GIFs showing Zemo (Daniel Brühl) dancing in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier episode 3 appeared on social media on Friday, long before some people had a chance to watch the new episode. I actually saw the Zemo scene before getting to the episode myself, and the whole thing was hilarious. It was also very short, offering fans the appropriate amount of weird dancing from a character who is supposed to be one of the show’s main villains. Now, he’s also one of the show’s main memes.
If you haven’t seen any Falcon and the Winter Soldier promos and you haven’t read anything about Marvel’s new Disney+ show, then the Zemo dance should be enough to make you want to watch it. That’s assuming, of course, that you’re a fan of the MCU and know who Zemo is. Otherwise, it’s just a strange scene with Daniel Brühl dancing. And the best part is that, as it turns out, that the whole scene wasn’t in the script — Brühl just went with it. Marvel actually recorded an extended version of the baron dancing, and fans already want to see “the Zemo cut.” Before you go any further, note that some minor Falcon spoilers might follow below.
Before we get any deeper into it, here’s the Zemo dance in action:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj0JSNna_3A
The whole thing happens over in Madripoor, where Zemo, Sam (Anthony Mackie), and Bucky (Sebastian Stan) investigate the reemergence of the super-soldier serum. That’s where they meet Sharon Carter (Emily VanCamp), and it’s her party where Zemo unleashes his moves.
Even without the dance that went viral on social media, Zemo would still be one of the hit characters of episode 3. As I said before, this is the kind of Zemo that I wouldn’t mind watching in future MCU adventures. And we will probably end up seeing Zemo lead the Thunderbolts in the very near future, a team of superheroes that’s supposed to start forming during the events in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
Episode 3 does more for Zemo than Captain America: Civil War ever did. We get to learn more details about the villain that once outsmarted and outmaneuvered the Avengers. He’s the same ruthless, well-trained operative, but there are more sides to Zemo that we haven’t seen. He can be funny, and he could become the kind of fresh anti-hero that Marvel needs.
Brühl addressed the way he played Zemo in Falcon in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, where he revealed more details about the now-infamous dance.
“It was a long dance,” Brühl said. “There’s more to it, but they cut this little moment [for the show]. After reading the scripts, I thought, ‘Oh! This is a whole new game.’ It gives me the opportunity to discover so much more [about the character] and to show different sides of Baron Zemo that, actually, I always had in mind knowing the comic books.” Brühl added that he’s “always a fan” of the humor “when this is part of the performance, no matter how serious the circumstances are.”
Zemo is indeed a lot more humorous in this show, and that’s one of the highlights of episode 3. Then again, in Civil War, he was very much enraged with the Avengers over the role they played in his family’s death. That rage is still there, and he’s still on a mission to eliminate beings with super abilities. But we now get to experience a more complex version of Zemo, a character who could easily rival Loki.
Brühl went on to reveal in great detail how the dance scene occurred. That’s when he revealed that there’s a longer version of his dance.
It’s so hysterical. [That moment] was improvised when I saw the crowd dancing, going loco. I felt the beat and was like, Zemo has been sitting in a dodgy German prison cell for years. So, he needs to let off some steam and show his moves. Let’s go for it! I enjoyed so much the reaction of Anthony and Sebastian looking at me. Still, I was 100 percent sure that they would cut it out [of the show]. I was really surprised and happy that they kept it. It was a long dance. There’s more to it, but they cut this little moment. I didn’t know what was happening, but I then received all these messages from my friends cracking up. My friends who know me well know I’m an embarrassing, passionate dancer on the floor but it would be different moves. It would be the Spanish side of me kicking in and doing some matador, flamenco moves, going down on my knees. Highly embarrassing for my friends.
Now that we saw the Snyder Cut, it’s only fair that we get to see the “The Zemo Cut” — and fans are already asking for it on social media, where #ReleaseTheZemoCut has already started to trend.
