"With Daniel's ability to deliver intense, nuanced performances, we knew we had found yet another great actor to share the screen with some of our biggest heroes.” Thus spake Marvel's Kevin Feige last November as he announced that Daniel Brühl would be joining the cast of Captain America: Civil War. We didn't, however, know what role he'd be playing... until now. Those of a spoiler sensitive disposition who might view this information as unwelcome should read no further.
A slight caveat: this news hasn't come as an official reveal from Marvel. But Movie Casting, advertising upcoming Civil War auditions in Los Angeles, seem confident enough about it in their press release. Their sources appear to confirm what many (including **Empire) suspected already: Brühl will play Baron Zemo.
There are actually two Baron Zemos in the comics: Heinrich and Helmut, a father and son. We're almost certainly talking about the second one for Brühl. Helmut is the inheritor of his Nazi scientist father's legacy of trying to save the world by taking it over for the so-called master race. By the time of Civil War however, he's apparently somewhat reformed, to the extent that he hatches an uneasy alliance with Tony Stark on the 'pro' side of the Superhuman Registration Act divide. But he has a plan. He also has a melted face as the result of falling into a vat of superglue. Clumsy.
Captain America: Civil War has Joe and Anthony Russo returning to their directors' chairs, with Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Mackie, Scarlett Johansson, Sebastian Stan, Frank Grillo and Chadwick Boseman filling out the rest of the cast.
Rumours that Brühl will also appear in Doctor Strange remain just that for the moment. Captain America: Civil War is set for release here in the UK on April 29, 2016, a week before it launches in the States on May 6.