decorated apartment headquarters, where unbeknownst to Rogers, they had immediately received the signal to began from the Baron. They had lost Captain America easily enough thanks to Amora's sorcery, which she had used to make a cable on which from which he was swinging in pursuit snap. However, he had realised that if they were in the city, the Masters would soon attack and so he had summoned the Avengers. They were therefore able to immediately rush to Rick's aid. Fortunately however, the Baron had allowed for this contingency, and as Thor and Iron Man flew up towards the hovering aeroplane, the pilot fired a bulbous-ended concussion rocket at the pair, which exploded and stunned them sufficiently to knock them out of the sky. Giant-Man, rapidly growing to his full height, caught them as they fell and then borrowing Captain America's shield, he hurled it at the jet, which was now accelerating away. It struck a force field around the craft however and the vehicle was soon out of sight. What Zemo's hired hands did not know however was that they had an additional passenger; the Wasp had been caught in the attractor beam with Rick and was now hiding in the plane, watching over the bound and gagged Jones. She quickly herard the pilot and his colleagues mention Zemo, thus confirming her suspicions. She flew out of the plane to tell the Avengers that Rick was a hostage of the Baron.

So far, the Baron's plan was going well, but he knew that the Avengers would soon pursue the plane. Thus, it was at this point that the Enchantress and the Executioner arrived at the prison holding the Black Knight and the Melter. On seeing Zemo's jet fly overhead, they knew that the Avengers would soon be flying over the area in their own craft and set about freeing their allies. By coincidence, a party of scientists, presumably psychologists, was on its way from Washington to study the Melter and the Knight, and so the two criminals had been given back their costumes, though not their weapons. Consequently, when a circle of the wall of the super-villains' cell suddenly evaporated and Amora and Skurge met them, the Asgardians needed only to hand over the pair's weapons and Garrett's horse. Explaining that they had instructions from baron Zemo, the immortals prepared their fellow Masters for combat, just as one of Stark's hunter planes, summoned remotely to the Mansion by Iron Man, appeared overhead with the Avengers on board. The Masters of Evil's instructions were clear; they had to lure the Avengers out of the jet and into combat, save for Captain America who must be allowed to continue. As events turned out, this would prove to be easy. The Black Knight attacked first, firing the hand-guard of his lance off the weapon and towards the jet. As soon as it left the lance, it expanded into a huge spinning disc of razor-sharp metal that could easily slice into the fuselage of the jet. Garrett thus succeeded in drawing Thor out of the now circling jet, so that the Thunder God could smash the disc with Mjolnir. He flew into Thor's path and lured him into a chase away from the jet, which the Melter was next to attack. A beam from Horgun's ray punched a near hole through the undercarriage of the aeroplane, prompting Iron Man to emerge in pursuit of his old foe. Soon, he and the Melter were also engaged in a running battle.

Finally, it was time to draw out Giant-Man and the Wasp, which the Enchantress achieved by casting a spell to hold the jet in place. Deducing the cause of this, Pym and Van Dyne emerged and immediately engaged in battle with Amora and Skurge. Freed from the Enchantress's influence, the jet was free to proceed. Although Captain America must surely have wanted to help his friends, he knew that they could look after themselves and he considered saving Rick a priority. Zemo had already claimed the life of James Barnes and he would not claim the life of another of Steve's friends. He was soon on his way to South America. Behind him, the battle continued apace, and the Masters soon found themselves losing badly. The two Asgardians had seized a car and were driving away, seeking to entice the Avengers into pursuinf them. The Melter trued to leap aboard, but as he did so, Giant-Man stooped and placed his hand in front of the vehicle, which crashed into it and crumpled into scrap. Horgun was thrown clear and the immortals were unharmed, but they were now surrounded by Pym, Van Dyne and Iron Man. Meanwhile, the Black Knight's horse allowed him more manoeuvrability in the air than Thor and he continued to elude the Thunder God, but he soon found himself facing Giant-Man, who was wielding the crushed remains of the car. Pym used this to shield himself from Garrett's arsenal of weapons and the knight was soon hemmed in with the others. Realising that they still needed to delay the heroes, Skurge pointed out that further battle between the groups would cause property damage and risk the lives of the public; this momentarily threw the Avengers and Garrett and Horgun quickly fired their weapons, but unfortunately for the Masters, the Executioner had unwittingly inspired Thor. The Thunder God used Mjolnir to create and interdimensional portal similar to the one that had trapped Zemo, Amora and Skurge between dimensions several weeks earlier, but this time he included both the Masters and the Avengers within it. Reacting swiftly, the Enchantress and the Executioner escaped from the vortex, but Garrett and Horgun were less fortunate. Transported to a bleak, rocky planet, the Avengers could now fight without worrying about the damage caused. Realising this, the two felons fired their weapons, but to their surprise the Melter's beam and the Black Knight's lance both backfired and stunned them - Thor had transported them to a dimension where the normal laws of physics were subverted. Quickly tying the pair up, he transported the Avengers and their captives back to New York. Their Asgardian foes had long gone and they decided not to waste time hunting for them - they would probably face them again anyway soon enough. With the Masters of Evil once more defeated, the four heroes handed Horgun and Garrett back over to the police and returned to the Mansion. They were aware that Captain America's battle with Baron Zemo was personal, and besides Thor had other business to attend to in Asgard. Besides this, all of the founding Avengers were in need of a break; they decided to pass the time until they heard from Captain America by recruiting new Avengers to take over from them. Thus, the remaining original Avengers prepared to split up for the time being. As for the Masters of Evil, they too would not menace the Avengers again in this particular incarnation. On escaping from custody the Melter would find work, as a mercenary and the Black Knight would soon have another encounter with Iron Man, which would result in his accidental death. Repenting on his deathbed, he would pass on his equipment and guise to his nephew, Dane Whitman, who would become the new, heroic Black Knight and would eventually join the Avengers. As for the Enchantress and the Executioner, they would continue to battle Thor for years. Possibly, they would have attempted more attacks on the Avengers as Masters of Evil, but for one development that captain America would reveal to the world on his return. For as we are about to see, his current encounter with Baron Zemo would be their last battle...

Arriving at Heinrich's South American fortress, Captain America's jet was met by a barrage of anti-aircraft fire. Returning fire, he began to destroy the enemy guns, which was just what the waiting Baron Zemo had expected him to do. Tripping his cruellest trap to date, he flicked a switch in his control room and a glass cage containing Rick Jones rose up out of the ground and directly into the Sentinel of Liberty's line of fire. Had Zemo's plan succeeded, Captain America would have been responsible for causing Rick's death, to add to the guilt he already felt over Bucky's. But Steve did not kill Rick; pulling up at the last minute, he managed to avoid his friend, although his fire did shatter the glass cage, fortunately without injuring Rick and in fact freeing him. Captain America then ejected from the cockpit and descended towards the base by parachute. Controlling his descent, he managed to land next to Rick's prison and the pair prepared to face Zemo. Although the Baron was disappointed that Rick had not been slain by his hero, he quickly got over it; backed by his army and armed with his disintegrator pistol, he would still be able to kill them both in person. Leaving his fortress with his men behind him, Heinrich ran towards his old enemy, who was waiting next to the shattered glass cage. To reach Captain America he had to pass through a rocky gorge and as he did so, he noticed with derision that his nemesis had thrown his shield. Hopelessly outnumbered as he was, surely he must be desperate indeed to make such a feeble gesture of defiance? The shield struck its target, which Zemo now realised was the rocky face of the gorge. The shield ricocheted back to its owner, and the impact triggered a landslide that separated the Baron from his troops. He was now alone, but he could still easily win. Rick yelled out a warning to his friend that the Baron was holding his disintegrator pistol. Zemo responded:

"Not merely holding it! I am about to use it! And - thus dies Captain America!"

He levelled the weapon at his foe and his finger tightened on the trigger. Suddenly, dislocation - for a fraction of a fraction of a second, Zemo vanished, taken out of time for a period of several hours and then returned to the same moment that he was taken from with no memory of this period. He did not even notice it, but we shall discuss what occurred during those hours in the next chapter. Unaware of this, he continued to pull the trigger, and at that moment Captain America raised his shield and tilted it, seeking to reflect the sunlight into Heinrich's eyes and dazzle him. He succeeded; blinded by the glare, Zemo was blinded and fired wildly in confusion. His shot in fact went up into the air and into the rock face above, already weakened by the earlier landslide. It collapsed - straight onto the two old foes. Captain America raised his shield and protected himself from the barrage, but Zemo was less lucky. After a blood feud that had endured for over forty years, a life spent making others suffer and prolonged beyond its natural length by Compound X came to an end, as Baron Doctor Colonel Heinrich Zemo, twelfth of his line, died. With the "masked devil" gone, the tribe he had subjugated for so many decades was free and although Zemo's remaining mercenaries put up brief resistance, they soon fled into the jungle. Captain America buried his old foe in a simple grave marked by a wooden cross and then and Rick set out to return to America, to break the news to the world that one of the most notorious Nazi war criminals of all time was finally dead.

With Baron Zemo's death, our journey is almost at an end. In the next chapter we shall examine the events that took place during the moment in which Zemo was snatched out of time and returned, mere seconds before his death. And whilst Zemo had always played the role of mastermind, as we shall see he had for a time been nothing but a pawn in the machinations of three separate incarnations of the same man, a man whom we have seen before...

Chapter 13: The Legion of the Unliving

We know by now that there are several other-dimensional realms, or underworlds, where the souls of the dead go; the five principle "Hells" are those that have been ruled at various points by the demons Mephisto and his son Blackheart; Satan and his "son" Daimon Hellstrom (actually the grandson of despot of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu); Satannish; the Asgardian Goddess Hela; and the Greek God Ares, often known as Pluto. But there seem also to be other realms where the dead may go. Whether these are provinces of one of the five principal Hells or other domains entirely, we do not know, although there is evidence that all there are many such dimensions, including the five Hells, which comprise the so-called Splinter Realms. What we do know is that the so-called Nameless Ones, (who included one named - paradoxically - Lloigoroth) ruled one such realm. And it was in this domain that the long-time Avengers foe known as the Grim Reaper now dwelt.

The Grim Reaper's name was Eric Williams and he was the brother of Simon Williams, a.k.a. Wonder Man. When Wonder Man had apparently died after Zemo first gave him his ionic powers, Eric had blamed the Avengers for his death and had sought revenge on several occasions. Although he lacked super-powers, he was armed with a lethal scythe, which took the place of his missing right hand, and by cunning alone he had often proven to be a dangerous foe. Even Wonder Man's "resurrection" had done nothing to satisfy the unhinged Eric; he had then found himself questioning who was really his brother - Wonder Man, or the Vision, whose brain patterns were based on Simon's. He had continued to fight the Avengers, and eventually, during an encounter with a West Coast Branch of the Avengers that had formed many years after Heinrich's death, he had committed suicide. This had not ended his threat however, since he had later been resurrected by means of sorcery. Now "undead", he could pass from our world into the realm of the Nameless Ones through interdimensional portals that he could open with his scythe. He had now been granted permission to use this domain to seek his revenge by Lloigoroth, who manifested itself as a vast right hand, with a mouth in the palm and an eye at each fingertip. Thus, the Grim Reaper had set out to seek revenge once more.

Already he had made his first moves. To begin with, he had materialised on board Eastern Flight 4-1-7 to LaGuardia Airport and caused the aeroplane to crash, killing everyone on board. He had then used his powers to create the image of a huge skull in the rubble caused by the crash. This had served to attract the Avengers' attention. Secondly, he had created an interdimensional portal in the Manhattan tube system and had used it to bring a train and its passengers into the realm of the Nameless Ones for reasons we shall discuss shortly. Meanwhile, the Avengers had investigated the aeroplane crash and had been granted custody of the black box flight recorder, which they were soon examining. Upon this examination, they quickly discovered just whom they were facing, as an apparition of the Reaper appeared from within the box and challenged them to meet him at the caverns where he died. Soon, the Avengers were at the caverns, and were immediately attacked by extradimensional energy constructs in the form of traditionally "creepy" animals, such as rats, snakes and spiders. They then encountered the Reaper himself, who opened another portal, and brought them into the Realm of the Nameless Ones.

The Avengers who now found themselves in the abyss were a different group to that which had last encountered Baron Heinrich Zemo as a member of Kang the Conqueror's Legion of the Unliving. The Vision was the only one of that earlier roster who was present and he was much changed; he had been abducted, dissected, and his mind wiped and was now a soulless, emotionless, ghostly white shadow of his former self, a situation that had sadly led to his divorce from the Scarlet Witch. The second Avenger present was the Black Knight, whose real name was Dane Whitman. Dane was the nephew of the now-late Nathan Garrett, Zemo's old ally from the Masters of Evil. Whitman had inherited an enchanted sword from an ancestor named Sir Percy of Scandia, although due to a curse upon the blade he could not use this to kill without enduring dire consequences. He had inherited the name and costume of the Black Knight from his uncle, who had repented for his crimes on his deathbed. Interestingly, Dane was the only truly human Avenger present. The next Avenger was Sersi, a member of the offshoot of humanity known as the Eternals, who had been created long ago by the alien race of God-like beings known as the Celestials. As the name suggests, the Eternals were immortal, and in addition to this, Sersi had the ability to transform matter. Another offshoot of humanity represented in the Avengers current line-up was the Inhumans. They were a race created by the alien Kree, who whilst not in the same league as the Celestials, were nevertheless a scientifically advanced race. They had created the Inhumans by exposing humans to the mutagenic Terrigen Mists, which gave them each the powers and appearance of a different alien race. Crystal was humanoid, but had elemental powers and had once served as a member of the famous Fantastic Four. Finally, the group included Hercules. Like Thor, he was a member of a pantheon of extradimensional beings worshipped by man centuries ago, although the Pantheon of which he was a part had been worshipped by the Greeks. Also like Thor, he was super-humanly strong and immortal, but was far more boisterous and hotheaded than the Asgardian.

This then was the group brought to the abyss by the Grim Reaper, and they now found themselves beset by the horrors of the underworld. The Unquiet Dead, the souls of those whom the Reaper had killed in their previous existence, set upon them, but were overcome. However, by the time the Avengers reached the Reaper's stronghold in the desolate wasteland, he had prepared a far more lethal reception for them... The Grim Reaper had created for himself an imposing Gothic Mansion to use as a base in this Realm, and it was within this foreboding edifice that he had imprisoned nine of the passengers of the train that he had earlier brought into the Abyss. These terrified, but still living, victims had been chained to a wall in his stronghold, and been helpless to stop him as he had recited dark incantations at them. Soon, their bodies were cocooned in strange, unearthly foliage and then suddenly, and terribly invaded by the souls of the dead. These nine had now become the Grim Reaper's Legion of the Unliving. Using his abilities, the Reaper had torn the souls of eight villains who had died in battle with the Avengers, from the Hells in which they suffered, including of course Colonel Doctor Heinrich, twelfth Baron of Zemo. The ninth was Count Luchino Nefaria, a European Crime Lord who had enlisted the aid of Professor Kenneth Strudy, Zemo's old collaborator, to subject him to the process which had transformed Simon Williams into Wonder Man. Like Wonder Man, he had become supremely powerful, but also like Wonder Man he had encountered a death-like coma following a defeat by the Avengers and had been buried. Since the Reaper believed him to be dead, he had summoned Nefaria's soul anyway, and the Count was sufficiently close to death to find his soul torn from his comatose, but slowly healing, body. Such was the enchantment that the nine people who had been forced to act as hosts for the Legion had also been horribly, and irrevocably, transformed into cadaverous likenesses of those whose souls now filled them.

In addition to Count Nefaria Baron Zemo's fellows in the Legion of the Unliving were: the Black Knight (Nathan Garrett); Nebulon the Celestial Man; Amenhotep; Necrodamus; Inferno; the original Red Guardian; and the Star-Stalker. Nefaria and Garrett we already know of; the rest we shall briefly discuss now. The Red Guardian (Alexi Shostakov) had been Communist Russia's answer to Captain America, and once-time husband of the Russian Avenger and ex-spy known as the Black Widow. Amenhotep was a vampire, and Necrodamus a sorcerer, whilst Inferno (Joseph Conrad) had been a victim of an industrial accident that had transformed him into a living source of heat and had sent him mad. The Star-Stalker was of the alien race called the Vorms, but was a mutant and possessed powers which the rest of his kind lacked, for example he had been able to fly through space and had been an energy vampire. Finally Nebulon was another alien, of the race called the Ul'lula'ns. In their natural state they were semi-amoeboid, semi-octopoid creatures, but Nebulon had usually used the form of a golden, Star-filled humanoid, and it was this form that his unfortunate host had now been transformed into a mockery of. All of these had died facing the Avengers and were now summoned to take their revenge.

Soon, the Avengers had overcome the trials facing them outside the Reaper's stronghold, and had arrived at its gates. As they watched in trepidation, the smell of burnt flesh assaulting their senses, the gates creaked open and they entered the bone-decorated corridors beyond. Arriving at an intersection of six corridors, they suddenly came face to face with the Legion of the Unliving. Zemo and his fellows lurched towards the Avengers, crying out for vengeance. They were still completely under the control of the Grim Reaper, and it was he who directed their actions, although he did not yet appear to the Avengers. Despite this, they seemed self-aware, the Black Knight in particular scoffing at his nephew's reminder that he repented for his sins on his deathbed. They now swarmed over the heroes, undead, unkillable, and unstoppable. Nebulon fought Sersi, Amenhotep and Necrodamus bore the Vision down, Baron Zemo, Garrett and the Red Guardian pinned the Black Knight to the ground, Inferno overcame Crystal, and the rest piled onto Hercules. Soon, the last torch in the chamber was extinguished, and the fraught Avengers were plunged into darkness.

We can only imagine the psychological impact of being in the realm of the Nameless Ones and facing the dead in battle. It must have been particularly horrific for Dane Whitman and Crystal, both of whom had far greater understanding of death than their three colleagues, a God, and android and an Eternal. But somewhere within himself, Dane now found the strength to fight back with renewed vigour and activated the photonic properties of his current sword, illuminating his foes once more. But even as he did so, he reopened stitches from a previous wound, and released the smell of fresh blood; Zemo and his fellow attackers were driven into frenzy by this, and surged forward again, this time trying to bite Dane and feed on the blood of the living. Elsewhere, the other Avengers were meeting with equally poor success. Sersi's powers of transmogrification were useless against Nebulon, since the Ul'lula'ns were shapeshifters. Likewise, Crystal's powers of fire and ice were failing to affect Inferno, since his flames were too hot for her ice to affect him and he was already aflame. Hercules was struggling to cope with Nefaria and the Star-Stalker. Their only hope now lay with the Vision. Thanks to their supernatural powers, Amenhotep and Necrodamus were able to touch the android even in his intangible state, but the solar energy beams he was projecting from his eyes were keeping his undead foes, more used to the darkness of the Abyss, at bay. Never one to fly in the face of logic, the Vision quickly realised that a stalemate was inevitable, and decided to withdraw from the battle, rising up and passing through the corridor roof, where his two opponents could not follow. He had decided to take this battle to its source...

The Grim Reaper was watching the events below in eldritch flames when the Vision floated up through the floor and confronted him. And then, with one single reminder, the Vision totally turned the tide of events against him; Eric Williams had not died at the hands of the Avengers, he had committed suicide, having been overwhelmed by guilt at his previous actions. In that moment of realisation, full memory returned, and the Grim Reaper's control over the Legion of the Unliving totally collapsed. They turned on him in a flash, angry at being torn from the piece of death and made slaves to their own hate, and in Nefaria's case ripped from the warm comfort of the oblivion he had been in. As one, they abandoned the Avengers, swarmed up to his chamber and began to tear at him with withered talons. But before they could rip him asunder, a more ghastly fate intervened; the wall of the chamber erupted just as the Avengers arrived, and the giant hand-like avatar of Lloigoroth reached through, seized the Reaper, swallowed him through the mouth in its palm, and withdrew. Where Lloigoroth had been, there was suddenly a hole in reality, and as the house the Reaper had created began to be sucked into nothing, the Avengers found themselves hurled once more through an interdimensional portal, out of the Realm of the Nameless Ones, and to safety.

The Legion of the Unliving now returned to wherever they had resided before the Grim Reaper had summoned them, except for Count Nefaria, who was returned to his comatose body seemingly without memory of this ghastly interruption to his slumber. Heinrich Zemo returned once more to whatever Hell he languished in and our journey finally is almost at an end. But uniquely amongst the so-called Super-Villains whose biographies are presented here, Baron Zemo had a lasting impact on the world for many years after his death in addition to his brief membership in two Legions of the Unliving. In the final chapter of this biography, we shall briefly examine the legacy Heinrich Zemo.

Chapter 14: Aftermath

• With Heinrich's death, the Death-Ray satellite that had been forty years in the making might have been left unused, were it not for the initiative of a long time associate of the Baron's. Shortly after Baron Heinrich Zemo died in combat with Captain America, his pilot either escaped from captivity in America or was released. Regardless of the details, he was able to return to Zemo's South American fortress, where he discovered details of Zemo's orbiting satellite, which was now complete. Disguising himself in the Baron's garb, he travelled to the satellite's South African control complex and convinced Zemo's men there that he was the Baron and that he had not died, despite what they had heard. He came close to using the satellite to hold the world to ransom, but was stopped by the intervention of Captain America, the Black Panther, and Agent 13 of anti-terrorist agency SHIELD (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division). Unmasked by Captain America, he was shot down by Zemo's men, who were angry at the deception and loyal only to the late Baron. According to some accounts, the pilot survived this shooting, only to later meet his fate at the hands of Helmut Zemo, but the veracity of these accounts is not established.

• Zemo's developments in the field of ionic energy would have long-lasting effects on the world; as previously noted, Wonder Man would later wake from his ionic coma and join the Avengers, in addition to forging a successful career as a Hollywood actor. European Crime Lord Count Luchino Nefaria would later recruit Professor Kenneth Sturdy to recreate this process and also improve on it, giving the Count powers greater even than those of Williams. As a consequence, he would become one of the World's most dangerous Super-Villains [see file 13, Count Nefaria]. Shortly after Zemo's death, another old associate, the ever-loyal Erik Josten, would be found wandering near Zemo's fortress by the Enchantress, who used the machines that had created Wonder Man to give him similar powers, although since Amora did not know how to calibrate the equipment to Josten's metabolism and cellular structure, he would not be quite as powerful as his predecessor. First as Power Man and later as Goliath, he would battle the Avengers and other heroes for years, before eventually changing his name to Atlas and reforming as a member of super-villain-group-turned-would-be-heroes the Thunderbolts.

• The Masters of Evil disbanded with Zemo's death, but other criminal masterminds would later form at least five other incarnations. The homicidal robot Ultron would form the second Masters of Evil, the criminal scientist Egghead the third [see file 38, Egghead], another criminal scientist, Doctor Octopus, the fifth, and the mysterious Crimson Cowl the sixth. Heinrich's son, Helmut, would form the fourth...

• Months after Heinrich's death, Helmut, thirteenth Baron of Zemo, would set out to avenge his father. Still blaming Captain America for his father's fortunes, he created a costumed alias called the Phoenix and attacked Captain America and his new partner the Falcon with a replica of his father's original Death-Ray and a supply of Adhesive X. This revenge attempt ended with him falling into a vat of boiling Adhesive X, and although his body was protected by his costume, his face was hideously disfigured. He thus donned a version of his father's crimson hood and as Baron Helmut Zemo he began to create a reputation as a criminal genius in his own right, even coming to the attention of the Red Skull. After many attempts to defeat Captain America, including one in which his Masters of Evil successfully seized Avengers Mansion for a time, he formed the Thunderbolts, a "Super-Hero" team consisting of disguised Masters of Evil. The Thunderbolts were supposed to gain the confidence of the public before making a play for power, but all bar Zemo and one other found that they enjoyed the life of a hero and overthrew the Baron just as he stood on the brink of world domination. Coming to terms with his father's death, Helmut abandoned his quest for revenge against Captain America, and began to pursue revenge against the Thunderbolts...

• Although Heinrich Zemo's death allowed Captain America to start to deal with his grief over Bucky's death, he could not fully let go of his young friend until he was absolutely certain that Barnes, like himself, had not somehow survived the explosion of the Drone-Plane at the end of the war. Thus it was that, months after his final battle with Heinrich, he travelled to Latveria with the Avengers and used Latverian despot Doctor Doom's time machine to travel back in time to witness his young friend's death. We have already seen the outcome of this journey.

• Years after Heinrich's death, Helmut's wife Heike Zemo claimed that she was in fact the soul of Heinrich Zemo transplanted into a female body by the technology of Arnim Zola. She later admitted that this was a lie told to put her enemies off guard.

• Finally, one last note remains to be added about Heinrich Zemo's final resting place. Years after his death, Helmut Zemo sought to assemble the fragments of an alien gem known as the Bloodstone, in order to use its powers to resurrect his father. Exhuming Heinrich's body, he took the withered cadaver from its resting place in South America across the world with him on his quest. But when the five Bloodstone fragments were placed on Heinrich's brow on top of an inactive volcano two hours flight from Tokyo, it was not the Baron who occupied his body, but the extra-terrestrial power of the Hellfire Helix, an alien entity created millennia ago by the alien Kree. With the megalomaniac entity set to wreck havoc upon the World, it fell to the Red Skull's henchman Crossbones (real name Brock Rumlow) to defeat the being by firing a crossbow bolt at the Bloodstone. The gem shattered, and with it Heinrich Zemo's skull. The long-dead body of the twelfth Baron of Zemo fell into the heart of the volcano and was incinerated in the lava.

An alternate reality version of Baron Heinrich Zemo was seen in Avengers Annual 2, on a parallel Earth ruled by the Scarlet Centurion, another temporal divergence of Kang the Conqueror. I haven't read this issue, so I can't tell you more yet.

A version of Baron Zemo was created on the Heroes Reborn Earth created by Franklin Richards. Although it was not confirmed, he seems to have been a version of Baron Heinrich Zemo, not Helmut. He appeared in Captain America (vol. 2) issue 6 and Avengers (vol. 2) issue 8, in which he was apparently eaten by the Heroes Reborn counterpoint of Loki. Whether or not he survived this remains to be seen.

Appendix II: Dreams:

Captain America (vol. 1) issue 221 features a back-up story called "The Coming of Captain Avenger!" set during the original Masters of Evil saga in Avengers. In this story, Rick Jones has a dream in which he gains super-powers, adopts the name Captain Avenger and tries to save the Avengers from Zemo and his allies, but fails when his actions trap the Avengers in stone forms. This is purely a hallucination and not a bona fide appearance of Baron Zemo.

Because of Zemo's impact on his life, Captain America would have numerous occasions to recall the Baron and on at least one occasion long-time Captain America villain Dr. Faustus would create an illusion of the late Baron to torment his foe.

Appendix III: References:

"The Death Ray of Dr. Zemo!" from Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos issue 8, by Stan Lee (writer), Ayers (pencils) and Roussos [as Bell] (inks); A great Lee/Kirby Sgt. Fury issue, which forms the first full appearance of Zemo and allows us a rare glimpse of the man without his mask. 9/10.

"The Medusa Effect" from The Medusa Effect by Thomas (writer), Buckler and Wyman (pencils), and Sanders III and Pepoy (inks); A superb one-shot which successfully evokes the wartime era in which it is set. Zemo comes across as particularly nasty, we get to see Helmut interact with Daddy after he got the mask, and Bucky actually seems useful without being out of character. Nice art too. 8/10.

"Distant Rumblings" from Thunderbolts -1, by Busiek (writer), Epting (pencils), and Wiacek (inks); A great story which examines the Thunderbolts pre-Masters of Evil and shows us just why Heinrich Zemo was so dangerous. Kurt perfectly captures his ruthlessness, whilst also giving us an insight into why his men respected him so much. 9/10.

"V For Victory...Again!" from Captain America/Citizen V Annual '98, by Busiek and Karl Kesel (plot), Busiek and Barbara Kesel (script), Bagley (pencils), and Adams and Hanna (inks); A blast from the past in flashback gives us an untold tale of Zemo and Citizen V. Again, Zemo comes across as genuinely dangerous and not just the ranting madman that he sometimes seemed in the Avengers. 7/10.

"Death Be Not Proud!" from Avengers (vol. 1) issue 56, by Thomas (writer), John Buscema (pencils), and Klein (inks); A strangely unsatisfying story that reveals the full details of Bucky's death. It causes a major continuity problem, which is how Captain America could be wearing his costume and carrying his shield when the Avengers find him frozen in ice, if he falls into the ocean in just a plain army uniform. Nevertheless, the art is excellent. 6/10.

"Brothers In Arms" from Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty (vol. 2), by Waid (writer), Braithwaite and Williams (pencils), and Green and Koblish (inks); Absolute pants. A horrible look at the life of Bucky, which massacres his character and turns him into an obnoxious smart arse. It does at least explain how Cap was wearing his costume when he fell into the sea, but the art is horrible, the script is horrible, and Zemo's hood looks like a flour sack. 3/10.

"Masters of Evil!" from Avengers (vol. 1) issue 6, by Lee (writer), Kirby (pencils) and Stone (inks); My favourite Avengers issue of all time by the classic team of Lee and Kirby. The concept of a villain who has a hood glued to his head is wonderfully silver age, as is the notion of trying to take over a city with glue. Notable for several reasons, not least of which is the first appearance of the Masters of Evil and Zemo himself, it even features an appearance by Paste-Pot Pete. 10/10.

"Their Darkest Hour!" from Avengers (vol. 1) issue 7, by Lee (writer), Kirby (pencils) and Stone (inks); A strangely lacklustre story, but it is made slightly more interesting by the camaraderie between Zemo, Skurge and Amora, which is an interesting contrast to the usual desire of teamed-up villains to betray one another. 7/10.

"The Coming of the...Wonder Man!" from Avengers (vol. 1) issue 9, by Lee (writer), Heck (pencils) and Ayers (inks); Another landmark issue, featuring as it does the first appearance of Wonder Man and ionic power, which would become second only to gamma power as a source of powers fro Marvel heroes and villains. Heck draws the Avengers almost as good as Kirby. 9/10

"The Avengers Break Up!" from Avengers (vol. 1) issue 10, by Lee (writer), Heck (pencils) and Ayers (inks); The first appearance of Immortus contains a variety of elements (most notably the "Hercules" he summons) which caused later annoying continuity niggles, recently solved by Kurt Busiek in Avengers Forever. All-in-all an entertaining issue, although Immortus is a character I would dearly like to punch. 8/10

"The Army of Assassins Strikes!" from Tales of Suspense (vol. 1) issue 60, by Lee (writer), Heck (pencils) and Ayers (inks); This pedestrian story is reasonable enough, until Rick Jones manages to outfight a group of professional assassins, at which point my credibility strained. The ending, with Captain America broadcasting insults to Zemo, is priceless however. 7/10.

"Now, By My Hand, Shall Die a Villain!" from Avengers (vol. 1) issue 15, by Lee (writer), Heck (pencils) and Esposito (inks); and "The Old Order Changeth!" from issue 16 by Lee (writer) and Ayers (art); The final battle with Zemo and the original Masters of Evil is a fast-paced, all-action adventure which leads into the first roster change and the debut of "Cap's kooky quartet". Zemo's death is fitting, since he dies in battle with his arch-enemy, but by his own hand thus avoiding making Cap a murderer. It's just a shame that Stan appears to have totally forgotten about the Radioactive Man! 10/10.

"A Quiet Half-Hour in Saigon" from Avengers (vol. 1) issue 131, by Englehart (writer), Sal Buscema (pencils) and Staton (inks); "Kang War II" from Avengers (vol. 1) issue 132, by Englehart (plot), Thomas (script), Sal Buscema (pencils) and Staton (inks); and "Kang War II: Conclusion ...What TIME hath put asunder!" from Giant-Size Avengers issue 3, by Englehart (plot), Thomas (script), Cockrum (pencils), and Giella (inks)

"Son of Darkness [Fear the Reaper Part I of III]" from Avengers (vol. 1) issue 352, by Kaminski (writer), Wyman (pencils), and Palmer (inks); "To Wake the Dead [Fear the Reaper Part II of III]" from issue 353 by Kaminski (writer), Wyman (pencils), and Ariane (inks); and "The Conqueror Worm [Fear the Reaper Part III of III]" from issue 354 by Kaminski (writer), Wyman (pencils), and Alexandrov and Ariane (inks). A story with genuinely creepy moments which is let down by bland artwork. 6/10.